In June of 1900, twenty-five year old newlywed Clara Wiley-Castle was attacked with a razor blade by thirty-two year old Jessie Morrison. The murder has been called “the most tragic and sensational woman’s quarrel in the history of Kansas,” and it put El Dorado on the map as “the home of Jessie Morrison, the famous woman convict.”
Jessie Morrison was obsessed with Clara’s new husband Olin Castle.
One week after Clara and Olin married, Jessie showed up on the doorstep of their marital home. Jessie admitted to cutting Clara with a razor blade that day, but denied bringing it with her. Clara was left with eighteen separate wounds and a completely severed trachea. She also had defensive wounds to her fingers.
Jessie claimed she acted in self defense and said it was Clara who attacked her first. Jessie had light cuts on her throat and arms, deep enough to bleed but they were not serious wounds and, according to Clara, they were self-inflicted.
After Clara died, Jessie was charged with her murder. As “one of the most famous criminal cases ever tried in the country,” newspapers all over printed multi-page spreads for years reporting on all the scandalous details of the trial.
Jessie was tried three times. The first trial ended with a hung jury and Jessie freely walking the streets of El Dorado, scaring every man and newly married woman she encountered. Her second trial ended in a conviction and a five year sentence, but it was tossed out on a technicality and she was again released. A third trial led to a third conviction with a 25 year sentence, but Jessie was paroled by Governor Walter Stubbs after serving just eight years, and she was later completely pardoned by Governor George Hodges.
The town of El Dorado was sharply divided over the trial, to the point that relationships and social structures changed.
“There is sort of a family feud in the town on account of remarks that were made while certain women were telling their side of the story. One church choir was broken up and is now composed of people who think that the jury returned the wrong verdict. One arrest has been made since the trial because a neighbor’s chickens were trespassing on the premises of another neighbor who did not believe that the Morrison girl was guilty. Prior to the trial the neighbors did not insist on the herd law being enforced upon the chickens. The milkmen say that any number of people are now taking milk from them who used to get it from their neighbors. The trial has wrought wonders in changing the social lines in the town.” Source
Does Clara Haunt Belle Vista Cemetery?
When I first heard of Clara, it was in the context of a ghost story. Many people today reduce this tragedy to a silly ghost story, often inaccurately, perhaps because the real story is too gruesome. Or maybe it’s been just long enough that folks have forgotten the details.
Some people claim that Clara haunts Belle Vista Cemetery in El Dorado, and that if you try to take a photo of her grave, your camera will malfunction.
So let’s get that part out of the way quickly. I have visited Clara’s grave several times and have taken several different photos at different times of day. My camera never malfunctioned and no apparitions of Clara ever appeared.
It’s safe to say that Clara’s grave isn’t haunted, and the stories are just a continuation of a sensation that rocked El Dorado, where the sordid details were forgotten, but the impact remains.
“El Dorado … where there is nothing to do but sit around and watch the weeds grow; where the Jessie Morrison trial is the only thing that’s ever happened.” Augusta Journal, 1914
More Than A Ghost Story
Much has been written about Clara’s murder, and other journalists and bloggers have retold this story before. I’ve included several blog posts and news articles in the Additional Resources section below, but I also want to do my part to make sure that Clara is remembered.
Clara Wiley-Castle (1874-1900)
Clara was born in Preble County, Ohio in 1874, the first child born to Nancy Felton and Roland Wiley, exactly 9 months and 22 days after their wedding day. The family came to Kansas in 1892 when they were a family of seven and Clara was 18 years old.
Clara was a faithful Christian and an active member of the local Methodist church in El Dorado. Both Clara and Jessie were on the member rolls of the El Dorado Epworth League, a Methodist organization, but they did not usually run in the same social circles due to their age difference.
Clara was described as beautiful and was said to be “especially and particularly well-schooled.” She graduated from the El Dorado College Conservatory and the “sweet vocalist” at one point was a member of “the famous Loreli quartet.” Clara’s solos were constantly reported in the paper for different events.
“The monthly College musical recital was held in the Chapel Friday evening. Miss Clara Wiley received a hearty encore, showing the appreciation of the audience.” Source
“Miss Clara Wiley in her vocal solo, “Esmerelda,” sang with a sweetness of voice which places her in the first rank among the vocalists of our city. Clara Wiley delighted the audience again with a song, ‘Who’s at my Window?”” Source
“[Clara] is a talented vocalist and is a young lady of an unusually sweet, amiable disposition. She is very popular, especially in church circles.” Source
“Miss Clara Wiley received a hearty encore, showing the appreciation of the audience.” Source
Clara became engaged to Olin Castle, a local well-liked boy, in the summer of 1898. After well over a year of being engaged, the pair married June 13, 1900 at Clara’s family home.
The couple enjoyed wedded bliss for just nine days before Clara was attacked by Jessie on June 22, her head nearly severed from her body by the razor cuts. Clara lived this way until July 10th. It was reported shortly before her death that she “was fed through a tube milk and eggs, but the food strangled her” and that “she was unable to retain food upon the stomach.” Feeding intravenously wouldn’t gain traction until the 1950’s, and Clara may have died not just from the severity of her wounds, but from starvation.
Clara wrote several notes during the last weeks of her life, including a message of forgiveness to Jessie.
“The Lord will forgive you if you will only ask him. I forgive you.”
Clara also wrote her statement of the account of events, most of which was allowed to be admitted as evidence in Jessie’s murder trial.
“I, Clara Castle, having lost all hope of recovery and believing that my life is of short duration, and that my death is pending and very near, and thus being in the presence of death, I make the following statement and declare it to be the truth: I was attending to my household duties on the morning of June 22, 1900, when I first saw Jessie Morrison come in at our gate. She came up to the door, holding up a letter asked me if I had written it. I told her I had not. Jessie then started to come in. I took hold of the screen and invited her in. She came in and sat down on the lounge on the north side of the room. I sat down in a chair on the west side of the room, by the window. I then asked Jessie to let me see the letter, but she refused to do so. Jessie then asked me if Olin and myself were friends of hers. I told her that we were certainly not. Jessie asked me if I remembered when she came home from Excelsior Springs that she spoke to me, that I did not speak. I said I had a good reason for not speaking to her at that time. I told her that I knew how she had been acting, had been running into [The Racket] store. I told her further that she had invited Olin out one night, and that another night she met him after he had been at our house. Jessie at first denied all that I told her, but she then confessed it all, and then she said: ‘Well, you may read the letter.’ As she said this, she arose from the lounge and, passing in front of me and to my right, looking at the door, she asked me if thre was any one about the house. I saw the letter in her left hand. The next thing I knew Jessie Morrison struck me across the throat with a razor which she had in her right hand. I tried to defend myself the best I could from the blows. I cut my fingers in trying to get the razor from her. I also screamed all I could. She was on top of me. She got off me and cut herself in the throat and arms. I saw her do it. I could not get the razor away from her. I did not cut her at all. I do not know how many times Jessie cut me or struck me with the razor, but a great number of times. I make this as my dying statement.”
Guy Olin Castle (1876-1973)
Guy Olin Castle was born in Ohio in 1876 to Abbie Patton and Theodore Castle. Like Clara, he was his parents first child. The family came to El Dorado in 1882 when Olin was just five years old.
Olin’s father Theodore served Butler County as a deputy county clerk, and later as an undertaker. His mother Abbie served as the “lady assistant” in the family undertaking business.
Olin was also a member of the Methodist Epworth League and participated in events with Clara in the years leading up to and during their courtship. Like Clara, Olin was a musician. He played piano, tuba, and the bass viol (or viol de gamba), and was a member of the Sunflower Band and the short-lived El Dorado Orchestra.
In the spring of 1897 when he was 21, Olin was “engaged in a furniture store” in Ohio, but it’s not clear if he relocated or not. By the fall of 1897, he began working at The Racket, a local department store in El Dorado.
Olin was said to own eleven dogs that he used for rabbit hunting, sometimes with Clara. Olin was also reported being out and about in mixed social groups with Clara. He testified during trial that he had gone buggy riding with Jessie a couple of times, and everyone knew that before he and Clara were engaged, he stayed overnight at Eva Fulton’s.
“El Dorado has some hustling young men who have stepped on the first round, let us hope, of the ladder of successful life work. Olin Castle of The Racket is another of the self-reliant and self-helpful young men. You can’t keep his kind down.” Source
Olin seemed like a popular and desirable ladies man, but at least one journalist thought he was “not a particularly bright looking chap” and “his appearance is negative.” The blunt journalist also described Olin as “not a fellow that any woman would be expected to rave over, and it is almost inconceivable that Jessie Morrison should commit murder on his account.”
Olin proposed to Clara in the summer of 1898, but testified during trial that he did not tell Jessie this until the fall of 1899. Attorneys for Jessie claimed that Olin “did not cease his attentions to Jessie Morrison, but continued his relationship as before.” He admitted continued to accept buggy rides, letters, and even gifts from Jessie during his courtship with Clara.
It was reported when Theodore Castle died in 1902 that Olin would be taking over the position of undertaker and would be working alongside his mother, the “lady assistant.” Olin got his undertakers license (or a license to “transmorguify dead people”) during Jessie’s murder trial. He only served as undertaker in El Dorado briefly.
Also during the murder trial, Olin met and fell in love with a journalist from Whitewater named Lillian DeTalente. The couple kept their relationship somewhat secret, but ultimately moved to California together and married in 1903. They stayed together until death and had no children.
Jessie Lee Morrison (1868-1965)
Jessie Morrison was born in West Virginia and was the daughter of Susan Sterrett and Morgan Hutchinson Morrison. Jessie was the sixth of nine children. Her mother died in 1878 in West Virginia when Jessie was just 9.
Jessie’s father remarried in 1882 to a widow named Margaret McLaughlin-Hall. After this second marriage, the family relocated to Kansas, and her father served two terms as a probate judge in El Dorado.
Jessie was a Christian and a member of the Epworth League. She was also involved in local church activities, though perhaps not to the degree that Clara and Olin were. Town gossip revealed that the Wileys and Castles were “much stronger” in the church than the Morrisons. Jessie did play the organ occasionally at Brownlow church, but doesn’t appear to be musically trained like her rival or obsession.
It was reported that Jessie had a “common school education.” Most census records state she did not attend school, but one later census record has her highest grade completed as the second year of high school.
At least one reporter wrote shortly after the murders that Jessie was “not pretty.”
Jessie got a job at The Racket in 1897, right around the same time that champion rat catcher Olin started clerking there. During her time at The Racket she did not earn a great reputation, or so the gossip went.
“The proprietors learned that she had a quick temper. Customers began to complain that if they crossed her opinion, she expressed her opinion of them in no uncertain way. She was frequently reproved for this.
“Every fall an expert trimmer of hats came to the store to work for a season. Jessie resented her coming and tried to claim authority of her. She was reproved for this.” Source
Jessie was fired from The Racket in December 1899, shortly after Olin told her about his engagement to Clara. Her behavior toward Olin at the store was part of the reason for her dismissal.
“Jessie showed a preference for [Olin], and it was noticed by the other clerks that she seized every opportunity to talk to him. Castle avoided her as much as possible, and he gave her no encouragement.
“Jessie’s palpable desire for the companionship of Castle was met with a reproof from her employers, who told her that she wasted time that way. These objections to her as a clerk resulted in her discharge. She was not employed after that.” Source
Getting fired didn’t stop Jessie from her pursuit of Olin. According to Clara’s statements and testimony from Olin and others in the trials, Jessie went to The Racket multiple times to see Olin prior to the murder. Two days before the murder, Jessie came into the store and told Olin to meet her at 11 o’clock that night and “if you don’t you will wish you had.” Others testified they saw her at the razor counter, and implied she stole the razor used on Clara from The Racket.
Jessie testified in all three of her trials and recounted her version of the events the day she killed Clara.
“Clara Castle called to me and said that she wanted to talk to me. When she called to me I turned around and went up to the house. She was standing by the door, the screen was about half way open. She had just put some rugs out on the walk. She had a broom in her hand when she called me. I passed in and she followed me, locking the screen door and pushing the door half shut. Mrs. Castle sat down in a rocking chair and I sat down on the lounge. I asked her what she wanted to talk to me about. She said I knew very well. She said that I hated her and she hated me. She said I wrote letters to Olin and that she had seen them. She said I had written him a note asking him to call after band practice even if it was 10 or 11 o’clock. I told her I had known for some time that she hated me and I had been thinking about talking to her mother about it. She said that it was a good thing I did not, her mother would have torn me to pieces. She said, wait a few moments and Olin will be here. I told her that when I was down town I hardly got to the Racket before he came. She asked me why I went there. I told her I had a right to go where I pleased and said that he was the one that caused her to be so bitter toward both of us. I told her I knew how he talked about me and that he had been trying to make me jealous. She said I had been trying to separate them and I told her I had not. She called me a liar and I thought I would go home, and as I rose up I dropped my handkerchief and as I stooped to pick it up she struck me here (indicating her neck) with a razor. She cut me twice. I screamed when she first struck me and cried, Oh, oh, oh. I knew that I was in danger and that she meant to kill me. I did not inflict any wounds upon myself.”
After three different trials and turning El Dorado upside down, Jessie was finally sentenced to 25 years in prison for the murder of Clara Wiley-Castle.
She did not have to serve even half of her sentence. Jessie was paroled in 1910 by Governor Stubbs, who believed the five year sentence in her first trial was appropriate, and that twenty-five years was too harsh. Jessie’s parole only included a few conditions, including that she regularly attend church.
Three years later, Jessie was given an unconditional pardon by Governor Hodges after being “exceptionally good” during her parole. She was able to live freely as she pleased.
After the Murder Trial
1902: Olin’s father Theodore dies in El Dorado, Kansas.
1903: Olin marries journalist Lillian DeTalente in Long Beach, California.
1910: Jessie is paroled by Governor Stubbs. She moves in with her sister Ida (Hawley) in Excelsior Springs, Missouri, and then with her parents in Reno, Oklahoma. Olin is living in Long Beach, California with his wife Lillian and his mother Abbie, and he is working as a store clerk. His mother dies in Long Beach, California.
1913: Jessie receives an unconditional pardon from Governor Hodges. One report said she had been living with relatives in Sutton, West Virginia since she was paroled. She was also reported visiting people around Kansas.
1917: Jessie’s father M.H. Morrison dies in El Reno, Oklahoma. According to his obituary, Jessie is living there.
1920: Jessie is living in El Reno, Oklahoma with her mother and brother Morgan. Olin is living in Los Angeles, California with Lillian working as a warehouse manager.
1922: Clara’s mother Nancy dies in El Dorado, Kansas.
1930: Jessie is living in Los Angeles, California with her sister Mary (Ehlers). Olin and Lillian are also in Los Angeles. Clara’s father Roland dies.
1934: Jessie marries for the first time at age 65 in California. Her husband is divorced Spanish-American War Veteran Joseph Hemfling, who is eight years her junior.
1939: Olin’s wife Lillian dies in Los Angeles, California.
1940: Jessie is living in Los Angeles, California with her husband Joseph. Olin is widowed in Los Angeles, working as a stove repairman.
1950: Jessie is living in Los Angeles, California with her husband Joseph. Olin doesn’t appear on a census record this year.
1964: Jessie’s husband Joseph dies in Los Angeles, California.
1965: Jessie dies in California at age 96 and is buried at Inglewood Park Cemetery with Joseph. She had no children.
1973: Olin is believed to have died in February 1973 in Cook County, Illinois at age 96. His burial place is unknown. He had no children.
Additional Resources
Jessie Morrison & Clara Wiley Castle, Kansas Trails
Killing of Clara Castle and Trial of Jessie Morrison, Missouri and Ozarks History
A Newlywed Nightmare: A Kansas True Crime Story, Midwest Killers
Belle Vista Cemetery, Kansas Haunted Houses
Belle Vista Cemetery, Haunted Places
Cemetery Tours at Belle Vista Cemetery, Kansas Oil Museum
Clara Wiley Castle, Everyday El Dorado
Miss Clara Wiley will be married, El Dorado Daily Republican, El Dorado, KS, Jun 5, 1900
Miss Clara Wiley will be married, The Walnut Valley Times, El Dorado, KS, Jun 5, 1900
Castle-Wiley, El Dorado Daily Republican, El Dorado, KS, Jun 14, 1900
Castle-Wiley, The Walnut Valley Times, El Dorado, KS, Jun 15, 1900
Castle-Wiley, The Butler County Democrat, El Dorado, KS, Jun 15, 1900
A Horrible Tragedy, The Walnut Valley Times, El Dorado, KS, Jun 22, 1900
Women’s Rivalry Causes Tragedy, Stockton Evening and Sunday Record, Stockton, CA, Jun 23, 1900
A Ghastly Sight, The Fresno Morning Republican, Fresno, CA, Jun 23, 1900
Bride of a Week Attacked, The Independent, Whitewater, KS, Jun 28, 1900
A Tragedy In Real Life, The Butler County Democrat, El Dorado, KS, Jun 29, 1900
Dying, The Walnut Valley Times, El Dorado, KS, Jul 5, 1900
Jessie Morrison Arrested, The Walnut Valley Times, El Dorado, KS, Jul 10, 1900
At Rest, The Butler County Democrat, El Dorado, KS, Jul 13, 1900
The Preliminary, El Dorado Daily Republican, El Dorado, KS, Jul 17, 1900
The Preliminary, El Dorado Daily Republican, El Dorado, KS, Jul 18, 1900
The Morrison Preliminary, The Walnut Valley Times, El Dorado, KS, Jul 18, 1900
In First Degree, El Dorado Daily Republican, El Dorado, KS, Jul 20, 1900
A New Trial, El Dorado Daily Republican, El Dorado, KS, Jul 23, 1900
First Degree, El Dorado Republican, El Dorado, KS, Jul 27, 1900
Morrison Case, El Dorado Daily Republican, El Dorado, KS, Nov 21, 1900
Jessie Morrison Trial, The Augusta Weekly Gazette, Augusta, KS, Nov 23, 1900
Jury Secured, The Augusta Weekly Gazette, Augusta, KS, Nov 30, 1900
Goes to Trial, Fort Scott Daily Tribune and Fort Scott Daily Monitor, Fort Scott, KS, Nov 30, 1900
If Found Guilty, The Walnut Valley Times, El Dorado, KS, Dec 3, 1900
The Morrison Trial, The Walnut Valley Times, El Dorado, KS, Dec 4, 1900
Morrison Trial Begins, The National Field, Salina, KS, Dec 7, 1900
Clara Wiley-Castle, The Walnut Valley Times, El Dorado, KS, Dec 7, 1900
Argument Begins, The Walnut Valley Times, El Dorado, KS, Dec 8, 1900
Awaiting a Verdict, Haskell County Clipper, Sublette, KS, Dec 28, 1900
Bond is Approved, The Weekly Eagle, Wichita, KS, Dec 28, 1900
In Hotel Corridors, The Topeka State Journal, Topeka, KS, Dec 29, 1900
The Defendant Testifies, The Hays Free Press, Hays, KS, Dec 29, 1900
Jessie Morrison Released, The Humboldt Union, Humboldt, KS, Dec 29, 1900
Jessie’s Bond Perfected, The Democrat, Oswego, KS, Dec 29, 1900
Murderess Out Of Prison, The Gray County Sentinel, Cimarron, KS, Dec 29, 1900
Dying Letters Admitted, The Kansas City Star, Kansas City, MO, Jun 18, 1901
For Five Years, El Dorado Daily Republican, El Dorado, KS, Jul 6, 1901
Castle-DeTalente, The Walnut Valley Times, El Dorado, KS, Apr 21, 1903
To Start With New Day, Kansas City Journal, Kansas City, MO, Sep 28, 1910
Miss Morrison Out, The Kansas City Times, Kansas City, MO, Sep 28, 1910
Is Free At Last, The Topeka State Journal, Topeka, KS, Sep 28, 1910
Jessie Morrison Out on Parole in Kansas, The Daily Democrat, Winchester, KY, Nov 15, 1910
Jessie Morrison is Pardoned, The Walnut Valley Times, El Dorado, KS, Feb 25, 1913
Jessie Morrison Given Unconditional Pardon, San Francisco Chronicle, San Francisco, CA, Feb 26, 1913
Jessie Morrison, Kansas Murderess, Has Been Pardoned, The Butte Daily Post, Butte, MT, Feb 26, 1913
Jessie Morrison Granted Discharged, Ellsworth Reporter, Ellsworth, KS, Feb 27, 1913
Jessie Morrison at Liberty, Lathrop Monitor-Herald, Lathrop, MO, Feb 27, 1913
Jessie Morrison Pardoned, The Scranton Gazette, Scranton, KS, Feb 27, 1913
Marriage License Issued, The Morning Press, Santa Barbara, CA, Aug 31, 1934
Miss Morrison is Wed in San Diego, The El Reno Daily Tribune, El Reno, OK, Aug 31, 1934
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