Fergus County argus., 1890-11-13

ISt. Paul Globe.1

1
a prominent Missouran who il 90
lourneying in st. Paul said to me yes
ter,lay: 'Ihe somewhat sensat iona
report that was photographed through
out the country that the former noted
Missouri guerilla, Charles William
Quantrill, oied recently near Birming
ham, Ala, is utterly without founda.
tiOn, and can only be believed by
those who have forgotten the facts, OF
who never knew them.
I'm February, 1865, Quantrill, at
the head Of about sevent y five
mounted and well-armed Missouri
guerillas, lett Lafayette county, Mo-,
for another field Of operations. The
guerillas were all dressed in Federal
uniforms and looked as blue a. indigo
and as loyal as ''bleeding kansaur. -
They successfully passed numerous
Union posts and detachments, and
eventually reached Western Ken
tucky, where they renewed their pecu-
liar savage warfare against all who
were anti-COnfederate. The loyal Ken
tuckians defeated them in several
encounters, and at last, in the early
spring Of 1S65-about the time OF
Lees surrender, ! think-in u fight in
~ barnyarsl, some miles back of Louis
vile with IL company Of Kentucky
troops under ~ Lieut.. Terrill. Quan.
triDl was mOrtally wounded, four or
five of his men killed out right, and his
band broken up, never again to re-
assemble. At the instant he received
his death wound, Qnantrill was on
loot endeavOring to mount behind
one OF his men, boy named Newton
HOckensmith, who was killed in his
efforts to save his leader. The st ricken
guerilla chieftain was wei! cared for
and taken to the Sisters hospital at
Louisville, where he died two or three
days later. His body was buried in
the Catholic cemetery two or three
days later, and his grave may, think,
yet he seen.
"I'he noted bandit, Frank James,
and Clay Evans. OF Saline county,
Missouri, were with Quantrill in his
last fight. and from them long ago
received these part iculars, and, besides,
the facts were widely published at the
time. have also met the mother Of
the dead guerilla, Mrs. Caroline Guam
trill, OF Canal Dover, Ohio, who il still
living, and neither she nor any one
else that knows anything about the
subject has any doubt that her son is
dead, or that he !, led under the cir
| have described. The
Offenses OF the civil war were amnes-
tied by its termination, and buried in
the "bloOdy chasm," and if Quantrill
had lived all these years without re-
vealing his existence and identity, it
would have been very foolish in him,
and Charlie Quantrill was not a fool.
ut is not generally known that
Quantrill was an Ohio man. He was
born Canal Dover, in that state, and |
was educated in his native village and |
at Fort Wayne. Indiana. He went to |
Kansas in 1889 as "a free State man,
and for time WAS engaged in school
teaching i'm the then territory. But |
inally he went astray, and to escape |
punishment for certain Offense fled /
20 Missouri. where. processing a change |
Of political sentiment, he was well re-
,eiVed. When the war came on he
entered the rebel service. but in a few
deserted the regular army. and
organizing a company in Western Mis-
,ouri, inaugurated that fearful system
,f guerilla warfare which produced so
many horrors in Missouri and Kan
.as. At the time of his death he was
about thirty years OF age. 1t is as
'erted by his ex-comrades that he was
lot at all SO desperate and so merci-
ess as has been described. lie spared
many a prisoner, and the best il
ormed say that in all his career he did
rot kill more than a dozen men with
his own hand. Other guerillas never
'pared the life OF "A prO-Federal, and
iad more than a score Ot nOtchss on
heir revolver butts.
"Cole and Jim Younger were both
members OF Quantrill's band, though
Jim was very young at the time. On
he occasion of the massacre at, and
he sacking and burning OF Lawrence,
Kan, Cole Younger WAS Quantrill's
principal lieutenant, and 1t was he
Who, in the uniform OF n Federal
,tiicer, rode into ths town on the
morning OF the attack and inspect ed
he situation and reported it toQuan-
rill.
But this is depressing from the point
wish to make and emphasize-that
my assertion that Quantrill died less
han n quarter OF u century ago is
eally prepOsterous. As Frank James
,nce said, Il would hate to he as dead
ls Charlie Quantrill is"