The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1893-02-09

the purpose of participating with him in his
feasts of blood for he was now in constant
exnectation of being killed ON account OF the
many borrid crimes Of which he had been
guilty 1t was very hard to get chance to
kill him. OH account Of the heavy guard which
he always kept about him, and the men who
were scouting in the mountains, being toe weak
to attack him openly resolved to bushwhack
him as the safest plan of ridding the country
of such a scoundrel. A number of men took
their positions on several occasions for the pur-
pose of completing this design, but when an
opportunity would offer for them to shoot him
their hearts would fail them. AT length. in
their extremity, they came to me and requested
me to aid them in seeking the destruction oil
their dreadful foe. How many Union citizens
have | heard exclaim: I" / would freely give
| all / possess in this world if this monster was
| killed." And the women would also say :. Our
husbands are far away, engaged III the service
| of their country as soldiers in the tederal
army, and we are driven away from our homes
and our houses burned downland all our prop
erty destroyed. If Bill Parker was killed the
balance of his adherents would NOT be so bad"
All the old and feeble men who entertained
| Union sentiments and who bad mot already
been murdered had left the section of country
which was most constantly cursed by his pres
ence. / at once determined to assist tho men
! who were scouting in the mountains to get rid
of this old blood-thirsty tyrant. But worst OF
all. there were hut few guns and very little am
| munition in the country. However, IN spite
of every difficulty, l concluded to take him
alive and convey him through the Ines and
deliver him up to the Federal authorities.
This knew would be hard to do, but dis
liked the idea of killing him secretly without
| letting him know who it was that was assauting
! him. and why it was done. There were 10 men
| in the company who formed the conspiracy to
take Old Parkers life. We armed ourselves as
well as We could and went forth upon our mis-.
sion to rid the world of one of the vilest and
most reckless scoundrels that ever walked
upon the face of the earth in the upright form
! of man. s2ir
When we arrived in the section of coun.
try where he lived we proceeded to waylay
the road along which he usually travelled for
FIVE days and nights before got to see him.
Two Of the men who belonged to our party
pretended to know him well,
WHILE I KNEW NOTHING ABOUT HIM.
only from description, and in consequence of
this / thought that l mi ght be deceived, for
l had frequently been informed that he made
it point to change his clothes every day, and
also to ride different horse; the reason of
which was that he no doubt expected to be
bushwhacked. and wished to guard against
it AS much rs he possibly could.
Rebel soldiers and Home Guards passed the
place every day where were concealed, but
none Of them answered to the description of
Parker. On the fourth day buggy contain
| ing lady and gentleman passed along, and
some of the men declared that it WAS Parker
who was in the buggy, and wished very much
to fire at the lump and kill the man and woman
both. But this would not allow to be done.
Directly after the buggy had passed on squad
of soldiers came riding along the road, and
single man on horseback was riding some dis
| hob ind of
declared that this man who was riding by HIM
self behind the soldiers was Parker, without
any doubt and that the soldiers who were
riding before him were his men. This could
not believe, for this man did not ut all fill the
description that had been given me in regard
to his personal appearance. When this man
rode up / would not allow any of the men to
interrupt him, and he passed on. Some OF my
men now became angry and discouraged, say
ing that would not permit them to capture
Parker if he should come along, and they took
their guns and forthwith left the company.
This caused our little company to be reduced
down considerably: but did not regard that
for had come to capture Parker, aud there
fore l did not want any person else in his
place. ers.
At length, on the fifth day, just about IL
o'clock, small company of soldiers passed
along and some distance behind them we OBJ.
served a man riding along by himself. As he
| apprOacneu a HUG nearer COUCiuubu AZ OHcc
that this was Parker without any doubt what
ever. ! now stationed the men at several dif-
| ferent stands along the side of the road, and
taking one Of the men with me we advanced
very near the road, where l designed waiting
until he rode np when intended to jump into
the road just ahead Of him aud seize his horse
by the bride in true robber style when he
calls on the traveller to stand and deliver" /
felt quite sure that he would at once surrender,
for / never knew a cruel man to be brave
man. Cruelty and cowardice are inseparable
concomitants for they always go hand in band.
Parker came on and passed by the first lot Of
men whom had stationed near the road, and
was approaching the second scntincls. when
the first and second guards fred at him stimuli
taneously, hitting his horse, when, insie ead OF
coming OH toward me- he wheeled about and
started on the back track. Every gun was i'm
medately let loose after him, and he WAS seen
once to lean forward in his saddle, which we
viewed as plain indication that some o: our
balls had struck him. The horse bore Parker
on for several hundred yards, when all at once
the animal fell down in the road, aud when we
went up to him he was lying dead, but Parker
was gone. But when we started toward q
thicket near by we found his coat, which had
several bul!et-holes in it, but
WE COULD FIND 80 TRACE OF PARKER.
We could not hunt for him long for his
men soon came hurrying back, aud at once
commenced searching through every thlcket
for their missing leader, but he was nowhere
to be found. His followers continued to
search for him several days. but their efforts
to find him proved entirely fruitless. AS no
trace of him could be found, the rebels came
to the conclusion that those who had killed him
must have carried off his dead body, or that
they had captured him alive and had con
Quoted him away. If they had known it, we
were just as ignorant in regard to his fate as
they were. His ultimate fate being involved
in such doubt and uncertainty, thought that
some of his rebel friends had found him and
concealed him, to prevent any further assault
from being made on him.
A period of two months had elapsed before
his fate was fully known and then it was dis.
closed in the following manner: The skeleton
of man was found about three miles from the
place where we made the attack upon him.
When he was found he was lying with his face
/ on the ground and the most Of his clothes were
still entirely whole. The pockets in his pants
being searched it was found to be Parker
without any further doubt. A quantity of
chewed bark was found upon the ground whore
his stomach had lain and rotted, and the knees
of his pants were entirely worn through
plainly indicating that he had crawled upon
his knees for a considerable distance. From
every appearance he must have lived some four
or five days after he had been shot. He was
found about mile from the house of Jacob
Wagner who was a stanch old rebel. Some Of
/ ffar park rkar StaIa