Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1871-08-10

account Of the death of q man that |
believe was Quantrell, for no other person
i can give a true account OF the affair
and this is my first attempt to do so.
In the spring Of 1865 / was a member
| of an independent scouting party, under
4 General Palmer, in the State of Ken
/ lucky. Our band was commanded by
4 Ed Terrell, a man who afterward made
himself notorious. by many murders
which he committed. We frequently
came in contact with bands Of guerrillas
which were numerous in the State at
that time, among them party of about
thirty men, commanded by QnantreH.
This band came. near capturing our
party at one time. They having COM
bined their forces with Marions and
McGruder' band (the latter was hung
in Louisyille), surrounded usin Barker's
Barren, near Chaplin. 10 While D. SUR
rounded, they demanded our surrender,
but we did not. comply with their
demands, knowing well that they would
have no mercy on us. We cut our way
out, with the loss of one man killed and
two wounded. Our motto was, No
quarter" Some time in the month of
May. we were in Taylorsville, Spencer
county, when we were informed that
Quantrell had just left town, with fonr-
teen men. The approach of a heavy
brain storm caused them to take shelter
lin barn owned by Mr.. Wakefield, six
miles east Of Taylorsville. The rain
came down in such torrents that we APP
preached within fifty yards OF the barn
before we discovered QnantrelP $ band.
al this moment we were ordered to
'charge the barn, AS we entered the
barnyard the enemy fed in all direc-
tions, leaving their horses, observed
one of them running in different direc-
ton from the remainder and followed
him. When within fifty PAGES / com
manded him to halt, but he only replied
with shot from his pistol. then COM
meneed firing at,him He accidentally
fell TO the ground. When | had arrived
within FIVE PAGES Of him he dropped his
pistol and covered bis face with both
hands. Ileveled my pistol at his, head aud
fired; he turned on his right side, being,
as | thought, shot through the head.
gave my horse the spurs and dashed OFF
firing another shot at my enemy as |
started. i followed on down the creek,
coming upon two or more of the band,
who had been mortally wounded (named
respectively Hawker, Smith and Glass
eocl). | asked them who commanded
their band. They replied: Captain
QuantrelI. . By this time Terrell came,
back, having lost sight of those he had
been pursuing. We then proceeded to,
where I had shot the leader of the band
When we approached him he seemed to
be suffering great pain. We relieved
him OF his valuables Examining his
wound we found that he had been shot
through the right hand aud in the back,
the ball entering under the right shout
der, and rangiRg in the direction of the
abdomen. While examining him he said
Captain, one of your men shot me
after had surrendered.ia lllf :
| "Who was it?" said Terrell. '''i. :
"trhat man there, pointing to me.
| Terrell spoke very harshly to me
only to please Quantrell, however. Ter
/ rell then asked: tW ..If
| What is your name?
! aMy name is Joseph Clark. f st
| 'i.3You are lying! Yonrnameis Guam
trell /" ,TyiUif,ll
! aNo; they call me Quantrell because
| came from Missouri. i left Missouri
with forty-four men, but only got to
Kentucky with about thirty-two men. |
crossed the Mississippi river below Mem
phis, and came up through West Ten
nessee to Kentucky, crossing the Cum
berland river below Nashville
| "Quantreli, you made a very poor fight
this time. rF
"',Yes; it rained so hard that our arms
were out of order. | never fight when |
can avoid it.r a3Bll 30 ,6WJJ'M ~
We then carried him into Mr.. Wake
field house, sent for Dr. McClaslde,
and had his wounds dressed. The doc
tor said he thought Quantrells wounds
not fatal. Terrell then wanted to kill
him. We all got together and talked
the matter over. Ny argument was i'll
favor Of taking him to Louisville alive,
which all assented to. Knowing he was
wounded too bad to get away, we went
to Bloomfield that evening, Quantrell
promising he would not be tai zen away.
We returned next morning with spring
wagon to take him to Louisville. He
said that ohe-armed Berry and Tom
Henry had been after him, but he re-
garded his word Of honor too much TO
permit himself to be taken away. We
then conveyed him to Louisville and
turned him over to the military authori
ties. Soon afterwards l read an account
of his death. II
About six months after this time be-
came acquainted with Professor Cren-
shaw. of Missouri, who said he was per
sonally acquainted with Quantrell; had
often met him on the highway, and had
given him spiritual ADVICE, Professor
Crenshaw told me to give description
of the man, and he would tell me
whether was right in my belief or not.
proceeded as follows: ..lIII
He was a man about five feet ten
inches in hight, had fair complexion,
very much tanned, light hair and mus
tache, and blue eyes. He had lately
shaved his Burnside whiskers. He ap-
peared 10 be twenty-eight or thirty years
Of age. He was quick spoken, had
thick under lip, and very slight lisp in
his speech, that only close observer
would notice. He would be taken for
perfect gentleman in appearance. He
had an Indian scalp attached to his
bride, and it was said sometimes wore
it hanging from his waist-belt He said
he had killed and scalped three Indians
in Kansas"
After had concluded my narrative,
the Professor seemed TO be somewhat
excited. He said; Most undoubtedly
that was Quantrell, of Lawrence notO-
riety.' He then remarked that if the
public knew the circumstances con
nected with Quantrells murderous as
sault on the people Of Lawrence they
would not blame him SO much as they
do. He explained the affair to me as
! follows.