Events

Blood Feud on Bull Creek: The True and Complete Story of the Meadows-Bilyeu Feud and Events Leading Up to and After the Battle
Thursday, May 18, 2023, 7 p.m.

Author Randy Pace will discuss his 2022 book, Blood Feud on Bull Creek: The True and Complete Story of the Meadows-Bilyeu Feud and Events Leading Up to and After the Battle. Though the conflict is not commonly known these days, from 1898-1901 the violent feud between the Meadows and Bilyeu families captured American newspaper headlines. Cut off from much of the outside world, these early settlers to the Taney and Christian county area became well-established landowners who intermarried and worked closely with one another until a series of increasingly vicious acts led to the deaths of six people and more injured. Filled with betrayal, a brutal bombing, bullying, murders, spectacular court trials and acts of revenge, Blood Feud on Bull Creek is much more than the riveting account of feuding between Ozarks families struggling to survive. It reflects our own family bonds and loyalties—and the lengths to which we might go to defend our honor.

Murder & Mayhem Jefferson City
Thursday, July 20, 2023, 7 p.m.

Missouri State Archives staff member and author Michelle Brooks will speak about her new book, Murder & Mayhem Jefferson City. The wilderness-born Missouri capital’s first century (1821-1921) was a tumultuous time. Villainous escapes from the state’s only prison resulted in theft, abuse and even murder, the grandest attempt ending with the city’s only triple hanging. Later during this period, the capital had entrepreneurs willing to sidestep the federal Volstead Act and its prohibition on alcohol. This attracted Ku Klux Klan activity and culminated in the election of a “law and order” sheriff, whose deputies’ broke laws of their own in their enforcement efforts. Many smaller, more personal tragedies grieved the community during these years as well. Take the South Side murder of a German immigrant by a teenaged deputy caught sleeping with the victim’s daughter. Join us as Brooks recounts these and other shocking events in Jefferson City’s turbulent first century.

Upcoming Programs: TBA