Books

Whether novels or non-fiction adventure awaits the intrepid reader.

The Counterfeiter's Son

ISBN 978-0-9891781-6-7

352 pages. 6" x 9"
Paperback - $18
By Jon Musgrave

When 16-year-old Silas Hawkins escapes from years of Indian captivity he just wants to go home, but when he discovers his parents missing and the only clue a girl held by river pirates down the Ohio River at the notorious Cave-in-Rock he has to convince an old friend and a veteran counterfeiter to take him there, a place that may be the most dangerous spot on the American frontier.

He finds it's not just cutthroats that threaten his existence but outlaws such as James Wilson and legendary frontier serial killers Big and Little Harpe who can even threaten his soul. A counterfeit curse could be a blessing in disguise.

slaves, salt, sex
& mr. Crenshaw

ISBN 978-0-9891781-3-6
608 pages. 6" x 9"
3rd Ed. Paperback - $32

By Jon Musgrave

The 3rd edition (2015) is the new paperback version of the 2005 expanded and revised hardcover edition of Slaves, Salt, Sex & Mr. Crenshaw: The Real Story of the Old Slave House and America's Reverse Underground R.R. It has everything that the hardcover edition contained — more pages, photographs and details than the original 2004 paperback version including 96 more pages, additional historical details as each chapter has been tweaked and improved, and many more photographs, now totaling more than 65. The 3rd Edition includes additional genealogical information in three of the appendices in the back as well as a historical timeline for the house that runs into the 21st Century. This is the most complete history of the Old Slave House available.

Slaves, Salt, Sex & Mr. Crenshaw tells not only the story of John Hart Crenshaw and his plantation manor, but also the stories of his victims, the ones he kidnapped and sold into slavery. It's also a history of the saltworks in southeastern Illinois that served as the state's first industry as well as the major excuse to allow slavery in its various forms to operate within its borders.

The house has long been recognized for its ghosts — some have called it one of the most haunted sites in America. It's been recognized for its architecture — that's why it's on the National Register of Historic Places, and in September 2004, it was finally recognized for its history as a station on the "Reverse Underground Railroad" — the network of kidnappers that terrorized free residents of color in the border states with the ever-present threat of capture and sale into slavery.

The author Jon Musgrave cover the closing of the Old Slave House in the fall of 1996 as a journalist for The Daily Register of Harrisburg, Illinois, the closest daily newspaper to Equality. A week after it closed he joined the research team of Ron Nelson and Gary DeNeal that uncovered source after source of evidence that showed that the general stories long in circulation about the house were based on solid evidence.

inside the shelton gang

ISBN 978-0-9707984-8-0
256 pages. 6" x 9"
Paperback. $18.95
By Ruthie Shelton and Jon Musgrave

Inside the Shelton Gang tells the true story of what happens when a father’s wall of secrets begin to crumble and a family’s lost heritage of violence erupts from the front pages of history. For daughter Ruthie it’s a discovery that will forever change her life as she learns what it meant to be a Shelton in the days of Prohibition and the decades following, to be a member of a crime family that rivaled Al Capone’s for control of Illinois.

The books covers the entire history of the Shelton Brothers from their days on the farm in rural Wayne County to the bustling streets of St. Louis before the war through their move to the coal fields of Bloody Williamson in the 1920s. During Prohibition they expanded their operations to all of downstate Illinois. At first allies with Capone the Syndicate and some of their former members turned on them in the 1940s. Assassinations and bombings forced them to flee to Florida in the early 50s where granddaughter Ruthie was born in Jacksonville a decade later.

The bloody vendetta of southern illinois

ISBN 978-0-9891781-0-5
2nd Ed. 240 pages. 6" x 9"
Paperback. $18.95
By Milo Erwin and Jon Musgrave

The Bloody Vendetta of Southern Illinois covers the deadly family feuds and Ku Klux Klan activities during the decade following the Civil War focused in the counties of Franklin, Jackson and Williamson. Milo Erwin wrote the first major account of the Vendetta during its immediate aftermath in 1876 as part of his History of Williamson County, Illinois.

Now, Jon Musgrave takes Erwin's account and expands upon it with additional material from surrounding counties and further research into the characters who left such a mark on the region.

In many ways the book can be considered the prequel to Bloody Williamson.

Secrets of

the herrin gangs

ISBN 978-0-9707984-9-7
100 pages. 6" x 9"
Paperback. $9.95

By Ralph Johnson and Jon Musgrave

Secrets of the Herrin Gangs tells the account of Ralph Johnson, an insider with the Shelton Gang who also worked with Charlie Birger at one time. Originally published in newspapers across the country at the end of the Gang War during the Bloody Williamson years in January 1927, all 10 segments are compiled now for the first time in one volume. In addition, Jon Musgrave reveals the mystery of Johnson’s true identity and his life of crime in the second half of the book.

The boy of battle ford

ISBN 978-0-9891781-0-5
2nd Ed. 240 pages. 6" x 9"
Paperback. $18.95
By W. S. Blackman. Edited and Introduction by Jon Musgrave

The Boy of Battle Ford by W. S. Blackman has served as a classic when it comes to descriptions of antebellum Southern Illinois and as well as life as a soldier during the western campaigns of the Civil War. Blackman turned 21 just weeks after the fall of Fort Sumter and the start of the American Civil War.

More than four decades later he used his war journals as the basis of his autobiography. From his boyhood years on the Battle Ford farm in Southern Illinois to his own life and death experiences on the battlefield, Blackman finds the lessons of life in his own struggles for both physical survival and spiritual faith.

Handbook of old gallatin county

ISBN 978-0-9707984-0-4
2nd Ed. 240 pages. 6" x 9"
Paperback. $24
Edited by Jon Musgrave

The Handbook of Old Gallatin County and Southeastern Illinois compiles 19th and early 20th century sources on Gallatin County's fascinating history divided into four sections: The 1887 History of Gallatin County from Goodspeed Publishing Co.; Miscellaneous Anecdotes of Early Gallatin County - a collection of writings on everything from the early saltworks to a sketch of the 1891 grand jury; Military History of Gallatin County - a collection of writings on the military actions of Gallatin County residents from the Revolutionary War through the Spanish-American War; plus 250 Gallatin County Biographies.

Jon Musgrave