Daily Los Angeles herald. [microfilm reel] (Los Angeles [Calif.]) 1876-1884, 1880-12-18
A BORDER RUFP1Ay.
Tho Lif, and Death Of a Noted Desperate In
the Indian Nation.

the Indian Nation.
LITTLE Rock (Ark.), Nov. a.
There died q day or two since, at
Peach Orchard, Clay county, in
this State, man who WAS by all
odds the most daring and desperate
desperate that ever lived. He was
known and dreaded all over the
Southwestern border, where the
news of his death will be received
with general satisfaction. His
name was e. A. Gray, but he was
familiarly known as "Ketep Gray.
His deeds would fill volume, and
his history is full of romance and
mystery. He was born in Tennes-
see, where his parents, wealthy
and respectable people, are yet liv-
ing. At an early age he developed
hayward propensities, and many
there were who sagely predicted
that he "would fetch up on the
gallows." When only eighteen he
fell In love with the daughter of a
Baptist deacon, by the name of
Mary Wells, a gentle, lovely, flax
en-haired, blus.eyed girl, who
loved him in return. But her
father was obdurate. "Mary
should not wed the young ruffian."
he said.
Coercion was resorted to, but
locks and bars failed to change the
young girls fancy. She remained
true TO her first and only lover.
The trouble which it brought her,
however-the knowledge that it
had estrnnged her from her par
ents-t0ld upon her health, and
slowly she faded away. Yet she
would not consent to give him up.
Perhaps the dream was sweet to
her even in her aftliction; at any
rate, she Rugged loves chains
more tightly than ever. But the
color faded from her cheeks; her
eyes shone with an unearthly lus-
ire; her step lost it's elasticity; and
without murmer she went to the
grave, dying, the neighbors affirm,
or q broken heart. Perhaps, had
she lived and become Gray's wife,
her influence might have saved
him, for after her death he became
utterly reckless. Yet his grief at
Der loss was profound. We were
shown an obscure paper publishe ed
in the nelghbOrhood at the time of
the occurrence. and in it noticed
few stanzas Gray had writ en-
upon her death. One passage read
thus:
Can forget those halcyon days
Ere my guiding star had fed?
Or the poignant pain which smote my heart
When they told me thou vert dead?
showing that there were traces of
poetic genius mingled with his
hayward nature.
After this event, however, he
went from bad to worse. His
parents made every effort to save
him, but, at last, even they were
compelled to turn their backs upon
him and leave him to his fate,
Wherever be went he stirred up
strife; wherever he went he left the
stains of blood. AT last the coun.
try in the peighborhood of his old
home became too hot to hold him.
He had shot and dangerously
wounded score of men, and car
ried his life in his hand. In addi-
tion, warrants were out for his ar
rest, hence he decided to seek other
fields, and so came to Arkansas.
He inaugurated his adventinto the
State with the murder of Fayette
Fletcher, at Walnut Ridge. His
victim was respectable and highly
connected, aud the murder was nm
provoked and cold blooded. It
created intense excitement, not
only in the neighborhood, but also
all over the commonwealth. It
was thought that Gray would hang,
but to the surprise of everyone he
succeeded in cheating the gallows,
and, after q brief term Of imprison-
ment, was set free. But public
feeling still ran high against him,
and he fed from the State, going
to the Indian Territory. Amid the
wild and lawless people that dwell
along the border he was in his ele-
ment. Here he was Joined by am
other rufIian by the name of
"C0manche Jim,n who was almost
as bad as himself Together they
inaugurated carnival of blood
and set the law at defiance, openly
Boosting that there was not an off,
Ger In the Territory who dared lay
q finger on them.
While dividing some plumber the
two men quarrelled, and each
man swore that he would have the
others life. The dispute was set
tied by an agreement to fight a
duel. Aiming themselves with
deringers, they measured off the
ground upon u lonely spot upon the
the prairie and stood facing each
other just as the sun disappeared
beneath the western horizon, and
the shadows of night fell slowly
upon the landscape. When the
word "Fire!" was pronounced,
Gray sent bullet crashing
through the brain of"Comanche
Jim," and he fell on the earth and
died without struggle or without
utteriDg a word. Gray had escap.
ed without a scratch. Fearing the
vengeance of the friends of the
man he had slain, he fed from the
spot, and he never halted until ia
Arksnsas, miles away from the
scene OF the tragedy. Perhaps the
thought of the rigid, blOod-statned
face lying prone on the prairie act.
ed as q timulus aud forced him to
put all possible distance between
that CHASTITY form and himself. Be
that as it may, it is certain that it
did not change him. In Little
River county he was arrested, but
while in the Court room and while
his preliminary trial was in pro-