The Rock Island Argus and daily union. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1920-1923, 1921-12-23
WHEN HIS PAL MURDERED TOM SLAUGHTER WEST
WAS RID OF WORST BADNAN SINCE JAMES BOYS
ESPECIAL 70 The Argus

let from the night brought 10
close the long career OF crime bs
| which Tom Slaughter was known
throughout the southwest as "tht
killer"
The target OF one of six men he
I had liberated, a few hours before
! from the Arkansas penitentiary al
Little Rock, the desperate died as
/ he had lived. crouching defiantly il
wait for pursuing officers. In the
/ fastness OF the Ozark hills, he was
shot from behind as a posse APP
preached the place where he lay in
I hiding.
]. c. Howard, who fired the fatal
shot, was the only white man
among the six liberated by Slaugn-
ter in a spectacular escape from the
prison.
Il left the prison with the linen
ito of getting him the first chance
l got" was Towards only explana-
tion
Tom Slaughter left behind him a
crime record that dates back TO his
early youth. He was born q years
ago at Dallas, Texas. and was rear
ed in southern Arkansas. When IA
years old he was convicted Of
grand larceny and sentenced to the
Arkansas reform school.
Began FIRST Prison Terms at IA.
Slaughter served his term. then
drifted into Oklahoma His opera
tions for the next few years con
sisted largely of "A series Of motor
car thefts throughout Texas, Okla
/ homa and Arkansas. In 1915 he
escaped from the Dallas. Texas,
county Jail, one of the largest and
most strongly built in the south
west, liberating seven other prison
ers at the same time He was ar
rested later in Oklahoma and sent
TO the Texas penitentiary, but es
capped soon after He was arrested
the second time and escaped again.
One of Slaughter's most spectac-
ular escapes was in March, 1918.
With his brother, Dave Slaughter.
he was arrested in Oklahoma and
was being taken to Dallas by two
detectives in a motor car. Stopping
at a little town for oil for the car,
the detectives got out. Slaughter
leaped from the rear seat to a posi-
ton behind the wheel and sped
away. taking his brother with him.
Numerous bank robberies in
Texas, Oklaho ma, Arkansas, south
ern Missouri and southern Kansas
in the next two or three years were
laid to Slaughter. In 1917, while a
prisoner at NoWata, Okla, Slaugh
ter held up the jailer and escaped.
He was recaptured and placed in
the Bartlesville. Okla, prison,
where he escaped three days later.
Still another escape was made
from a county Jail near Louisville.
KY, where Slaughter was being
held on a bank robbery charge.
Slaughter often boosted that he
never would go TO the electric chair
With Fulton kid Green, he was
arrested Oct. 90, 1920, near Cedar
vale, Kan, where, it was charged,
the two were preparing to rob a
bank. He was placed in a Jail at
Sedan, Kan, for safe keeping, and
later was turned over to authorities
at Hot Springs, Ark, where he was
alleged to have killed Row Brown,
a deputy sheriff, in a gun battle
Oct 10.
After a trial lasting several days
Slaughter was convicted and SEN
fenced to life term While a pris-
oner at Hot Springs constant
guard, including a company of Ma
ticnal guardsmen. had kept watch
over the jail. After the jury's YER
dict was announced Slaughter turn
ed over TO the guards a handful of
hacksaws. remarking that if the
sentence had been death he never (
would have remained in Jail over
night
Last September Slaughter added
chapter to his long list OF
crimes when, in a sensational at
tempt to escape from the Arkansas (
prison farm, he killed one man and
shot two others, all "trusty"
guards, with rife smuggled to
him from some one on the outside. /
Only the loyalty of a small band OF
TRUSTEES" prevented the escape of
two hundred or more prisoners.
1t was said his plan for the
wholesale delivery provided that
other convicts should rush to the
as he shot them down, OBJ =
tain the guards weapons and join +
him in the fight The determined
of the guards and their
rapid fire kept the other prisoners
corralled in the bath house For
that crime Slaughter was sentenced I
TO die in the electric chair Dec. Is. +!
Slaughter's final break for liberty
occurred Dec. 3. Again, it was with
the aid OF a revolver that had been 3
to him that Slaughter eff /,
fected his escape from the peni- /
tertiary. /
Tom Slaughter is out again"
When that message was flashed
20 police officers of neighbor-
ng towns and counties possess be-
gan forming almost Immediately.
One of these posses was led bv
]. J. Crow, sheriff of Saline county
Il followed the trail of the. escaped /.
prisoners to heavy forest about