The Senator's Son
The Shocking Disappearance, the Celebrated Trial, and the Mystery That Remains a Century Later
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Narrated by:
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John Witt
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By:
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Charles Oldham
About this listen
On Monday, February 13, 1905, eight- year-old Kenneth Beasley walked to the back of his school's playground and into the melting snow of the woods beyond. He never returned. A massive search was undertaken for the North Carolina state senator's son, and a reward was offered.
Despite clues, rumors, and even a ransom note, he was never found. A year and a half later, a political rival hurriedly was charged. Accused of the most bizarre and twisted of plots, he faced a courtroom overflowing with jurors, star lawyers, spectators, and newspaper reporters. The eventual verdict and stunning aftermath would rip apart two families and shock a state, yet leave a mystery unsolved.
Now, Charles Oldham, attorney by trade, has reopened the case. Using modern research methods and his own legal training - while also investigating the state's political, racial, lynching, and liquor cultures - Oldham has come as close as anyone can to the truth.
The result is an absorbing, must-listen story. Meticulously researched and beautifully written and narrated, The Senator's Son is both an important book and a fascinating one.
©2018 Charles Oldham (P)2019 Ray McAllisterListeners also enjoyed...
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The Blood of Emmett Till
- By: Timothy B. Tyson
- Narrated by: Rhett Samuel Price
- Length: 8 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
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Mississippi, 1955: 14-year-old Emmett Till was murdered by a white mob after making flirtatious remarks to a white woman, Carolyn Bryant. Till's attackers were never convicted, but his lynching became one of the most notorious hate crimes in American history. It launched protests across the country, helped the NAACP gain thousands of members, and inspired famous activists like Rosa Parks to stand up and fight for equal rights for the first time.
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Tough read. Rest in Peace Emmit. We are so sorry!
- By Melanie B on 09-16-18
By: Timothy B. Tyson
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Race Against Time
- By: Jerry Mitchell
- Narrated by: Jerry Mitchell
- Length: 13 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
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In Race Against Time, Mitchell takes listeners on the twisting, pulse-racing road that led to the reopening of four of the most infamous killings from the days of the Civil Rights Movement, decades after the fact. His work played a central role in bringing killers to justice for the assassination of Medgar Evers, the firebombing of Vernon Dahmer, the 16th Street Church bombing in Birmingham, and the Mississippi Burning case. Mitchell reveals how he unearthed secret documents and found long-lost suspects and witnesses, building up evidence strong enough to take on the Klan.
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Absolutely horrible reading
- By Grace O'Malley on 03-14-20
By: Jerry Mitchell
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Let the Lord Sort Them
- The Rise and Fall of the Death Penalty
- By: Maurice Chammah
- Narrated by: Kevin R. Free
- Length: 11 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
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In 1972, the United States Supreme Court made a surprising ruling: The country’s death penalty system violated the Constitution. The backlash was swift, especially in Texas, where executions were considered part of the cultural fabric, and a dark history of lynching was masked by gauzy visions of a tough-on-crime frontier. When executions resumed, Texas quickly became the nationwide leader in carrying out the punishment.
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Very Slanted
- By appreciative reader on 02-07-21
By: Maurice Chammah
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Buried in the Bitter Waters
- The Hidden History of Racial Cleansing in America
- By: Elliot Jaspin
- Narrated by: Don Leslie
- Length: 10 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
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"Leave now, or die!" From the heart of the Midwest to the Deep South, from the mountains of North Carolina to the Texas frontier, words like these have echoed through more than a century of American history. The call heralded not a tornado or a hurricane, but a very unnatural disaster: a manmade wave of racial cleansing that purged black populations from counties across the nation.
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a compelling read with a disappointing conclusion
- By Gregory on 12-16-07
By: Elliot Jaspin
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The Queen
- The Forgotten Life Behind an American Myth
- By: Josh Levin
- Narrated by: January LaVoy
- Length: 12 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
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In this critically acclaimed true crime tale of "welfare queen" Linda Taylor, a Slate editor reveals a "wild, only-in-America story" of political manipulation and murder (Attica Locke, Edgar Award-winning author). Part social history, part true-crime investigation, Josh Levin's mesmerizing book, the product of six years of reporting and research, is a fascinating account of American racism, and an exposé of the "welfare queen" myth, one that fueled political debates that reverberate to this day.
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Very compelling story!
- By Marilyn on 06-24-19
By: Josh Levin
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Emmett Till
- The Murder That Shocked the World and Propelled the Civil Rights Movement
- By: Devery S. Anderson
- Narrated by: Brandon Church
- Length: 21 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
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Emmett Till offers the first truly comprehensive account of the 1955 murder and its aftermath. It tells the story of Emmett Till, the 14-year-old African American boy from Chicago brutally lynched for a harmless flirtation at a country store in the Mississippi Delta. His death and the acquittal of his killers by an all-white jury set off a firestorm of protests that reverberated all over the world and spurred on the civil rights movement.
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An important story narrated with power and warmth
- By R. Nance on 10-04-16
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Blood at the Root
- A Racial Cleansing in America
- By: Patrick Phillips
- Narrated by: Patrick Phillips
- Length: 7 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
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National Book Award finalist Patrick Phillips tells Forsyth's tragic story in vivid detail and traces its long history of racial violence all the way back to antebellum Georgia. Recalling his own childhood in the 1970s and '80s, Phillips sheds light on the communal crimes of his hometown and the violent means by which locals kept Forsyth all white well into the 1990s.
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when is white history month?
- By Bailey on 03-06-18
By: Patrick Phillips
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On the Courthouse Lawn
- Revised Edition
- By: Sherrilyn Ifill, Bryan Stevenson - foreword
- Narrated by: LisaGay Hamilton
- Length: 8 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
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Nearly 5,000 black Americans were lynched between 1890 and 1960. Over 40 years later, Sherrilyn Ifill examines the numerous ways that this racial trauma still resounds across the United States. While the lynchings and their immediate aftermath were devastating, the little-known contemporary consequences, such as the marginalization of political and economic development for black Americans, are equally pernicious. A landmark book, On the Courthouse Lawn is a much-needed and urgent road map for communities finally confronting lynching's long shadow.
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Born in Salisbury
- By rondcorbinAmazon Customer on 01-07-20
By: Sherrilyn Ifill, and others
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The Bourbon King
- The Life and Crimes of George Remus, Prohibition's Evil Genius
- By: Bob Batchelor
- Narrated by: Joe Barrett
- Length: 13 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
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October 2019 marks the 100th anniversary of the Volstead Act, which put the enforcement teeth into Prohibition. But the law didn't stop George Remus from cornering the boozy, illegal liquor marketplace and amassing a fortune that eclipsed $200 million (the equivalent of $4.75 billion today). As eminent documentarian Ken Burns proclaimed, "Remus was to bootlegging what Rockefeller was to oil." Author Bob Batchelor has unearthed a treasure trove of untapped historical archives to cover the life, times, and crimes of the man who ran the largest bootlegging operation in America.
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Disappointing
- By Amazon Customer on 06-02-20
By: Bob Batchelor
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Southern Horrors & The Red Record (AmazonClassics Edition)
- By: Ida B. Wells-Barnett
- Narrated by: Kristyl Dawn Tift
- Length: 4 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
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In the United States at the turn of the nineteenth century, crusading African American journalist Ida B. Wells-Barnett bravely reported on the scourge of white supremacist violence that had personally impacted her own life and work. Her reporting exposed and riled the South, enlightened uninformed Northerners, and captured international attention. Southern Horrors and The Red Record offer extensive accounts of the lynching, cruelty, and hate that African Americans faced in the early years of the Jim Crow South.
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So Courageous
- By eric lewis on 09-29-23
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Black Birds in the Sky
- The Story and Legacy of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre
- By: Brandy Colbert
- Narrated by: Brandy Colbert, Kristyl Dawn Tift
- Length: 5 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
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In the early morning of June 1, 1921, a White mob marched across the train tracks in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and into its predominantly Black Greenwood District - a thriving, affluent neighborhood known as America's Black Wall Street. They brought with them firearms, gasoline, and explosives. In a few short hours, they'd razed 35 square blocks to the ground, leaving hundreds dead. The Tulsa Race Massacre is one of the most devastating acts of racial violence in US history. But how did it come to pass?
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Incredible story and sooo well written
- By Deby on 02-17-22
By: Brandy Colbert
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The Best New True Crime Stories: Small Towns
- By: Mitzi Szereto - editor
- Narrated by: Holly Palance, Phil Thron
- Length: 8 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
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Whether in Truman Capote’s detailed murder of the Clutter family or Ted Bundy’s small-town charm, criminals have always roamed rural America and towns worldwide. Featuring murder stories, criminal case studies, and more, The Best New True Crime Stories: Small Towns contains all-new accounts from writers of true crime, crime journalism, and crime fiction. And these entries are not based on a true story - they are true stories. Edited by acclaimed author and anthologist Mitzi Szereto, the stories in this volume span the globe.
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Crime in other countries is not my cup of tea.
- By Brenda on 01-03-21
What listeners say about The Senator's Son
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Mary B
- 06-16-21
Amazing story
This was a terrific telling of a tragic story. I really appreciated the historical context the author gave. The reader had the perfect voice for the story and gave a sense of seriousness that seemed very respectful.
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- Mary_Ellin Scarberry
- 01-29-20
Southern history in a Southern drawl
I don’t usually read much history or nonfiction, and confess I picked up the audiobook version of “The Senator’s Son” because my old friend John Witt is the narrator. John’s measured Southern drawl is perfect for this sort of book, set as it is deep in the heart of North Carolina and Virginia’s Hampton Roads area. While I enjoyed hearing John tell this story, like a night of yarn spinning in front of a cracking fire, I think I might have enjoyed it more in actual book form, so I could have flipped back and forth to reacquaint myself with old characters introduced earlier and perused photos and maps that I’m sure were included in the print version. For me, while the side discussions of old politics distracted me from the main storyline of Kenneth’s disappearance, it was fascinating to learn abut the wheeling and dealing of that era, not so different from our own. Recommended for history buffs and true crime lovers - and those who like to listen to a story well-told in smooth, Southern baritone.
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2 people found this helpful
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- SBane
- 02-17-22
Narration is great but the story is tedious
This sounded like a very interesting book but the author went in so many different directions with the local history the story of the missing boy was lost.
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