Summary Justice

Emmett Colby Anderson was born on a farm in Brown’s Station, Missouri on August 14, 1862.  Soon after his birth, his family moved to another farm just a few miles north of Hallsville, MO.

In November of 1889 at the age of twenty seven, Anderson marries thirty-year-old Rebecca Carpenter. (The census shows that a son named Roy Anderson was born in 1881, but it is unknown if this son was either Anderson’s or Carpenter’s from a previous relationship, or if Roy was born before his parents  had married.)

The 1900 Census shows that both Emmett (now 38) and the couple’s son Roy (19) were blacksmiths. That same year the Anderson family moved to Sturgeon, MO where Emmett also began to study law in his spare time. (It is not known if he attended the University of Missouri.) 

In 1903, Anderson passed the bar exam and the family moved to Centralia, MO where he opened his first practice at the age of 41 with a partner, Thomas J. Tydings.

Seven years later, in 1910, Anderson is elected for his first of two terms as the Prosecutor for Boone  County.  After he served as prosecutor, he returned to private practice and eventually became the President of the Boone County Bar Association.  

Character Sketch

Emmett Anderson knew what hard work was and he was industrious and smart – all great qualities in a lawyer.  He also had a deep knowledge of the inner workings of the Boone County legal system having served two terms as County Prosecutor, and as the President of the County Bar Association.

His wife was slightly older than him, and his son was born when Emmett was just nineteen years old, though it is not known whether he was adopted, Rebecca’s son before her marriage to Emmett or a son who was born before the couple was married in 1889. Whichever the case, Anderson retained a  close relationship with his son because he died spending the last seconds of his life with him in 1925.

It’s nearly certain that Anderson knew Ruby Hulen, George Starrett and Judges Collier and Gantt – key players in the James Scott Story – based on his position in Boone County’s legal community. But what may not be as obvious is  how Anderson was uniquely suited to be Scott’s defender due to his empathy for those who worked hard and sought to do the right thing – the qualities that James Scott possessed.

In Anderson’s extended scene with Scott, his concern is not payment but rather James’ story. He’s clever in his  scene with Hulen as well – noting that there are no scratches on Scott’s neck to get  Hulen’s reaction.  And he’s polite and empathetic when viewing the beginnings of the mob’s assault on the jail while in his office with Caston and Vaughn. 

Emmett Anderson was praised in his obituary in 1925 as a man who “made good in everything he  attempted because of his capacity for work.”  He didn’t shirk and he was perfectly willing to “dig in” and get his blacksmith hands dirty for his clients.