The Caldwell tribune. [volume] (Caldwell, Idaho Territory [Idaho]) 1883-1928, 1898-07-09
QUANTRELL, MONSTER
KENTUCKY WRITER WHO KNOWS
HIS INNER HISTORY.
Murdered Innocent PeopIe-slaughtered
Men, Women and Children - How
Lieut.. Barnett Went to His Death
Fell Into the GuerriIIa's Trap. .

tlcle has evidently heard only one side
of the life of the notorious guerrilla
chieftain, William Clark Quantrell. If
you will kindly accord me the neces-
sary space for this reply, desire to
place on record a few circumstances
which came under the personal obseT-
walton of the writer and which will
throw some light on the darker side
of the character of one Of the most
cowardly, cruel and inhuman monsters
that ever disgraced the soil of Ken
lucky, says writer in the Louisville
Commercial. l quote from the article
the following: His friends say he
was in fact humane and generally
shrank from the needless taking of
of human life" Again: "Those living
today who were under his command
on those memorable occasions have tes-
titled that Quantrell's horror Of need
less blood splitting held his men very
much in check and minimized the
slaughter" There are hundreds, yes
thousands, of men now living in the
state of Kentucky, who in all probable
ity>will read the above quotations with
scorn and contempt. The good people
of Kentucky had long ago hoped that
the air of our beloved state would new
er again be contaminated by the name
| of William Clark Quantrell In JUS
| tice to the memory of some of those
who met their death at the hands of
| this slaughterer of innocent men, wo-
men and children, will relate the cir
cumstances to which l have referred
The present postmaster of Hartford
KY, Capt. Wood Tinsley, Lieut.. An
drew Barnett and the writer were in
| Ohio county, Kentucky, during the
months of December, 1864, and jan
uary, 1865, on recruiting expedition.
We were quartered at the house of
Joseph G. Barnet, father of Andrew
Barnett, about four miles from Hart
ford. On Sunday morning, the first
day of January 1865, we received word
from Col. @. O. Shanks that a Capt.
William CLARK had arrived at that
place in command of company of
federal soldiers and had requested the
| colonel to send for us to act as guides
on guerrilla hunt, there being many
of these lawless rufians in Ohio coun-
ty, Young Barnett, who was as brave
| a boy as ever lived and was anxious to
help rid the county of the pests, sig
nified his willingness to start at once.
l., however, questioned closely the col
onel's messenger John Mauzy) in re-
gard to the dress, arms, etc., of the
supposed federals, and while l could
scarcely believe that such men as Col.
Shanks, Judge c. ]. Lawton and num-
bers Of other prominent union men in
Hartford had been deceived, vet felt
assured that it was trap to catch my
friend Barnett and me. l told the lat
ter of my fears and suspicious, but all
to no purpose. He was confident that
no guerrilla could deceive Col. Shanks
so / decided that if he insisted on
going l would accompany him. told
him that l was so impressed with the
idea that we were going to fall into
the hands of the gUerrillas that I
would not take any arms or money
with me. 1 then gave to George Bar
nett, Andrews brother, my pocket
book containing about $500 in green
backs and some notes, and instructed
him what to do, with them in case
never returned. This greatly excited
young Barnett's mother, and she. too,
demonstrated with her son, but with
out changing his determination in the
least.
We were soon mounted and gone.
Capt. Clark had so successfully deceiv-
ed everybody in Hartford that he felt
sure of meeting us on the way to join
him, and he and his band had, there |
fore, left Hartford via the Greensboro |
road at about the same time we left |
Barnett's house Barnett and I met |
them Just as we were coming out of |
the Livermore road into the Hartford |
and Greensboro road. Barnett rode |
up on the left of Capt. Clark and on |
the left of Barnett. 1 was convinced
at once that my suspicious were well |
founded and that we were indeed in |
the hands Of guerrillas. l believed |
that we were done for but, hoping to |
escape by stratagem, I turned to Clark |
and said: 81 had suspected you of be- |
Ing guerrillas or rebel soldiers before |
| left home and therefore did not bring
my arms, ammunition or money. l |
was determined that if you were guer-
rillas you should not profit by any |
thing more than my humble self. But |
now that am with you and see that
you are all right, when we get a short
distance further on will cut across
the country to my home, get my arms.
money and better horse and be with
you in an hour or So" I saw that he
cared for nothing but the money. so
told him how much had 1 played
nv $500 for all II WAS worth and rarnd