In December 1883, Peter Lazier was shot in the heart during a bungled robbery at a Prince Edward County farmhouse. Three local men, pleading innocence from start to finish, were arrested and charged with his murder. Two of them -- Joseph Thomset and David Lowder -- were sentenced to death by a jury of local citizens the following May. Nevertheless, appalled community members believed at least one of them to be innocent -- even pleading with prime...