January 27, 1932 … Livingston, Texas. Polk County has always had its share of violence. In July 1931, when the district court came into session on July 13, there were seven murder cases on the docket in this small county. And before the month was out, another would be added to the list after the newly wedded bridegroom Leon Dougherty, 21 years of age, was shot in the head and killed in front of the house where he lived with his father-in-law. And while another murder may not have turned heads in Livingston, the defendant surely did. The trigger woman was none other than 21 year old Lillian Creel, who would become the first woman to be charged with murder in Polk County, and charged along with her, her employer, on whose word she claimed to have acted. The dead man’s father in law, Tom Duke.

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