Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1872-07-20
Order of John Williams ID. s. to
theLOyal League and Militia
The Murderers Crying
N Ku-KIux.

best citizens of Pope county, states that
on the eighth of July he was arrested
by Sheriff Dodson, Hickox and COM
pany while at home, DOdsOn said, for
being suspected Of shooting at Deputy
Sheriff Williams a few days before. He
SAYS he was conducted to Dover with
two other prisoners, and there kept
some time under guard in the court
house, till about fiveO'clOck in the even
ing, when they were ordered to leave
Dover for Dardanelle. But while in
town DOdsOn made one more arrest
Mr.. L. West He then had four Of US
prisoners, and moved on down toward
Dardanelle about six miles, and stopped
at the camp-grOUnd near sun-dOwn,
and Dodson said he was going to stay all
night and would send out after forage,
he said. did not ike the movements
of the party, rs they seemed to be talk
ing very low about something. The
most Of them went out of the church
where we had been conducted,
and / saw DOdscn and HickOX
talking together through the win
dow, very low. There We're but
few left in the house to guard the
prisoners. In the course of an hour or
81 part Of them came back and DOdsOn
said that he could not get forage, and
that we would have to move on to Rus
~ellville. At this time felt very much
excited, a. n part of the men had left
and Dodson said 10 the prisoners If they
were fired on that they the prisoners
would suffer for it. We were ordered to
mount our horses, and DOdsOn, HickoX
and one other man got before Us, and
the remainder of The company behind
Us. We were ordered to march on, and
when we got about three-quarters Of a
mile from the camp-grOund, in the edge
of a thick woods, | heard some one say
behind me, at is as dark rs Egypt -
and DOdsOn said: /" Yes, but Egypt has
no eyes,'' and Just at this time l heard
the cooking of guns, and then my atten-
ton was called 70 firing Of guns on my
right. the blaze of all going up in the
air: then DOdson and HickOx whirled
their horses to the right, between We
prisoners and the firing, and Dodson
said: - Now, boys, is the time TO do
your work, 4" and began firing into us. /
ran my horse forward and made my
escape
This is a brief statement of Mr.. y. J.
Hale's testimony, made and sworn to
before the Mayor Of Dover.
TESTIMONY OF MR.. LIB WEST.
We will now give brief synopsis of
the testimony of Mr.. Lib West: "When
the firing began on the prisoners, 1
threw myself on the side of my horse,
and the saddle turned, throwing me to
the ground. | crawled into the bushes,
and all was still for a few seconds.
Then heard low talking and laughing,
and heard DOdson's voice ask, 'Where
is the prisOnersg Some one answered,
I don't know Shortly afterward l
heard some one groaning, as if in dis
tress, and then the report of two guns;
and then all was over. Then l heard
Dods0n say, Now, God d-n you, I've
got YOU / lay still, and directly they
commenced laughing and talking, and
rushed off toward Russellville.n
DEATH OF TUCKER.
The person alluded to in the above
testimony, whose groans and cries Of
distress were stopped by the assassin
Dodson. was Joseph Tucker. His body
was found Tuesday morning, literally
riddled with bullets. A jury was sum-
moned and an inquest held over his
body, after which it was handed over 10
his friends for interment.
DoDsoN's FALsEHoODs.
We have now given a brief, aud rs
correct report as we can gather. We
will give more extended report in our
next issue.
DOdson went Immediately to Little
Rock with HickOx, and reported 'ku-
kluxr 10 the Little Rock RcpUblicdJt,
and Thursdays morning paper had his
story in il. DOdsOn says he with twen-
ty-seven men arrested the "villains'
who attempted the murder of Deputy
Sheriff Williams, and was taking them
10 Dardanelle, when they were fired on
by the kukluX, and one of the prisoners
was Killed, and the rest were taken to
Dardanelle for safe keeping.
A baser lie was never published. The
prisoners were never taken to Darda
nellie, hut escaped, save Joe Tucker, who
was killed That this whole affair was
a preconcerted thing from the begin
ming, we expect to establish by men Of
their own party, whose dispositions will
be published for the world to see.
OF TWO or THE MURDER
ING SQUAD.
The following affidavit win throw
more light on the bloody tragedy at Shi-
Ion camp-ground, a full account of which
we have carefully detailed in another
We refrain from comments
here, and leave these confessions with
our readers:
~ AFFIDAVIT.
i, Perry West, do hereby testify, that
on or about the fifteenth Of April, 1872,
John Williams, ID. 5, gave me orders to
shoot or LEAD Nat Hale, John Hale,
Reese Hogan, Harry Pointer, and John
Young, saying, In fact, shoot any Of
them that impose upon you, and if they
have too many Witnesses for you, come
and give yourself up, and the Governor
will pardon your And he went 50 far
10 say that he was going TO get rid Of the.
McCune and Hale outfit, as he knew
them Of old, and they had to leave the
country. said he would show who run
This country. He gave these orders at
various times and various places.
/. Perry West, can prove this evidence
by w. o. Cox. The said John Williams
said that he had stOrders 10 burn Dover,
and intended 10 do it. The first place to
make for Is Scott q HoWelps, for they
have more money than any Otner mouse
in town. He (Williams) said that he
was going to have revenge And he
said TO me: Perry, they have not mis-
treated you, but have some OF your
friends, and we viii raise them for II. /"
i answered: "NOV rfrTl
We, Perry West and w. o. Cox, are
members of the Loyal League, but we
are not under obligations TO keep such
threats and outrages a secret. We also
belong TO John Williams's company of
militia, and We have not and do not
propose to divulge any Of the secrets of
our order. But John Williams told us
that if there We're any depredatiOns done
he would let US know, and we promised
was necessary. But he did not LET US
know anything about the present ex-
and these are the particulars
of what we know about the causes of the
present troubles.
lSignell PERRY WEST,
W. q. COX.
/, jesse G. Warren, Mayor of the