Liddel surely regretted his decision to come to Huntsville, for Leroy Pope Walker saved his most brutal cross examination for the government’s star witness. Liddel was portrayed as a liar and career criminal, who was destroying the character and reputation of an upright man like Frank, so he could avoid going to the gallows for murder.
Governor Smith could see his case slipping away. He tried on redirect to reestablish some of Liddel’s credibility, but in the end it did no good. After a parade of witnesses by the defense who swore that they saw Frank in Nashville on the day of the robbery and a brilliant final summation by Leroy Pope Walker, the jury reached its verdict.
Frank James was acquitted of all charges. He walked out of that Huntsville courthouse a free man. He returned to Missouri and, for the most part, lived a quiet life. The James Gang was no more. He lived out the rest of his days as a living legend while the myth of the James Gang grew. He died peacefully, an old man, at his boyhood home in 1915.
He came to Huntsville as an accused criminal. He left as a national hero.
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Review: The Trial of Frank James
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