To understand just who was Shocco Jones and his relationship to Mississippi, you must first have some understanding of the political and financial history of the 1830’s. Bear with me because some of this is tedious and I lay no claim to clear understanding of the vagaries of the banking industry of the 1830’s.
Banking and financial regulations in the early days of the United States were chaotic and sometimes nonexistent. For periods of time, there was no central or national bank. The charter for the First Bank of the United States expired in 1811 and it was 1817 before a new charter was issued. Even then the bank had little power over fiscal policy. It served as the depository for federal funds and would attempt to maintain a measure of regulation by occasionally redeeming notes from state and private banks just to verify that they did at least have some assets. Without any real oversight, the more unscrupulous private and state banks would issue notes and loans that would far exceed their ability to cover, causing financial instability in a particular state or area from time to time. There were those who didn’t believe that a national bank that had control over fiscal policy was necessary. And then there were those who didn’t like banks at all. One of the latter became president in 1829. Andrew Jackson, because of his own financial issues, had personal reasons for his dislike of banks. The thought of a national bank did not sit well with him. He took no real action against the bank in his first term but his opponents in the 1832 election pushed the issue on the belief that his position was a loser and would cost him the reelection. He pushed back and won easily. Part of his platform – not renewing the charter of the 2nd Bank of the United States. Eventually that is exactly what he did by veto. To speed up the bank’s demise, he ordered that all federal funds be removed and deposited in state and private banks around the country – banks of his choosing. Many of these banks were in the west. Most were not the bigger east coast banks. The banks receiving the deposits became known as “pet banks.” Two of these banks were located in Mississippi. By 1837, the country was in recession and times were hard. The banking situation wasn’t the only reason for the economic downturn. There was a wheat crop failure, the demand for cotton decreased along with the price and there were economic hard times in Europe. The two major banks in Mississippi, Planters and Union were virtually insolvent as was the state of Mississippi. Everyone owed everyone money and there was no money to be had. Debtors had one solution – migration to Texas. Even major plantation owners packed up their belongings and their slaves under the cover of darkness and slipped away to the Republic. It became so common that when local sheriffs went out to serve warrants for indebtedness, they would return with the writ marked G.T.T. (Gone to Texas) Then along came Jones, Shocco Jones. Joseph Seawell Jones was to say the least – a character. Coming from a family of some wealth and political clout, he grew up in North Carolina, his father owning a plantation near Shocco Springs. He attended the University of North Carolina but was soon dismissed because he only studied and attended classes that he liked. Somehow, he finagled entry into Harvard Law School. It is likely here that he began using the name Shocco to distinguish himself from all the other Jones’ in attendance. While he managed to get his law degree, he never practiced law. He returned to North Carolina and began writing a book. “A Defence of the Revolutionary History of the State of North Carolina from the Aspersions of Mr. Jefferson was well received although it apparently was not favorable to some in political power and displayed his propensity to shade the truth. To generate publicity for himself and his book, he staged a fake duel with a fictitious character named Mr. Hooper over the reputation of an unnamed lady. This gained him considerable fame even after the hoax was exposed. Probably as a result of the hoax, the governor of Rhode Island issued a proclamation for the arrest of Jones. Not to be outdone, Shocco responded with his own proclamation affixed with his own “Great Seal of Shocco” attached – offering a reward of “tar and feathers” for the governor’s apprehension. Jones continued to write articles for newspapers and journals as he planned his next escapade- another fake duel in 1839 with a fictitious character named “Mr. H. Wright Wilson of New York.” He claimed to kill the man at the Dismal Swamp Canal on the border of Virginia and North Carolina. The public was more dubious this time but it still added to his fame. Jones then disappeared – on the road to his next great hoax. Shocco Jones reappeared in the great state of Mississippi later in the year. In his possession were a large parcel and a trunk. In bold letters, the parcel wrapped in red ribbon read “Public Documents”, the trunk was captioned “Cape Fear Money.” He represented himself as an agent of the U. S. Treasury and as an agent of the Cape Fear Bank in North Carolina. He arranged meetings with banks in Vicksburg, Natchez and Columbus certainly and possibly more. The financially and politically powerful did not know what to make of him but felt certain that the best approach was to befriend him. He intimated that he was in Mississippi at the government’s request to convince the “pet banks” to return the federal funds that they had previously received but that he had a solution to their liquidity problems with bonds from the Cape Fear Bank. He was wined and dined across the state by some of its most powerful people, maintaining close relationships with the powerful Seargent S. Prentiss, a candidate for U.S. Senate and former governor, Hiram Runnels, who hoped to profit from the relationship. He even attended a barbeque hosted by the current governor where he had an altercation with a political figure from the Republic of Texas. Jones eventually traveled to Columbus where he convinced a bank to appoint his stepfather as the new president of the bank. Suspicious about Jones began to build by the fall of 1839. He was eloquent, flattering and great company but his promises never seemed to come to fruition. There was talk that maybe he was not exactly who or what he represented himself to be. In October, he quietly disappeared, leaving behind his parcel of documents and trunk. The documents were found to be old newspapers and the trunk was full of scrap iron. Jones probably never intended to profit from his hoax. He sought to generate publicity and possibly to make a social/political statement about the state of affairs in Mississippi and the banking industry. There is some evidence that he executed a similar ruse in the state of Virginia. He was never prosecuted, possibly because he never actually stole anything and the fact that those he duped were too embarrassed to suffer the publicity of a trial. Jones’ life after this affair was not what one would expect. The man who had gone to great lengths to gain publicity and recognition all but disappeared. He actually returned to Mississippi to live near his mother and stepfather in Columbus. He spent his final years in a rural cabin near the town and passed away in 1855 at the age of forty-nine.
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