From moonshiner to fugitive: The daring escapes of Hammie Shane in 1925

Pemiscot County lawmen had a problem in 1925, and that problem’s name was Hammie Shane — escapee, moonshiner, possible murderer, and general defier of the law. A new sheriff swore to bring him in only to find Shane was craftier and better equipped than anticipated.

The Bootheel got another sensational crime story in 1975 when two kidnappers were thwarted by poor driving and a breakdown in New Madrid County.

No issues available: Jan. 29, 1950.

100 years ago

Jan. 29, 1925

• The latest escapades of Pemiscot County’s most prolific outlaw reached The Daily Republican today.

It’s been a minute since we heard of Hammie Shane. To recap, he was institutionalized in St. Louis after the 1923 murders of his cousins, Mr. and Mrs. Sid Alloway, though it was unclear if he was responsible. He escaped the sanitarium last July — coincidentally, the day before an unidentified man tried to shoot Missouri Sen. Michael Kinney. The would-be assassin resembled Shane, so St. Louis detectives chased him to Hayti where, after a manhunt and a tense armed standoff, they declared he was the sheriff’s problem and left.

A Caruthersville court eventually ruled Shane sane in a civil case, negating the St. Louis insanity claim, and Kinney declined to press charges.

Shane resurfaced in October 1924 after a liquor arrest. He showed up to court with two rifles, which officers assumed were leftover from a hunting trip and failed to confiscate. When the guilty verdict was read, Shane calmly held the room at gunpoint and escaped to Hayti once again, returning to the moonshine business.

New Pemiscot County Sheriff J. Ham Smith took office on Jan. 1 and vowed to bring Shane to justice. He tracked him to a doctor’s office on Jan. 19, but Shane jumped out the second-story window and outran Smith for two miles through the woods, while Smith shot at him sporadically. Smith lost the trail, but reached a road and found Shane waiting for him 50 yards away with a shotgun and a line drawn in the dirt.

“Don’t cross that line, and don’t try to shoot. I got a steel jacket on and you can’t hurt me,” Shane reportedly shouted.

Smith fired twice. Both bullets struck the fleeing Shane in the back and “bounced off like rubber balls,” Smith recalled, the impact jarring but not stopping him. He remains at large.

Authorities suspect Shane ordered the bullet-proof jacket through the mail after seeing similar protection on St. Louis investigators last year.

50 years ago

Jan. 29, 1975

• A kidnapping was foiled last night by car trouble and bad driving.

David Earl McKay, 17, and Glen W. Mayberry, 21, both of St. Louis, were captured within an hour of each other by the Missouri State Highway Patrol and New Madrid deputies. They had kidnapped two Memphis women at gunpoint — 21-year-old Carolyn Jean Stone and 20-year-old Nettie R. Bell — at a Marston rest stop. The men split up and drove north on I-55, each with a captive.

At 11:21 p.m., MSHP received a complaint of a possible intoxicated driver and a description of McKay’s car. Troopers pulled him over near Matthews and Bell jumped from the car, alerting officers she’d been kidnapped. McKay was arrested without incident, and troopers found a .22-caliber pistol under his seat.

A bulletin was issued for Mayberry’s car, which was found broken down and abandoned near New Madrid soon after. Mayberry had hitchhiked to a truck stop farther north. Stone waited until he was gone, then caught a ride up the highway and unknowingly got off at the same stop. Troopers and deputies arrived shortly after she did and arrested Mayberry.

Both men face charges of kidnapping, driving without a license and reckless driving. Bell and Stone safely returned to Memphis.