'Hanging tree' in county courthouse square taken down

The so-called hanging tree in uptown Jackson once used for executions in Cape Girardeau County was cut down Sunday.

County officials ordered the tree removed after determining it no longer was healthy enough to continue standing.

"It was just structurally ... it was really bad," said Gary Hill, owner of Quality Tree Services in Jackson, who removed the tree.

"It had gotten to the point where it was a liability," he said.

The mulberry tree near the Cape Girardeau County courthouse was used in the hanging of condemned criminals. Missouri stopped executing people by hanging in 1937.

One of the last of these executions to take place at the tree occurred June 15, 1899, when convicted murderer John Headrick, 19, was "hanged by the neck between heaven and earth until he is dead," as ordered by Judge Henry C. Riley.

Headrick shot to death James M. Lail, 44, in July 1898 in front of Lail's wife and teenage daughter at Lail's farm south of Jackson. Headrick also shot Lail's wife in the back when she threw herself over the body of her husband, according to a Southeast Missourian archived article.

Hill said the wood from the tree will likely will not be used for anything, as it is severely rotted.

Hill said the tree was a part of local history, and he expects people to be sad to see the tree go.

"It was there before the courthouse," he said.

The current courthouse was built in 1909.

Former Cape Girardeau County Prosecuting Attorney Morley Swingle kept a plaque of the hanging tree and the Headrick execution in his office for years.

tgraef@semissourian.com

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