The Waco daily examiner. [volume] (Waco, Tex.) 187?-1888, 1874-04-22

iS-ss--Ss
much longer. lie reiertd once or
twice very bitterly TO the stories that
were in circulation. about him, aud
declared his innocence, as coming
from one who felt that he was about
to die. did every thing possible for
him, but he failed daily. dis lungs
were very much diseased, and one
hemorrhage followed another. He
died peacefully and calmly the nth
day of January, and was buried on
my place. Please inform General
Shelby of the fact, for all his men
think they will go to him when they |
die, and Arthur talked Of him by the
hour. He was noble and generous
fellow, and one Of the bravest men, /
think, that ever lived in any country.
Have the account Of his death pub
lished, so that all of Shelby's division,
who knew and liked him so much,
can have some assurance of his last
days"
There was much more in the letter
that can not be published, although it
was the touching talk of one who left
near and dear ones behind HIM, and
messages of kindness and remem,
brance to many whom he knew and
trusted. The St. Louis writer says:
For months and months past the
newspapers have been busy with the
name of Arthur Mccoy. Hardly yet
cold in his grave, he was made the
leader of the Gad's Hill band, the
chief who robbed the stage in Arkan-
sas, and hut the other day of stage
in Texas. What matter it now to
him, who sleeps his last sleep by the
waters of the San Marcos river!
Who is 1t that escapes SANDER now,
the malice of enemies, the lies that
sensation newspapers tell, the injury
that ignorance and treachery intlict ?
Mccoy was brave nuto QulXotic reck-
lessness, and so whenever deed was
done sudden in its on break, uncoms
mon in it's d9rng, humorous or extras
VACANT In the minutiae that went to
make up its persouel, vicious public
rumor fastened the onus OF the crime
upon Mccoy and band, taking no des
NAL thereafter, and reasoning never
more again concerning the logic or
the probabilities of the charge. Pub
lie opinion wanted him guilty, be-
cause 1t knew of no other way of
making plausible mantle fit so
gracefully the subject it had chosen
as the hero Of new era in highway
men. His war record had been one
noted for its ventures, its bravadees,
its desperate chances taken, and its
desperate escapes by land and water.
Hence he was ready fashioned for the
uses the journals had, and hence all
useless and yet venomous lies that
have been told about him for the last
sir months and more.
He has wife, however, and chill
dren, and relatives, and ten thousand
true comrades in Missouri, who do
not believe word of all that has
been written and published, though
the world rose up-and swore to it.
His military career has already
been written. Beginning as soldier,
under Bowen, in the old first MIS-
sour, he came aiterward to Shelby as
knight-errant, and was renowned
in two armies for the individual dar.
ing of the man, the desperate nature
of his battles, the tenderness with
which he cared for the wounded, the
generosity of nature that never said
no; o physique that fought doub' c
fight through a.! the bitter war, and
an ubiquity that gave to his ex-
PLOTS the marvel of dream. AS a
soldier, he has equals, but no superi.
ors; as a comrade, his was always
the smiling face and open hand as a
friend, all that he loved he would
have died for; as a patriot, and in
devotion to cause and kindred, none
who ever wore the gray followed with
more OF hope and steadiast faith lhe
"banner Of the bars"