New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1890-05-03
BRUTALITY IN ARKANSAS
,.,,r ONLY MuRpERERs, BUT DEVOID EVEN
Or THE KrNpL1NEss OF sAvAGES.

.. -vr,rNEyT HE RECEIVED
wuvx lie RECLAIMED THE BODY AZ
OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES TO
TRACE THE Ass>SsrNs.
,,rseAArH THE TEIRuNhi
1t was a startling picture
A,''c "oo a. Arkansas which was drawn
OF M congressional investigating Committee
'eio'e - ~ NJ Clayton. twin brother OK
.aar.d w-'e', man and now United States District
.he H'D o., tho Eastern District of Arkansas took
,ha vi,ncssstand-a picture truly "nich maue
,.., ruh vour eyes and wonder whcther such
,hipgs can he in the nineteenth century Ill COM
n,nI,v professedly Christian; in State pretend
49,. % have free government, or for that matter,
ary Government at all The testimony described
,hs reception given 10 Mr. Clayton by the citizens
., plnpnervillc when he arrived there with
..,.nd In carrv away the body of his murdered
b,otber lie was comparatively unknown in that
township being a resident Of another part of the
STATE He had no enemies and he came on an
errand Of pitiful duty. Suppose that none of the
Pummerville people were implicated in the muir
der Of John VI. Clayton, they certainly might have
extended 20 his brother those offices he stood
there so sadly in need Of. They might have
offered him their sympathy, or expressed their re-
ercts Savaces would have done thai much at
least. but the brutalized mob which lives in that
part of the State of Arkansas threatened him and
his friends with death If they did not leave the
town before night. Not content with numbering
his brother with refusing him any assistance, with
threatening his life, they in addition. demanded
exorbtant damages for the blood of his
brother which had been spilled on the carpet
Of the room in which he murdered. II is
small matter, when compared with the crime of
murder, but il shows the spirit of the cutthrOat
community TO which Mr.. Breckenridge so fire.
quently and afectionatcly refers as my peo-
pie and with the members of which he con-
stantly associates on familiar and intimate terms
in the courtroom. w. NJ Clayton first heard of
the assassination of his brother in Little Rock,
where he was then staying member Of
committee of the Fort Smith Bar TO secure GER
tain legislation. The information was contained
in a telegram sigred by Carroll Armstrong,
attorney in Mor.illtoh who had been engaged
with j. VI. Clayton in taking dispositions in Plum
mervie. Armstrong now figures as one of the
ATTORNEYS for Mr., Brecknridge. W. NJ. Clayton
started on the first train for Plummerville after
securing an undertaken. He vas joined on the
road by Colonel Fowler a personal friend. He
purposey refrained from taking more friends
with him, though many wanted to go, because
he did not want TO raise any disturb bance by
display of numerical strength, which might irri-
tate the people of Pummerville. His story of
his arrival at Plummervile is best told in his
own words:
when l arrived at the depot, C rrol Arm
strong there. few negroes were stand
ing around. There white people in sghs
except Mr.. Cobentz and his brother and young
man who had been the clerk of my murdered
brother. We started together toward the house
where my brother lay asked Armstrong If he
knew how this thing occurred, and he said that
lie did not. lie added that the inquest then
being held, and l could learn, perhaps, about the
matter there I desired TO speak 10 him. how
ever, and told him So | requested him a second
time TO come and see me in the course of the
day. When we entered the house, / saw my
brother lying two boards on the floor, his
face tied up with dirty towel. He was dead.
! didn't examine him, and didn't take off the
towel. / turned the body over TO the undertaken.
VI. o. CIavens and her daughter, who owned the
house. / saw no other people about the
house. No one offered me either
assistance or sympathy. l thought it strange
that no one should come TO me. ] didn't think
there was any personal feeling against me, be-
cause | was scarcely known TO the people.
Shortly before dinner o. T. Bentley came in. lie
told me that he was deputy sheriff and that he
had that morning arrived in town. ! asked him
what steps he had taken 10 discover the murderers
Of my brother. He said he had found upon the
outside Of the window through which my brother
was shot the tracks Of two men who over
shoes. the one new. the other old. He also said
that he had tracked them to the fence where
some palngs were missing, showing their pas
sage through it. According 10 his statement,
Coblentz had picked up pistol, which he pro-
duccd. / asked him if he had pursued the tracks
further than the fence He said he hadn't
asked him why but he made reply. | in
quired of him if he had gone about town to see
If any persons had come in or if horses had
been hitched around there. lie replied that no
one came into the town and there
were no horses htched. ! said {: Did YOU ex-
amine?' lie replied I didn't How is it. then,
'hat You told me that horscmcn came into |
town last night. and that there were no horses
hltched" lie said, i tell you. there were none
ihen' do you mean to say replied, that the
murderers OF my brother are in this town. lie |
saiu' don't know said. Mr.. Bentley. where |
Is the Sheriff? lie has more inportant business |
" at'ehd 10, was the reply or words 20 that |
'nect' asked him what that business was He |
S'iu ID was collecting taxes some twenty-five miles
away. called his attention to the fact that at
'nc november election there were twelve deputy
Sncl'hs IN Piummeryie, and that the sheriff
was promptly there after it was teegraphed that
nc ooN mad been stolen; but that. when my
'ro,her was killed, there was only one deputy
;" the spot. He said that he couldn't account
or IL. Then said TO Mr.. Bentley:
~ seems to me that you ought to have ex-
'"i''fd these roads around here. Do YOU think
was done by some one away from here p and he
eplied 1 don't know
DON'T you know | said, that benjamin
vent 10 Morriton and was mobbed and had great
landinlls OF hair taken out of his beard and
nat he was kicked so that his death cnsued
a short time?
When said that he threw up his hands and
aid:
Before God didn't help kill your brother"