In 1886 a murder occurred in the little town of Timpson, Texas; a murder that immersed much of East Texas in the effort to bring the killer to justice. A sheriff from nearby Nacogdoches and the family of a Justice of the Peace in the little community of Rainsville were among those who, for more than forty years, were engulfed in the pursuit of the murderer. Along the way both the murderer and a scion of the family learned a new meaning of the word justice and just what was meant by the fifth commandment.