Phillipsburg herald. [volume] (Phillipsburg, Kan.) 1882-1905, 1892-11-10
CHAPTER ".

John 4. Murrell and his influential
coadjutors all through the Southwest
had set up a state of affairs altogether
anomalous. The history of mankind
does not show another example of wide
spread and perfectly organized lawless-
ness to compare with it in holiness of
design and accuracy of execution.
Murren appeared upon the scene in
Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana a
few years after Burr's scheme had come
to naught, and he found that the arch
conspiratOr, together with such men as
Wilkinson on one hand and the La
Elites on the other, had educated a
large constituency in the various
branches of direct or indirect outlawry.
This was just the wind for the great
robbers sail, and how he utilized it is a
matter of history. One effect of his
organization was this: 1t became SO
formidable that even the officers of the
law in many places were its tools, and
the elections were controlled by it. OF
course, combination so powerful in
Inundated the good and fascinated the
bad. No person was strong enough to
combat alone an influence so secret,
yet so bold, so widespread, yet invis-
IDLE, so strong and yet so hard to dis
cover. Men of otherwise spotIess char
acter were drawn into passive, if not
active. relations with the robbers. and
it soon came to pass that a large
part of the commercial activities of the
interior. especially those connected
with New Orleans, were more or less
controlled by Murrell and his men.
The coming of Martin Lawrence to
New Orleans happened 90 touch sensi-
tive point in the circle of illegal opera
| tons, although the young man was
wholly ignorant of the fact At that
! time MurrelTs kingdom was topping to
r. foil "a Of
had been attracted to his doings in such
a way that he was finding it difficult to
| quiet the fears and retain the conf
dence Of his less desperate adherents.
| Now the affair that Lawrence had come
| to look after was on its face a mere
! breach Of faith-a mild form of shrewd
| swindle; but it connected itself with
certain operations involving enormous
sums of money, and affecting the honor
| and indeed, Indirectly, the lives of
| some OF the richest, most enterprising.
| influential, and highly respected men in
the business circles Of New Orleans
The word went out, mysteriously if not
electrically telegraphed through the city
and country, that deep-laid plans were
forming to expose and bring to grief
the principal citizens who had directly
| or Indirectly aided or abetted Murrell' s
schemes or shared his Illegal gains. A
| quiet, terrible CONSERVATION seized
many men who heretofore had lived in
security and af1uence
Some who had gone no farther be-
yond the limit Of propriety than to prac-
tice little in the ways Of the smuggle1
and the dealer in goods and chatteIs OF
questionable ownership were frightened
almost to the point of Offering them
selves as state witnesses with the hope
of securing pardon.
I'm as utter ignorance OF all this as he
was innocent Of any Interior design be-
yond securing his clients money and
righting up some records that had beer
tempered with, Lawrence went about
feeling that the very atmosphere around
him was heavy with mystery.
When upon turning at the bottom o.
the step and looking up he saw Lucie a
a chamber window, it scarcely SURPRISED
, him, so rapidly was his mind accommo.
! dating itself to its strange surroundings
The girl made sign to him to wait, anC
in little time note was placed in hi
hand by little slave girl, who cam,
round the outer wall Of the court (which
, in those days was part of almost ever,
) respectable creole residence in. New Or
, leans), and furt4vely delivere0it.