In early September 1821, twelve men met at the old courthouse and decided Martin Dunnegan’s fate. They looked at the facts of the case and decided that “… the said Martin Dunnegan, be taken from whence he came, and there remain in close confinement – until the first Friday in December next and that on that day between the hours of one and three O Clock P.M. he be taken to the place of execution in the vicinity of this Town, and that he be there hanged by the neck until he is dead.”

Martin Dunnegan’s crime spree began on March 30, 1821, at a general store owned by Luther Morgan. On that fateful morning he walked in and handed Luther Morgan four separate notes. They all said the same thing:

“Mr Morgan Sir let Martin Dunnegan have to the amount of twelve dollars in the store and I will be security for the same, this 30th March, 1821 Levi Underwood”

After he, very quickly, got found out, “a Jury of good and Lawful men” decreed that Martin Dunnegan deserved to die over his clumsy attempt to “feloniously and falsely make forge and counterfeit,” these orders in the name of Levi Underwood.

And for all those scraps of paper he hanged.

The State of Alabama v. Martin Dunnegan, Madison County Alabama Circuit Court State Cases, 1819-1823. p. 72 – 75 (1821).

Burket Green got into an altercation with Warren Hart in 1821.

On April 29, they scuffled and during this fight Burket Green got the upper hand. He “did beat and throw down the floor,” Warren Hart, who suffered serious wounds to the “head neck breast Belly sides and back.” Green kicked Hart viciously and, according to court documents, ended his homicidal frenzy with “one Mortal Bruise” behind Hart’s right ear. The killing punch landed with such force that it left an indentation in Warren Hart’s skull, it ran two inches long and was sunk an inch deep.

Hart suffered for several days. He languished from April 29th to May 4th, when the damage done during Burket Green’s awful spasm finally killed him.

A jury convicted him of manslaughter and sentenced him to a year in prison, on November 29, 1822.

That is not the end of the Burket Green story.

Just five months into his sentence, Burket Green got the upper hand on Daniel Rather, “the keeper of the Gaol” for the city of Huntsville. On April 10, 1823, he attacked Rather, and with “force and arms” secured his early release.

His newfound freedom was short-lived and the law caught up with him some days later. Burket Green got an additional fifty dollar fine for his escape. The county indicted Daniel Rather for his negligence in failing to secure Burket Green, but the jury remembered Green’s violence and dropped those charges.

The State of Alabama v. Burket Green, Madison County Alabama Circuit Court State Cases, 1819-1823. p. 127 (1823).

The State of Alabama v. Daniel Rather, Madison County Alabama Circuit Court State Cases, 1819-1823. p. 150 -151 (1823).

The State of Alabama v. Burket Green, Madison County Alabama Circuit Court State Cases, 1819-1823. p. 170 – 173 (1821).