Okolona messenger. (Okolona, Miss.) 1900-current, 1921-12-15
SUPER OUTLAW
KILLED BY TRAITOR
CONVICT FOR WHOM He OPENED
GATES or ARKANSAS PRISON
KILLS TOM SLAUGHTER.
POSSES FIND HIS BODY
Slayer surrends With Two Negroes Of
Escape Party-one Shot In Gun
Y Hattle-sIaughter Robbed
Many Banks.

ing through the head and another
through the heart, fired by another es-
capped convict as they lay near a tiny
campfireSin the Ozark wilderness Of
Saline county, has written "flnis" to
the dime-nOvel career Of Tom Slaugh-
ter. murderer. bank robber. jail break
er and greatest desperate since Jesse
James.
All doubt surrounding the famous
bandits end was dispelled by the Off
cial announcement from the governors
office and the prison that Slaughter's
body had been found in the woods
near Benton.
J. G. Howard, a forger from Hot
Springs, whom Slaughter forced to &C.
company him In his break for liberty.
told of shooting the arch-bandit to
death. His story was substantiated by
a note he left in the prison after
Slaughter had ordered him to flee with
him. 1t read: "Will be back" II
was found In the commissary by War
den Dempsey.
els OF NlIIIU1s
1T was his life or mine," stated
Howard, relating the killing. He
knew didn't want to go.
Il shot him twice through the head
and once through the heart. He was
lying before the fire we had built. with
his gun in his right hand and his hand
under his head.
II whirled on him with my gun,
ordering him to. straighten out his
hands. He came up with his gun in.
stead, and | got in the first shot. !
knew he would kill me and leave no
trace OF his getaway.
slaughter never spoke after / shot
ground and groaned for fifteen min.
him. He thrashed around on the
utes. Then emptied my gun on Bus
ter and Cannon
Negroes corroborate.
Towards story of the Staying was
cOrrohorated by Jim Wells and Clifton
Taylor. negroes. both under sentence
of death. whom Howard brought out
with him when he surrendered to
Steve Ferguson. farmer, living near
Benton.
Jack Buster and Willis Cannon. ne
groes, are still at liberty, while the
fifth negro. Charles Jones. is also wan
dering around the woods with a bullet
iT~his body, received in an exchange Of
shots between the escaped cOnviets, IN
= Ford, and a posse which met the
car in the streets OF Benton.
Under Death Sentence.
Slaughter was under sentence OF
death for Staying Deputy Sheriff Roy
Brown In Garland county. Ark, while
evading arrest. He escaped at the
time, but in October. 1920, he was
taken in Kansas on charge Of rob-
bing the Aluwes State Bank.
With two companions he was caught
near Sedan, Kan, and although he SUBJ
mitted without astruggle, he surprised
his captors by attempting to darw his
pistol while ON the way to the lookup.
He was then disarmed and returned to
Arkansas, where the death sentence
resulted from the trial Of the Brown
case.
According to friends in Dallas, Tex.
where Slaughter was born ~ years
ago, he WAS criminal from the age Of
IA. His first cases were charges Of
auto stealing.
Escaped Many Jalls.
In 1916 Slaughter escaped from the
Dallas county jail. liberating seven 9th
er prisoners at the same time. He
was later arrested in Oklahoma and
sentenced to term in the Texas state
but his escape was only
matter Of months. He was caught and
sent back. but escaped again.
Then Slaughter engaged in series
Of bank robberies In Kentucky. KAN
Sas. Oklahoms. Louisiana and Arkan-
sas. He was finally captured and
placed In the Bartlesville. Okla. Jail.
from which he fled in three days. SEN
fenced to the jail at Nowata, Okla. he
held up the 1ailer and made his way
out, Another Of his many Jail breaks
was made in = county Jail near Louis
vilia XIV