What Happened to Uncle Jim?

By: Brandon Farner

With that teasingly incomplete murder mystery within a family history, my hunger to know what happened to Uncle Jim could only be satiated with the truth. Who did the family suspect? Why had no one ever been brought to justice for killing an innocent farmer? What exactly happened?

With the help of my colleagues, we mined the newspapers of the era and uncovered the story of the Murder on Birdville Hill. The family thinks they know who did it, the police had seemingly damning evidence on a pair of suspects, but no one was ever brought to court. Presented herein are the facts as reported by the Star-Telegram and The Orange Leader. As to who killed Uncle Jim...we will likely never know for certain.

“J.C. Cavender, a tenant farmer, was slugged, then strangled to death in a small granary of his farm, a mile and a half northeast of Birdville, where his body was found last night investigators said today… The body was covered with oats. The skull was crushed by a blow struck from behind. A heavy cord was tied tightly around the neck.” - Orange Leader Wednesday, October 22, 1930.

James Claude Cavender, whom everyone called Uncle Jim, was murdered and unceremoniously left buried under a pile of oats he had worked hard to grow. His blood, according to the Star-Telegram, had soaked through several sacks of grain underneath him. He farmed with blood, sweat, and tears and in the end, he would soak more blood into his work than he ever bargained for. There was no sign of a struggle.

Missing from Jim’s person was his watch and $45 dollars he had just made selling a load of produce the Friday prior to his murder. It is worth pointing out that this took place in 1930 the beginning of the Great Depression and the $45 dollars that was missing in today’s money according to DollarTimes.com would be worth $681.47. No small amount in the midst of the worst financial crises the U.S. has ever known. Also missing from the farm was Jim’s gray mare and saddle. Though the house was left untouched it did indeed seem that robbery was the motive.

The first suspect according to the October 22, 1930 edition of the Star-Telegram was an “Ex-Employee.” Jim’s family also recalled that he had allowed a man to spend the night in the house with him before he died. The man was seen by some of the neighbors that evening. What is unclear in our research is if the ex-employee and the man staying in the house were two distinct individuals or actually the same person. However, the police also followed up on other leads.

“That the murderer fled to Fort Worth on Cavender’s horse also is the opinion of the officers.” wrote the Orange Leader. Find the horse, find the murderer? The police thought so, and as it would happen a gray mare had been found wandering around the Riverside neighborhood northeast of Downtown Fort Worth.

“Constant questioning of two Cleburne youths, 16 and 17, arrested yesterday in connection with the slaying of J.C. Cavender, 63, tenant farmer who was found with his skull crushed and a small cord around his throat on his farm two miles northeast of Birdville Tuesday night, elicited only denials of any knowledge of the crime” - Star-Telegram Thursday, October 23, 1930.

According to the Star-Telegram, it was the cousin of the 17-year-old who contacted officers and said that “the pair told him Monday of borrowing a horse from a farmer northeast of Birdville. The boy said the pair had pledged him to secrecy. The pair strenuously denied telling the boy about a horse.” The paper would go on to note the 17-year-old had served a term in the State Reform School at Gatesville. The pair was separated for questioning.

A significant detail later in the same article is that initially, the cousin told police he had found a gray mare wandering around his family home. It wasn’t until he was furthered questioned that the cousin produced the story about being sworn to secrecy by the 17-year-old on Monday that the horse was borrowed from a Birdville farmer. The real question is did he find the mare wandering around Tuesday or Wednesday when he told the police or did he talk to his cousin about it Monday afternoon/evening? And why would the pair swear their cousin to secrecy and presumably ditch the horse there? Why not release it somewhere unseen? Was the cousin under pressure to produce a story and under pressure implicated the first person he could think of, his juvenile delinquent 17-year-old cousin? There can be no question however about the identity of the horse. A neighbor of Uncle Jim’s, Mrs. Mosteller, was able to identify the saddle as her husband had frequently borrowed it from Cavender.

Whilst the pair of youthful suspects were telling conflicting stories in separate Fort Worth jails the police were busy investigating and a timeline of the slaying had been established.

Uncle Jim had been killed sometime late Monday afternoon or night, however, it was before he would customarily retire for the evening as his bed was still made. The investigators were also convinced that it wasn’t Tuesday morning because the newspaper was left untouched in his yard. The body wasn’t discovered until Tuesday as the neighbors heard the cows mooing with agitation from having not been tended to. Finally, the embalmers confirmed that he had been dead for at least 24 hours when they received it Tuesday night.

As fate would have it one of Uncle Jim’s neighbors had been driving to town Monday afternoon and came forward to police Friday with his account of the events. H.H. Chapman and his wife drove into town early Monday afternoon according to the Star-Telegram; “The Chapmans lived about two miles north of Cavender’s farm. Chapman said that he saw Cavender in the lot at the farm as he and his wife came to town at about 1 p.m. Monday. As they were returning to their home [at] about 4:30 p.m. Monday, Chapman and his wife overtook two youths. About 18 or 19 years of age. Who were walking along the road near the Cavender farm.” The article goes on to detail that Chapman decided to come forward after reading about the murder in the paper. It was unusual to see those two youths along the road and both he and his wife noticed it. 

Naturally, the police brought Chapman in to identify the boys they had in custody. If he could place them near the farm around the time of Jim Cavender’s death paired with the story from the cousin the evidence would seem to indicate they were responsible. However, after looking at both youths Chapman said he was unable to identify them as the same ones he saw near Cavender’s farm.

Now the only thing placing the boys and the horse together is the cousin's story. With the whereabouts of the boys and their connection to the area being called into question let us now turn our attention to one final neighbor of Uncle Jim Cavender's, the last person to see him alive.

Bill Mackey by his own admission according to the Star-Telegram was the last neighbor to see Uncle Jim alive. Mackey said that Jim had come to his place around 4:30 p.m. Monday afternoon to pay him $40 dollars on a debt. “Mackey declared that Cavender had sold a load of oats Friday for $45.” - Star-Telegram Thursday, October 23, 1930. A seemingly strange detail to add in an interview about your neighbor’s death and an interesting thing to coincidentally happen mere hours or hypothetically minutes before his time of death. 

One final detail to mention here is that Jim may have sold another load of oats Monday morning according to his brother, but he did not know for sure.

The police knew that Jim died in his granary as a result of being struck in the head from behind with a rod from a wheat binder and then strangled with a length of cord. Police believed that he was filling up sacks to feed his livestock when he was attacked. There were no signs of a struggle. Uncle Jim never saw or, have become hard of hearing later in life, heard it coming. Bloodied, suffocated, pockets pilfered, and watch removed, his body was hastily covered with oats and abandoned. 

The murder weapon, a rod from a wheat binder, is a point of interest here as well. A wheat binder was a common tool/machine for farmers to have and many in the area would have had it. Uncle Jim’s wheat binder was missing no rods. In other words, the rod did not come from Jim's wheat binder. Mackey was also a grain and dairy farmer according to census data.  

The papers seemed to have their own theory, or at least in my reading of them, Mackey jumps out as a potential suspect. It seems police may not have pursued that angle.

The last mention of the case we could find comes from the Star-Telegram Wednesday, November 5, 1930 – “The suspect arrested Monday night in connection with the Killing of J.C. Cavender, 63, farmer, Wednesday was to be taken to the small granary on the farm near Birdville where the body was found on the night of Oct. 21. Police arrested the man when he returned to the city Monday night and questioned him Tuesday. He was to be taken to the farm in order that neighbors of Cavender could attempt to identify him.”

It would seem that this individual was likely the person who had stayed with Cavender or perhaps was his ex-employee. Unfortunately, it was not made clear who exactly this individual was. Evidently, neighbors were unable to identify him.

Hypothetically the last person to see Uncle Jim alive as far as we know was owed money; he also knew Uncle Jim had money given his quote in the Star-Telegram. Then there is the matter of the conflicting reports about the horse and the two youths from the cousin. Had they actually borrowed the horse from Uncle Jim on the worst possible day, or perhaps from the person who killed Uncle Jim and stole the horse, or had they stolen the horse themselves? Finally, what's the story about this ex-employee/the person who stayed the night? Likely the same person later arrested for questioning, seems to be the most obvious suspect given he was placed on the farm the evening Jim was murdered. The record of events in the newspapers ends there. Nevertheless, we know according to the family history no one was ever brought to trial for the murder of J.C. Cavender. We may never know for sure who killed Uncle Jim.

Research: Bruce Bumbalough, Courtney Kincaid, and Brandon Farner

Editing: Courtney Kincaid