The weekly herald. [volume] (Cleveland, Tenn.) 1876-1888, 1881-03-11
AN OUTLAWS LIFE.
The Career and End OF a Noted Det
nRFahO.

Peach Orchard, Clay county, Arkansas
man who was by odds the most daring
desperate that ever lived. He was
known and dreaded all over the South
western border, where the news of his
death will be received with general
satisfaction. His name was +. A,
Gray. but he was famiiarly known as
" Kete" Gray. His deeds would fill a
volume, and his historyis full ofromance
and mystery. He was born in Tennes-
see, where his parents, wealthy and re-
spectacle people, are yet living, At an
early age he developed wayward pro-
pensities, and many there weie who
sagely predicted that he would fetch
up on the gallows."
When only eighteen he fell in love
with the daughter of Baptist deacon
by the name of Mary Wells, a gentle,
lovely, flaxen-haired, blue-eyed girl,
who loved him in return. But her faith I
was obdurate. "Mary should not wed
the young ruflian," 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
love. The trouble which it brought
her, however-the knowledge that ii
had estranged her from her parents
told upon her health, and she slowly
faded away. Yet she would not consent
to give him up. Perhaps the dream
was sweet TO her even in afliiction; al
any rate, she Rugged loves chains more
tightly than ever. But the color faded
from her cheeks; her eyes shone with
unearthly luster; her step lost its elias.
ticity; and without murmur she went
to the grave, dying, as the neighbors
affirm, of a broken heart.
Perhaps, had she lived and become
Gray's wife, her influence might have
saved him, for after her death he grew
utterly reckless Yet his grief at her
loss was profound. We were shown
a. obscure papcr published in the
at the time of the occur.
renee, and in it noticed a few stanzaS
Gray had written upon her death. One
passage read thus:
Can forget those halcyon days
Ere my guiding star lad flcil
Or the poignant pain which smote my heart
When they told me thou vert deadl
showing that there were traces OF
poetic genius mingled with his way
ward nature. After this event, how
ever, he went from bad to worse. His
parents made every fort to save him,
but, at last, even they were compelled
10 turn their backs upon him and leave
him to his fate. Wherever he went he
stirred up strife; wherever he went he
left the stains of blood. At last the
in the neighborhood of his old
home became too hot TO hold him. He
had shot and dangerously wounded a
score Of men, and carried his life in his
hand. In addition, warrants were out
ior his arrest, hence he decided to seek
other fields, and came to Arkansas. He
his advent into the State
with the murder of Fayette Fletcher, at
Walnut Ridge. His victim was re-
spectacle and highly connected, and the
murder was unprovoked and cold
olooded. 1t created intense excitement,
not only in the neighborhood, but all
over the commonwealth. 1t was
thought that Gray would hang; but to
.he surprise of every one, he succeeded
n cheating the gNllows, and after a
brief term OF Imprisonment was set free.
But public opinion ran high against
lim, and he fled from the State going TO
he Indian Territory. Amid the wild
md lawless people of the border he was
n his element. Here he was joined by
mother ruffian, Comanche Jim"
Who was almost as bad as himself
Together they inaugurated a carnival
If blood and set the law at defiance,
openly boasting that there was not
IN officer in the Territory who dared
ay a finger upon them. While
some plunder the two men
Iuarreled, and each swore that he
would have the others life. The dis
,ute was settled by an agreement to
light a duel. Aiming themselves with
lerringers, they measured of the ground
lpon lonely spot of the prairie, and
TODD facing each other just as the sun
disappeared beneath the western hor-
zon and the shadows of night fell
lowly upon the landscape. When
he word "Fire |" was pronounced
fray sent bullet crushing through
he brain of "Comanche Jim,'
Who fell on the earth and died without
struggle or without word. Gray
lad escaped without a scratch
Fearing the vengeance of the friends
# the man he had slain he fed from
he spot, and never halted until in Ar.
KANSAS, miles away from the scene Of
he tragedy. Perhaps the thought of
he rigid, bloOd.stained face lying prone
IN the prairie acted as a stimulus and
orced him to put all forcible distance
between that CHASTITY object and himself,
Be- this as it may, it is certain that it did
lot change him. In Little River county
le was arrested, but while in the court
DOM and while his preliminary exam
nation was in progress, he snatched a
,istol from one his captors, shot and
dangerously wounded the sheriff,
umped through window and
though the town was
ull OF people. Heavy rewards
we're offered, yet none Of them
ecured his recapture. In an afray with
man named Alexander Chenoweth, at