Barn Burner

I don't think we have a review on Barn Burner yet. I do like it, as there is a valuable lesson to learn about rushing to judgment, even when it is against a person with despicable views. I had one question as I watched this again yesterday. Is this really the way they would have done criminal trials in small towns back then? I would have thought the trial would have been held in a larger town (Redwood Falls? Sleepy Eye?) with a permanent courtroom, a prosecuting attorney, etc. Also, would the jury have been selected this way, i.e. with the jury foreman (Charles in this case) selecting people from the room, or would there have been a system similar to today where people are randomly selected to serve on a jury at the county courthouse or some other central location? Would the citizens of Walnut Grove have been selected from time to time to go to Redwood Falls or Sleepy Eye to serve on a jury? Just wondering.

Very interesting questions, John. I don't really know how the juries would have been set up, but according to www.america.gov trial by jury was accepted in every colony by the time of the American Revolution, and according to the 6th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, the jury had to be selected from the state where the crime was committed. I'm not certain they had a foreman. I looked around a bit and couldn't find information on when jury pooling as we know it today, began.

In Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman, they had an episode where there were a few civil trials, and since the judge could not make it, Dr. Quinn was allowed to decide the outcome of these cases. That sounded very odd to me.

one of my favorite episodes. Larabee was such a hateful fellow. Even after what Joe said on the stand.

It's on Hallmark tonight. Can't wait!

This epie teach us more than one lesson. I think that ALL of us should want Larabee being guilty of burning the barn... ...I felt very bad for Andy, but he had the courage to accept he had done it.

I think that , at the end of the episode, Larabee's family left him alone. There's a certain time I don't watch this one and I don't remember this very well. Am I right?

Vanesa.

Yes, toward the end, his wife visits him in the ice house while they are awaiting the verdict. She tells him all he knows is hate and how she sees it in her boys. Then she says that no matter what happens, he'll never see her or the boys again. Not sure if that meant she was leaving town or he was kicked out.

I remember that. after the trial at the Church, she went away with the children. I suppose she was leaving the town...

Vanesa.

I saw this episode yesterday. This is a good episode. I was glad, Andy told about the fire. a good lesson to learn from.

I don't blame the women for taking the children. & leaving him. He was very hurt inside.i'am glad andy told the truth too.

I enjoyed this episode.. It wasn't one of my favorites, but it was good. I would have liked a lot more of Laura to be included, as it was she only had one small part and didn't have any lines.

Anyway, as always Jed Larrabee is prejudice again, and that leads to a whole bunch of issues... He sells his crop for less than they all had agreed on, ruining the chances for the rest of the town to make a good profit. Then after Jonathan goes and confronts him, he goes after him with a shotgun. When he gets to the Garvey's house, he finds only Andy... he accuses Andy of lying that his dad isn't there, and beats him. Andy hurries off to tell his parents and forgets and leaves his lantern by the barn. When the Garveys return to their house, they find the barn on fire... they are all convinced it was Larrabee until the next morning Andy finds the burnt lantern and wonders if that is how the fire started. The town goes after Larrabee and locks him in the ice house until the judge can get there.... during the trial most of the jury believes that Larrabee was the one to set the barn on fire. Since there is only one person who doesn't believe that, the judge is about to decide that Larrabee is guilty of burning the barn.... until Andy shows up and tells everyone that he thinks it might have been his lantern.

It was a good episode, I was hoping we would find out for sure how the barn burned, I guess we are supposed to assume that it was Andy's lantern that did it.

I don't like how nasty Mr. Larabee is. He went into the merchantile and asked for 2 things. Mr. Oleson was getting ready to get them and Joe told her to finish his order first. Larabee told him he owes Mrs. Oleson an apology. He should have been the one apologizing for being rude and demanding Mrs. Oleson wait on him before she finished Joe's order. Larabee was a nasty man full of prejuice, hate and rudeness.

Shell wrote:

I don't like how nasty Mr. Larabee is. He went into the merchantile and asked for 2 things. Mr. Oleson was getting ready to get them and Joe told her to finish his order first. Larabee told him he owes Mrs. Oleson an apology. He should have been the one apologizing for being rude and demanding Mrs. Oleson wait on him before she finished Joe's order. Larabee was a nasty man full of prejuice, hate and rudeness.

He was just irritated that he sold Laura the goat for such a low price!

I love that episode about the goat. Don't bend down or you will get kicked in the butt.

I watched this episode for the first time yesterday and I have to say it is definitley one of the darkest episodes of LHOTP. One thing I noticed about the episode is that just one season earlier, the Garvey's barn burned down with all their crops inside, and then the same thing happened again in this episode.