Malachi Theophilus “Mallie” Nettles was born on June 24th, 1875, in Polk County, TX. His father, Stephen Joseph Nettles, was a farmer. His mother Minerva Caroline “Carrie” Meece was the sister of T.F. Meece, hence the middle name Theophilus.
In the 1880 United States Federal Census, he was identified as being four years of age and he was one of six children. There are no census records for 1890. The records were destroyed in a fire at the Commerce Department in Washington, DC in 1921.
The 1900 United States Federal Census listed M.T. Nettles as the head of household. It appears that he preferred “Mallie” as a nickname. Another Meece, similar to his Uncle Theophilus Franklin Meece, that didn’t care for his name. He was 24 years old, a farmer, married, had 3 children and he owned his farm, which was mortgage free. He could read, write and speak English.
In 1910 nothing changed except the size of his family and his age, which was 34. Their household consisted of nine members, including Mallie, his wife, and their children. Their eldest daughter, Ida M Nettles, was 12 years old, followed by Margie Nettles, who was 10. Walter Nettles, their son, was 8 years old, and Savalla Nettles was 6. The family also had three younger daughters; Gertie Nettles, aged 4, Aleen Nettles, aged 2, and the youngest, William G Nettles, who was just a newborn.
In the 1920 census, he was 45 years of age. Carl Franklin, Elizabeth and Ella were added to the brood. He lived on Kiam Road in Livingston, TX, and owned a farm that carried a mortgage. According to the 1930 census, his family lived at 538 Seventh Street in Port Arthur, TX. The household did not have a radio. He was still listed as a farmer, and he rented his home. The rent was $60.00 per month or $959.00 annually. In the 1930 census, he was 55 years old.
Two son-in laws lived in the Port Arthur home as well as a daughter-in-law. Both of the sons-in-law listed the industry they were working in as oil refinery. His son was a truck driver in the construction industry. The home in Port Arthur was being run as a boarding house. There were three boarders living in the home. They were listed as a fireman, welder and laborer. All three of the boarders listed their occupations as oil refinery. Savalla listed her occupation as proprietress of the boarding house. Malachi T. Nettles was 55 and Savalla K Nettles was 48. This is a list of the people residing in the boarding house:
• Savalla K. Nettles
• Elizabeth Nettles 15
• Ella R Nettles 13
• Savalla K Braussard 26
• Alcede Braussard 25 (son-in-law)
• Gertrude Brown 24
• Francis L Brown 27 (son-in-law)
• William G Nettles 20
• Lillian Nettles 19 (daughter-in-law)
• Thomas Goodman 40 (boarder)
• James A Elles 23 (boarder)
• Charles Alford 28 (boarder)
Based on the newspaper accounts, M.T. Nettles still maintained and operated a 60-acre farm in Livingston. Livingston, TX, is 96.3 miles or 1 hour and 41 minutes from Port Arthur, TX.
On December 27th 1930 Malachi Theophilus “Mallie” Nettles was murdered by his friend and employee. These are the details of the trial:
Dynamiter Gets Nine Years
Joe B. Zimmerman, 49, a millwright, was found guilty of a charge of murder in district court at Livingston Thursday, after the jury deliberated for 17 hours, and his punishment was affixed at nine years in the penitentiary.
Zimmerman’s trial was one of the most sensational that has been held in many years in Polk County, attracting wide-spread attention due to the unusual circumstances surrounding the tragedy. The victim, Mallie T. Nettles, 56, a farmer, had been a friend of Zimmerman, and they had roamed the piney forests of East Texas together as boys.
Nettles died from injuries received from a blast of dynamite planted in his cook stove December 19, last year. The state, in conducting the prosecution of the case, introduced testimony to show that Zimmerman had placed two sticks of dynamite in the flue of the Nettles’ home on the night before the explosion. Zimmerman received the verdict calmly.
Zimmerman swore that he had been a friend of Nettles for many years, this friendship lasting until a few years ago when he (Zimmerman) left his own community to work at his occupation as millwright in other towns.
He said his wife grew distant during the time he was working in other towns and treated him like a stranger when he would come home for an occasional visit. Eventually, she moved to Nettles’ house, he said. A motion for a new trial and notice that an appeal would be taken was filed by Zimmerman’s attorneys, Ernest Cochran of Livingston and R. W. Fairchild of Lufkin.
Daughter Testifies
Margie Zimmerman’s 14 year-old daughter, told from the stand in Tuesday night’s session that just prior to the day on which two sticks of dynamite blew up Nettles’ home and killed him last December, she had read her father a story from a detective magazine with the surrounding circumstances, and in which a man was killed in this way. She said she was sure he got the idea from that same story.
Defendant on Stand
Zimmerman, on the stand in his own defense, told in a cold, unperturbed manner, details of the killing and circumstances leading to it. He accused Nettles of “stealing” his wife. “When I found out about it I took down my shotgun and started to kill him with that,” he said. “Then I decided to wait until the next day”.
“That night I remembered two sticks of dynamite that I had left from some highway work. I found two fuses and then slipped over to Nettles’ home. I listened outside waiting to hear if they were asleep. It was about 4 a. m. and I wanted to see if Nettles was snoring.” “Could you have heard it outside?” a state attorney asked. “It sounded like a bellows,” Zimmerman replied and the crowd that packed the court room snickered. District Judge McCall sternly ordered them to be still. Zimmerman then told of slipping up on the roof and dropping the sticks down the chimney. “I left and about an hour later I heard an explosion,” he said.
Puts Victim to Bed
“I went back and found my wife and a neighbor. My wife had been staying at Nettles’ home. I asked her what was the matter and she told me I already knew. I went in and aided in putting Nettles to bed. I later helped take him to a hospital where he died.” All during his testimony he spoke clearly without emotion.
He was the only witness in Wednesday’s session, and was on the stand until late in the afternoon. A session was held Wednesday night in order that the case might go to the jury.
Ranger a Witness
The state rested shortly after 4 p. m. Tuesday, following testimony of Edgar T. Neal, state ranger. Neal told how he had been ordered here last June to aid Sheriff R. D. Holliday and County Attorney Z. L. Foreman in investigating the case. He told of having assisted in grilling Zimmerman in the sheriff’s office in Livingston, and later in the office of Police Chief Heard in Houston, where Zimmerman was taken for further examination. The county attorney advised him to “come clean” and make it easier on himself, Neal said.
Tells Details
“The night of the explosion I went to my dead wife’s trunk and secured a pair of Indian moccasins with beads on them. I wore them over there, so that I could not be tracked. I went to the Nettles home about 11 PM I found a ladder in the back and climbed to the roof and dropped, my bomb in the stovepipe. There was an extra joint of pipe and I had to reach up to get it in there. I didn’t have any way to let it down in there, so I just dropped it in. From the small fuss that it made I was sure that it didn’t go to the bottom, so I took off the top joint and there it was hung. I got it loose and dropped it down the pipe and put the joint back.”
“I eased down the ladder and went back home. I used the road both ways. I stepped in the mud and got my moccasins muddy. When I got home I hid them.”
Moccasins Produced
Later Zimmerman took officers to his home and produced the muddy moccasins and went to a neighbor’s house and secured the dark coat he had worn on the night before the tragedy. Sheriff R. D. Holliday was the next witness and told of investigating the blast which took Nettles’ life and said that he found one stick of dynamite in the refrigerator at Zimmerman’s home. He related in detail the arrest of Zimmerman by Ranger Neal of Lubbock, in June of this year. The sheriff brought a pair of beaded moccasins and a coat to the stand. Both were muddy and were introduced in evidence.
Blast Described
Mrs. Cleveland, daughter of Mrs. Zimmerman and stepdaughter of the accused man, took the stand when court opened Tuesday morning, being on the stand for three hours, relating the tragic story of the crisp December morning when a terrific explosion shook the house after Nettles had built a fire in the cook stove. “I was lying in bed when the explosion took place. Mother screamed from the other room that the stove had blown up and rushed into the kitchen where Mr. Nettles lay in the doorway, bleeding from many wounds about the body,” she said.
Tells of “Necking Party”
Other witnesses to testify were Dr. H. Bergman, Dr. R. B. Love, both of Livingston, who described the dead man’s wounds, and Jim Kelley, son of Mrs. John Kelley, who testified for the defense Tuesday. He is a 20-year-old farm boy, and testified he had gone to Beaumont to drive a car for Nettles and Mrs. Zimmerman and the latter’s daughter, Mrs. J. C. Cleveland, and Mr. Cleveland. He said Nettles and Mrs. Zimmerman sat on the back seat and by means of the mirror near the top of the windshield in front of him he observed them and they appeared to have had a “necking party.”
Character Attacked
Mrs. John Kelley, who is a middle aged woman, and wore a calico dress, told in a droning voice of once finding Nettles and Mrs. Zimmerman in a compromising situation. She said that on her way to return some fruit jars one day, she came upon Nettles and Mrs. Zimmerman in a briar patch.
Mrs. Kelley, a neighbor, said she had known both Zimmerman and Nettles 49 years. She said Nettles had “hung around” the Zimmerman home a good deal when he was away on one of the trips Zimmerman made frequently. She said that Nettles’ reputation “was not very good anyway” and that Zimmerman’s reputation was good. She testified that she was one of the few who visited the house after the “big blowup” and that “shatterment from the explosion caused spider webs and dirt daubers’ nests to fall all over the wrecked house. Mr. Nettles was almost dead when I got there and I left the room for I did not want to see anyone die,” the middle aged farm wife said.
Zimmerman, slightly pale and haggard after 15 hours in the court room Monday, appeared before District Judge S. A. McCall Tuesday morning in custody of the sheriff. Several members of Zimmerman’s family were present. His 18-year- old daughter, who can neither hear nor speak, sat directly behind him during the day. Sitting by the side of the defendant was his 5-year-old son, and there were numerous displays of affection between the two.
Zimmerman conferred with his attorneys, R. W. Fairchild of Lufkin and Cochran of Livingston, frequently during the progress of his trial. Neal testified that Zimmerman said, defiantly, “There ain’t no one who thinks I did it.” “Right there is where you are mistaken,” the ranger said he told him.
“He asked to be allowed to go into the hall to get a drink of water,” Neal testified. “He was gone several minutes. On his return he agreed if he should be released on bond, given a fair trial and that his wife would not be called on to testify he would make a statement.”
Attorney Relates Events
The state ranger’s testimony followed that of County Attorney Z. L. Foreman and Sheriff R. D. Holliday. Foreman was on the stand more than two hours, during which time he related the events leading up to the taking of Zimmerman’s confession and details of the investigation. He was questioned closely by the defense about coercion in securing the statement from Zimmerman when the defense objected to the introduction of the statement as evidence. An argument came up and the jury retired while attorneys argued. Judge McCall overruled the defense objection and admitted the statement as evidence.
The county attorney denied that any intimidation was used by the state in securing the confession and said that he only made Zimmerman three promises. The first, he said, was that he would not let Zimmerman’s wife testify against him; second, that he would agree to a reasonable bond and, third, that he would see that Zimmerman was treated fairly in court.
Signed Statement
The defense maintained that these promises were used to secure the statement. They were overruled by the court. The signed statement made by Zimmerman, in which he admitted placing the dynamite in in the chimney, was read to the jury by the county attorney while he was on the stand. The statement, dated June 3, of this year, follows, in part:
“On the night of December 19, 1930, I went over to where Mallie Nettles and my wife were living and placed what I call a bomb in his stovepipe ‘to get Mallie. I knew just how everything was arranged, and did it to get him alone. I prepared the bomb the day before by tying two sticks of dynamite together with a bootlace.” Relatives of Zimmerman and those of the slain man occupied almost the entire two front rows of the court room.
This was described as the trial of the century. He had a wife and 10 children. I can’t even imagine the shame and embarrassment that they suffered. Mrs. Kelly testified that Nettles reputation “was not very good anyway.” Clearly, he had a reputation for this sort of behavior. You would have to believe that Zimmerman had intended to kill his wife as well. Evidently, the jury felt both sympathy and empathy for Mr. Zimmerman, considering the fact that he was only sentenced to 9 years in prison.
What is it with adulterous behavior, farming and the Meece men??? On July 20th 1941 his cousin Monroe Dawson Meece Jr. would die from a shotgun blast. He was the son of Monroe Marshall Dawson Meece, the youngest brother of T.F. Meece. Apparently, he too was having an affair with a co-worker’s wife. Was it boredom? I have no idea but hopefully the Meece men have since learned a valuable lesson.
