Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1853-1862, 1859-04-28

THE HGuwAr1IASs OLD ABoDH-A RElIS1soExcE
OF JOIN a. MUREEIL.-The Memphis AgpeaI Of
the24.h, gives tie following "Reminiscences Of man
who figures extensively in the criminal annals of
this Slate:
We do not know that an item from "aeyoss the
water" from The marsh and brakeland soil of cur
sister State Of Arkansas, would be inappropriate as
lem Of local interest. About seven miles above
Charlie Morris neF ''I1ls Wild" OF more eppropri~
ately 'Pacfc Place" so-clled after the Inflated
steamer which. several years ago encountered a
saag at Plumb Orchard Point, AMI finding her dam
ages mortal, she ran out, and ere sr line was made
fast to aged cotton wood, she sank 10 ris5 moro
at the sloIIEs pGlnG Of Q bar where he is still
sleeping pacifc and paoifcally. Bat to the point:
Il the rear Of Island 81 not bIyuo from the main
shore, old river Is Shawnee Village, in Missis-
sippi county, Ark. The old village has been thrown
into g farm, which has been cultivated by DR..
McGavook for really a quarter Of a century past.
This retired spot vas the rendezvous Of Teunessees
notorious highwayman John 4. MurTell, and his
followers His rude log hut Of uahewn timber, and
those Of his clans, yet mark the spot. Decay has
married their original outline, but the fallen heaps,
the old moss-clad logs where creeps the adler and
ohrTs the cricket, stlil speak, and in soft accents
like an echo a. mimi -ht The horror Of human
frajliy arises before yCU in the name Of Murrel,
the outlaw. Shawnee Village embraces, if we re
collect Alright the AIurTell grounds, along a ridge
knoRn a. Oily DARK Ridge, bordering on Peach
Bayou, which emDties into Oily Dark Lake
The old sycamore Jeo, once the council shade Of
cur hero WAS blown down by the winds, in the
winter Of 1856. It's venerable trunk could doabt-
less speak more than was recorded on the saddle
skirts OF Virgil Stewart, could nature but have
written upon leaves the history Of pTemeditaiiye
crime We could have wish, That time, the ruths
less 'Te0lman, could have spared tEat tree" AID
let The CID eycamore stand. Since it has fallen it
became necessary TO remove it for the plowshare
and during LAST summer, mil" as the natives
term it. was ploEed up, which was used by Murreu
for manufacturing The bogus one dollar. This fuan-
C al machine has been sent 10 Washington and now
occuDes place in the archives of our CAPITALS cus
riosiiies Poor MurroH has passed away; his stall
wart form was enaciated By hardship al disease
during his long Incarceration; but he lived 10 CON
ulete The term Of years gued him by Justice 10
work as 8 criminal blacksmith When the expira,
ton of his term came he vas 10th to leave the place
of his confinement; he felt az if the void knew
him and knew his deeds, and to living again free
as in the heyday Of his boyhood, he could not The
sncers of his feloWman 10 him lie same as the
dungeon walls within which he dwllt for t.n wears
Finally, Murrcll. at the pc suasin Of his friends,
wondered 10 East Tennessee, where he lived bat a
, short time and died of consumption, the disease
doubtless being contracted in prison. His grave is
in the neighh0Fhood Of the Bon Air Springs, upon
| the Cumberland mountain. His remains were dis
| Inferred aud decapitated, and then placed back
The skuil is now in the possession Of some Of the
| medical colleges E5s..