St. Clair County
Remnants Of The Past

St. Clair County Courier
28 January 2005

Pages From the Past
Murder of prominent St. Clair County Couple startles residents

By Shelly Baugh

Last week, the Courier featured an article detailing three of St. Clair County’s most startling criminal cases ending with the not guilty verdict in the murder trial of John Berry in 1878. This week the Courier will continue the series on the criminal history of our county in the late 1800’s.

The murder of John D. Baucom on July 19, 1875 was still ringing excitement throughout St. Clair County when citizens were startled by the reported murder of Colonel Charles Sims and his wife, a wealthy and prominent couple who lived one mile from Monegaw Springs.
Rumor spread throughout the county that Colonel Sims flew into a jealous fit of rage and killed his wife then shot himself on the morning of July 23, 1875.
The local paper reported that Sims shot his wife twice and then deliberately turned the gun on himself. It was reported that Colonel Sims was the victim of jealousy which, at times, brought on temporary insanity.
It is believed that Colonel Sims and his wife had some angry words on Thursday, July 22, which caused Mrs. Sims to leave the couple’s bedroom and sleep in the servant girl’s room. Early the next morning Colonel Sims went into the room in which his wife and the servant girl slept and woke them up.
According to the reports made, the servant girl said that when she left the room Mrs. Sims was putting on her shoes. The girl said that while she was milking cows near the house she heard some loud talking and angry words. Then she heard two pistol shots in quick succession. After a few moments she heard the third shot.
The hired man and the girl went into the house to find Colonel and Mrs. Sims both lying on the floor dead.
It was later learned that Colonel Sims had apparently been up all night writing his will and dividing his property between different parties. Only a portion of which he left to his two daughters. How the rest of his estate was divided was not revealed.
The coroner’s jury found nothing to controvert the above.
Another story told about the incident was that Colonel Sims and Waldo P. Johnson were partners in Monegaw Springs. Colonel Sims wanted to sell his portion but his wife refused to sign the papers. It is also reported that Colonel Sims had recently complained of a terrible pain in his head and it had been thought by some that the man was partially deranged.
There were many other crimes and casualties in St. Clair County in those late years of the nineteenth century. Marcellus Harris killed Dr. James Smith at Osceola less than a quarter mile from the courthouse. It was said to have been a plain case of murder. However, Harris was cleared by the law, only to be waylaid and assassinated a year later in 1861.
Perhaps the case deemed the saddest of all by the citizens of that time was the conviction of F.J. France.
France killed a young man by the name of Dickey for seducing his wife in 1878. He was arrested and placed in jail at Osceola where he remained for one year awaiting trial. He was found guilty and given forty years in prison. An appeal was taken to the Supreme Court and pending the hearing France was released on bond.
In 1881, France’s wife was granted a divorce but so gallant a fight was made by his attorneys that France was granted equal guardianship of his minor children. The children were to live with France in the winter and spend the summer with their mother.
While awaiting his Supreme Court trial in 1882 the grand jury found an indictment against France for the murder of a young man by the name of Johnson several years before.
Three other parties were also indicted for the murder but France took off for Jefferson City before the case could be tried.
Though the citizens of St. Clair County knew little of France’s past, it was said that in the years he resided in St. Clair County he governed himself in an honest, straightforward and gentlemanly way. It was reported that he was a hard worker, his trade being a carpenter, and he never drank anything stronger than water.
An outcry of sympathy circulated the county when the news was revealed that the Supreme Court would uphold the guilty verdict. Those who knew France wished that his fate had been different.