Swear No Lie: An Oath Signed in Blood

In 1922, honor carried a loaded gun.

Image of James Franklin Todd and the 1st National Bank

On a cold February morning, the quiet rhythm of courthouse square in Somerset, Kentucky, was shattered by four sharp cracks echoing from the second floor of the First National Bank building. Inside, a man lay dying. Outside, life carried on—until word spread that James Franklin Todd had kept his word.

The warning was simple: “If you get on that stand and swear a lie, I’ll kill you.” The promise was real. And the cost was fatal.

What began as a divorce case—whispers of infidelity, quiet humiliation, and a wife daring to speak in court—unfolded into one of Pulaski County’s most haunting acts of vengeance. In an era where reputation was currency and a man’s pride was law unto itself, the line between justice and murder grew thin.

Todd didn’t run. He didn’t beg. He simply handed over his revolver and said nothing—because in his eyes, the truth had already been settled.

The man he shot, Albert Wilson, was no stranger. Their farms bordered one another. Their families were bound by years of neighborly familiarity. But in the end, standing on the witness stand was all it took to seal his fate.

What followed was decades of silence, fragmented recollections, and quiet reckonings in the hills of Nancy. A woman forced to start over. A daughter who rose far beyond the shadow of scandal. And a killer who lived out the rest of his days unapologetic, etched in memory like a weathered gravestone.

🎧 Listen to the complete story in the audiobook Hometown Murders & Mysteries | Pulaski County, Kentucky | Volume II, and uncover how honor, heartbreak, and a single bullet turned a courthouse testimony into legend.

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