The Hanging of Hiram the Hoss

About the Book

   Hiram and Rachel, a naïve young couple, married at sixteen and now with four kids, see their world ending as Hiram is convicted of murder and sentenced to death. The way they handle the situation is uniquely their own. Yet their lives twist and turn as they are caught up in legal entanglements, enmeshed with polished lawyers engrossed in furthering their own careers and a sheriff torn between his official duty and his familial ties to the accused.

    The book is a work of fiction based on actual events of the middle 1800’s, a time when small towns in newly formed states were athirst for broader recognition. One way to achieve that recognition was to have a legal public hanging. The executions were celebrated as huge social events as well as demonstrations of law and order and the triumph of good over evil.

    The setting is a quiet, little Indiana town which finally got its chance to have a legal hanging. The event was advertised far and wide. And hordes of people came to witness the execution. Hordes of people came twice to witness the hanging of one man – a young man now known as Hiram the Hoss.

About the Author

Georgia Lucas grew up in Indiana and graduated with a degree in teaching English as a second language from Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana. She did most of her student teaching in Greene County schools. Georgia also earned degrees in English and bilingual education and did additional post-graduate work at Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, Arizona, and St. Andrews University, St. Andrews, Scotland. Her teaching career includes teaching English as a second language to Indian students on the Navajo Reservation and language arts and journalism to students on the White River Apache Reservation. She also taught classes in English literature and technical writing at Northland Pioneer College and English as a second language at Northern Arizona University.  While working for the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Georgia served as writer and director of Title I projects.

   Her free-lance writing career includes articles for various newspapers and periodicals as well as college publications. Memberships include Phi Kappa Phi and Kappa Delta Pi, collegiate honoraries, and Epsilon Sigma Alpha, National Education and Philanthropic Society. She was named “Teacher of the Year” and featured in Who’s Who Among America’s Teachers in 1996. This historical novel is her first attempt at writing fiction.

   In her free time, the author likes to read, travel, paint, sculpt, and visit with family. Her family includes her husband Lee, three children, five grandchildren, and seven great-grandchildren. Georgia also takes an active part in her church and serves as an associate member of cancer and ostomy support groups. She also works as a hospital volunteer. Georgia and Lee now reside in Mesa, Arizona.