The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1899-01-19

| thieves and other obnoxious characters
to whom the local courts were not ade-
quate terrors, named his followers after
the creeks along which they dwelt, and
the Bears" Bulls" and Swans were
the most active companies of the Bald
| knobber organization. Near the con-
fuence of Bear and Bull, ten miles be-
low the spot where the Bilyeu- Mea dows
battle occurred on Nov. %, lived Capt.
Mat Day, the old coroner of fancy
county, the Stockstiljs. the Lewises and
the Bearders, who's names have SO
often appeared in the criminal records
at Forsyth and Ozark. Most of the
members of the mob who hanged John
Bright, the alleged wife murderer and
killed Deputy Sheriff Williams, who
sought to protect his prisoners. went to
the Forsyth Jail from the Bear creek
country Big Ike Lewis was charged
with taking very active part in that
double murder. He was afterward
killed by his own neighbors while try
ing to take his daughter away from
dance. He was powerful man, and
fought three or -four Of his assailants
for some time Def re succumbng to
the many wounds inflicted by the knives
and rocks used by his enemies. They
whitfield on big Ike" was the descrip-
tion given by some Of the witnesses at
the trial of the giant Baldknobber'
slayers.
1t was near the mouth of Bull creek
that John Bright shot his wife Within
a mile of the line of fence where Steve
Bilyeu and his two sons, Pete and jim
my, We're killed by their neighbors a
few days ago, Bob Meadows was assas-
sinated in 1887. He was the father of
Bud and Bob Meadows. who fought and
killed the Bilyeus in the recent combat
over the partnership fence. In this
observation-disclosures haoon nd ap1a6
the Peyton-Matthews feud, which ante
dated the killing Of old man Meadows
short time, and no doubt led to the
latter crimes. The Pcytons and Bud
Matthews quarreled about a homestead.
The Peytons were backed in their war
with Matthews by the Meadows family.
One night the cabin in which the Pey-
tons lived was blown to pieces with
giant powder Soon after this assas-
sins fired on Bud Matthew'S family as
they We're starting to move away from
the county in wagon. An infant
child was killed and Bud Matthews re-
ceived shot in the arm. Following
this outrage came the trial of the Pey-
ton boys, Jim and Riley. at Ozark, the
conviction of the former and the ac-
quittal of the latter. and the singular
interest which old man Meadows took
in the case He hired lawyers to de-
fend the Peytons and never left Ozark
for an hour during the trial. Suspicion
rested on the Meadow family, and
after Jim Peyton had served about two
years of his life sentence for the MUIR
der of the Matthews child he was par
doned out of the penitentiary to testify
against Bud Meadows. The slayer Of the
Bilyeus in the late battle, as an ac-
compice to, the murder of the infant
1t is claimed by some of the Bilyeus
that when the dispute about the line
fence came up, eliminating reference
to the Matthews murder added deadly
fuel to the strife. But Meadows was
denounced as "a sneaking child killer"
and then the feud became doubly re-
Vengeful -E|a.
There is an Interesting feature of the
Peyton case, which led to an amend
ment of the criminal statutes of Mis-
souri, When Jim Peyton was SEN
fenced to hang for the murder of the
infant, Claude Matthews, he. had not
reached the age of IS. AS the law then
stood the young Bull Creeker could not
be sent to the penitentiary. He was old
enough to die on the gallows, but too
young to have his sentence committed
and life sentence substituted for the
death penalty. Many people did not
want the boy to hang, although they
believed he was guilty. The suspicion
that Older heads suggested the assas-
sination of the Matthews family caused
much sympathy for the condemned
youth. But the governor could not
save young Peyton from the gallows.
All that executive clemency could do
was to grant respite till the legislature
should meet and consider the case.
This was done. and petitions signed by
hundreds of people, including many
lawyers, were sent to Jefferson City
praying the legislature to amend the
statutes so that young Peyton's SEN
tence might be committed by the gov
ernor to imprisonment for life. The
law was amended and the governor
sent Jim Peyton to the penitentiary.
The Bilyeu-Meadow feud has no
logical connection with the Baldknob-
Der organization. Some of the Bilyeus
were said to be members of the regu-
lating order, but they We're never con-
nected with any of the trials of the
there are no surviving Baldknobber
feuds. The organization was broken up,
root and branch, when the participants
in the fatal Edens- Green raid were ar
rested, tried and punished, and the
in the old smeIter hollow, at
the head of Bull creek the night of
that tragedy, was the last ever held in
Christian county. There is to-day no
special tie of friendship between the
eX-members of the once notorious black
mask fraternity.
The good people of the county regret
very deeply this Meadows Bilyeu feud.
because the affair will be associated
with the Baldknobber strife and thus
injure the reputation of the locality
more than such occurrences would af-
feet other sections of the state. This
feeling may give some additional vigor
to the prosecution of the slayers of the
Bilyeus, as it did in the case of the
for the Weather citi-
zens of Christian county say that they
must not only be taxed to pay the ex-
penses of these trials but have the
value Of their real estate also depre-
ciated in consequence of the bad repu-
tation which such homicides give the