This novel is about Alva C. Tenil Horr, who murdered his wife, Ida on September 16, 1914, in Danville, Illinois. Mr. Horr was arrested in August of the following year and swiftly tried the following month. He was sentenced to Southern Illinois Penitentiary in Chester, Illinois for 25 years. He escaped from there in March of 1919. This novel is a timeline of events before and after the murder. I do not mean to imply that I have written a novel about fictional characters. I have written a novel about real people who happened to live at a time somewhat removed from the present. Ida was my Great Aunt. She was born Ida Meeker, October 10, 1879, in Bismark Illinois. The pictures and documents illustrated in the novel help tell the story. This is Alva and Ida's story, and also the story of a great many other individuals and families. There are many beginnings to Ida's story. Born in one era, maturing in another, watching the century transform into the next, period of her life. She was unaware of the changes it would bring to her life and the lives of many local residents in the Danville, Illinois area.
