Fayetteville observer. [volume] (Fayetteville, Tenn.) 1850-1966, 1854-06-01
The Assassins of Arkansas.

: fayetteVllle, IN Washington coun
ty, Arkansas, is beautifully situate,
on an immense plateau of the Ozarl
mountainsA With its purling streams
delicious climate, pure air, and brill
liant sky, one " ould suppose it a vii
lage fitted to in nspire feelings of devo
ton, visions Of poetry, and dreams 0
innocence and Eden, Alas! that tn,
horrible facts of its past history
should prove tt He pleasing Inference
from it's topography an utter an(
glaring non seq utter for there is no
a street, or cor her, or dark ally with
in its limits, WI hich has not been the
theatre Of murder. Theye is scarcely
a pebble of old grey li9estone in its
public square, t hat has not been more
/ than once reddened with human
blood.
Let me daguerreotype the clique
Of flqgalized banditti! Let me paint
the4n 4n to life, not in rest, but in action,
as ] saw them on that dreadful Sab
BATH in July, lS39-a day that will
long be remembered by the people Of
Arkansas. under the awful name OF
! the Sabbath. of Murders
1t is eleven o'clock; the sky is
cloadless, the sunlight looks divine,
and a gentle breeze from the north
ern prairies fans the warm bosom Of
the atmosphere, bringing balm on its
wings aud delicious coolness. Al
most the whole population of the
country seems TO have turned out
to-day, for yonder vast courthouse
in The centre Of the public square is
crowded from floor to the gallery
Hark! hear You not the ringing cho-
rus of half a thousand voices sending
upon high the solemn chaunted hymn
IA tribute to the Universal Father?
Hence you may know it is the Chris
tians Sabbath; and they use the TO-
rum as church to-day. But they
are not all at church. See the door
Of the great log grocery to the ives It,
and only fifty yards from the PLACE
of prayer and praise, stands VIDE
open, as if in defiance Of the law d I'D
scorn of God. Co., enter, and Ia kd
notes Of the scene within.
That portly mass of flesh a1d
bones, he of the small grey eyes, lit
with a cunning twinkle, like two Goa Is
Of fire on the oily ground Of bis face,
is William NJ. Ball, Cashier of tile
Fayetteville Bank, In q sharp, sin
lister voice, heis directing the Others
howto do 'tbe work well and quick
81 He carries no weapons himself;
for, although man of amazing
strength, he never fights, being
a deacon Of the Church. /
And yet heis the soul of the Fay
etteville clique-he does all their
thinking. AS politician his inau-
ence is unbounded, and hence the
current prov erb in Arkansas !
'As goes Ball, SO goes Washing
ton county. as goes Washingto n
county, so goes the State
His name was affixed as sign6r
Of the constitution, and prefxed as
compiler TO the first code of laws,
or digesting which he received five
thousand dollars. He has grown
.ich within three years, and his farm
les a mile " est of the village. +
Behold I hat tail, slender man,
lressed in he extreme foppishne$s I
If the fashid n. You see the ivol y I
nilt of his bowie-knife gleamin g !
through the snowy rnllles of his
shirt t-bosom; he is busily engaged {
amming home a double charge into
be barrel Of superb Deringer pis- '
ol; his fingers, 'glitterlng with gold |
ings, tremble nervously 1T may be {
With fear, or perhaps it is from pain
for, as yq u observe, his lace s :
considerably lacerated. Big Tom '
Yagnon coWhided him yesterday ior |
female, and his comPah-
pns of the clique will ayenge the c
front to-day. lie IS Matthe c
4eeper, receiver of public mdnles
b the land Office, colonel Of militia, |
lawyer and duellst. lie too has ]
cquired a large farm and many Q
laves, some of whom 1t Is Whlspereu I
re his neat relations. i
That handsome gentleman N leaning
gainst the counter, with such 2
eepy look, is the district Judgf'
he Hon. Joseph Hoge. lie remark S |
,a., "a ! th;rI, half drunken