Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1868-10-16
"pRAOE" IN ARKANSAS.

Prom the Batssyille ARK Times. Oct, 81
The usual quiet Of our towa was broke
ON Saturday morning last with the starr
linz rumor thata band Of MissourianI
nnSer the notorious Monks, had invade'
the State, and forcibly taken from tn
custody Of the sheriff Of Fulton count;
seven citizens, to-wit; Capt. L. u
Bryaut. Wilburu Baker, N. l.. Baker
Uriah Bush, ]. w. Cochran, and tw
others. the names OF whom we did no
,lbrar. who had been arrested upon sus
picion of being concerned 10 the killinl
| Of Capt. Mason some weeks ago. Th'
report further stated that two OF thes'
men. Capt Bryant aud Urish Bush
without warrant of law, were to be exc
outed on Monday morning at s o'clock
| As might be expected, the new
spread very rapidly, and from the
known bad character and antecedents o.
Monks, created very great indignation in
the breasts of our people, aud by night
fall large number of citizens were on
the road TO the scene of outrage. As the
marty advanced it increased rapidly in
numbers, and by the time il reached Full
tom county il numbered about seven hun
bred men. The assemblage was com
posed of citizens of Independence, Jack
son, lizard, Sharp, Lawrence and Fulton
counties, aud embraced some of the best
citizens OF each of those counties. The
intention OF the party was to rescue the
citizens of Fulton county in the hands OF
the Misourians, and turn them over to
the civil authorities, and prevent any
further interference in the matter by the
irresponsible outlaws under command of
| Monks
Before the party reached the scene of
action, intelligence was conveyed to the
Missourians Of the approach of the party,
and they Monks party turned over to
the deputy sheriff Of Fulton county, Mr..
Uriah Bush, one of the prisoners. The
deputy sheriff, in company with some
Arkansas militia, started for Salem, with
the prisoner, when he was followed by
some of the Monks gang. who shot Bush
and left his body lying on the road,
where il was found next morning by
citizens and buried. 10 connection with
the murder of MIR. Bush, we will relate
circumstance which occurred near the
close of the war. He was not in the
Southern army, but symPathized with the
cause, and for this reason his life
was threatened By some Missouri
jayhawkers, among them two men
named Allsops Bush kept in the woods
nearly all the time, for safety, and only
came to his house late at night. On one
occasion two of bis little boys, one aged
five and the other ten years, pleaded so
hard to accompany him that he took
them with him when he left the house,
and in playing with them next day their
noise, it is supposed, discovered his
whereabouts to the men who were in
search of him, and they rode up to where
he lay concealed but be had discovered
them in time to make good his escape.
The party, in their ohsgrin at the escape
of Bush, deliberately murdered the two
Young children as they lay where their
father had left them. The Alsops were
in Monks gang last week, and it is rea-
sonable TO suppose that they were con-
cerned in the murder of Bush.
Mr.. Bush was an orderly, law abiding,
honest citizen, and highly esteemed by
all honest men who knew him. The pre-
text that be was implicated in any way
in the murder of Capt. Mason is prepos-
ferrous. One of the murderers of his
children lived within three miles Of him
for some time after the close of the war,
and when he was asked why he did not
kill this man, he replied that he did not
want the blood of any man on his hands,
and that the killing of Allsops would not
restore the lives of his children. From
his conduct. in this instance, and his
known character as good citigen and
Christian gentleman, his arrest on suspi-
cion of being concerned in the killing of
Capt Mason, man who never Injured
him, discloses devilish plot to get rid
Of him in some way, which finally ended
in bis murder
On Sunday Captain L. d. Bryant, one
of the prisoners, after being hung up
three times, made confession, tbs said,
duplicating sixteen men in the murder
Of Mason, and it is reported was turned
loose; but up to yesterday noon il was
not known that be had returned to bis
friends, and it is supposed that he, too,
was murdered. In his case it can be
proven, by indisputable evidence, that he
was at store fourteen miles from the
scene of the murder of Mason at the
time il occurred.
On Monday, previous to the murder Of
Bush, and after the reported release OF
Capt Bryant Judge Baxter, OF the Cir
cult Court, who was at Salem at the time,
issued a writ Of habeas corpus for the re-
lease Of the remainder of the prisoners,
and their return to the custody OF the
civil authorities. Monks refused to obey
the writ at first, but afterward turned
over the prisoners to the sheriff, with the
exception of Bush, who was held until
night, when he too was turned over to
the custody of the sheriff, and was after
ward murdered as stated above.
At about twelve o'clock Monday night
Monks, with his gang of about eighty or
ninety Missourians, started on his return
to Missouri.
All Of those implicated by the reported
confession Of Bryant, who were arrested,
some FIVE or six in number, we're released
on being examined before a magistrate
in Salem, no evidence being produced to
Justify their committal.
This is the second time since the close
Of the war this man, at the head of armed
bands of Missourians, has invaded this
State and murdered citizens. On one
occasion, in the spring Of 1867, be sur
rounded the Circuit Court Of Fulton
county, while in session, and arrested all
in the courthouse-judge, jurors, lawyers
and citiE ,ns, and searched the crowd %
find, as be said, some men he wanted.
BE failed to discover the parties he was
10 search Of, and on his way home,
few miles from town, a citizen named
Smith, alarmed at the approach
Of so large q number Of armed
mon. and ignorant of their object. started