Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1892-03-24
IN TANEY COUNTY.

L
The killing of Deputy sheriff William
and the Lynching of Wife Murderer
| Bright May Cause Another Bald-Knob
| Der Outbreak-Ihe Governor Takes q
Hand.
ST.. LOUIS. March Infancy county
is again the seat of war, and there
seems to be general impression thai
the lynching of the wife murderer
John w. Bright, and the killing by the
mob of Deputy Sheriff Williams, whe
| was intervening to defend Bright, will
| bring on hostilities between the differ.
| ent factions interested. Gov. Francis
has taken a hand in the matter, and
says that he is determined, if possible,
| to bring the slayers of the deputy-sher'
| if to justice, and that if necessary he
| will send the militia to fancy county
| to maintain order. On the 18th Gov.
| Francis sent the following to the sher-
| iff of fancy county:
| J. L. Cook, Sheriff, fancy County. Forsyth, Mo. :
Newspapers report that Williams, deputy
sheriff of fancy county. was murdered by a
mob while guarding prisoner at Forsyth. II
| true arrest all persons implicated in the muir
der. Summon posse sufficient to hold prisoners
| and see the law enforced II you can not secure
enough law abiding citizens in your county to
)
DAVID r. FRANCIS, Governor.
Some think that this outbreak will
revive that slum boring feud between
| the Bald Knobbers and militia factions
| whose deadly enmity few years ago
gave the country such wild romance
of crime. There is no word in the En-
glish language more hateful to the
Bald Knobber element around For
syth, the county seat, than the term
militia" in it's local sense on the Mis-
| souri, border. The militia faction in
fancy county originated in 1886,
just after the lynching of the
Taylor boys, when Gov. Marina
duke authorized the antiKnobhers to
organize for the enforcement of the
law, agreeing to send arms for the
citizen-soldiery thus called out. COM
| mittee of Bald Knobbers went to JEFF
ferson City, held conference with the
governor and prevented the shipment
of arms, thus averting, as they claimed,
a bloody fractional war on White river.
Soon after this event Adjt. Gen. Jami-
son went to Forsyth, negotiated treaty
of peace with Capt. Nat Kinney and
his BALD Knobber lieutenants, and wit
messed, as he supposed, the formal dis
banding of the followers of the famous
border chieftain. The militia compa-
MES, though never armed by the state,
stood together to man through all the
subsequent bloody strife in fancy
county. Hence the odium attached by
tia Knobber contingent 70 the name
militia"
The death of Deputy Sheriff Williams
is deeply regretted. The common feel
ing, however, is that his conduct was
very rash. He should have known that
the mob would not be thwarted. Con-
hicting reports about the number of
shots fred at the Jail are now current.
Some say that the deputy fired at the
mob and missed the crowd, and that
two shots were aimed at him in return,
one only taking effect in the body of
the officer Another report says tina
Williams was unarmed, and made no
resistance to the demands of the mob
except to run between them and the
Jail, put his hand on the door and say:
''You can't have this prisoner till you
pass over my dead body"
Sheriff Cook did not go to the jail.
though he was with Williams when
the latter ran to the defense of the
prisoner. Sheriff Cook was elected to
fill vacancy in the Office caused by
the shooting of Sheriff Bronson by Bill
Miles, at Kirbyville, on the 4th of July,
1890. Jim Miles shot and killed De-
tective Funk at the same time. The
Miles boys when they killed Sheriff
Bronson and Detective Funk were
under bond for the murder of
the Bold Knobber chieftain, Capt.
Nat n. Kinney, whose career in fancy
county is so conspicuously connected
with the history of that lawless period,
from the hanging of the Taylor boys
at Forsyth, in April. 1856, down to Au-
gust, 1883, when the founder of the
vigilance organization met his death.
Sheriff Cook was Bald Knobber, and
found little opposition at the special
election called to fill the vacancy re-
sulting from the shooting of his prede-
ceSSOr, Bronson.
A dispatch from Ozark, Christian coun-
ty, says that Mrs. Bright, the murdered
woman, was of a Christian county
family of great numerical strength,
and her brother. Bert Gideon. was in
Forsyth all day proceeding the night
of the lynching, consulting with small
squads of men that had assembled
there.
Friends of Deputy Sheriff Williams
claim that the mob killed him unnec
essarily; that they were induced to do
so by some of his personal enemies at
Forsyth, and the mob was composed of
Christian county men principally. with
a few fancy county citizens, who were
A. 1-.ll T1,o CT
is alarming. The Bald Knobber and
militia factions are taking up the fight.
The people are dividing into hostile
parties and more trouble is sure to fol-
low.