Chapter VIII: Part 8

J. L. Owen, Att’y at Law, Ellisville, Miss.
J. A. Easterling.
Norval Cooper.
S. E. Nettles, Treas. of Jones county.
F. K. Willoughby, Justice of the Peace.
Hiram Mathas.
Isaac Anderson.
M. H. Owen.
Amos J. Spears.
Richmond Anderson.
Thos. D. Dyess.
John H. Walters.
H. D. Dossett, Ex-Sheriff of said county.

* * * * *

STATE OF MISSISSIPPI, }
JONES COUNTY. }

I, D. M. Shows, Clerk of the Circuit and Probate Courts of said county, do hereby certify that I believe the men whose names appear to the foregoing annexed certificate, are men of truth and veracity.

Given under my hand and seal of office this second day of April, 1859.

D. M. SHOWS, Clerk of C & P. C.

* * * * *

ELLISVILLE, MISSISSIPPI, }
JONES COUNTY. }

I, E. M. Devall, Sheriff of said county and State aforesaid, do certify that I believe that the men whose names appear to the foregoing annexed certificate are men of truth and veracity.

Given under my hand and seal this 2d day of April, 1859.

E. M. DEVALL, Sheriff Jones county.

* * * * *

After Bentonville Taylor returned from Mobile, I saw him and told him of the rumor that was in circulation relative to his going to Mobile as a witness against Col. J. R. S. Pitts, and he denied emphatically to me of having any share in the transaction, and also stated that the aforesaid rumor was false.

[Signed.] EDWARD W. GOFF.

The next question to be dealt with is the miserable plea of insanity, and forged names in the confessions.

First, let the report from the inquisition jury be read, which will be found on page 113 of this work. Again, it is well known by those who visited Copeland in person, that there was a keenness and shrewdness about him which distinguished him from ordinary men; and all the promptings given to feign insanity did not amount to anything but deserving failure. And as to the gratuitous charge of forging names, the defendant did not know anything about them previous to being given by Copeland. He did not know that such names were in existence before, and of course could not forge in the absence of all knowledge appertaining; but the conduct of the prosecution, with hundreds of living witnesses, go, as quoted from the letter just referred to, “to nail to the cross forever the truth of Copeland’s confessions.”

So much for the trial in Mobile in the first case, and now for the necessary comments to further enable the reader to comprehend the whole.

There were two other cases on the same docket of precisely a similar nature to the first against the defendant. For two or three years afterward he was in regular attendance, and always ready for trial; but the prosecution would not allow either case to come on until known that his presence was required in the army during the war; and then it had the cases called up, and the bonds declared forfeited. The two cases were ordered dismissed, and, some several years afterward, the bondsmen were finally released by the “Commissioners of Revenue” without injury.

Nothing is plainer than of the prosecution being glad of any plausible pretext for dismissing the cases—anything in the shape of a convenient opportunity for relief in the awkward situation in which it stood. Why so determined and successful to bring on instanter the first case in spite of the most powerful reasons for a temporary continuance? And why, when this was over, was it equally determined and successful to ward off the two remaining cases? Is it not evident, notwithstanding all the prostituted forces at command, that it was unwilling to make a second experiment? But how stands the presiding Judge affected in this slimy affair? In the first case, in defiance of the most powerful cause assigned in favor, he would not allow one hour of continuance of the case; but from term to term, from year to year, he allowed the prosecution all it wanted, regardless of all the urgent efforts of the defendant for the remaining trials to be proceeded with to save entire ruin from excessive and repeated expenses. But when the defendant’s absence was compelled by demands made from the War Department, then did this Judge allow the case to be pressed forward by the prosecution, and the bonds declared forfeited! If this junta, or combination of Judge with the prosecution did not exist, the plainest of all circumstantial demonstrations are not worthy of any notice whatever. But this is only one instance out of a number, which will be given of this Judge’s partiality—of his palpable efforts to do violence to justice.

Again, mark his conduct in endeavoring to obtain a forced and unnatural verdict. After twenty-four hours of close confinement, the jury returned with the report that there was no earthly chance of coming to an agreement. The Judge bid them, contrary to all custom, to again retire, with a declaration that he would hold it in confinement until the verdict could be made up, even though an indefinite period were required to accomplish the object.

Had he before been in consultation with the prosecution? Did he know the whole arrangement? Did he know that some one or more, perhaps influenced by gold, were resolved to hold out to the bitter end? And that one by one of the opposition, under the tortures of long confinement, must keep falling in to avoid further suffering, and more especially when the cunning device was resorted to for the purpose of deceiving the opposition by inducements to the effect that it was hardly worth while holding out when all could be so easily avoided by a few dollars of fine in the way of damages, which would not at all hurt the defendant? What was the meaning of the sham in his appearing, in the first part of his instructions, to lean to the defendant by telling the jury that if there was a doubt existing with it, the defendant was entitled to the benefit of said doubt; and then, in the last hours of worn out confinement, came squarely out in conflict, and positively told the jury that it was bound to find a verdict of guilty from the law and evidence before it? What was the meaning of packages and writing being conveyed to the jury by outsiders during the latter part of its retirement, or, at least, to that part of it in favor of the prosecution?

Notwithstanding the most justifiable and potent of all reasons in favor of the petition got up and signed by six hundred of the best and most respectable citizens of Mobile to be forwarded to the Governor for the release of the defendant, the Judge hearing of the same, emphatically declared, before being asked, that he would not sign it; and the Governor, because of this omission, refused to grant the prayer. Did the prosecution influence both Governor and Judge, so that the whole formed one compact ring to defeat justice? What says the learned Dr. Bevell on this subject—the very man who sat on this jury and witnessed all:

“We have made an effort to limit his imprisonment through the pardoning power of Governor Moore, by an article addressed him in the shape of a petition, with about six hundred signatures of the most respectable citizens of Mobile; but in this we have failed, and, to my deepest regret, he will have to serve his time out. We first drew up a petition to Judge McKinstry, signed by a respectable number of the jury, but hearing of his negative declarations on the street, we declined honoring him with the request.

“_Although we have failed in these efforts, the conduct of all the opposing clique strongly indicate to my mind that the principal stringent ruling and opposition are to gratify, and sustain, and retain political influence._”

But the abuses committed by Judge McKinstry do not close here. A verbal copy of Shoemake’s affidavit has just been received, the insertion of which cannot be omitted, as it will add new light on what has already been advanced on this subject in the commencing part of the trial, and will go still further to demonstrate the deeply sullied conduct of the prosecution and Judge. Let this copy be read with attention:

[COPY.]

STATE OF ALABAMA, }
MOBILE COUNTY. }

Before ——, personally came S. S. Sheumack, who on oath saith that one J. R. S. Pitts did, within the last six months, in the county aforesaid, unlawfully, wickedly and maliciously, with intent to injure, defame, villify, and prejudice this deponent, and to bring him into contempt, scandal, and disgrace, publish and circulate in said county a printed pamphlet entitled, “The Life and Career of James Copeland, the Great Southern Land Pirate, who was executed at Augusta, Mississippi, October 30th, 1857; together with the exploits of the Wages’ clan in Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida.”

In said pamphlet, said Copeland is described as one of the leaders of a gang of robbers, murderers, highwaymen, and the deponent is represented therein by the name of “S. S. Shonesmak,” as a member of said clan, or gang of robbers, murderers, and thieves; which pamphlet containing the aforesaid statement, referring to this deponent, is a defamatory libel, and is utterly and wholly false.

S. S. SHEUMACK.

Subscribed and sworn to, this 17th day of January, 1859, before me,

ALEX. MCKINSTRY, Judge.

* * * * *

TO ANY SHERIFF OF THE STATE OF ALABAMA:

You are hereby commanded to arrest the body of J. R. S. Pitts, charged by affidavit made with the offense of “Libel,” by one S. S. Sheumack, and hold him in custody until discharged by due course of law, which may be done by any examining magistrate.

Witness my hand and seal,

Mobile, January 17, 1859. ALEX. MCKINSTRY, Judge.

Received January 17, 1859, and on the same day I executed the within writ on J. R. S. Pitts, and have now in jail.

JAMES T. SHELTON, Sheriff. M. C.

* * * * *

THE STATE OF ALABAMA, }
MOBILE COUNTY. }

I, P. LaVergy, Clerk of the City Court of Mobile, hereby certify, that the foregoing is a true copy of the affidavit signed by S. S. Sheumack, as also of the writ of arrest, and Sheriff’s return, in a case of the State vs. J. R. S. Pitts, as the same on file in my office.

Witness my hand, this 19th day of July, A. D., 1874.

P. LAVERGY, Clerk.

THE CHARACTER OF THE PROSECUTION.

Scheumack or Shoemake, all the while a citizen of Mississippi, the defendant a citizen of Mississippi, yet, he goes to the City of Mobile, in another State, among his friends and brethren, for process of law. This was changing of venue with a vengeance. With equal propriety, as far as law is concerned, might he not have gone to New York—not one whit more unnatural.

Sheumack, the “big dog” among the clan; the man, above all others, steeped the deepest in blood, and crime, and dissimulation; the man who brought counterfeit documents pretending to come from the Probate Judge of Kemper county; the man who denied writing the John R. Garland letter on the witness stand, and whose oath was there invalidated to the satisfaction of all; the man who bore the requisition from the Governor of Alabama to the Governor of Mississippi for the arrest of the defendant; this is the man to whom Judge McKinstry granted his writ to serve the purposes as specified in the affidavit.

This affidavit charges with “unlawfully, wickedly, and maliciously, with intent to injury, defame, villify, and prejudice the deponent:” and again “this deponent is represented by the name of Shonesmak, as a member of a clan or gang of robbers, murderers, and thieves, which statement, referring to the deponent, is a defamatory libel, and utterly and wholly untrue.”

In answer, will any one deny that such a “clan” existed? Will any one deny that its whole object was robbery, murder, and theft? It is presumed that none will have the effrontery to make such a denial in the face of such overwhelming testimony almost everywhere to be found.

The next thing to be considered is, did the defendant publish and circulate, with an intent to defame, villify, and prejudice, etc., one represented by the name of Shouesmack, as belonging to the said clan?

Is there one disinterested and unprejudiced being in existence who can believe that the defendant could have any motive for “wickedly, maliciously.” etc., assailing somebody he before knew nothing about, either good or bad—not even before knowing that such a creature was in existence? Up to that time, unacquainted with a single act of his life, can any one believe that the defendant published and circulated with a wicked and malicious intent to defame and prejudice somebody he neither knew by person or reputation before? Maliciousness can not exist while unconscious of any cause for the same. So much then for the unlawful, wicked and malicious attempt to injure the _fair fame_ of Scheumack.

The same arguments will apply with equal force to the other names as published being the same as given by Copeland to the defendant; for to suppose otherwise would be the height of absurdity. The next subject for inquiry is, did Copeland, in his list of names, include Scheumack rightfully or wrongfully?

_Shonesmack_, and not Scheumack, was given in the published list in consequence of a typographical error. But Scheumack declared that the published name must mean him, and the same publication was “having a very deleterious effect against him in his own county, Kemper.” Why was Scheumack so very sensitive? Why did he take on himself the published name of _Shonesmack_? Why was the publication having a very deleterious effect against him in his county, Kemper? An innocent man by the name of _Scheumack_ would hardly have troubled himself much about Shonesmak. A man living honestly, honorably, and respectfully in his own county would not have taken any umbrage at all from the publication. Around here, there are quite a number by the same, or very similar, name, yet none of these complained against the publication having a very deleterious effect against them. Those who foam, and rave, and curse the hardest, are generally the object on whom suspicion falls the heaviest.

But this is not all, immediately after the publication of the pamphlet complained of, he wrote his John R. Garland letter, in which he described himself with the most perfect of accuracy as being occasionally absent for some time, and then returning with horses and mules, and other sorts of property which nobody besides himself could account for, etc. Let it be borne in mind that he denied writing this letter on oath on the witness stand, when the conclusive proof came next that he undoubtedly was the author of it. The counterfeit papers, with feigned authority from the Probate Judge of Kemper county, his several designs on the life of the defendant, with many other of his actions which are more than suspicious, all go to establish the fact that Copeland made no mistake when he gave his name and designated him as a “big dog” among the clan.

Ye, Governors, Judges and prosecutors, learn from the old adage: “Tell me the company you keep, and I will tell you who you are.”

But there is something left behind of a still darker and more enigmatical character as to the mockery in processes of law belonging to the case.

Scheumack, a resident of another State, goes to Mobile to prosecute for libel, and Judge McKinstry grants him the writ accordingly. The Sheriff is represented as returning the same to the effect that the writ had been executed, and the defendant in jail on the 17th of January, 1859. Again, the trial docket and the records show that four bills were got against the defendant from the Grand Jury the November term, 1858, marked cases numbers 61, 62, 63, 64, corresponding to which are given the names of G. Y. Overall, C. F. Moulton, G. A. Cleaveland, and S. S. Scheumack; and that the name of Scheumack disappeared subsequently without any order being made or without any cause being assigned for the same; and furthermore four appearance bonds given by the defendant are found on file in the office. In these cases, there is no record of any action being taken by either Governor of Alabama or Mississippi, the reason for which, perhaps, may be accounted for by the innovation and wrong being too great for Governors’ names to be associated with on record.

Now, it is evident, from the affidavit of Scheumack, that he did not get a bill at the time the other three did from the Grand Jury of 1858, and it is equally evident that he never afterward got one; then why was his case associated on the trial docket with the other three?

The writ executed and returned asserts the defendant to be in jail on the 17th of January, 1859. What a farce! If the defendant was in jail at that time, it so mysteriously happened that he never knew it. A bond is found on file in the office given by the defendant to answer the charge preferred by Scheumak. What a farce! If the defendant gave such a bond, he never knew it—was never called on to sign it—never went before any examining magistrate, nor never knew, until a few days ago, that Scheumack had ever succeeded in any action of law against him.

Ye prosecutors, answer, if you can, how the records are made to show that Scheumack got a bill from the Grand Jury of the November term, 1858, when his affidavit of January 17, 1859, shows conclusively that he never got any such bill at all. Answer, if you can, how his name so mysteriously disappeared from the trial docket without any order being made, or without any cause being assigned for the same. Answer, if you can, how the appearance bond relative to him and the defendant is found on file in the office, when no such bond could possibly have been given. Answer, if you can, how the defendant came to be in jail on the 17th of January, 1859, when thousands positively know that such was not the case. If “something rotten in Denmark” is not found here, it is vain to seek from any other quarter.

CONCLUDING SKETCH OF THE TRIAL.

Not in populous cities—not in the centres of accumulated wealth and misdirected intelligence that integrity and the administration of justice can be found. The highest functionaries of States have to bend to these rings and cliques. Honor scorned, justice mocked, and shame departed, what is there left to purify the national streams? Clans who live by plunder and murder can, with their ill-gotten gains, find plenty of law protection. Above all things, the Bench should be kept pure and independent, so that the criminal, though rich, cannot escape; and the poor and humble, if honest, can receive protection. Not as now, when judicial decisions are measured according to political numbers and the varied influences of wealth. If mercy is shown at all, let it be on the side of the unfortunate and those who have had few opportunities for improvement; and never on the side of those who have had all the advantages of wealth and education, and who should set an example to the subordinate classes of the community. Let the lessons cease to be taught and children cease to learn that because a man is rich no crime can hurt him; and if poor, though honest, he can be victimized by a snap of the finger from some influential person at any time. Is it any wonder at the increasing centralization of power? It is a necessary consequence under present circumstances. The corruptions and abominations have nearly reached the maximum height, and are at present of such a frightful magnitude that some remedy, ere long, must be adopted. Liberty abused must bring on reaction, sometimes for the better, but oftener for evils as great as those desired to be remedied.

And now, in concluding this sketch of the trial, which was carried on with so much absorbing interest and excitement, a brief recapitulation of its paramount features may be of some utility in bringing within our immediate view those incidents of it which are the most pregnant of meaning as to the future consequences.

In reviewing the conduct of the then Governor of Mississippi, McWillie, it is not charity, nor warranted by correct inductive reasoning, to suppose that he intended to assist the Wages and Copeland Clan by giving his approval for the rendition of the defendant as a “fugitive from justice,” at the time he was an acting Sheriff for one of the counties of the State. It is, perhaps, better to suspect the Governor’s ignorance or want of the proper information, than to charge him with evil designs. Had he known at the time the desperate character of Shoemake, one of the clan, and the authorized agent to make the arrest; had he known that the defendant knew nothing of the names prior to the confessions, and, of course, could have had no interest nor malicious motive to misrepresent, with the fact of locating the Three Distinguished at the risk of protracted trouble and a ruinous expense, furnishing a strong inference of the truth of all as to the names inserted; had he known that Copeland himself, on the scaffold in the last moments of earthly existence, acknowledged publicly and before living witnesses the truth of the whole of his confessions; had he known and reflected that the full publication of them must have, not only a direct and powerful tendency to disorganize the remnant of the clan, but also to prevent future associations of a similar character; had he known the full extent of the horrors, for years, perpetrated by this clan, and that numbers still living, from experience, can vouch for many of the facts as narrated in the confessions; had he known that an offense committed in one State or county, and the injury sustained inflicted in another State or county, the case may be tried in either, which gave him the right to use his discretion; had he known and reflected that the conflict must be between prosecutors—revengeful and experienced, wealthy and powerful, from another State, against youth—against an humble but honest citizen of his own State; had he known all these circumstances and maturely considered them, censure could not be too severely applied for his approving the rendition of the defendant as “a fugitive from justice.” Who ever before heard of any person being dragged from one State to another as a malefactor on a charge of _libel_?

However, if he, without design, gave assistance to the clan in the shape of an unmerited expense and injury to the defendant, it is nevertheless true that he also, without design, was instrumental in laying the foundation for a more distant triumph in behalf of justice.

Many of the last observations are strictly applicable to the presiding Judge, McKinstry. We cannot believe that he had any affiliation with the clan, nor any sympathy for its continuance; but his reprehensible conduct on the trial can be better accounted for in the language of the competent gentleman who sat on the jury, and who had an opportunity of seeing and hearing and witnessing all, thus: “His strenuous ruling, strongly indicated to my mind, was to retain and maintain political influence with powerful cliques.”

The changing of this Judge’s charges, the veering about first from one side to the other, his expressed determination to force a verdict against the better informed and more respectable of those who formed a great majority of the jury, if it required an indefinite period of confinement to do it; and then, in the last hours of torture, came squarely out and told the jury it was bound, from the law and evidence before it, to find a verdict of guilty; and all this while knowing the awful character of Shoemake, one of the main witnesses, as proven on the trial; and while knowing that G. Y. Overall had no right to prosecute in the name of G. Overall, when there were more of the same name in the place, and to which the jury believed the confessions applied as intended by Copeland; and more, after conviction, anticipating something righteously in favor of the defendant, this partial Judge declared his intention before hand not to sign any petition for the release of the defendant from the prison; all these incidents taken together are too strongly stamped to be explained away. The refusal of the defendant’s application against the strongest of reasons in contrast with his unreasonable granting the prosecution all it wanted for several years afterwards, is also something which will not soon be forgotten.

But it may be said that Judge McKinstry did no more than is fashionable in the present day—that of consulting political interest in preference to the eternal laws of justice. This is but too true. It is a deplorable fact that, from the most inferior to the highest of courts and officers, measures are gauged according to political considerations and wealthy favorites. Truth is sometimes very disagreeable, but it is nevertheless indisputable that when the progress is rapidly onward to idolize vast possessions under a system which rather favors than checks the spread of those evils which sap the very foundations of strength and national vitality, and at the same time, and in the same ratio, to dishonor the real sources of wealth—honest labor—the nation’s decline and fall will follow in the wake of consequences under excessive government, no matter whether of Republican or Democratic. The baneful effects from either will be pretty much the same, as long as there are lacking the _will_ and the _power_ to restrain or repress excesses as they spring up. When general means of subsistence are easy, with plenty everywhere abounding, there is not much danger of convulsive change; but a prodigious increase of population with proportionally narrower resources to command, together with extensive disaffection and oppressive burdens from previous wars, then is the time for the exercise of prudence and a strict administration of justice in every department to maintain the life of the nation.

Granted that G. Y. Overall proved satisfactorily enough an alibi, that is, that he was not present at the time referred to; but it is again asked what was he doing associated with such men as Shoemake and Bentonville Taylor? Was he the tool of more designing men? What right—what necessity had he to turn prosecutor, when, as plainly elicited on trial, it was another Overall that Copeland referred to in his confessions?

The trial succeeded in nothing against the defendant only in crippling his pecuniary resources, and harrassing him in other ways. It rather strengthened than weakened the authenticity of the work. These circumstances, with the war, interrupted the sale for some years; but as might have been reasonably expected, truth can only be temporarily crushed to burst forth again with renewed vigor. Persecution only adds fuel to the flames.

Sick of the career of life which he had led, it was but natural for Copeland to repine against those who had shared his plunder and goaded him on to crime with ample promises of protection, and then deserted him in the last hours of his affliction.

The defendant could have had no conceivable motive to forge names—not knowing before Copeland gave them, that such persons were in existence; therefore, where there is no possible motive, there can be no crime or intentional wrong. So much then for the “wicked and malicious intentions,” as charged in the affidavit of Shoemake.

The foregoing observations close the narrations of the trial with the circumstances of connection belonging; and now for particulars, as reasonably presumed, of another attempt on the life of the defendant in 1862.

Throughout the proceedings of the trial Dr. Pitts has been properly referred to as the “defendant.” Hereafter his own proper name will be given.

ANOTHER DESIGN OF ASSASSINATION.

In the spring of 1862, when returning from a professional visit, he was waylaid by two persons to him entire strangers. Just before the Doctor reached a by-path he was accustomed to travel, because somewhat nearer, he first suddenly discovered one of them near the main road, in a bunch of bushes by a stump, some fifty or seventy-five yards distant. The Doctor made a quick change of position; the rays of the sun fell on the bright gun in possession, which reflected a dazzling brilliancy for the moment. This extraordinary circumstance of itself was sufficient to cause well-grounded apprehensions of danger; and, accordingly, the Doctor kept a close watch for an excited moment. No sooner had he taken the by-path above alluded to, than he saw one of the two rush out—fast running through the thick woods in order to intercept him. The Doctor instantly turning his course, he at once beheld another person running in the same direction. There was but one available outlet for the Doctor to make his escape, and this through a long narrow valley with obstructing hills on each side. Both made a strenuous effort to get ahead of him in the valley, but fortunately he was mounted on a fine animal very fast on speed, which successfully enabled him to escape unhurt.

As before stated, these two parties were entire strangers, and never spoke a word during the whole transaction. On peaceable terms with every one in the settlement around, so far as known, there could not be a doubt on his mind as to this movement being another attempt on his life from the clan for the sake of vengeance for the past, and to prevent republication in the future. The same conclusions must be arrived at by every impartial judge of the affair.

The following tragic accounts have recently been carefully collected from authentic and reliable sources, which, here introduced, will form something like an episode of after transactions of the parties whose names are also found in Copeland’s confessions—transactions exactly of a character to correspond with the dark and bloody operations as given by Copeland himself.

SHOEMAKE AGAIN.

From whatever stand-point viewed, there is something extraordinary about this man. He was particularly distinguished in the art of sculpture. He built the jail in DeKalb, Kemper county, Miss., which, when completed, was pronounced a master-piece of workmanship for substantial security. But in some length of time afterward, the report got out, probably from his own boasting, or some unguarded expression which he had made use of, that it was not safe. Inspection of the minutest sort followed, but not a sign of insecurity was discovered. However, when he got ready, he volunteered to show, and did show the defect which all previous search had utterly failed to find. He pointed to a place in the wall so perfectly concealed, yet with a very little exertion a vent could be made quite large enough for one person to pass out.

He was expert and dexterous in everything he engaged, but, as time developed, with an ultimate object of fraudulent gain in one way or the other. He was a scholar, yet this capacity only enabled him to attain greater heights of rascality with less liability of detection. Politeness, civility, and the most consummate of gentlemanly airs he could assume when his nefarious purposes could be best served by so doing. He was cruel, but not brave. It is said that the sister of his now brother-in-law received cruel treatment from him in youth; and for years this brother-in law determinedly bore it in mind, and at maturity beat Shoemake unmercifully for the same. This is a case with one man that Shoemake childishly dreaded ever afterward.

But his wife, formally called Muggy Worbington, was made of different material. She was brave sure enough, which was sufficiently evidenced on a number of occasions; one of which was in making two men, who had before vehemently offended her, jump precipitately into the river from a flat to avoid the contents of a revolver which was too resolutely presented to be mistaken.

And again, in the malignant feud between the Shoemake and Fisher family, which culminated in a pitched battle with shot-guns and pistols, near a brickyard, half a mile north of old Marion, Lauderdale county, Miss., in the fall of 1844, or early in 1845. Shoemake and his wife against Fisher and two sons, William and Theophilous. The fire from the Fisher family was too hot and severe for Shoemake; he left in haste and deserted his wife, who fought inch by inch with unfaltering fortitude until shot down by the greater opposing force with which she was in conflict.

Shoemake, before leaving Kemper county, made intimations as if disposed to divulge the interesting historical part of his life; and, at the same time, in reference to the tremendous disaster he sustained on the trial of Dr. Pitts; made significant remarks of a double meaning, but really of a nature to warrant the impression that the publisher of the Life and Career of Copeland would pass off this stage of existence, which would be certain to leave mystery behind for future contemplation.

Shoemake resided in and around Kemper county for a number of years. His conduct was always suspicious, but his address, his ingenuity, and his whole movements were so profoundly managed as to evade penal detection. Years had to elapse to fully develop the man for anything like a common consent as to his real Character. It but required time to satisfy the judgment of all that he tainted everything he touched. And this is the man who was so sensitive because Copeland confessed him to be “a big dog among the clan.”

THE TWO HARDENS AND THE MURDER OF SHERIFF SMITH.

The names of the two Hardens were given by Copeland as forming a part of the clan. More about them has since been collected, which will now be read with interest.

About the year 1853 John Harden, from the State of Alabama, stole a fine animal, buggy and negro man, and succeeded in getting them safely to Marion county, Miss., where his mother resided. The Sheriff, Mr. Smith, from the county in Alabama where said property was stolen from, pursued Harden, and on reaching this State, Mississippi, he employed the services of Philip James, of Greene county, to accompany him. Finding Harden in the night at his mother’s, he was by them taken on surprise, but made a desperate resistance, though being overpowered, was compelled to surrender. The horse, buggy and negro man were all found. Sheriff Smith had Harden confined within the buggy, and the negro man ordered to ride the horse. On returning, and when they reached the residence of Philip James, Sheriff Smith made no further request on Mr. James, and thought he could then manage without any further assistance. Accordingly they started, but shortly after they had crossed Chickasahay river the Sheriff was killed—appearances indicating that he had been beaten to death by a club. But whether by Harden or the negro man, none ever were able to ascertain. The buggy was rolled off under a hill. The horses and the two persons made their escape for the time being. Nothing positively definite, but the report followed that in some six or eight months afterward Harden was apprehended by Smith’s friends, and by lynch operations finished his career by being hung to the limb of a tree.

His brother, also mentioned by Copeland, who married a daughter of Gideon Rustin, was hung in Columbia, Mississippi, about the year 1843, for the murder of his wife. Immediately after the murder, he made his escape, and got into the State of Georgia, where he remained for some months; but subsequently returned and gave himself up to the sheriff, but had not been long in prison till he broke out, and would probably made his escape, but was captured by some parties in a boat near by while he was in the act of swimming Pearl river.

John Harden was a powerful man, not only in physical strength, but also in determined energies and resolution. Years ago, it is said that he and Hampton H. Nichols, of Perry county Mississippi, disagreed—followed by a fight betwixt the two in the usual manner, and that Harden came out the best; although, for nerve and surpassing strength, it was before thought that Nichols had not a superior. Thus, one by one do the members of the “clan” drop into eternity by violent and unnatural terminations.

JAMES M’ARTHUR, OR “CALICO DICK.”

There are others of the “clan” still active and surviving. James McArthur—better known in some places by the appellation of “Calico Dick” still lives. By reference to the original history of the Wages and Copeland clan, page 89, it will be seen that this man became connected with the organization in 1844; and, at the time, was acknowledged by the former members as being directly concerned with others engaged in the business of counterfeiting money. Dr. Pitts has taken considerable trouble in tracing out the character of this man, and has received information from the best citizens of Mississippi and Alabama. Let this information be read with care and attention; and then, who can have the effrontery to contend that the names given in the “confessions” “are forged and the entire work unworthy of credit.”

In former years, when the Wages and Copeland organization was in full blast, he was then looked on as a suspicious character and believed to belong to the clan, as well as having more or less to do with the counterfeiting business which had been the means of flooding the country with a spurious circulation.

This organized band of robbers, murderers and counterfeiters had become such a terror to the seashore counties of Mississippi that the good people of these sections were driven to the necessity of forming a “Vigilance Committee,” for the better protection and preservation of society. By this committee, many suspicious persons were arrested, among whom was Jim McArthur. He, with a rope around his neck, piloted the committee to the swamp, where he pointed out and dug up the coining apparatus which was used by the band in coining counterfeit money. Here he acknowledged his identity with the counterfeiters, and was only released on his solemn vow to leave the country—never more to show his face in that region of society. Accordingly, he did leave, and was not seen there again until during the late war between the States, when he returned and was a great source of trouble again to all the neighboring counties around—committing more crimes of a more shocking and atrocious character.

After the close of the war, he again left that vicinity, and made his headquarters in Mobile, Alabama, where occasionally he was seen very flush of money. Also, after the war, he made a visit to Perry county, Mississippi. While there, he made inquiry after a woman, who had left her husband while the national contest was going on. The supposition is that he, made her acquaintance on Honey Island during the war.

He is now well known to all this country as a renowned traveling gambler; and, among the fraternity of that class, is probably better known by the name of “Calico Dick,” which appellation he received many years ago, according to his own statement, when but a youth, in the State of Georgia, for stealing a bolt of calico, and for the same received thirty-nine lashes. But particulars on this subject will be best understood by giving an extract of a letter from one of Mississippi’s gifted sons:

“Calico Dick is the same brigand—the infamous Jim McArthur. He himself states that when he was a youth in Georgia, he stole a bolt of calico—was detected and received thirty-nine lashes, and ever since has been called Calico Dick. He was suspected of murdering a peddlar in Hancock county years ago, and acknowledged, with the rope around his neck, to the vigilant committee that he was a counterfeiter, and pointed out the apparatus for coining—confessed to horse-stealing and negro-stealing, and had left his wife and children in Hancock county to starve or do worse. His nephew, young Frost, who kept a cigar stand in or near the Battle House, Mobile, was arrested at Bay St. Louis last year on the charge of murder, and carried to Alabama. I have not heard the result. McArthur was unquestionably one of the Copeland clan. He committed many crimes during the war. At any time during the second year of the war, when we had no law, if I had met him, I would have shot him from my knowledge of his crimes.”

JACKSON COUNTY, 1873.

From another friend, in Jackson county, he still further exhibits the man in his true colors:

“James McArthur, long known as Calico Dick, has resided many years in Hancock county, Mississippi. Though absent frequently for months, sometimes for a year or two. His own statement when he first appeared in the county, was, that he stole a piece of calico, from a country store in Georgia, and being detected received thirty-nine lashes. So far from being ashamed of this exploit, he boasts of it, and when drinking often repeats the story of his filthy life. He soon made himself known in Hancock as a gambler; and from his frequent mysterious journeys, and generally returning with a fine horse and plenty of money, he became an object of general suspicion. The Murrell clan, and, subsequently, the Wages and Copeland clan were then operating throughout the country. Negro-stealing, horse-stealing, counterfeiting, highway robbery and murder had been reduced to a system, and it was rare that anybody was brought to justice. If any party was arrested, some of the clan was always on hand to prove an _alibi_. Suspicion very often pointed to an individual, but people were afraid to hint their suspicions lest they might draw down upon them some secret vengeance—the burning of their dwellings or assassination. Thus, crime was committed with impunity. A peddler, known to have considerable money, was found murdered in Hancock, and though there was but one opinion as to who committed the deed, no one was arrested. The county was flooded with spurious coin. McArthur was known to make frequent journeys towards Mobile and to the Sabine on the Texas line, and when he returned, there was always an influx of bad money in circulation. He generally brought one or more strangers. Men of doubtful character, and with no apparent means of living, and never known to work, began to multiply, and this class was constantly around McArthur, and looked up to him as their chief. Though known to be personally an abject coward, he became, through these desperate men, an object of terror to the timid; and even respectable men were weak enough to court his favor. The late Col. D. C. Glenn would often say, after his attendance on the Hancock Circuit Courts, that he was shocked to see decent men jesting and drinking with such a wretch! The secret was that these men dreaded him and his gang.

Finally, somewhere about 1845, counterfeiting, horse-stealing, stock-stealing, and other crimes became so common; and the county so swarmed with idle, worthless, and suspicious characters, the citizens of Hancock formed a vigilance committee for mutual protection. It embraced the best, most responsible, and determined men in the county. They arrested a number of persons, most of whom confessed to being, or having been, members of the Murrell and Wages clans. The names of these men, and what became of them, can be given to you by some old citizen—such as Col. Claiborne, S. T. Randall, Luther Russ, J. W. Roberts, and others. Those who confessed to belonging to the above named clans, were to a man the boon companions and associates of the notorious Jim McArthur, alias Calico Dick. The committee finally arrested him. I have been told that nearly the entire committee was for hanging him instanter. Indeed the rope was around his neck; but some one suggested that if they hung him, many important secrets would die with him; and that it was better to spare his life on the conditions of full confession and his immediate and perpetual departure from the county and State. The cowardly and treacherous scoundrel clutched at this expedient to save his life. He acknowledged his crimes, gave the names of his associates, and piloted the committee to his camp in the Devil’s swamp, where he fabricated spurious money. The moulds, forge, and a quantity of base metal were found there. The forger should have been handed over to the U. S. authorities, but he was permitted to leave the county on his oath (what was the oath of such a creature worth,) never to return. He left immediately for Alabama, where it would be worth while to track him. When the war broke out, and the vigilance committee of Hancock no longer existed—its most prominent members having died or removed—this self-confessed felon returned to the county. He appeared there, I am told, in the character of a bounty jumper or substitute broker, in which he swindled a number of confiding people. A band of his old associates returned about the same time, and during the war became the terror and scourge of the country. Some were deserters from the Confederate ranks—some joined the United State army, and deserted their colors came back to their old haunts and their old leader. Some were professional thieves, robbers, and murderers, who never belonged to either army, but took to bushwacking, and jayhawking for a living; robbed the old, the widow, and the orphan without scruple, and often added arson and murder to their robberies. McArthur was constantly on the wing on the old pattern followed by Wages and Copeland. Since the war, he has passed much of his time in Alabama; but I am informed by citizens of Hancock that he has for some months past been dwelling in that county. His doings in Alabama ought to be traced out. What he is after in his obscure den in Hancock county, will, no doubt, in due time, crop out.”

Calico Dick is described by those who have seen him as having the appearance of being deformed from the effect of disease. The external appearance indicate considerable curvature of the spine. Others more intimate and better acquainted with him, say that this seeming curvature is caused by the constant wearing of a steel plate, which is used for the purpose of carrying cards; and that the plate is so constructed that he can without detection take from or add to his hand while playing, and with the assistance of his spring plate renders it impossible for any one to compete with him in this department of gambling.

The report of his death by being shot near St. Stevens is proven to be false. There is now a letter in the possession of John Champenoies, a resident of Shubuta, Clarke county, Mississippi, from Calico Dick, dated at Pensacola Junction, the 28th of May, 1873, and mailed at Whiting, Alabama.

There is another incident in his life which is rather amusing, and should not be entirely overlooked. In the year of 1868, he purchased a ticket to Enterprise, on M. & O. R. R., to Quitman, and got on board of a freight train, which carried him to the next station below, DeSoto, some four or five miles further than he wanted to go, and he had to walk back again. For this he sued the company, and got judgment against it to the tune of several thousand dollars; but the case was carried to High Court, and judgment reversed for a new trial. However, a compromise was made, and the company only paid him five hundred dollars, and gave him a free ticket on the road to ride afterwards.

Since writing the above, Dr. Pitts entertained some doubts of the truths of the whole of this story; and, to be better satisfied on the matter, wrote to one member of the company in high position, and received from him by way of reply the following:

“I know James McArthur, often called ‘Calico Dick,’ but know little of his antecedents.

“He did bring a suit against the railroad for taking him past Quitman to DeSoto, I think in 1867 or 1868, and Judge Leachman gave judgment on demurrer, _not a jury_, for, I think, $10,000. Exceptions were taken, and the case sent to the High Court, where the error was cause to send it back for a new trial. Before the new trial was had he proposed to compromise, and I did so for $500, he paying costs, but I do not know that he did pay, as he said he had given security for costs, and the Clerk might make them.

“I have not seen ‘Calico’ in the last two years, but presume he lives, and has his ‘Tiger’ yet. The last time I saw him was at State Line, where he told me he was ‘flat broke,’ and his ‘Tiger’ in ‘soak,’ and he wanted with his whole soul a ticket to Mobile on credit. He got it, and I have not seen him since.

“June 25, 1874.”

There must be something remarkable about this man, otherwise he could not so long have escaped the last penalties of the law and the vengeance of an outraged population. The last heard of him, of import, was his visit to Escatawpa, Ala., a short time before the foul murder of W. C. Stanley, of this place, particulars of which the reader will now examine, as related to Dr. Pitts by one of the main witnesses involved in the case; but it should be first remembered that “Calico Dick” made a visit to Escatawpa, then left for Mobile, Ala., and in a few days after his nephew, Frost, came to Escatawpa. The current belief is that he was induced to do so under the influence of his uncle.

REFLECTIONS ON THE FOREGOING, AND ON THE CONSEQUENCES OF INABILITY TO REPRESS SUCH FLAGRANT AND WELL KNOWN CRIMES.

The masterly description of the terrible clans as they have heretofore existed, and as given by the natural as well as artistical pen of the Jackson county correspondent, cannot be overestimated. It will well pay for perusal and re-perusal again and again. Let the following quotations never be forgotten:

“The worst of human crimes had been reduced to a system, and it was rare that anybody was brought to justice. If any party was arrested some of the clan was always on hand to prove an alibi. Suspicions often pointed to an individual, but people were afraid to hint their suspicions lest they might draw down upon them some secret vengeance—the burning of their dwellings or assassination. Thus crime was committed with impunity. A peddler, known to have considerable money, was found murdered in Hancock, and though there was but one opinion as to who committed the deed, no one was arrested. McArthur, though personally known to be an abject coward, became, through desperate men which he commanded, an object of terror to the timid; and even respectable men were weak enough to court his favor. The late Colonel Glenn would often say, after his attendance on the Hancock Circuit Courts, that he was shocked to see decent men jesting and drinking with such a wretch! The secret was that these men dreaded him and his gang.”

The above is a whole volume for contemplation. Decent, respectable, and distinguished persons jesting and drinking with renowned and scientific criminals through fear of conflagration and assassination. No efforts made to bring to justice—crime passing with respectable impunity.

Honor crime, and numbers will soon increase prodigiously. Make escape easy and almost certain, and the law will carry no terrors with it. Grievances, real or imaginary, and opportunities will be sought to bring in play the bowie-knife and revolver. Let life’s warm stream flow freely, the sight common, and human life will soon be worth no more than the dog’s. Let a callous indifference pervade the community when the tidings of outrage, robbery and murder are brought, and soon will the great arteries of a State’s wealth and prosperity begin to languish and decay. Under such a system, can civilization progress? Will capital invest to set the springs of industry at work? Can wealth and intelligence thrive under such blighting influences of desolation? Is not government strong enough to protect its subjects? If not it should be, and the sooner it can be accomplished, the better it will be for all classes of society. Even affluent railroad companies have to bend to such men as Jim McArthur. To produce wide-spread fear and social insecurity, it is not necessary for crime and murder to be of an every-day occurrence; it is the hopelessness of getting redress from the courts as they are at present constituted that is so pernicious in consequences.

THE HORRID MURDER OF W. C. STANLEY AT ESCATAWPA.