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1 w. I for jf| Ba pi Gc ^ H $yy. Kock M Re fp kit pf w 5SS ?? 1 NAPOLEON OF B AT LAS How Great Conspiracy Brought to Naught, of His Mai Organized banditry doesn't flour-! isli under our contemporary conditions in the United States. Sporadic crimes such as those of the train robber, of the so-called Black Hand, and the lone highwayman are pregnant enough to occupy a considerable portion of the newspapers as they are in all civilized communities. But we must look back to a much earlier period to find a chronicle of an attempt to bring together in a widely extended conspiracy under a single head, all the forces of evil which festered over ">0,000 square miles of sparsely settled territory. The field of this satanie campaign extended from Cairo. 111., to the .Mississippi delta and cut the width of a bread swath through a half score of slave states. Wholesale and retail robbery, counterfeiting, land swindling. negro stealing and selling, blackmailing and even murder and assassination, all played their part in theis vast campaign of crime. John Murrell, the apostle and leader of this infernal cult, the would-be Napoleon of chaos and crime in the Mississippi valley, the organizer of a desperate clan of some twelve hundred miscreants, taught his followers that it was the safest way in most cases to kill the victim, unless there was some obvious reason to tne contrary. His organized money-getting schemes through robbery and web of affiliated crimes, which had extended over a period of ten preliminary years, gave him the means of gratifying the basest forms of lust and riotous living. These he indulged in to a swinish extent at New Orleans, { Charleston and other southern cities I at periodical times. His appearance l of wealth, his fine clothes, his lav- j ish extravagance, and a certain dashing vivacity, which he could assume at will, gave him the entree even into the society of the wilder young men of fashion, against whom his inner j spirit gnashed its teeth in the thought that he would some day cut their throats. y e are overstock* other goods, th mberg County t >ods Are To Be Hill Buggies, w< member we ha\ chen and comfo H tfTHMBfttHPHflHWB / BE fcM j . 8g AN HITS ;f ROUNDED UP J I of John Murrell Was ! ?History of a Few ny Crimes. j But such use of wealth was entire- j lv subordinate to the zeal with which he purchased arms?rifles, pistols, pikes and knives?and cached them at numerous convenient places. The ! time of the uprising he had fixed for Christmas night, 1835. About eighteen months before this j expected climax, an interesting en- j counter occurred in the woods of Mad- j * ~ ^ ACOOA in TITViQ t 1 1SU11 VJUUIlL,), V>csi X CIUIOOO^U, ixx If XAUI. ; was then known as the Choctaw Pur- j chase. Virgil Stewart, a young Georgian, I had come into a small inheritance j from his father a year before and had i ! then concluded to invest in the virgin j lands of that newly opened tract. He : had made his entry, paid the fee, and alter keeping the store of one Clanton, a probate judge, for a while, had returned to Georgia to complete the purchase and take residence. Stewart was out riding one evening in tl^e early dusk when he overtook a striking figure mounted on a fine hunter, which he sat with the ease of a finished horseman. The stranger a man of erect spare figure, had a peculiar face which at once riveted Stewart's attention. The eyes, of a cold, piercing gray, were set close together under beetling brows, and the j mouth had curving lips, which in j their curves carried a suggestion of ' cruelty. Otherwise the features were j crr\r\A ot~i flia monnor wnc norfoi^t r>f ! O.HU. LUKs XaiU.XAJ.AV/A .t J^v/**.x/^v W-. its sort, as he accosted Stewart with , well-bred ease and resonant voice of j cue accustomed to public speaking: "Good evening sir, I hope that you ! are enjoyin' your ride in the twilight j gloaming. There is somethingdelight- j ful at this hour in the woods. Nature j declares the glory of God"?partly shutting his eyes with an air of pen- j sive enthusiasm?"but this meetin' of j dnv and dark anions: the three-Dillars i always makes me think of a great J church made without hands." Stewart stared at the salutation, ! which he politely returned, and for a moment fancied the stranger an itinerant minister of the better class. But ! he thought it odd that a gospeler | ed on Farm Imp C __ tererore we are he Greatest Pro > Sold AT ANI r| Avery's to $3.5( ere $75, now $( re a great many ?rts in the house EHRHAR should ride a throughbred hunter and carry heavy pistols in his holsters, + in V*io onrl d C Ck TkT pH. a i\ II i Ill UlO uuu wc off shot gun on his pommel. Yet almost all white men were wont to ride armed then in that country and there was nothing suspicious in the fact, except the pious twang of the overture. "My host, who lives about ten miles from hvar, is out of venison, and so I thought God would send me a chance for a buck. I don't believe in slayin' the beasts of the field wantonly, but they were created for the use of man, we are taught in the Holy Scripture. Do you reside in this district, sir?" "Probably I shall," answered Stewart, "as I have recently bought land here, and am on the outlook now for some likely slaves, i may nave to run down to New Orleans to get them, though it is a costly trip, for a good lot of them have disappeared from here of late?run away or stolen. That's a fine horse you're riding." "Yes," said the other with a sinister twinkling in the eye which Stewart's keen observation noted, "I'm a good judge of a hoss, or of the sons of Ham whom God made for service. I trust, sir, you will find a nag as good, and all the black boys you need. I shall be hereabouts for tkenextfortnight, and then I shall obey the command of God to call sinners to repentence at the campmeetin' over in Shelby county, up .Memphis way. Pardon me, sir, but I took an instant likin' for you and I hope we shall get further acquainted, i ride in these wood every evenin'. Good-by till we meet again." He doffed his hat with great punctilio and spurred his horse through by a byroad in the darkling woods. Neither had mentioned his name to the other. A few days later he again crossed the stranger not far from the scene of the first meeting, and the latter greeted him with an air of unmistakable pleasure. "I have thought a good deal about you. sir. since I met you the other night. I reckon we're kindred spirits somehow, for I know human nature pretty well and rarely make a mistake," with an air of great compla cency. "I thought,I'd like to have a long powwow, for I'm a lonely man, though I know many people. I am unexpectedly called away to-morrow evening. Pray, sir, come and spend the night with me at the Corners. My host of the tavern has fine old I 'apple, and a orace or wna aucKs .fit for a king for for?" stopping dements and des going to offer J fit Sharing Sale i ) BELOW COS' Harrows that w ). Rock Hill Su 59. things for the 1< !. This sale begi its Until Satu irdw DT, S. C. | with lips pursed into an enigmatic ; smile. < j Stewart gladly assented, and they 1 I rode together a few miles farther to j the Corners, which consisted of a log ; tavern, a ramshackle store and a rude blacksmith shop. ] Alter supper uuuer a, uu^c gum j I tree, and with a tongue well loosen- ] ed by frequent libations of apple tod- s dy, the man of mystery began to unbosom himself. i "You are a speculator, Hues, and t so am I, though not perhaps in the t same line. The world has treated i i me badly and you, too, I reckon, if I <. read you aright. See the swarms of I the rich, whose claws are fastened s on all the good things of life, the s best to eat, the best to drink, the finest of clothes to wear. The world 1 has nothin' too. good for 'em, and ? they get it without turnin' their j 1 hands over. Under the law they've j ? got the top cyards, and. by ?, they ' < rook the game! After all it's the j < law of cunnin' and of the strong ! hand at the bottom." t The young man had listened with- i out a word, with the same feling that 1 a hidden spectator would have at ? | watching cannibals at their ghastly ^ j banquet. He had had time enough to i j make -up his mind, and he nerved 1 J himself to see the thing through. i "Sir," he said, extending his hand, i "I don't know who you are, but put it right there! What you've said has t sounded a hidden chord. I feel you're 1 exactly right, sir, and that we ought 1 to get even with our oppressors in t any way we can. You reckoned c straight when you saw in me a con- i genial spirit." t So they parted for the night, leav- t ing one of them little chance for j ? sleep in the thoughts that swept 1 over him. Why had this man taken i him into his confidence, baring the i hideous contents of his soul to a;: stranger at the second meeting, when i commonplace prudence would die- i tate great care in trusting one who 1 was not even as yet sworu a prosei lyte. c The next morning as they rode p through the woods, talking of indif- j i ferent matters. Stewart was accosted 1 with the sudden interjection. "I am 1 John Murrell!" accompanied by a 1 look of piercing question. t "I suspected so last night," was ( the answer, "and was rejoiced to t know a man of my own kidney." A handclasp seemed to relieve the '< other'9 mind of any paseing doubt, 1 and Murrell said bluntly: . \ . UlIU ire to make roo to the farmers n its history. I T. ere from $3 to trues uiai were idies also, for h ins rday, April are "I need a lieutenant, a man of grit, Df brains an' resources. Will you be :hat man, Hues? I picked you out by in unfailin' instinct, instantly I saw you." The young man agreed, and two aours later they parted, arranging a rendezvous for two weeks later, as Murreli was compelled to go away on --11 - r- -L sOIlie Ca.ll U1 ins liciaiiuua num. Stewart met the bandit chief, and is they rode west Murrell told him :hat they were on the way to one of :he principal headquarters of the clan vhich was on an island in a Mississippi bayou, just across the river from Memphis. He would meet >ome of the principal men and be ;worn into the band. They found themselves on the j Danks of the Mississippi, at that time J itormlr.shed; at dusk, but the rowDoat on which Murrell relied was jone. So they applied for hospitality it the house of a planter named ^Viamninn Hp looked askance at UliUUlJ^I VU. * \iurrelll when the latter requested j ;he loan of a skiff on which to cro&3. Stewart at once appraised him as an lonest man and not one of the many secret confederates of the robber ?ang. Champion felt a note slipped ! nto his hand as the twain parted; rom him next morning, read warn-1 ng in Stewart's eyes, saw a finger J nbtioned to his lips. The island rendezvous was a sinis- I er-looking place set in a little river- j bend that somewhat concealed it. fringed with cane-brake and mangrove swamp, a narrow passage of dear water led up to higher ground n the center, though that, too, was imbushed by dense forest growth, a iting home of secret crime and conspiracy. Five miles away on the Arkansas side was the nearest settlenent and a very small one at that. A rreat squat one-story log house with several outbuildings, a number of *ude shacks on the edge of the ciearng. where Stewart saw a score of jlacks, crowned the little hill. All day long small parties arrived it the island. To these "Adam Hues" vas introduced as a new and trusted ecruit, until about fifty were assembled, a few of whom would never lave been suspected of other than a 'eputable life. These were some of ;he principal members of the "Grand Council," and this was the night of ;he regular quarterly meeting. During the day Stewart witnessed in episode that gave a fresh touch to lis horror at Murrell and his plans. The negroes assembled there were .... . . y m |p of ui | it* P* it* n SIM $o, now $125, now p er I 26th | awaiting the coming of the flathoat that was to ship them to the NeW Orleans market, but one of them had become so suspicious as to instigate c TJirvi Mn rrnll ho. IVitl' 1X1 LUC Utacis. JLJ.1JU1. 1UUI>?U guiled away on the pretense of catching fish for supper, and having led } him to a remote place by the riverside, buried a bowie knife in his back and flung the bleeding corpse into the bayou to be taken care of by the 9 river cats. Stewart saw this through the manr groves, and half an hour later met Murrell, whose face was smiling and unconcerned as ever. < The council was held in the evening in the log house. We can imagine the scene, though Stewart describes it ^ with prosaic simplicity and directness. The great, rude barn-like place, lighted by the smoky glare of' pine knots; the long table strewn with I jugs of whiskey and apple-jack; the raucous clamor of nightbirds, innumerable insects and wild animals in { t the encircling jungle; the blasphemy, obscene stories and anecdotes of per- ^ 4 sonal crimes that punctuated the dusiness; the terrible presentiment of tilings to come; the dank and rotten odors of the swamp mingling with* those ofperspiring and filthy ruffians, and the pungent gases of the flaming torches?so we, can fancy the scene. Yet business was transacted with ^ some order, and Murrell, the leading spirit, drank nothing lest he should lose his ascendancy over these rude ' ^ t and violent spirits. Reports were ' read from local centers as to the progress of the slave-uprising conspiracy. Figures were given for the three months past as to the various moneymaking crimes which had been committed in some five'states. Plans were discussed for perfecting the / methods of propaganda among the hosts of negroes on the plantations. The last business done was the formal initiation of "Hues" as a memberol the gang and as a Grand Councilor, Stewart made his plunge boldly; his speech, as he himself set it down, began in these words: "My youth and inexperience must plead the cause of any deficiency I * may betray before this worthy and enlightened congregation. I am better qualified to acquiesce in the plans and measures of others than to advance anything of my own. I have ieceived all my ideas from our honorable dictator. I should feel guilty of presumption were I to offer any amendments to his present deep and * ? (Continued on page 7, column 3)