Mose Gibson

Mose Gibson (1883 – September 24, 1920) was an American burglar and serial killer, responsible for the murders of at least seven people in several U.S. states. Although he was convicted of a double murder and killing rancher Roy Trapp, his guilt has come into question, with allegations that his written confession was made up by the authorities.

Life and crimes Scant details are available about Gibson's early life, but it is believed that he was born somewhere in Louisiana's Bienville Parish. He was first imprisoned in January 1904 at a Baton Rouge prison for an unknown offence. According to him, he spiralled into a life of crime when he was "innocently railroaded to a southern penitentiary, where he had become a criminal [through] association."

Justice William C. Barnette, a former district attorney for the Bienville Parish, indicated a different story: prior to 1907, Gibson, using the alias of "Monk", was put on trial for ambushing and shooting at another black man. As he was regarded as a good farmhand, Barnette defended Gibson, even employing legal talent to represent him in court. His client was still found guilty and sent off to the Louisiana State Penitentiary. After serving his term, Gibson then left the state, travelling towards Florida.

Following this, Gibson engaged in criminal activities for little over a decade, allegedly committing thousands of burglaries and robberies, as well as several murders. Two often cited burglaries were committed in one night in June 1913, while he was in Omaha, Nebraska. Gibson was arrested after the first successful burglary, but managed to escape, and with the manacles still on his wrists, he burglarized another home so he could get money to have the handcuffs filed off.

He served time in four penitentiaries (in Louisiana, Ohio, Florida and Texas), escaping from the warden on two occasions (from Florida in 1917 and Texas in 1919). He never disclosed for what kind of offences he was imprisoned in Florida, but it later revealed by an oil company manager named Harris that Gibson had attempted to kill him during an argument. After their scuffle, the angered Mose returned with a gun and fired at Harris, grazing the top of his head and leaving a flesh wound.

Murders According to his initial confessions, Gibson admitted to ten murders,

For this murder, a man named "Hobo" Brown Roberts was arrested on January 1, 1909, as an accomplice in the murder. However, not enough evidence was gathered in order to prosecute him. On May 27, a mob of about twenty men broke into the prison where Roberts was held and took him near a railroad engine, allegedly to force a confession out of him. After that night, the accused man was never seen again. After serving a 24-day sentence in Douglas,

On June 25, a possible suspect emerged, after Mexican national Jesús María Barboa, who lived in Litchfield Park, This resulted in Barboa being transferred to a mental facility in Florence, he was later acquitted due to his insanity.

Roy Trapp Not long after the Erhardt murders, a crime of striking similarity was committed on July 15, 1920, in Fullerton, California. A wealthy rancher by the name of Roy G. Trapp had been killed with a miner's hammer, and his wife beaten into unconsciousness and subsequently assaulted. Only two days later, the man supposedly responsible was arrested and identified as Mose Gibson. In his subsequent confession, Gibson, who had been intoxicated with wood alcohol,

Arrest Gibson's arrest came thanks to a telegraph operator named Fred Lewis, who was stationed in the town of Drake. Lewis had read an account of Trapp's murder in a Los Angeles newspaper, when he noticed a black man matching the description of the suspect, who was buying tickets en route to Albuquerque. Although the two of them were alone in the office, Lewis stalled Gibson for as much as he could, before telegraphing officers from Needles to come arrest him. A group of five policemen chased after the suspect, eventually getting into a fight with Gibson, but still managed to successfully arrest him in Topock.

Trial, sentence and death Although initially refusing to speak with authorities and praying all the time, Gibson eventually confessed to killing Roy Trapp in front of agent L. A. West.