Blood Will Tell: The Murder Trials of T. Cullen Davis

by Gary Cartwright

This is a riveting true story of money and murder.
The story of a torrid August night in Forth Worth, Texas, when a man in black entered a $6 million mansion, put a bullet through the chest of sexy, blond Priscilla Davis, and murdered her lover and her daughter.
The story of the arrest of Priscilla's estranged husband, Cullen, a multimillionaire oilman.
The story of a flamboyant lawyer, a country judge, and a lurid murder trial.
The story of brothers feuding over a billion-dollar corporation, of drugs and orgies, of a high-stakes divorce and the underground life of the Texas rich.

Genres: True Crime, Nonfiction

404 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1979

About the author

Gary Cartwright was an American journalist and writer. He specialized in true crime stories. In the 1970s Cartwright was among the first writers hired at Texas Monthly. He remained there until his retirement as senior editor in 2010. Cartwright also co-wrote and co-produced movies and television shows. In 1980 his book Blood Will Tell was nominated for an Edgar Award by the Mystery Writers of America in the category of Best Fact Crime.

Reviews

[Laura Jean]

***SPOILER ALERT***

There are five words on page 385 that sum up the entire situation so well:

"they were deliberately abusing the system"

The American judicial system is broken. I do firmly believe that and I believed that before picking up this book. But the tactics of defense attorneys like "Racehorse" Haynes take advantage of the broken places and widen them instead of attempting to heal them. Perhaps I'm naive. And of course these events all took part almost 50 years ago, but even though I KNOW that rich people have advantages that poor people don't, I still find this book so dispiriting.

[Jimmy Chaillot]

So this one suffers from one of the things I absolutely hate about books the constant need for filler. I get the point of the history of the town this took place in, Fort Worth. But I don’t need the history of TCU(where one of the victims attended), the history of amarillo(where the first trial took place) or the history of Houston(where the 2nd trial took place). I need the facts of the case and that is the stuff I fall asleep to and I found myself falling asleep in this book.

Just to give a heads up this book features a lot of misogyny and unpunished sexual assault. It also features the fact that if you are rich you can buy your own justice.

Would not recommend the book.

[Ryan Hannay]

Another great example of how there are two systems of justice in this country: one for the super rich and one for everyone else.

[Mike Gregory]

I read the excerpts published in Texas Monthly just after the book was published but had never read the entire book. Well-written and an entertaining read!

[Joshua]

This is the story of the mass murder trial and the murder-for-hire trial of T. Cullen Davis.

I think this book is a solid piece of non-fiction. It doesn't take sides either with the trampy Priscilla or the (probably) murderous Cullen. Cartwright is only biased in favor of the facts.

One of the things that struck me as I read this book was the amazing, almost insane, amount of money that went into Cullen's defense. Among other things, the defense hired a press agent, a horde of private detectives to investigate potential jurors, and a well-respected and highly-esteemed attorney to sit at the defense table and do absolutely nothing whatsoever, just so the jurors can see that he supports Cullen.

Another thing that struck me is how no one really won in this case. Cullen was acquitted of two murders and two shootings, definitely, but he became infamous and marked forever. His lawyer, Racehorse Haynes, was seeking fame, and he got it - juries for the next couple years looked at him in distrust as a rich man's hired gun. The victims are still either dead, paralyzed, or (in Priscilla's case) vilified.

If you liked this book, I recommend Thompson's "Blood and Money". It's also a story of premature death and trials among rich Texans. A (pre-Blood Will Tell) Racehorse Haynes defends the accused. Both books are well-written, unbiased piece of non-fiction.

Also, respected trial lawyer and author Vincent Bugliosi makes some interesting references to these trials in his books "Outrage" and (I think) "And The Sea Will Tell". In one book, Bugliosi (trying to illustrate the point that one should present the bad parts of a case rather than try to hide it) refers to a "celebrated Amarillo case" where the defense, rather than present a defense, presented an ironclad case that the prime witness was a whore. Had the prosecution presented it themselves, matter-of-factly, Bugliosi theorized that "there just might have been a murder trial".

Also, Bugliosi (now arguing that most lawyers, even famous ones, give bad summations) mentioned a case were it was noted that a famous lawyer's closing argument "was remarkable in that no two people who heard it agreed on what was said...The juror's faces gave no indication of whether or not they followed [the lawyer's argument:]" These are almost (if not) exactly the same words that Cartwright used to describe Hayne's summation in the murder-for-hire trial.

If Bugliosi (or Cartwright) has a low opinion of Racehorse Haynes' abilities, I don't think Cullen shares it. After the murder-for-hire trial ended in a hung jury, T. Cullen Davis was retried and acquitted.

[Katie Hilton]

This book is a fascinating, in-depth look at the two trials of Cullen Davis, the Fort Worth millionaire who was accused to killing to people and attempting to kill his estranged wife, and later accused to plotting to hire a hit man to finish the job.

All fans of true-crime books will love this account by Gary Cartwright, who covered the whole mess for Texas Monthly.

[Brian]

My wife is from Amarillo, where the trial for Cullen Davis was held. It's quite a true crime book - interesting, but didn't really capture my attention. It ended up being a slog in parts.

[James]

Exciting story especially for those who know Fort Worth...what really happened???

[Donna]

This case was one I was totally interested in.

[Sharon Beers]

True crime about a member of the Dallas oil 'Big Rich' that gives a good look at Texas high society, the Texas justice system, great wealth, and how it bought freedom for an obviously guilty man.