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 CORNELL 
 
 UNIVERSITY 
 
 LIBRARY 
 
 Given in Memory of 
 George Harmon Coxe III '53 
 
Cornell University Library 
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 Eary days In Arkansas: being for the mo 
 
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Cornell University 
 Library 
 
 The original of tliis book is in 
 tlie Cornell University Library. 
 
 There are no known copyright restrictions in 
 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924028802812 
 
EARLY DAT6 IN ARKANSAS 
 
 BEING POR THE MOST PART THE 
 PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS OF AN OLD SETTLER, 
 
 BY 
 
 JUDGE WILLIAM F. POPE. 
 
 ARRANGED AND EDITED BY HIS SON, 
 
 DUNBAR H. POPE. 
 
 WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY HON. SAM W. WILLIAMS. 
 OF THE LITTLE ROCK BAR. 
 
 ILLasTRArED. 
 
 LITTLE ROCK, ARK. : 
 
 FREDERICK W. Al/iSOPP, PUBI,ISHER. 
 
 189S. 
 
 -to 
 
Entered According to Act of Congress^ tn the Tear i8qSj 
 
 BY FREDERICK W. AI,I,SOPP, 
 
 In the Office of the Librarian of Congress^ at Washington, D. C. 
 
 jl 3 ^ V ^ ^ 
 
 '^/? 
 
TO 
 THE MEMORY OP THE 
 
 WHO, THROUGH 
 
 TRIALS, DISAPPOINTMENTS, DISASTERS AND DANGERS, 
 
 CARVED OUT STATEHOOD, 
 
 AND PLACED ANOTHER STAR UPON THE 
 
 FLAG OF THE UNION, 
 
 THIS VOLUME 
 
 IS 
 
 AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED 
 
 BY 
 
 THE AUTHOR. 
 
LITTLE ROCK, AKK.: 
 PRESS OF 
 
 Gazette Publishing Company, 
 
PREPAGE. 
 
 On this, the eightieth anniversary of my birth, 
 I finish a much cherished but long deferred task of 
 preparing for publication my personal recollections 
 of Early Days in Arkansas. 
 
 Sitting in the impenetrable gloom of total blind- 
 ness, the mind's eye seems to have been strength- 
 ened by the loss of natural vision, and the scenes 
 and events of over half a century ago appear but as 
 the happenings of yesterday. 
 
 But few persons are now living who were here 
 when I first came to Arkansas, sixty-two years ago. 
 It cannot possibly be long ere the last link in the 
 chain connecting the present with the past will 
 have been broken, and none left to tell the tale of 
 those ancient days. 
 
 Impressed with this thought, I have long had 
 in contemplation the idea of attempting, in a feeble 
 way, to prepare a memorial of the past, in which 
 should be recorded my remembrances of the men 
 and manners, and scenes and events of by-gone times. 
 
 In the preparation of these memoirs I have not 
 pretended to the role of the historian, in the broad 
 sense of the term, although the matter contained 
 herein is, for the most part, historical. Neither do 
 I lay claim to the merits of authorship, but have 
 endeavored, in my old age, to summon from the 
 musty past such things as I conceived might be of 
 interest and instruction; 
 
6 PREFACE. 
 
 There will be missed from the pages of this 
 book many names of prominence and influence, 
 names that would naturally and prominently adorn 
 the pag-es of a history, but which do not properly 
 fit into the plan of this work. Moreover, as this 
 work is not intended to be a dictionary of biography, 
 many persons have been but slightly touched upon, 
 and then only in connection with some leading event 
 in which they were actors. 
 
 The author is painfully aware of the shortcom- 
 ings of his work, and that the following pages con- 
 tain many errors of omission and commission. He 
 also feels that the book might have been made more 
 interesting to the reader and more satisfactory to 
 himself. 
 
 Much, doubtless, has been recorded which can 
 have but little interest for the present generation, 
 and some things related which should not, perhaps, 
 have been dragged from the musty chambers of the 
 past, that conservator of the by-gones and forgot- 
 ten, and exposed to the public gaze. These things 
 were, however, once matters of notoriety, and as 
 facts of historj' should be placed in a true light. 
 
 In conclusion, may I not indulge the hope that 
 these narratives, sad, serious and otherwise of an 
 "ancient mariner," may not fall upon totally in- 
 different ears, and that some items of value to the 
 future historian may have been rescued from oblivion. 
 
 William F. Pope. 
 Little Rock, Ark. , April 30, 1894. 
 
INTRODycriON. 
 
 At the request of the author, I, with g'reat dis- 
 trust of my fitness for the work, undertake the 
 plea'^ant role of presentingf to the people of Arkan- 
 sas an intcoduction to 
 
 "Early Days in Arkansas." 
 
 The writer, when a small boy playing upon the 
 streets of Little Rock, more than fifty years ago, 
 knew the author, then an active, highly respected 
 and useful citizen, business man and officer. The 
 people of Arkansas are to be congratulated that 
 the author, in old age, though blind and physically 
 feeble, has undertaken this work, which will give 
 to them the history of the early settlers and founders 
 of the State. He was a relative and private secre- 
 tary of Gov. John Pope, one of the early Territorial 
 Governors of Arkansas, who impressed his thought 
 and genius upon its laws and subsequent history, 
 and contributed largely to ultimate results of which 
 every Arkansan is now proud. 
 
 The author has been, for more than sixty years, 
 familiar with the people of Arkansas and their do- 
 ings in all the walks and departments of life, and 
 was personally and familiarly acquainted with the 
 founders of its civil, educational, religious and elee- 
 mosynary institutions, and with political and social 
 leaders of long-gone days. He has put in attractive 
 
8 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 form the story of men and thing-s of the past, inter- 
 spersed with anecdotes ; connected with persons and 
 events now almost forgotten, which will be read 
 with deep interest by Arkansans of to-day, and will 
 perpetuate their memory to future generations. 
 
 Sam W. Williams. 
 
 IviTTivE Rock, Ark., June 26, 1894. . 
 

TABLE er eONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Territorial. 
 
 A Glance at Early Territorial History. The Su- 
 perior Court. Gov. James Miller. Robert Crit- 
 tenden. First Territorial Legislature. James 
 Woodson Bates. Mathew Lyons. Henry W. 
 Conway. Ambrose H. Sevier. Gov. George 
 Izard. Gov. John Pope. First Weekly Mail 
 Route Fast. First Crafts to Ply the Waters of 
 the Arkansas River. First Steamboat. Capt. 
 Philip Pennywit. 
 
 CHAPTER n. 
 
 Some Notabi^e Earl,y Duels. 
 The Allen-Oden Encounter. The Scott-Selden 
 Duel. The Duel Between Thomas W. Newton 
 and Ambrose H. Sevier. The Crittenden-Conway 
 Duel. An Incident. The Scott-Hogan Affair. 
 An Early Affair of Honor, Which Had a Ludi- 
 crous Ending. Origin of the Bowie Knife. First 
 Judicial Execution. The Turner-Leiper Affair. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 Journey to Arkansas Territory. 
 
 Departure from Louisville, Ky . The Steamer ' 'Rein- 
 deer." Capt. David Miller. Senator Black, of 
 Mississippi. Tragedy at Paducah. Bird's Point 
 
10 TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
 
 (Cairo). The Steamer "Peruvian." Storm on 
 the Mississippi. The Steamer "Volant." Wreck 
 of the "Peruvian." The Steamer "Ossian." 
 Ruins of New Madrid. Burning of the Steamer 
 "Sampson." Chickasaw BlufEs (Memphis). Gen. 
 Ddmund Pendleton Gaines. Myra Clark Gaines. 
 Mouth of White River. Montgomery's Point. 
 Francis D'Armand. Gen. William Montgomery. 
 Moses Greenwood. Magnolias and Mocking 
 Birds. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 The Post oe Arkansas. 
 
 The White River Cut-oflF. Col. Frederick Notrebe. 
 A Splendid Entertainment. Settlement of the 
 Post in 1686. DeTonti. Don Carlos D'Villemont. 
 An Overland Conveyance. Appearance of the 
 Post in 1832. Old French Houses. Building in 
 Which the Arkansas Gazette was Published. 
 William B. Wait. Col. Alexander Walker. First 
 Protestant Sermon in Arkansas. Rev. John P. 
 Carnahan. Catholic Missionaries. Destruction 
 of the Town by Gen. Porter's Fleet in 1863. 
 Trip Across Grand Prairie. Major Fwing and 
 Party of Surveyors. Bennett B. Ball. Major 
 William A. Dixon. A Pioneer Supper. A 
 Wealthy Settler. Sampson Gray. Arrival Oppo- 
 site the "Point of Rocks." Judge David Rover. 
 An Unique Ferryboat. 
 
TABLE OB* CONTENTS. 11 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Arrival in Little Rock. 
 A Group of Distinguislied Early Settlers : Col. 
 Chester Ashley; Major Elias Rector, the "Fine 
 Arkansaw Gentleman ; " James S. Conway ; Wm. 
 E. Woodruff. A Picturesque Figure. Gov. 
 Pope Resumes the Duties of His Office. William 
 S. Fulton. Office of the Secretary of the Terri- 
 tory. First Newspaper to Propose Gen. Jackson 
 for the Presidency. The Executive Office. First 
 Territorial Legislative Building'. An Amusing 
 Incident. Major James Pyeatt. An Old Pioneer.-' 
 " Crystal Hill. " The Cadron. First Roadmak- 
 ing in Arkansas. Arrival of a United States 
 Army Officer. Did Not Know the War of 1812 
 Had Been Fought. Fort Gibson. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Gold in Arkansas. 
 
 The Precious Metal Discovered at "Crystal Hill. " 
 Specimen sent to New Orleans. An Expedition 
 of Gold Hunters Set Out from New Orleans. Ex- 
 pedition Arrives at Little Rock. The Gold 
 Seekers Move Up to "Crystal Hill." Some 
 Gold Obtained. An Old Smelter Discovered at 
 "Crystal Hill" as Late as 1842. Expedition 
 Proceeds Up the River to where Dardanelle is Now 
 Located. The Caddo Indians. Gold Reported 
 Plentiful Near the Caddo River in What is Now 
 
12 TABIvE OF CONTENTS. 
 
 Montgomery County. Driven off by the Hostile 
 L/ipans. The Adventurers Return to New Or- 
 leans. Gold Obtained at a Later Date. Argen- 
 tiferous Galena. The "Kellogg Mines." The 
 Mound Builders. Some Natural Scenery. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 IviTTivE Rock in 1832. 
 
 Old Geographers Called the Place "Arkopolis." 
 The Incorporated Portion of the Town. Some 
 Historic Buildings. Gov. Pope on "Manslaugh- 
 ter." The Ga£;eite O&ce. The Ashley Mansion. 
 The Hotel of the Day. McLane & Badgett's 
 Mercantile Establishment. The Killing of Major 
 Isaac Watkins. "The People of Arkansas versus 
 John Smith." The Cherokee Commissioners. A 
 Banquet. A Tragedy. Two Old Landmarks. 
 The Old Henderliter Place. Place of Meeting of 
 the Last Territorial Legislature. Place of 
 Temporary Confinement of John Wilson for the 
 Killing of J. J. Anthony in 1837. Other Old 
 Buildings. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 The Territorial and Early State Press. 
 The Arkansas Gazette. William E. Woodruff. The 
 Advocate. Charles P. Bertrand. The "Ins" 
 versus The "Outs." Political Invective. The 
 "Dinwiddie" Letters. Duel Between Major Fon- 
 taine Pope and Dr. John H. Cocke. Political 
 
TABLE OF CONTENTS. 13 
 
 Pleasantries. The "Ten Section Bill." The 
 "Devereux" Letters. Duel Between Fontaine 
 Pope and Charles Fenton Mercer Noland. Death of 
 Major Pope. The Gazette Ceases to be the Official 
 Organ of the Administration. The Advocate 
 Changes Hands. ^)i\^ Political Intelligencer. Col. 
 John. W. Steele. The Times. The Times and 
 Advocate. The Gazette sold. The Fayetteville 
 
 Witness. 'T:hQ Batesville Eagle. "Pete" Whet- 
 stone. The Star Established by the Whig Na- 
 tional Executive Committee. David Ivambert. 
 The Southern Shield. The Southern Sentinel. 
 The Arkansas Intelligencer. The Camden 
 Herald. The Tribune. The "Old Canoe." 
 Thomas J. Worth en. The Arkansas Gazette Sold 
 to Benjamin J. Borden and Changed to a Whig 
 Organ. The Arkansas Banner. Dr. Solon Bo- 
 land. Lambert J. Reardon. The Arkansas 
 Democrat. John F. Knight. The Gazette and 
 Democrat. Alden M. Woodruff. The Arkansas 
 
 Whig. Robert F. Farrelly. Joseph Stilwell. 
 The Gazette and Democrat Passes into the Hands 
 of Capt. C. C. Danley and the Name Changed 
 Back to the Gazette. The True Democrat. Col. 
 Richard H. Johnson. Flias C. Boudinot. The 
 Fayetteville Independent. "BillCush." Political 
 Cartoons. The Old Line Democrat. Henry M. 
 Rector. Thomas C. Peek. The National Demo- 
 crat Supports Stephen A. Douglas for the Presi- 
 dency. 
 
14 TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 The Territorial, Militia. 
 Regimental Muster. A Grotesque Figure. A 
 Laughable Scene. A Court Martial. Migrating 
 Indians. The Choctaws and Chickasaws. The 
 Cholera. Terrible Sufferings of the Indians. 
 Death of Capt. David Miller. Old Chief Saracen 
 of the Quapaws. "The Member from Hot 
 Spring County. " Alfred W. Arrington. "Des- 
 peradoes of the Southwest. " The Superior Court 
 Room. Rev. James W. Moore. The Early 
 Presbyterians. Judge David Fulton. The Ec- 
 centric Old Postmaster, Barnett Williams. Some 
 Anecdotes. First Baptist Church. Rev. Benja- 
 min F. Hall. The Christian Church. The Cele- 
 brated Revivalists, Johnson and Ricketts. 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 Last Years oe the Territory. 
 Immigration to Arkansas. The Legislative Assem- 
 bly Building (State House). Objections to the 
 Site Selected. The One Thousand- Acre Grant. 
 How the Term "Pope's Addition" Arose. An 
 Ancient Burial Place. Laying of the Corner- 
 stone of the New Building. Occupancy of the 
 Building. Washington Irving and John James 
 Audubon Visit Little Rock. Capt. Bonneville. 
 Gen. Sam Houston in Little Rock. The Metho- 
 dists. Rev. Andrew Hunter. Mrs. Ann Con- 
 way— "Mother Conway." The Old Chair. The 
 Church During War Times. 
 
TABLE OF CONTENTS. 15 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 A Notable Political, Campaign. 
 A Memorable Political Debate. The Crittenden 
 and Sevier Parties. Defeat of Mr. Crittenden. 
 Sargent S. Prentiss and Henry S. Foote. Scene 
 in the Court-room at Vicksburg, Miss. Death of 
 Mr. Crittenden. "Intercepted Letters." Albert' 
 Pike. "The Kit North of America." Attempted 
 Impeachment of Judge Benjamin Johnson. En- 
 counter Between Robert W. Johnson and Absalom 
 Fowler and William Cummins. 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 An Eventful Period. 
 The Great Overflow of 1833. A Desperate Street- 
 Fight. The Legislature of 1833. Attack on Dr. 
 Mathew Cunningham by a Member from Wash- 
 ington County. The Winter of 1833 and 1834. 
 Party Lines Relaxed. Season of Much Social 
 Gayety. More Indians from Georgia, North 
 Carolina and East Tennessee Pass Through by 
 Boat. The Steamers "Portsmouth," "Prince- 
 ton and "Creole." Capt. Simeon Buckner. A 
 Band of Sub-Chiefs of the Seminoles Stop at 
 Little Rock. A Negro Interpreter. Glimpses of 
 the Seminole War. Gen. ^achary Taylor. The 
 Red River Overflow, 1834. An Old-Time Fourth 
 of July Celebration. Early Theatricals. Total 
 Eclipse of the Sun. A Scene of Grandeur and 
 Terror. The Winter of 1834 and 1835, Coldest 
 Known. 
 
16 TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. ■ 
 
 Change in Territorial Ai'fairs. 
 
 Hon. William S. Fulton Appointed Governor of the 
 Territory. The Sennaca Indians. The "Mur- 
 rell Gang-." A Sensational Book. Visit of 
 "Davy" Crockett. "Made Him Change Ends." 
 "Old Bet." An Impromptu Banquet. Hot 
 Spring's in Early Times. Difficulties of Travel. 
 Roswell Beebe. Dr. William A. Hammond. 
 Alfred Whittington. Ivudovicus Belding. The 
 Last Territorial Legislature. Bill Calling a 
 Constitutional Convention. City Charter for 
 Little Rock. A Quaint Old Character. The 
 McKee-Scott Affair. A Sad Scene. 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 The Constitutional Period. 
 
 The Constitutional Convention of 1836. The Real 
 Estate and State Banks. The Suffrage. Bill 
 Making Arkansas a State. The Democrats and 
 Whigs Organize for the Campaign. First Lodge 
 of Masons. Death of a Remarkable Man. Nixon 
 Curry. A Notorious Character. 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 Arkansas a State. 
 
 First Election Under the State Constitution. Elec- 
 toral Vote of the State. State Troops for the 
 Frontier. First State Legislature Meets in New 
 
TABLE OF CONTENTS. 17 
 
 State House. Inaug-uration of James S. Conway, 
 First Governor. United States Senators Elected. 
 Election of State OflScers and Judges of the Su- 
 preme Court by the. Legislature. The Bench and 
 Bar. First Term of the Supreme Court. Re- 
 examination of Attorneys for License to Practice. 
 An Embarrassing Scene. Congress Donates Five 
 More Sections of Land to Complete State House. 
 United States Arsenal. Pike's Artillery Com- 
 pany. Suspension of Specie Payments by the 
 Banks. Extra Session of the Legislature in 1837. 
 The Suspension of Specie Payments Legalized. 
 Bounty on Wolf Scalps. Killing of the Member 
 from Randolph County by the Speaker of the 
 House of Representatives. The Speaker Ex- 
 pelled and Arrested. Grandison D. Royston 
 Elected Speaker. Wilson Tried for Murder. An 
 Outrageous Verdict. A Professional Theatrical 
 Troupe Visits Arkansas. Some Histrionic Stars. 
 A Destructive Fire. Primitive Fire Apparatus. 
 Fort Smith Selected as the Location for a Garri- 
 son for United States troops. Second Regular 
 Session of the Legislature. State Penitentiary 
 Established. Little Rock Trust and Insurance 
 Company Chartered. The Vice-President of the 
 United States Visits Arkansas. The ' ' Arkansaw ■ 
 Traveler." "Big Bear of Arkansaw. " A Native 
 Artist. The Howell-Douglass Tragedy. 
 
18 TABLE or CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 "Flush Times in Arkansas." 
 Presidential Contest of 1840. The ' 'Log Cabin and 
 Hard Cider Campaign. " Scenes and Incidents. 
 Inauguration of Archibald Yell, Governor. In- 
 augural Ball. Coal Mining. The "Anthony 
 House." First Catholic Church. The Scramble 
 for Office. "What's in the Wind?" Gen. Zach- 
 ary Taylor in Little Rock. "Old Rough and 
 Ready." Hostile Seminole Chiefs, "Wild Cat" 
 and "Hospatka." Extensive Burglary in Little} 
 Rock. "Antiquarian and Historical Society of' 
 Arkansas." The New Episcopal Church. 
 Bishops Otey and Polk. Rev. Dr. Yearger. Rt. 
 Rev. George W. Freeman. Rt. Rev. Henry C. 
 Lay. Rt. Rev. Henry Niles Pierce. Twenty- 
 third Anniversary of Odd Fellowship. First 
 Daguerrean Artist. Population of Little Rock. 
 The Trowbridge Gang of Counterfeiters and 
 Burglars. The Legislature of 1842-3. Bank 
 Matters. Exciting Scene Between Dr. Lorenzo 
 Gibson and John Wilson on the Floor of the 
 House. "Gone into hiQUO'Rdaiion.'^ The Geo- 
 logical Survey. David Dale and Robert Dale 
 Owen. A Polish Exile. 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 The Campaign of 1844. 
 Exciting Times. Elias N^ Conway Nominated by 
 the Democrats for Governor. James K. Polk for 
 President. The Whigs Nominate Dr. Lorenzo P. 
 
TABLE OF CONTENTS. 19 
 
 Gibson for Governor. Henry Clay for President. 
 Gen. Richard C. Byrd, Independent Democratic 
 Candidate for Governor. Mr. Conway Declines 
 to be a Candidate. Daniel J. Chapman Placed at 
 the Head of the Democratic State Ticket. Arch- 
 ibald Yell Resigns Office of Governor and Runs 
 for Congress. Gen. Byrd Retires from the Guber- 
 natorial Canvas. Daniel J. Chapman "Throws 
 Up the Sponge." Thomas S. Drew Nominated 
 by the Democrats for Governor. Drew Elected. 
 Texas Annexation. Emigration to Texas. "Polk, 
 Dallas and Texas." Hostile Meeting Between 
 the Rival Editors, Benjamin J. Borden and Solon 
 Borland. A Duel, Death of Hon. William S. 
 Fulton. Col. Chester Ashley Chosen United 
 States Senator. Arkansas in the Mexican War. 
 The Treaty of Annexation of Texas. Major 
 Jacob Brown. Arkansas' Quota of Troops. First 
 Arkansas Regiment. Col. Yell. Pike's and Dan- 
 ley's Companies. Preston's Company. Pike's 
 Squadron. The Battle of Buena Vista. Death 
 of Yell. Other Gallant Arkansans. Return of 
 the Troops. The Old Arkansas Sentinel at Mon- 
 clova. T. J. Churchill. Ambrose H. Sevier Ap- 
 pointed One of the Commissioners to Settle Terms 
 of Peace. Treaty of Guadaloupe Hidalgo. 
 
 CHAPTER XVm. 
 After the Mexican War. 
 Duel Between Albert Pike and John Selden Roane. 
 Burning of the Arkansas State Penitentiary. 
 Thomas W. Newton Elected to Congress. Robert 
 
20 TABLE OE* CONTENTS. 
 
 W. Johnson Succeeds Major Newton. The Leg- 
 islature of 1848. Three United States Senators. 
 Death of Col. Sevier. Resignation of Gov. Drew. 
 John Selden Roane Elected Governor. Death of 
 Judge Benjamin Johnson. Daniel Ringo. The 
 Forty-Niners. The Marion County War. 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 The Knownothing Party in Arkansas. 
 Death of President Taylor. Millard Fillmore. In- 
 troduction of Postage Stamps. The Post-office 
 at lyittle Rock. Some Amusing Incidents. Burn- 
 ing of the Little Rock Postoffice. John F. Rear- 
 don. Thomas J. Churchill. Flias N. Conway 
 Elected Governor. Henry M. Rector. George 
 C. Watkins, Chief Justice. Solon Borland, Min- 
 ister Plenipotentiary to Nicaraugua. Robert W. 
 Johnson Appointed United States Senator. Elbert 
 H. English, Chief Justice. Luke E. Barber. 
 Overthrow of the Whig Party. "The Order of 
 United Americans. ' ' The ' 'Knownothing Party. ' ' 
 It Captures the Legislature in 1854. Andrew J. 
 Hutt, President of the State Council. James 
 Yell. Elias N. Conway Re-elected Governor. 
 Albert Rust. Caning of Horace Greely. Henry 
 A. Wise, of Virginia. "Uncle Sam's Boys." 
 Demise of the "Knownothing Party." Rt. Rev. 
 Andrew Byrne. Railroad Building in Arkansas. 
 A Celebrated Murder Case ; Able Defense by 
 Samuel W. Williams, Esq. The Mountain Meadow 
 Massacre. Some Prominent Arkansans. 
 
"Lift we the twilight curtains of the Past, 
 
 And, turning from familiar sight and sound. 
 Sadly and full of reverence let us cast 
 A glance upon Tradition's shadowy ground. 
 Led by the few pale lights which, glim,m,ering round 
 That dim., strange land of Eld, seem dying fast." 
 
Early Days in Arkansas. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 A Glakce at Early Territorial History. 
 
 Whilst it is not the author's purpose to give in 
 these pages a minute and detailed account of the 
 history of Arkansas from the time of its erection 
 into a Territory to the year 1832, it will, perhaps, 
 be necessary, to a full appreciation of the narrative 
 to follow, to bestow a passing glance upon the 
 principal historical events of that period. 
 
 By an act of Congress, of date March 2, 1819, 
 Arkansas Territory was created out of a portion of 
 Missouri Territory, and the seat of government of 
 the new Territory fixed, temporarily, at the Post of 
 Arkansas, on the left bank of the Arkansas River, 
 some thirty miles above its confluence with the 
 Mississippi. 
 
 The Territorial government was organized July 
 4, 1819, and the first Territorial, or, more strictly 
 speaking, ihe provisional Legislature, met July 28, 
 1819. This body was composed of the Governor, 
 or in his absence, the Secretary of the Territory, 
 which was the case in this instance, and the three 
 Judges of the Superior Court, all appointed by the 
 President of the United States. 
 
24 e;ael,y days in Arkansas. 
 
 Gen. James Miller, of New Hampshire, was 
 appointed by President Monroe first Governor of the 
 new Territory, and Robert Crittenden, of Kentucky, 
 was made its first Secretary. The Secretary was 
 clothed with the executive powers in the absence of 
 the Governor from the Territory. 
 
 The Superior Court as first organized was com- 
 posed of Andrew Scott, Robert P. Letcher and 
 Charles Jonett. 
 
 The Judges of the Superior Court, from first 
 to last, in addition to those already mentioned, were 
 Benjamin Johnson, of Kentucky, who held the office 
 under Presidents Monroe, John Quincy Adams and 
 Andrew Jackson, and was also first Judge of the 
 United States District Court for the State of Ar- 
 kansas ; Joseph Selden, of Virginia; William Trim- 
 ble ; Thomas P. Eskridge ; James Woodson Bates ; 
 Edward Cross ; Charles S. Bibb ; Alexander Clay- 
 ton ; Thomas J. Lacy and Archibald Yell. 
 
 Gov. Miller was, as before stated, a native of 
 New Hampshire, and greatly distinguished himself 
 at the battles of Lundy's Lane, Bridgewater and 
 other engagements during the war of 1812. He 
 was absent from the Territory during the greater 
 portion of his term of office, and the duties of Gov- 
 ernor were performed by Robert Crittenden, Secre- 
 tary of the Territory, who was then only in the 
 tvirenty-second year of his age. 
 
 The first regular session of the Territorial 
 Legislature, consisting of a House of Representa- 
 

 
EARLY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 25 
 
 tives and Council, composed of members elected by 
 the people, was held at the Post of Arkansas. This 
 body convened on February 7, 1820, and remained 
 in session seventeen days. A recess was taken un- 
 til October 2, 1820. On October 24, 1820, a bill for 
 the removal of the seat of g-overnment to Little 
 Rock passed both branches of the General Assembly. 
 
 Soon after his arrival at Little Rock, Gov. 
 Miller purchased an extensive tract of land near 
 Crystal Hill, some fifteen miles above the town, on 
 the north side of the river. Then he proceeded to 
 erect several large two-story double log houses, and 
 also some smaller ones, and here he resided. 
 
 The Governor made strenuous efforts to have 
 the seat of government moved again and located at 
 Crystal Hill, and, although the latter location was 
 nearly geographically the center of the Territory, 
 the plan met with such sturdy opposition on all 
 sides that the scheme failed of accomplishment. 
 
 Towards the close of the year 1824, Gov. Miller 
 returned to New England and was afterwards ap- 
 pointed collector of the Port of Salem, Mass. 
 
 Upon the election of Andrew Jackson to the 
 Presidency, an effort was made to gust Gen. Miller 
 from his position as Collector, but upon the repre- 
 sentation made to the President by Col. Benton, of 
 Missouri, that the man he was about to turn out of 
 oflBce was the brave Gen. Miller who fought so gal- 
 lantly at Bridgewater, and who, when asked by his 
 superior oflScer if he could take a certain British 
 
26 EARIvY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 
 
 battery, exclaimed, "I'll try, sir," the President 
 directed his Secretary, Col. Donelson, to write to 
 Gen. Miller and tell him that "he shall be Collector 
 of Salem as long as Andrew Jackson is President." 
 
 The first Delegate in Congress from Arkansas 
 Territory was James Woodson Bates, and he was 
 elected in 1821, defeating Col. Mathew Lyon. Col. 
 Lyon was a native of Ireland. Upon his arrival in 
 this country he first located in the State of New 
 York, and subsequently settled in Vermont, from 
 which State he was elected a Representative in Con- 
 gress in 1797, serving until 1801. Col. Lyon 
 claimed the honor of having cast the deciding vote 
 in the House of Representatives in the contest be- 
 tween Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr for the 
 Presidency in 1800. This distinction has been 
 claimed for others. His son, Crittenden Lyon, at 
 one time represented the State of Kentucky in the 
 Congress of the United States. Col. Lyon died at 
 Spadra, Ark., on the 11th day of August, 1822, 
 aged 76 years. 
 
 Mr. Bates was again a candidate for Delegate 
 in 1823, but was defeated by Henry W. Conway, 
 who was re-elected in 1825, and again in 1827. 
 
 Upon the death of Mr. Conway in 1827, Am- 
 brose H. Sevier was elected to fill the vacancy, his 
 opponent being Richard Searcy. Mr. Sevier was 
 re-elected Delegate in 1829, again defeating Mr. 
 Searcy, and served as such until the admission of 
 Arkansas into the Union as a State. 
 
EARIvY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 27 
 
 Upon the resignation of Gov. James Miller, 
 Gen. George Izard, of South Carolina, who had 
 been a major general in the war of 1812, was ap- 
 pointed by President John Quincy Adams second 
 Governor of Arkansas Territory, and held the office 
 from March, 1825, until his death, November 22, 
 1828, aged 53 years. 
 
 Gov. Izard was a man of much learning and 
 varied accomplishments, and he gave the Territory 
 a good and wise administration. His remains were 
 buried in the City Cemetery on the block now occu- 
 pied by the Peabody school buildings, but some 
 years later they were removed to Mount Holly 
 Cemetery, Little Rock. His resting place there is 
 marked by a marble slab, appropriately engraved, 
 which was erected by his friend. Col. Chester 
 Ashley, formerly a United States Senator from Ar- 
 kansas. The late Rev. James Moore, one of the 
 pioneer settlers of Arkansas, who was for many 
 years pastor of the First Presbyterian Church, of 
 Little Rock, knew Gov. Izard personally, and gives 
 tho following interesting sketch of his personality 
 and peculiarities : 
 
 "His personal appearance was remarkably fine. 
 He was near six feet in height, erect and finely pro- 
 portioned. In his manners he generally evinced a 
 consciousness of his commanding station, and yet he 
 was affable and agreeable. He was a profound and 
 general scholar. His library was voluminous, com- 
 posed of learned works in the Latin, Spanish and 
 French languages. 
 
28 EARLY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 
 
 "He did not live many months after my arrival in 
 Little Rock. A considerable time before his last 
 illness he had his grave dug (in the old cemetery on 
 Fourth and Gaines streets) and walled with brick, 
 and, I believerhad a cofl&n prepared. He had seven 
 razors, named for the days of the week, and each 
 engraved with its name on it. I never knew much 
 respecting his religious belief, but am inclined to 
 believe that he had no doubts of the general truths 
 of Christianity, though not a member of any 
 church. He came to hear me preach when his 
 health permitted, and showed marked respect for 
 the Gospel. Two of his sons came on after his 
 death to look after his eflfects. His fine library was 
 boxed up, and in transit eastward was lost by the 
 sinking of the steamboat." 
 
 Upon the death of Gov. Izard, the duties of 
 Governor again devolved upon Robert Crittenden, 
 Secretary, until the arrival of John Pope, of Ken- 
 tucky, who was appointed Governor by President 
 Jackson in March, 1829. Gov. Pope reached the 
 seat of government in the month of May of the 
 same year. He was the first of the Governors to 
 bring with him his family, servants and household 
 goods. 
 
 Gov. Pope was a native of Virginia, where he 
 was born in the year 1770, He emigrated to Ken- 
 tucky in 1794, and settled at Lexington, where he 
 began the practice of the law. He had a strong 
 leaning towards politics, and soon became a power 
 
EARLY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 29 
 
 in his party. In 1806 he was elected a United States 
 Senator from Kentucky, and had as his colleague 
 Henry Clay. He was re-appointed Governor of the 
 Territory in 1832, and served until the end of the 
 term in 1835, when he was superseded by William 
 S. Fulton, who had been the Secretary of the Ter- 
 ritory during- Gov. Pope's first and second terms. 
 
 At the expiration of his second term. Gov. Pope 
 returned with his family to Kentucky and became a 
 candidate for a seat in Congress, but was defeated 
 by Ben. Hardin. He was again a candidate for 
 Congress in 1838, and was elected, and was re-elected 
 in 1840. He made a visit to Arkansas, on business, 
 in 1844, and died soon after his return to Kentucky,, 
 in the seventy-fourth year of his age. ^ 
 
 Gov. Pope was a brother-in-law to John Quincy 
 Adams, but voted for Gen. Jackson m 1824, and 
 actively canvassed Virginia and Kentucky in Jack- 
 son's behalf in the campaign of 1828. 
 
 After the election it was strongly intimated 
 from high sources that he would be tendered the 
 portfolio of Attorney-General in President Jackson's 
 Cabinet, but that honor went to John M. Berrien, 
 of Georgia. 
 
 During Gov. Pope's first term of office, in 1829, 
 the first weekly mail route was established between 
 Little Rock and Memphis, and the mail was carried 
 on horseback over the newly-opened military road. 
 
 One of the Governor's first recommendations to- 
 Congress was for a weekly mail service between 
 Ivittle Rock, Memphis and New Orleans via a river 
 route. 
 
30 early days in arkansas. 
 
 Early River Navigation. 
 
 Something in regard to the early navigation of 
 the Arkansas waters will doubtless be of interest to 
 the readers of the present day. Transportation by 
 boat in the days of which I write, however, was of 
 vastly more importance than it is now, for, of 
 course, there were no railroads then. 
 
 The first craft of any description navigated by 
 civilized man to ply the waters of the Arkansas, of 
 which we have any accurate information, was the 
 fleet of keelboats and barges used by the adventur- 
 ers from New Orleans in their search for gold in . 
 1809, of which more anon. This fleet of boats was 
 commanded by one Captain Hillare, a Frenchman. 
 
 In the latter part of 1815, a fleet of keelboats 
 and barges, under command of Major Gibson, Uni- 
 ted States Army, bearing troops, supplies and mate- 
 rial for establishing forts or military posts along 
 the upper Arkansas in the Indian country, passed 
 up the river. These boats were cor deled up stream. 
 This method of ascending a river was slow and 
 laborious. A strong rope was attached to the boat, 
 amidship, and one end of the rope carried ashore, 
 where men walked along the bank and towed the 
 boat. A man stood at the prow of the boat and 
 with a long pole kept it out from the shore and 
 parallel to it. Relays of men were toled off at 
 frequent intervals, as the work of towing a heavily 
 ladened boat up stream was very hard and exhaust- 
 ing labor. 
 
KARLY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 31 
 
 The next craft of any importance to ascend the 
 Arkansas river was a finely fitted up keelboat from 
 St. Louis, en route for Fort Gibson, with military 
 supplies for the garrisons there and at Arbuckle, 
 Towson and other places. This boat was called 
 the "Arkansas," and had as passengers Gov. James 
 Miller, first Governor of Arkansas Territory, and 
 suite. The Governor and party disembarked at the 
 Post of Arkansas, the seat of government, and the 
 boat proceeded on her trip up the river. 
 
 The first boat propelled by steam to ascend the 
 Arkansas was the "Comet," commanded by Capt. 
 Byrne. She arrived at the Post of Arkansas on 
 April 1, 1820, eight days out from New Orleans. 
 Her commander, or his wife, was related to one of 
 the principals in the Allen-Oden duel, and her ar- 
 rival was due to the interest felt in the outcome of 
 that affair, rumors of which had reached the 
 world outside of the wilderness of Arkansas. 
 
 On July 20, 1820, the "Maid of Orleans," thir- 
 teen days from New Orleans, also arrived at the 
 Post, but went no farther up. 
 
 The Gazette of March 22, 1822, announces the 
 arrival at Little Rock of the steamer "Eagle," 
 Capt. Morris in command, seventeen days from New 
 Orleans. She was bound for D wight Mission. Says 
 the Gazette of the above date : "This is the first 
 steamboat that ever ascended to this place." * * 
 She returned on the 19th, having ascended to within 
 twelve miles of her destination — low water pre- 
 vented her from reaching it. 
 
32 EARIyY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 
 
 Oh April 9, 1822, the steamboat "Robert 
 Thompson" arrived at Little Rock and went on to 
 Fort Smith, which point she attained and returned 
 in a few days safely. 
 
 The "Facility," commanded by that pioneer of 
 the western waters, Capt. Philip Pennywit, arrived 
 at Little Rock in January, 1828, having on board a 
 large number of emigrating Creek Indians. 
 
 In June, 1829, the steamer "Enterprise" (for- 
 merly the "Alps"), passed up Red river. She was 
 commanded by Capt. B. R. Milam, and went on to 
 the mouth of the Kiamichi, loaded with supplies for 
 Fort Towson. 
 
 The steamer "Waverly," Capt. Pennywit, 
 above-mentioned, commander, arrived at Batesville 
 about the first of January, 1831, being the first 
 steamboat to navigate White river more than sixty 
 or seventy miles above its mouth. 
 
 The "James O'Hare," Capt. Stewart in com- 
 mand, began to make trips about this time, ascend- 
 ing the river as far as Fort Gibson. 
 
 February 18, 1834, the first snagboat, the 
 "Archimedes," arrived at Little Rock. 
 
 From this time on the river-carrying trade by 
 means of steamboats began to assume important 
 proportions. 
 
EARLY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 33 
 
 CHAPTER 11. 
 Some NoTABiyE Early Duels. 
 
 Many of the prominent early settlers of Ar- 
 kansas had a large admixture of French and cava- 
 lier blood in their veins, and their frequent quarrels 
 (usually political ones), found vent in a resort to the 
 code duello. Nor were those of sturdy old Scotch 
 and Irish ancestry believed to be better in this par- 
 ticular. 
 
 While it is a matter for gratulation that the 
 duel has long since ceased to be the arbiter in quar- 
 rels, from whatever cause they arose between indi- 
 viduals, they were always conducted upon the fair- 
 est principles, and with the nicest sense of honor, as 
 that term was understood. The result of the duel, 
 however, established no truth, refuted no falsehood, 
 and really proved nothing except that the combat- 
 tants were men of nerve and courage. 
 
 The author is indebted to Hon. John R. Homer 
 Scott, of Pope County, son of Judge Andrew Scott, 
 one of the early Judges of the Superior Court of 
 Arkansas Territory, for accounts of some of the 
 earliest recorded duels fought between citizens of 
 the Territory. In the account here given of the 
 
34 EARLY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 
 
 Allen-Oden duel, Capt. Scott's exact words have 
 been used, they being- beyond improvement. The 
 facts were derived from the most reliable sources 
 by him, and they entirely coincide with the writer's 
 own information upon the subject: 
 
 "In the winter of 1819, or spring- of 1820, at 
 the Post of Arkansas, an enmity grew up between 
 Col. Robert C. Oden, a young lawyer of prominence 
 at that time, ag-ed about twenty-two or twenty-three 
 years, and Col. William O. Allen, aged some forty 
 or forty-five years, originating out of a very simple 
 and at the same time what was intended as a play- 
 ful action on the part of Col. Oden, but which pro- 
 voked and irritated Col. Allen very greatly. He 
 immediately challenged Col. Oden to fight a duel, 
 which was accepted and fought with pistols at ten 
 paces, on the south bank of the Arkansas River at 
 the Post of Arkansas (in the Quapaw country). Col. 
 Allen's ball struck Col. Oden on the suspender but- 
 ton of his pants, at the waist, under his right arm, 
 and ranged around the body, from which wound he 
 subsequently recovered. As Col. Oden was falling 
 from the effects of the shot received in his body he 
 discharged his pistol, being ready to fire, the ball 
 striking Col. Allen in the forehead, cracking the 
 skull, but not penetrating it. Col. Allen was taken 
 to Judge Scott's by his second, George W. Scott, 
 and after lingering in great pain and agony for over 
 one week, expired. 
 
 "The circumstances which brought about this 
 duel were these : The two were quite friendly and 
 
EARI^Y DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 35 
 
 boarded at a hotel near the residence of Col. Fred- 
 erick Notrebe, The building- was of French archi- 
 tecture, with a wide, open hall, and porches, alike 
 open, extending- in a circle all around the building. 
 Col. Allen walked with a cane which had a spear in 
 the top. The sudden flinging- of the cane would 
 thrust open the spring covering in the top or head 
 of the cane, and shoot the spear through to where 
 the clasp would close down and hold it firmly, 
 exposed for use, if necessary. 
 
 "Col. Oden was in the habit, frequently, of 
 shooting the spear out of the cane, when he could 
 get his hands on it. On one occasion they were at 
 dinner, and Col. Oden, getting through earlier than 
 Col. Allen, picked up the cane and walked into the 
 hall with it, practicing with the spring and spear. 
 When Col. Allen came out, he reached to Oden for 
 the cane, who retreated a few steps. Allen walked 
 nearly up and asked for it. Oden presented it to- 
 wards him, and just as Col. Allen was about to take 
 it, Oden jerked the cane back and again retreated. 
 
 "Col. Allen, still advancing and asking for the 
 cane, and Col. Oden pursuing the same course, by 
 presenting and retreating with it, a race commenced, 
 Allen after Oden, running around the circular porch 
 and through the hall trying to catch him and take 
 the cane from him. Col. Oden being young and 
 active, easily eluded his pursuer. Col. Allen be- 
 came so exasperated and fatigued tjiat he gave up 
 pursuit, and immediately sent the challenge, which 
 resulted as stated." 
 
36 EARIvY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 
 
 The cane, which was the primary cause of such 
 dreadful results, was subsequently broken in pieces, 
 and the spear is now in the possession of the Scott 
 family. 
 
 Some time in 1820, Judges Robert P. Letcher 
 and Charles Jonett resigned from the Superior Court 
 bench, and Benjamin Johnson, of Kentucky, and 
 Joseph Selden, of Virginia, formerly an officer in the 
 United States Army, were appointed their successors. 
 
 Soon after Judge Selden went upon the bench he 
 and Judge Andrew Scott, also of the Superior Court, 
 and two ladies, became engaged in a social game of 
 whist at the residence of one of the ladies at the 
 / Post of Arkansas, In the course of the game one 
 of the ladies. Judge Scott's partner in the game, 
 remarked : "Judge Selden, we have the tricks and 
 the honors on you." To which Judge Selden very 
 abruptly replied: "That is not so, madam." 
 
 The lady, very much mortified at the ungracious 
 reply, put up her handkerchief to hide her mortifi- 
 cation, saying, "I did not expect to be insulted." 
 
 Judge Scott remarked to Judge Selden: "Sir, 
 you have insulted a lady, and my partner, and you 
 must apologize for your rudeness." 
 
 Judge Selden declined to apologize, saying : "I 
 make no apology. She has stated what is not true." 
 ^ Judge Scott seized a candlestick, which was 
 standing on the card table, and hurled it at Judge 
 Selden. Parties who were present interfered, and 
 prevented further difficulty at the time. 
 
EARLY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 37 
 
 A few days after the occurrence, Judge Selden 
 sent, by the hands of Judge Scott, an apology to 
 the lady, which was accepted, and the matter was 
 thought to have been amicably settled. But the 
 intermeddling of pretended friends, who were indus- 
 trious in bearing tales to Judges Scott and Selden, 
 succeeded in reviving the quarrel, which resulted in 
 Judge Scott sending Judge Selden a challenge to 
 fight a duel. 
 
 The meeting took place on Mississippi soil, op- 
 posite Montgomery's Point, at the mouth of White 
 river. The second and surgeon of Judge Scott was 
 Dr. Nimrod Menifee. Judge Selden's second was 
 Robert C. Oden, though some accounts say it was 
 James Woodson Bates. 
 
 The weapons were pistols, and the distance ten 
 paces. At the first shot Judge Selden was killed. 
 
 Judge Andrew Scott was the most chivalrous 
 and the purest-minded man, I think, I ever knew. 
 He would not brook to listen to the faintest breath of 
 scandal against the female sex, and his tender re- 
 gard for the reputation of women was one of which 
 any man might justly feel proud, but of which so 
 few can boast. He was a man ' ^sans feur et sans 
 reprochey 
 
 A duel which created wide-spread interest on 
 account of the prominence of the parties involved, 
 was fought early in the month of September, 1827, 
 between Thomas W. Newton and Ambrose H. 
 Sevier, 
 
38 EARLY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 
 
 The meeting- took place at a point on the Arkan- 
 sas river about sixty miles above Little Rock, called 
 Point Remove. This spot is now in Conway County, 
 Arkansas, but was at that time in the country of 
 the Cherokees.* 
 
 The affair grew out of the highly-inflamed 
 state of political excitement that was then begin- 
 ning to manifest itself in the Territory, and Sevier 
 and Newton were warm partisans of their restive 
 leaders. Mr. Conway was the recognized leader of 
 one party, and Robert Crittenden led the other party. 
 
 Gen. George W. Jones, of Iowa, and the life- 
 long friend of ex-President Jefferson Davis, and 
 who in after years became a United States Senator 
 from Iowa, was Mr. Newton's second, while Dr. 
 William P. Reyburri acted as his surgeon, and 
 Robert C. Oden as his friend. 
 
 Mr. Sevier had Col. Wharton Rector for his 
 second, and Dr. Nimrod Menifee of Conway county, 
 attended as his surgeon. 
 
 After the usual preliminaries, such as stepping 
 off the ground, deciding upon the "words," loading 
 the pistols, etc., had been gone through with, the 
 
 *This point was west of the old Cherokee line, in the country 
 occupied by a band of Cherokee Indians, who had many years 
 previously broken loose from the main body of that tribe in 
 Georg-ia and North Carolina, and had settled in this part of the 
 country. 
 
 Negotiations were pending- at the time the Newton-Sevier 
 duel was fought for the purchase by the government of their 
 lands, but the Indian title had not been fully extinguished at 
 that time, and the country was not within the jurisdiction of the 
 Territory of Arkansas. 
 
EARIyY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 39 
 
 principals were placed in position, at ten paces,, and 
 their weapons handed them. 
 
 Both pistols were discharged simultaneously, 
 without injury to either party. A second shot was 
 demanded, and the opponents again took their 
 places. But before the second shot could be ex- 
 changed. Dr. Menifee sprang in between the com- 
 batants and protested against further hostilities, de- 
 claring if another was had it must go through his 
 body. He appealed to Gen. Jones if a settlement 
 could not be arranged without the spilling of blood. 
 
 A consultation was then held by the friends of 
 both parties, which resulted in a determination to 
 bring the aflFair to an honorable close without fur- 
 ther resort to arms. 
 
 The principals were compelled to accept this 
 verdict of their friends. 
 
 Mr. Newton and Mr. Sevier became warm 
 friends afterwards. 
 
 On the 29th day of October,' 1827, there was 
 fought in the State of Mississippi, opposite the 
 mouth of White river, a duel between Robert Crit- 
 tenden and Henry W. Conway. 
 
 Mr. Conway and Mr. Robert C. Oden, the nomi- 
 nee of the Crittenden party, were rival candidates 
 for Delegate to Congress. At the election which 
 had recently been held, Mr. Oden was defeated by 
 Mr. Conway. During the canvass much bad feeling 
 had been engendered on both sides, and many bitter 
 articles had appeared in the rival newspapers denun- 
 
40 EARI<Y DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 
 
 ciatory of Mr. Crittenden on the one side and of Mr. 
 Conway on the other. This bad state of feeling" 
 culminated in Mr. Crittenden sending Mr. Conway 
 a challenge to fight a duel to settle their personal 
 and political differences. Mr. Conway accepted the 
 challenge and the meeting took place as stated. 
 
 Col. Wharton Rector was Mr. Conway's second 
 and Capt. Ben Desha acted in like capacity for Mr. 
 Crittenden. 
 
 At the first fire Mr. Conway received his death 
 wound. He was removed to the Post of Arkansas, 
 the nearest settlement, where on the 24th day of 
 November, 1827, he breathed his last, in the thirty- 
 fifth year of his age, a victim to a misconceived idea 
 of honor. 
 
 As illustrative of the coolness with which some 
 men can face impending danger — even death itself — 
 I will relate one of the circumstances attending this 
 duel. 
 
 On the morning of the duel Mr. Crittenden and 
 party were first to arrive upon the grounds ; and as 
 it was yet early for the encounter, Mr. Crittenden 
 spread a blanket upon the ground and threw himself 
 upon it, and drawing his overcoat over him, was 
 soon in a profound and healthful sleep. He was not 
 awakened until all the preliminaries had been made. 
 When his second aroused him he took his position on 
 the field. 
 
 On the 31st day of May, 1828, a desperate en- 
 counter between Judge Andrew Scott and Gen. Ed- 
 
EARLY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 41 
 
 mund Hogfan took place in the storehouse of John 
 McLane,* located about where the shoe-store of 
 Pollock & Son now stands, on the west side of Main 
 street, Little Rock. 
 
 A vacancy existed in the position of Delegate 
 to Congress from Arkansas Territory, on account 
 of the death of Henry W. Conway. 
 
 Soon afterwards an election was ordered to be 
 held to fill the vacancy and also to elect members of 
 the Legislative Assembly. Col. Ambrose H. Se- 
 vier, a Democrat, and Judge Andrew Scott, a Whig, 
 announced themselves as rival candidates for Dele- 
 gate to Congress ; and Gen. Hogan and others stood 
 for the Legislative Assembly. 
 
 Just before the election a barbecue was given 
 by the Democrats, and the opposition circulated the 
 report that the gathering was for the purpose of in- 
 fluencing and buying votes for Sevier and his party. 
 The report, whether true or false, was calculated 
 to materially affect the prospects of the Democratic 
 candidates. 
 
 Gen. Hogan, the Democratic candidate for the 
 Assembly, and a devoted personal and political 
 
 *NoTB. — Rev. James W. Moore, one of the pioneer preachers 
 of Arkansas, in his diary, under date of May 31, 1828, wrote : 
 "This afternoon in this town, in the billiard room. Gen. Hogan 
 and Judg-e Scott (brother of the Marshal) quarreled. Hogan 
 knocked Scott down with his fist. Scott as he arose drew the 
 dirk from his cane and stabbed Hogan in the breast. Hogan ex- 
 pired in a few minutes." [The billiard room here referred to was 
 in a log building adjoining McLane's store on the north, and was 
 kept by an Italian named Podesta.] — Thb Author. 
 
42 DARIvY DAYS IN ARI^ANSAS. 
 
 friend of Col. Sevier, hotly resented the insinua- 
 tion against his party, and believing- Judge Scott, 
 the Whig candidate against Col. Sevier, to be the 
 author of the charges of corruption, went in quest 
 of Judge Scott and found him as above stated, in 
 company with David McKinney, Clerk of the Su- 
 perior Court, and several other parties. 
 
 Gen. Hogan, who was a large and muscular 
 man, weighing between 250 and 300 pounds, de- 
 manded, in a haughty and imperious manner, of 
 Judge Scott, an immediate retraction of the charges. 
 
 To this demand. Judge Scott replied: "Gen. 
 Hogan, I have on several occasions heretofore stated 
 that this report, circulated as emanating from me, 
 was positively and infamously false in every particu- 
 lar, and I say to you here, sir, that your manner of 
 approaching and addressing me on the subject is 
 very ungentlemanly and insulting, becoming more 
 the character of a braggadocio bully, and wanting 
 in every attribute that constitutes a high-minded, 
 honorable man." 
 
 Stung to the quick by these bitter words of 
 Judge Scott's, Gen. Hogan struck his enemy and 
 felled him upon some sacks of coffee. As Judge 
 Scott arose from the pile of coffee-sacks he drew 
 the spear from the walking cane he was carrying, 
 threw his left arm around Gen. Hogan's corpulent 
 frame, and with the right hand thrust the spear 
 repeatedly into Gen. Hogan's body. Judge Scott 
 was a small man, weighing only about 130 pounds. 
 
EARLY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 43 
 
 Gen. Hogan wrenched the spear from his antago- 
 nist's hand and ran it through the several folds of 
 Judge Scott's silk cravat, narrowly missing the 
 jugular vein, and fell and expired. 
 
 Judge Scott surrendered himself to the mar- 
 shal and was at once taken before the court. Upon 
 a full investigation of the terrible tragedy, he was 
 acquitted and released from custody, as it was evi- 
 dently a case of self-defense. 
 
 It may, perhaps, not be out of place to mention 
 in this connection, a duel "that was not all a duel." 
 This affair occurred in ante-Territorial days, and 
 was between Col. Frederick Notrebe and Col. Alex- 
 ander Walker, both prominent citizens of the Post 
 of Arkansas. Col. Walker was quite a character 
 in his way, and Col. Notrebe had all the fiery im- 
 pulses of his race — the French. These gentlemen 
 had always maintained the most cordial and friendly 
 relations towards each other. But, as it often hap- 
 pens, the best of friends fall out, so it happened to 
 these two old friends, and they became involved in 
 a general quarrel or dispute over some matter or 
 other that "grew by what it fed on," until Col. 
 Walker let drop a remark about Col. Notrebe which 
 he took as an insult, and demanded satisfaction, 
 which Col. Walker agreed to give according to the 
 code. 
 
 A sand-bar opposite the Post, in the Quapaw 
 country, was selected for the place of meeting. 
 
 Before daylight of the day of battle Col. 
 Notrebe, with his seconds and surgeon and other 
 
44 EARLY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 
 
 friends, as well as a large crowd of his dependents 
 and nearly all of his negroes, crossed over the river 
 and awaited the coming of the foe. 
 
 Col. Walker and his party, consisting- of his 
 second and surgeon and a few friends, arrived just 
 after day. Col. Walker, seeing the formidable 
 array confronting him, exclaimed : "Well, Freder- 
 ick, if I had known that you were going to come 
 with an army at your back I would have come over 
 during the night and thrown up breast works." 
 This sally caused a general laugh and gave the 
 friends of both parties the much desired opportunity 
 of adjusting the matter without a resort to arms. 
 Col. Walker expressed a willingness to recall the 
 objectionable words if Col. Notrebe would withdraw 
 his challenge. This Col. Notrebe agreed to do, and 
 the two old pioneers remained life-long friends. 
 
 The Bowie-Knife. 
 
 In the minds of some, not overly well disposed 
 towards our State, the words "Arkansas" and 
 "Bowie-knife" are synonymous terms, and that 
 weapon has been classed as an important part of 
 every Arkansan's personal outfit. 
 
 The fact of the matter is, the Bowie-knife had 
 its origin in as peaceable a manner and purpose as 
 <3id the fowling-piece of the sportsman. 
 
 In 1827, or 1828, there came to Washington, 
 Hempstead county, Arkansas, from where, I do not 
 know, a man named Black, who was an expert 
 workman in all kinds of metals, being also a gun- 
 
EARI<Y DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 45 
 
 smith, and who possessed the secret of tempering' 
 steel to a hardness that has never been equaled 
 sincei 
 
 There was then living- at Walnut Hills, Lafay- 
 ette county, a wealthy planter named Reason Bowie, 
 a brother of the celebrated James Bowie, who after- 
 wards fell at the storming of the "Alamo." 
 
 Reason Bowie was a keen lover of the chase and 
 spent most of his time in hunting the bear and deer, 
 in which the country then abounded. On one of 
 his visits to Washington, Bowie called on Black, 
 the artificer, and eng-aged him to make a hunting-- 
 knife after a certain pattern of his own desig-ningf. 
 Bowie whittled out of the top of a cigar box the 
 exact shape of the knife he desired made. He 
 told the smith that he wanted a knife that would 
 disjoint the bones of a bear or deer without gap- 
 ing- or turning the edg-e of the blade. Black under- 
 took the job and turned out the implement of the 
 hunt which was afterwards known as the Bowie- 
 knife. The hilt was elaborately ornamented with 
 silver designs. Black's charge for the work was 
 $10, but Bowie was so pleased with the excellence 
 of the knife that he gave the maker thereof $50. 
 
 I have seen hand-made needles of the smallest 
 size produced by this man Black. I do not hesitate 
 to make the statement that no g'enuine Bowie- 
 knives have ever been made outside of the State of 
 Arkansas, for when Black died, sometime after the 
 late war, his secret of tempering the steel, which 
 
46 EARLY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 
 
 was the main point of excellence of the Bowie-knife, 
 died with him. Many imitations have, been at- 
 tempted, but they are not "Bowie-knives." 
 
 As before stated, the Bowie-knife was origina- 
 ted for use on wild beasts, and not on living man. 
 That it has degenerated from its original purpose 
 is no fault of its early designer or maker. The 
 Bowie-knife was sometimes called an "Arkansas 
 toothpick," and Arkansas is occasionally sneeringly 
 referred to as the "Toothpick State." 
 
 I am aware that there have been published at 
 different times several versions of the "Bowie- 
 knife," all at variance. One account states that 
 James Bowie, of "Alamo" fame, originated the 
 knife with which to fight a duel with an antagonist, 
 each having their left arms tied together over a log. 
 Several months ago I met a descendant of the 
 Bowies, who informed me that his great-uncle, 
 James, once fought a desperate duel with a Mexican 
 with knives, and that the combatants sat on a log 
 facing each other, within striking distance, and that 
 the leather breeches which each wore were securely 
 jtiailed to the log. 
 
 The First Judicial, Execution. 
 
 The first judicial execution in the Territory, of 
 which we have any account, was the hanging of one 
 Strickland, a United States soldier from Fort Gib- 
 son, for the murder of a companion named Ducon. 
 
 Strickland and Ducon, together with another 
 soldier, were detailed to hew logs in the neighbor- 
 
EARLY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 47 
 
 hood of the fort. The troops at the fort had just 
 been paid off, and Ducon had his money about his 
 person. Strickland and the third man conspired to 
 kill Ducon and relieve him of his pay. While the 
 three men were engaged in hewing a log, Strickland 
 directed Ducon to remove the pile of chips from 
 beside the log, and as he was stooping down in the 
 act Strickland dealt him a heavy blow on the back 
 of the neck with a broad-axe, completely severing 
 Ducon's head from the body. The two conspirators 
 then hid the body and head in a deep ravine and 
 covered them over with brushes. Upon their return 
 to the fort that night they reported that Ducon had 
 deserted. 
 
 A few days afterward the head of the murdered 
 man was discovered, having been brought from its 
 place of concealment by hogs or wild animals. It 
 was then ascertained that the man had been mur- 
 dered, the headless body having also been found, 
 and suspicion pointed to Strickland and his compan- 
 ion as being the murderers. 
 
 The men were arrested and brought to Little 
 Rock for trial before the Superior Court, and Strick- 
 land was convicted and sentenced to hang. He was 
 executed on May 31, 1828, a mile or so from town, 
 and when he was pronounced dead, the United 
 States Marshal rode under the gallows and cut the 
 rope with his sword, letting the body fall to the 
 ground. It is learned that Strickland was a citizen 
 of Philadelphia. His accomplice in crime must have 
 
48 KARL,Y DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 
 
 turned State's evidence, as no record 'of his having- 
 been tried can be found. 
 
 The TURNER-IvElPER Aefair. 
 
 The following version of the Turner-L/eiper 
 affair is based on information obtained by the author 
 from Judge Turner, who pronounced a published 
 story of the trouble as nothing but "rot" : 
 
 Hon, Jesse Turner,* a jurist of national reputa- 
 tion, came to Arkansas in 1831 from North Caro- 
 
 *NoTE — Judg-e Jesse Turner died November 22, 1894, at the 
 ripe age of 89 years. In the Supreme Court room, at Little 
 Rock, on January S, 189S, services commemorative of his life were 
 held, which were attended by distinguished m.embers of the legal 
 profession from all over the State. Resolutions in his honor 
 were offered by the bar of Irittle Rock and that of Van Buren, 
 where he had lived and practiced for so many years ; and eloquent 
 eulogies of him were delivered by such able lawyers as Judge 
 U. M. Rose, Judge Sam W. Williams, Col. Ben. T. DuVal and 
 Hon. Oscar Miles. From the resolutions of the Van Buren bar, 
 the following extract is made for its historical value : 
 
 "He (Turner), practiced law in Arkansas for sixty-three 
 years, longer than most lawyers live ; and in all the years past 
 there has never been such an instance of long service in this 
 State, and, perhaps, never will be again. He has long survived 
 all his contemporaries, and the second generation of lawyers 
 who followed his beginning are all gone, and those of the third 
 generation are now active in the courts. 
 
 "He had wide influence and acquaintance throughout Arkan- 
 sas, had been often in her legislative assemblies, as Senator and 
 as Representative, had been a District Attorney of the United 
 States District Court, and a Judge of the Supreme Court of the 
 State." 
 
 Hon. Oscar Miles, of Van Buren, in his address on this occa- 
 sion, used the following beautiful illustration in reference to the 
 deceased: 
 
 "Some years ago, sirs, I witnessed a scene that was to me aa 
 interesting and a sad one. Upon the banks of the Arkansas 
 
EARLY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 4') 
 
 lina, of which State he was a native, being- born in 
 Orange county, October 3, 1805. At Bellefonte, 
 Alabama, before starting for his new home, he met 
 Mathew Leiper, who was also going to Arkansas. 
 His brother-in-law, Cartwright, was then on the 
 eve of moving to the same place on a flat-bottomed 
 boat, by way of the Tennessee, Ohio and Mississippi 
 rivers. The two jumped aboard the boat on the 
 Tennessee river near where Chattanooga now stands, 
 
 River, near the little town of Roseville, there stood a larg-e col- 
 lection of the finest Cottonwood trees I ever saw ; trees that had 
 grown through the centuries. The river, by its ceaseless flowing 
 was constantly cutting away the bank, and tree by tree was fall- 
 ing into the current, until finally there stood a single one of the 
 original cluster. It was a specimen beautiful to look upon ; tall 
 of trunk, broad of limbs, luxuriant of foliage, and deep rooted 
 in the native alluvial soil that produced it. I saw, sir, that it, 
 too, was soon to go. The river was ceaseless in its flowing and 
 relentless in its assaults, and one morning, just as the sun rose 
 again upon the old monarch of the forest, the river made its final 
 assault and it, too, toppled into the flowing currents. And the 
 broad plantations were unobserved by the primeval forest. 
 
 "When I began to study the life and the death of Judge Tur- 
 ner, this scene was vividly recalled to my recollection. He, sirs, 
 was veritably a tree in the primeval forest ; he was strong of 
 body, far reaching in his attainments and reputation, luxuriant 
 in his mind and deep-rooted in the hearts and affections of his 
 people, but the river of years was flowing ceaselessly, relentlessly 
 about him. One after one of his contemporaries were dropping 
 into its current, until finally he alone was left the sole survivor. 
 
 "I knew, as I looked upon him in our city, that the day could 
 not be far distant when he must yield to the relentless assaults 
 of this river of years. And, sirs, I was not surprised when the 
 news reached my home that he had fallen asleep so suddenly." — 
 The Pubi<isher. 
 
50 EARI^Y DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 
 
 and landed at Montgomery's Point early in May, 
 1831. Thence they made their way to Fayetteville, 
 Iveiper traveling by land, and Turner by way of the 
 Arkansas river, reaching Fayetteville about May 
 20, 1831. 
 
 In traveling with Leiper, Turner discovered 
 that he was very high-tempered and in disposition 
 quite overbearing. On one occasion on the journey 
 to Arkansas he insulted Turner, without cause, but 
 Turner overlooked the affront. 
 
 They both had license to practice law, and 
 when they reached Fayetteville they embarked in 
 such law practice as was common in a newly-settled 
 country. 
 
 Leiper insulted Turner on another occasion in 
 his oflB.ce, in the presence of a Mr. Lewis, and then 
 without cause. Turner became very indignant, but 
 what could he do ? He was a stranger in the coun- 
 try, and it seemed best to him, circumstanced as he 
 was, to let this insult pass also, hoping that noth- 
 ing of the kind would occur again. But he was 
 mistaken. Soon after, at the December term of 
 the 1831 Circuit Court of Washington county, in 
 the presence of the court and the bar, Leiper 
 openly, and without aggravating circumstances, 
 insulted Turner again. The latter immediately 
 walked out of the court house and appealed to Col. 
 Bennett H. Martin to bear a challenge, demanding 
 satisfaction from Leiper for repeated insults. Col. 
 Martin promptly yielded to the request, delivering 
 
EARLY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 51 
 
 the challengfe, which was accepted. The parties 
 met in the Cherokee Nation, about two miles from 
 Evansville, Ark., on February 23, 1832, to settle 
 the difficulty according to the code. The morningf 
 appointed was a very cold one, the ground being 
 covered with snow to a depth of four or five inches. 
 Soon after Turner arrived on the field word came 
 to him from Leiper that he would withdraw all 
 offensive imputations and make full public acknowl- 
 edgement of the wrongs done, thus avoiding the 
 necessity for a fight. In reply to this proposition 
 from Leiper to atone in words for wrongs done, Mr. 
 Turner said to his second, Col. Martin, "My dear 
 friend, your advice and counsel ought to have great 
 weight with me, but remember that I came here to 
 fight, and want no apology or acknowledgment 
 from Iveiper. I want to fight it out here and now." 
 To this Col. Martin replied : "Turner, the dispo- 
 sition of Leiper is to make full atonement to you ; 
 whether from a deep sense of the wrong inflicted, 
 or a wish to avoid a fight, I cannot say, but if 
 I/eiper will make suitable apology and acknowledg- 
 ment publicly in the hearing of the large crowd 
 assembled here to-day, it will have a finer effect 
 and reflect more credit and honor upon you than if 
 you were to fight and kill him. If he will do this, 
 I think you ought to accept the atonement as a satis- 
 factory adjustment of the difficulty." Mr. Turner 
 said: "Col. Martin, I prefer fighting it out, for I 
 came here for that purpose, but if you and my 
 
52 EARLY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 
 
 other friends think it best, I will accept Leiper's 
 apology. I will carry out your wishes, but I must 
 dictate the terms." Pen, ink and paper were pro- 
 duced and Turner dictated the terms of adjustment, 
 which were written down. The language used wag 
 strong, but Leiper made no objection to the style or 
 substance of his concessions, apology and promises. 
 They were read aloud in the presence of the crowd 
 of whites and Indians. Everybody seemed pleased, 
 except Col. Snead, Leiper's second, who was evi- 
 dently dissatisfied. Soon after the difficulty was 
 settled, they all left the grounds together, crossed 
 the Indian line and "put up" for the night at the 
 house of Lewis Evans, then Sheriff of Washington 
 county, Arkansas. A number of other persons ac- 
 companied them, and were all very kindly enter- 
 tained by Mr. Evans. During the evening Snead, 
 who was very much intoxicated, began to show 
 signs of dissatisfaction, intimating that Turner re- 
 quired too much from his principal. He evidently 
 sought trouble with Turner, and seeing this. Turner 
 denounced him in strong terms. He then pulled 
 out his pistol, cocked and presented it at Turner. 
 (Saead was the only person in the company who was 
 armed). At this Turner redoubled his denuncia- 
 tions, daring Snead to shoot, and pronouncing him 
 a coward, as well as a disgrace to the profession of 
 the law. In the meantime, while Turner was hurl- 
 ing curses down his throat, Col. Martin deliberately 
 walked up to Snead and took his pistol from him, 
 
EARLY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 53 
 
 without opposition on his part, after which he sub- 
 sided and was a very quiet man during the remain- 
 der of the evening. Snead was drunk and behaved 
 badly, but drunk as he was, he was too sober to 
 snap or explode his pistol.. This was the last of 
 the Snead farce, and everybody supposed that it 
 was also the last of the Turner-Iveiper trouble. 
 Not so, however, for about a month after the meet- 
 ing- in the Indian country. Turner received a letter 
 from Leiper through the mail which was very 
 abusive and bitterly denunciatory of him, alleg- 
 ing that he had misrepresented his conduct on 
 the field of honor, greatly to his prejudice. 
 Public sentiment was against Leiper, and there 
 was where the "shoe pinched" him. The letter 
 was of such a character as to require a reply, 
 and Turner did reply with terrible severity, ex- 
 hausting all his powers of invective and denuncia- 
 tion. There came no rejoinder to this ietter, but it 
 was not long until a report came that Leiper would 
 come down to the Crawford court house at the May 
 term, 1832, of the Circuit Court and publicly attack 
 Turner on the first day of court. Turner prepared 
 himself to give the gentleman a warm reception. 
 On the day named, Leiper and a stalwart friend of 
 his from Fayetteville arrived on the court square, 
 armed and equipped for battle. Leiper called upon 
 Holland Coffee, a brave man, who was then living 
 at Fort Smith, to stand by and see fair play. This 
 Coffee agreed to do. Leiper reconnoitered from 
 
54 EARLY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 
 
 every point of the compass, but made no attack. 
 Later in the evening, to the utter astonishment of 
 hundreds who were looking- out for a bloody fig"ht, 
 Leiper and his friend mounted their horses, crossed 
 the river and returned to Fayetteville. This was 
 the last of the Turner-Leiper duel. 
 
EARLY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 55 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 Journey to Arkansas Territory. 
 
 In July, 1832, John Pope, of Kentucky, who 
 was then the Governor of the Territory of Arkan-^ 
 sas, serving his second term as such, visited Shep- 
 herdsville, Bullitt county, Kentucky, and while 
 there offered me the position of Private Secretary 
 to the Governor, to fill the place made vacant by 
 the death of another kinsman, William Fontaine 
 Pope, who had recently died from the effects of a 
 wound received in a duel with Charles Fenton Mer- 
 cer Noland. 
 
 The offer was accepted and I at once set about 
 making- preparations to accompany the Governor on 
 his return to Arkansas. 
 
 Toward the latter part of September of the 
 same year I met Governor Pope at Louisville, and 
 on Sunday morning-, the 30th day of September, we 
 left on board the steamboat "Reindeer," an Arkan- 
 sas River packet, commanded by Capt. Daniel 
 Miller of the firm of Montgomery, Miller & Com- 
 pany, forwarding and commission merchants of 
 Montgomery's Point, Arkansas, at the mouth of 
 White River. 
 
56 EARIvY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 
 
 The "Reindeer" was a, side- wheeler of about 
 600 tons burden. She was built after the pattern 
 of most of the steamboats plying- the western 
 waters. The gentlemen's cabin was below and aft 
 the wheel houses, and had for sleeping accommoda- 
 tions bunks, one above the other, and provided with 
 curtains, an arrangement similar to that on modern 
 sleeping cars, but very far from being so luxurious. 
 The ladies' cabin was immediately above and was 
 provided with state rooms and some considerable 
 show of comfort and convenience. 
 
 From the wheel houses back there were wide 
 guards and steps leading up to the ladies' cabin. In 
 front of the ladies' cabin, on the boiler deck, were 
 accommodations for deck passengers. This in 
 warm weather was the most pleasant part of the 
 boat. In front of the wheel houses there were no 
 guards, the boat coming to a sharp point at the bow. 
 
 Gov. Pope and myself were the only cabin 
 passengers for Arkansas, although there were a 
 large number of passengers for points along the 
 Mississippi River as far down as Louisiana, among 
 them Senator Black, wife and daughter, of Missis- 
 sippi. 
 
 The boat carried a heavy cargo of freight for 
 points along the Arkansas and White Rivers. On 
 account of the low stage of water in the Ohio River 
 and the heavily ladened condition of the boat, we. 
 stuck on every sand-bar between Louisville and 
 Paducah. 
 
EARLY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 57 
 
 It was not until Sunday, October 7th, that we 
 reached Bird's Point (now Cairo), at the mouth of 
 the Ohio. 
 
 Soon after our arrival at Paducah a large New 
 Orleans packet landed just below the "Reindeer," 
 and after she had been made fast and the gang 
 plank put out, I observed two men go ashore who 
 seemed to be in an angry altercation about some- 
 thing. One of the men was very tall, while the 
 other was of rather slight build. When they 
 reached the wharf the larger one struck his com- 
 panion in the face and knocked him down, who, as 
 he arose to his feet, drew a long dirk knife and 
 stabbed his assailant to the heart, killing him in- 
 stantly. The murderer started to run, but a boy 
 stopped his flight by striking him in the back with 
 a stone. The man was promptly arrested and hur- 
 ried off, but L never learned his fate. These men 
 were Italian fruit venders, and partners in the busi- 
 ness. This tragedy made a very deep impression 
 on my mind, as it was the first time I had ever seen 
 human life taken, but it was by no means the last 
 bloody affray I witnessed in those early days. 
 
 Just after entering the Mississippi River, a 
 large New Orleans packet named the "Peruvian" 
 passed us on her down trip, crowded with passen- 
 gers returning to their homes in the South. She 
 had a splendid band of music aboard, and as the 
 sweet strains floated out over the "Father of 
 Waters," some of us wished that we were passen- 
 
58 EARL"^ DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 
 
 gets on that high-headed craft instead of our slower 
 and more lowly one. The "Peruvian" soon passed 
 out of sight. Among the cargo of the "Peruvian" 
 were some fifty head of horses and mules belonging 
 to southern planters. 
 
 About 10 o'clock that night while sitting with 
 Capt. Miller on the hurricane deck, just in front of 
 the pilot house, listening to him relate some of the 
 stirring events of his life on the river, we heard 
 low, distant thunder, which came nearer and nearer. 
 The day had been excessively hot and sultry. Capt. 
 Miller remarked that we were likely to have a 
 storm. I soon noticed that the captain showed 
 some signs of apprehension of danger, as he would 
 repeatedly apply his mouth to the speaking tube 
 connecting with the engine room, to give orders to 
 the engineer as to the proper management of the 
 engines. As soon as the captain becarme fully satis- 
 fied of the danger that was about to overtake us, he 
 directed the pilot to land, and the boat was headed 
 for a high bluff on the Missouri side, where she was 
 made fast, both bow and stern, with heavy cables. 
 This task was hardly accomplished when the storm 
 struck us in all its fury, and the enormous hempen 
 cables in which we reposed so much confidence 
 parted like silken threads, and the boat was blown 
 out into mid-stream. The fires in the furnaces had 
 been dampened down and we now found ourselves 
 in the middle of the Mississippi River, without 
 steam and at the mercy of a furious storm. By 
 
i:ARLY bays in ARKANSAS. 59 
 
 good management on the part of the officers, the 
 boat was swung around and headed up stream. "We 
 were then struck by a counter blast which careened 
 the boat so that water ratf over the lower guards 
 and into the gentlemen's' cabin. The report was 
 soon circulated that the boilers had shifted, but this 
 proved to be untrue. ^ The freight in the hold had, 
 however, been thrown to one side, which added 
 greatly to the danger. The total destruction of the 
 boat and the consequent loss of life was only 
 averted by the fact that the steamer had a heavily 
 laden barge lashed to her starboard side, which 
 prevented her from going entirely over when the 
 wind struck her on the lee side. Becoming some- 
 what re-assured by the cool and calm manner in 
 which Capt. Miller was giving his orders, I started 
 to seek the Governor and render him what assist- 
 ance I could, he being almost entirely helpless by 
 reason of his age and infirmities, having but one- 
 arm. By the time the excitement and fears caused 
 by the catastrophe had become somewhat allayed 
 the boat had righted, and steam having been gotten 
 up, we were soon steaming up the Mississippi, and 
 out of the track of the storm. After reaching a 
 convenient landing place, about five miles from the 
 scene of our accident, the captain ordered the boat 
 tied up, and we remained here until 9 o'clock the 
 next morning, a heavy fog which arose during the 
 night preventing an earlier departure. When we 
 were leaving this place, the steamer "Volant," 
 
60 EARLY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 
 
 whicli had left Louisville the same time we did, but 
 had kept out of the track of the storm, came along, 
 and the two boats proceeded down the river to- 
 gether. 
 
 About fifteen miles from our last stopping place, 
 we found the proud steamer "Peruvian" with a 
 huge cotton-wood tree lying across her middle, hav- 
 ing almost crushed entirely through the boat, tear- 
 ing away one of the wheelhouses and killing three 
 cabin passengers and two deck hands, besides 
 wounding several other persons. A number of 
 horses and mules were also killed. 
 
 This magnificent steamer which had but a few 
 hours ago passed us with colors flying and music 
 sounding, and which had awakened something like 
 envy in the breasts of some of the passengers on 
 board the "Reindeer," now lay a helpless hulk, 
 with death and destruction all about her. 
 
 The "Reindeer" and "Volant" took off as 
 many of the passengers of the disabled steamer as 
 they had accommodation for and the fine St. Louis 
 packet "Ossian" coming along at this time took the 
 remainder of the "Peruvian's" passengers, and the 
 three boats proceeded down the river. 
 
 The next day we passed the ruins of New Mad- 
 rid, Mo., which place had been almost totally de- 
 stroyed by the memorable earthquake of 1811. New 
 Madrid was originally settled by the Spaniards, and 
 was at one time the capital of Louisiana Territory 
 when that Territory belonged to Spain, and which 
 
EARLY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 61 
 
 afterwards passed into the possession of France. 
 All that now remained of the once flourishing- town 
 was a few dilapidated houses standing on a high 
 ridge between two deep ravines, caused by the quak- 
 ing of the ground, and through which the waters 
 of the Mississippi, when at high stage, flowed into 
 the "sunk-lands," also caused by the earthquake. 
 
 About thirty miles below New Madrid we came 
 upon the steamer "Sampson" lying at the western 
 shore, on fire. Her upper works had already been 
 entirely consumed and her hull was now sharing a 
 like fate. 
 
 The "Sampson's" passengers, of whom there 
 were a large number, were all on shore, but they 
 had saved little baggage. This was a New Orleans 
 and Louisville packet, and was bound for the latter 
 place. Capt. Miller, with his accustomed goodness 
 of heart, landed just below the burning steamer 
 and rendered what assistance he could to the unfor- 
 tunates. 
 
 The next day we arrived at Memphis, or as it 
 was called by the natives and early settlers, Chick- 
 asaw Bluff. Here I met an old Kentucky acquain- 
 tance in the person of Major Craven Peyton, father 
 of Dr. Craven Peyton, for many years a prominent 
 physician of Little Rock. I also met and became 
 acquainted with Gen. Edmund Pendleton Gaines, of 
 the United States army, and his beautiful wife, 
 Myra Clark Gaines, whose long litigation with the 
 city of New Orleans has become a cause celebre. 
 
62 EARLY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 
 
 On October the 11th we reached Montg'omery's 
 Point, one of the oldest and most widely known 
 landing's on the Mississippi River. In the early 
 settlement of Louisiana Territory this point was 
 the place of residence of Francois D'Armand, a 
 wealthy fur trader and a man of considerable im- 
 portance in that reg-ion of country. Gen. William 
 Montgomery resided at the Point at this time. A 
 few of the old log cabins erected by Francois D'Ar- 
 mand in 1766 were still standing about three hun- 
 dred yards back from the river. 
 
 Two large log ware-houses, built upon piling, 
 stood near the water's edge and were used by the 
 firm of Montgomery, Miller & Co., for storing 
 freight destined for points along the Arkansas and 
 White rivers. The extensive business of this firm 
 was under the management of Mr. Moses Green- 
 wood, who afterwards became a prominent and 
 wealthy commission merchant of New Orleans, and 
 who was well known and highly respected through- 
 out the the South for his many excellent traits of 
 character. 
 
 The hotel at the Point was owned by Gen. 
 Montgomery and was situated about two hundred 
 and fifty yards from the river. The hotel building 
 was elevated some distance above the ground on 
 high brick pillars and had wide verandas on all 
 sides. There my eyes beheld for the first time the 
 stately magnolia — the trees, however, were not in 
 bloom, and it was not until later that I had the 
 
EARIyY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 63 
 
 pleasure of seeing its splendid flower and inhaling 
 its exquisite and almost overpowering perfume. 
 Here, also, was it that my ears were for the first 
 time saluted by the ravishing strains of the mock- 
 ing bird — that "glorious mocker of the woods." It 
 seemed to me that every tree and bush and shrub 
 was vocal with the ever-changing notes of this 
 wonderful bird of song. 
 
64 EARLY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 The Post of Arkansas. 
 
 E^arly.Suuday morning-, October 14th, the "Rein- 
 deer" left Montg-omery's Point for Arkansas Post, 
 by way of the White River Cut Off, a saving- of 
 about fifty miles of travel. We reached the Post 
 of Arkansas at 10 o'clock the same day. A large 
 concourse of people had g'athered at the landing- to 
 see the boat come in, among- them Col. Frederick 
 Notrebe, who was an acquaintance of the Gover- 
 nor's, and to whom I was introduced. Col. Notrebe 
 was a man of commanding" presence, with very 
 black hair and eyes and dark complexion. He had 
 larg-e but regular features, and had been in his youth, 
 doubtless, a very handsome man. He was a native 
 of Prance, and had all the refinement and eleg^ance 
 of that race. 
 
 Col. Notrebe extended to us a very cordial invi- 
 tation to dinner, which was accepted, and we were 
 conducted to his beautiful home not far off. His 
 family consisted at this time of his wife — a woman 
 of culture and refinement, and two sons. He had a 
 daughter then living- in Little Rock, the wife of Mr. 
 
EARLY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 65 
 
 William Cummins, a prominent lawyer of that 
 place. The sons both died in early life. 
 
 After partaking of a splendid dinner, set out 
 with almost princely magnificence in silver, china 
 and cut-glass — something I never dreamed of seeing 
 in the wilds of Arkansas Territory, the Governor 
 made known to his host the dilemma in which we 
 found ourselves regarding conveyance for our fur- 
 ther journey, the low stage of water in the Arkan- 
 sas River preventing the boat from proceeding on 
 her trip up the river. The obliging colonel sent, 
 one of his sons to interview one Charles Robie, a 
 Frenchman, who frequently furnished travelers 
 with transportation to Little Rock. The old 
 Frenchman and his son soon appeared with two 
 small spring wagons, drawn by diminutive mustang 
 ponies. Our baggage and effects were loaded into 
 one of the wagons, completely filling it. The other 
 wagon was occupied by the Governor and his body 
 servant, whose services he was in constant need of. 
 They were both large men, the Governor weighing 
 over 200 pounds, and made about as much of a load 
 as the ponies could draw. I had the prospect of 
 making the trip to Little Rock, 125 miles distant, 
 on foot, but Col. Notrebe had in his possession a 
 very fine horse, saddle and bridle belonging to his 
 son-in-law, William Cummins, which he was anx- 
 ious to send to Little Rock, and he asked me to ride 
 the horse through, which offer I very gladly ac- 
 cepted. 
 
66 EARIvY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 
 
 The Post of Arkansas was settled in 1686 by- 
 some of the followers of De Tonti, one of La Salle's 
 lieutenants. All that part of what was afterwards 
 Arkansas Territory, east of the Quapaw line, an 
 imaginary line running due south from a point of 
 rocks on the south bank of the Arkansas River at 
 Little Rock, to the line dividing what are now the 
 States of Arkansas and Louisiana, was at the time 
 of which I write, 1686, in the possession of the Qua- 
 paw Indians, in consequence of which De Tonti's men 
 made their settlement on the left, or north bank, of 
 the Arkansas River, at a point where Grand Prairie 
 strikes the river, and here they erected a rude fort. 
 
 De Tonti continued on to St. Louis, leaving a 
 portion of his men at the fort". De Tonti never re- 
 turned to the settlement, for upon arriving at St. 
 Louis he found letters awaiting him which contained 
 orders for him to proceed to Quebec, Canada. Soon 
 afterwards he was commanded to return to Prance. 
 
 Many of the French settlers left by De Tonti 
 at the settlement intermarried with the Quapaw In- 
 dian women, and some of their descendants were 
 living at Little Rock and other parts of the Terri- 
 tory when I first came to Arkansas. 
 
 The Post of Arkansas is distant from Little 
 Rock about 125 miles, and when I first saw it in 
 1832, the original part of it presented a very forlorn 
 and desolate appearance. None of the habitations 
 of the original settlers or their immediate descend- 
 ants were standing at that time. 
 
EARLY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 67 
 
 After the Territory passed into the hands of 
 the French the Post became the official residence of 
 Don Carlos De Villemont, who had been appointed 
 commandant of the Post, and who was holding- that 
 position at the time of the cession of the Territory 
 to the United States by France in 1803. 
 
 The settlement at the Post was scattered over 
 a considerable area, extending back from the river 
 to Grand Prairie. Many of the houses erected dur- 
 ing- Gov. De Villemont's administration were still 
 standing and were built after the French style of 
 architecture, with high pointed roofs and gables 
 and heavy exterior timbers, and high chimneys. 
 These old houses presented a sad but interesting 
 picture to look upon. In many instances the tall 
 chimneys had fallen down, and trees of considerable 
 size were growing out through the roofs and chim- 
 ney places. 
 
 There were, however, a few modern buildings, 
 situated near the bank of the river, among them two 
 brick houses, one of which was the store and ware- 
 house of the opulent Frederick Notrebe. The other 
 was pointed out to me as having been the printing 
 office of William F. Woodruff, publisher of the 
 Arkansas Gazette. 
 
 At the Post I became acquainted with Mr. 
 William B. Wait, a young man from Albany, N. Y., 
 who was the confidential clerk of Col. Notrebe, and 
 who had almost the entire management of Col. 
 Notrebe's vast business enterprises. Mr. Wait 
 
68 EARLY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 
 
 afterwards removed to Little Rock, where, for many- 
 years, he was a successful merchant and capitalist. 
 One of the earlier settlers at the Post of Ar- 
 kansas was Col. Alexander Walker, a man of 
 marked peculiarities and characteristics. He repre- 
 sented Arkansas county in the Territorial Legisla- 
 ture of Missouri when what is now the Slate of 
 Arkansas constituted one county of Missouri Terri- 
 tory. He traveled all the way from the Post of 
 Arkansas to St. Louis on horse-back when attend- 
 ing- the meetings of the Legislature. When the 
 seat of government was moved to Little Rock, Col. 
 Walker settled on a farm opposite the town and re- 
 sided thereon after I came to Arkansas. In all the 
 histories of the State that I have ever read I have 
 never seen mention made of this worthy old pioneer. 
 Judge Walker maintained that everything in the 
 realms of nature was beautiful with two or three 
 exceptions only. He declared that the Almighty 
 Architect created all things beautiful except "whis- 
 tling women, crowing hens, fiddlers, fire-dogs and 
 pop-corn." Why the unoffending pop-corn fell un- 
 der the ban it is hard to determine. His wife, 
 though a plain and unattractive woman, but who 
 was the soul of goodness, was, in the eyes of the old 
 Judge, beautiful. The expressions "beautiful" and 
 "beautifully" were as often upon his lips as the 
 more forcible but less elegant by-words of other 
 men. Despite his mortal antipathy to fiddlers, his 
 only daughter, Jane, ran off and married a member 
 of that despised following. 
 
EARLY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 69 
 
 When this quaint old gentleman came to live 
 just opposite the town of Little Rock, on the north 
 side of the river, he had for a neighbor Judge David 
 Rover. That is, they lived about two miles apart, 
 which was considered very neighborly in those days. 
 
 On one occasion Judge Rover borrowed an ox 
 yoke of his eccentric old neighbor, and, failing to re- 
 turn it after sometime. Judge Walker sent him word 
 to bring the yoke home. To this demand Judge 
 Rover returned the rather jexasperating reply to 
 Judge Walker that if he wanted his yoke to come 
 or send for it himself. Without more ado the old 
 Judge reached for his shot gun and set out for 
 Rover's house, bent on enforcing his demand. He 
 found Rover in the horse lot and demanded that he 
 instantly pick up the yoke and take it home without 
 a moment's delay. Rover, of course, demurred and 
 offered to send it back by a servant, but the 
 Judge came for the purpose of teaching Rover a 
 lesson, and would not consent to have the article 
 returned by other hands. In the end Rover took up 
 the heavy and cumbersome yoke and started on his 
 two-mile walk under a broiling hot summer's sun. 
 Several times he attempted to drop his burden, but 
 the obdurate old Judge threateningly urged him on. 
 Finally they reached Judge Walker's outer gate, 
 and Rover sat the yoke, which by this time weighed 
 about 500 pounds to the exhausted man, against the 
 fence ; but the lesson was not completed to the 
 satisfaction of Judge Walker, and he said, "^ou 
 
70 EARLY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 
 
 didn't g-et that yoke there; take it to the barn." 
 So Rover was compelled to take it up ag-ain and 
 carry it several hundred yards further. When the 
 yoke had been bestowed to the Judg-e's complete 
 satisfaction, he remarked: "Come into the house, 
 Judge, we have plenty of fans inside." Rover sul- 
 lenly complied and took a seat upon the porch, glad 
 of a chance to rest. Judge Walker called to Jane 
 and instructed her to draw a bucket of cold water 
 from the north side of ^ the well and make for Judge 
 Rover and himself a couple of strong toddies. This 
 oflFer of hospitality on the part of his task-master 
 was not declined by Judge Rover, and under the 
 benignant effects of the cooling draughts, the anger 
 of both men cooled correspondingly. Presently 
 Judge Walker said, "Judge Rover, you are welcome 
 to the use of my ox-yoke whenever you want it, but 
 when I ask for its return I expect you to send it 
 home immediately." I am not informed whether or 
 not Judge Rover ever borrowed the article again.' 
 
 In recounting this incident to me, in answer to 
 the question if he really did make Judge Rover carry 
 the- heavy and unwieldy thing two miles, the old 
 Judge laughingly replied, "I did, and he did it 
 beautifully, too." 
 
 Judge Rover afterwards moved to Iowa, where 
 he killed an overbearing and quarrelsome man from 
 whom he was fleeing at the time to save his own 
 life. This last incident Was related to me by Hon. 
 Henry C. Caldwell, United States Circuit Judge,. 
 
EARI<Y DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 71 
 
 who knows much of Judge Rover's history after he 
 went to Iowa. 
 
 It Is a tradition that the first Protestant ser- 
 mon ever preached in Arkansas was by the Rev. 
 John P. Carnahan, supposed to be a Cumberland 
 Presbyterian, and was delivered at the Post of Ar- 
 kansas in the year 1811. 
 
 In the early years of the century the Post of 
 Arkansas was visited from time to time by mission- 
 ary priests of the Roman Catholic church. Most 
 of the very early settlers of that region of country, 
 including- Indian converts, were members of that 
 religious body. 
 
 The town was destroyed in 1863 by the United 
 States laud and naval forces under General Mc- 
 Clernand and Admiral Porter. 
 
 Grand Prairie. 
 
 We left the Post at two o'clock p. m., October 
 14th, to make the trip of one hundred and twenty- 
 five miles by land to the Capital. 
 
 Among the large number of deck passengers 
 on the steamer "Reindeer," bound for Arkansas 
 Territory, was Major Ewing and party from Ken- 
 tucky, who had large government contracts for sur- 
 veying the public lands of the Territory. 
 
 Another of the deck passengers was Bennett 
 B. Ball, of Shelby County, Ky., a lawyer of some 
 prominence, and who afterwards cut quite a figure 
 in early Arkansas politics, and who settled at Old 
 Lewisburg, then the county seat of Conway County. 
 
72 KARIvY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 
 
 Major William A. Dickson, of the firm of 
 Menifee & Dickson, who owned and operated saw 
 mills in Conway County, was also of the party. 
 Major Dickson was returning- to Arkansas from 
 Kentucky with hands to work in the saw mill. 
 
 The deck passengers, having- secured convey- 
 ances for their baggage, started to make the trip to 
 Little Rock on foot, starting out some hours in ad- 
 vance of the Governor's party. 
 
 When about seven miles from the Post, we came 
 across a young man named Martin, from Franklin 
 County, Ky., a brilliant young lawyer of about 
 twenty-two years of age, lying upon a blanket near 
 the roadside, with a raging fever, having had a 
 severe chill shortly after leaving the Post. As 
 there was no room for him in any of the wagons, I 
 gave up to him the horse I was riding to convey him 
 to our next stopping place, a farm house six miles 
 further on, owned by a Mr. Harris, which place we 
 reached about sunset, and where we found the foot 
 travelers. Owing to the size of the party — about 
 forty persons, it was not until nine o'clock that 
 supper was announced. The supper consisted of 
 huge chunks of boiled beef, middling bacon — swim- 
 ming in grease, cold turnips and collards, corn bread 
 and black coffee — without milk and sweetened with 
 what was called "long sweetening;" that is, molas- 
 ses. The corn bread was excellent, the meal having 
 been ground in a steel hand-mill, much in use in 
 those days. In the making of meal by this process 
 
EARLY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 73 
 
 two mills were generally used, one for cracking the 
 grains of corn, and a smaller one for grinding the 
 cracked corn into meal. 
 
 We remained at this place until six o'clock the 
 next morning, October 15th, when we resumed our 
 westward journey. Mr. Martin, the sick man, 
 being still in an enfeebled condition, I proffered him 
 the use of the horse I was riding for the remainder 
 of the journey. He gladly accepted the offer and I 
 made the balance of the trip, over a hundred miles, 
 on foot. This day we traveled fifty miles before 
 reaching a place of entertainment. Grand Prairie 
 is ninety miles wide, and we had been traveling this 
 prairie ever since leaving the Post. 
 
 Our host this night was a Mr. Johnson, one of 
 the earlier settlers and a man of considerable wealth 
 and refinement, and whose wife was a French 
 woman. Mr. Johnson's residence was a large two 
 story frame dwelling with well kept grounds, 
 planted with a profusion of flowers and shrubbery, 
 and, with the large number of outhouses and negro 
 quarters, had the appearance of quite a village. 
 The supper here was in great contrast to the one of 
 the night previous. Here I had my first taste of 
 bear meat. 
 
 We left this place Tuesday morning, October 
 16th, at an early hour, and traveled to within 
 twelve miles of Ivittle Rock, stopping at the house 
 of Sampson Gray. Mr. Gray had the contract for 
 carrying the mails from Little Rock to Memphis, 
 
74 EARLY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 
 
 which were transported on pack horses. He was a 
 man of large influence, and to his and W. E. Wood- 
 ruflE's influence Sevier owed his first election as 
 delegate to Congress. 
 
 We left Gray's the next morning at about 
 seven o'clock and arrived opposite the town of Lit- 
 tle Rock at twelve o'clock, noon, October 16, 1832. 
 The Governor's party was met here and enter- 
 tained by Judge David Rover where Argenta, or 
 North I/ittle Rock, now stands. Judge Rover had 
 the ferry privilege at this point. We remained as 
 his guests until four o'clock p. m., when we made 
 preparation to cross the river. 
 
 An Unique Ferry Boat. 
 
 The ferry boat in use at this early date de- 
 serves more than passing notice. In construction 
 it differed but little from those now in use on our 
 smaller rivers, consisting of a long flat bottomed 
 hull, with two bows. It was the method of pro- 
 pulsion that made it unique. This was accom- 
 plished by means of buoys or buoy boats, as they 
 were called. These buoy boats were about twelve 
 feet long and some four or five feet wide amid- 
 ship, the two ends coming to a sharp point. These 
 buoy boats were some fifteen or twenty in number 
 and were staunchly built, and entirely floored over. 
 In the center of each of them was a post, varying in 
 height from three to ten feet, according to the loca- 
 tion of the buoys. At the top of each of these posts 
 was a large pulley, through which a large rope, one 
 
EARLY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 75 
 
 and one-half inches in diameter, ran. This rope was 
 attached to a huge cottonwood tree on the north 
 side of the river, opposite the foot of Main street 
 and about fifty feet above the ground. The other 
 end of the rope was passed through the pulleys on 
 the buoy boats. These boats were distributed 
 along at regular intervals, the last one being lo- 
 cated about one hundred and fifty feet above the 
 ferry landing on the Little Rock side. The rope 
 passing through the pulley on the last buoy boat 
 had a slack of about fifty feet. To this part of the 
 large rope a pulley was attached, through which a 
 smaller rope ran and was fastened to each of the 
 upper corners of the ferry boat. At each end of 
 the boat was- what was called a lee board, some fif- 
 teen inches wide, and which was raised or depressed 
 by a lever. On starting- from either shore this lee 
 board was so depressed as to swing the end of the 
 boat quartering up stream, the buoy boats assum- 
 ing the same position. The action of the water 
 against the lee board gave the necessary impetus to 
 the ferry boat to carry her across the river. On 
 coming to within forty or fifty feet of the shore a 
 vigorous pull upon the rope would straighten the 
 course of the boat directly across the river and 
 bring it to the landing. To prevent the buoy boats 
 from drifting together a smaller rope was tied to 
 the same cottonwood tree lower down, and attached 
 to the bottom of the posts on the buoy boats. The 
 
76 EARLY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 
 
 Speed of a ferry boat propelled in the manner I 
 have attempted to describe was very rapid, indeed, 
 almost equal to that of steam. This unique ferry 
 boat, with her attendant buoy boats, was destroyed 
 by the heavy drifts in the river duringf the tremen- 
 dous overflow of 1833. 
 
EARLY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 77 
 
 CHAPTliR V. 
 Arrival in IvITTle; Rock. 
 
 On reaching' the landing at Ivittle Rock, the 
 Governor was met by a number of distinguished 
 citizens, among whom I now recall the names of 
 Colonel Chester Ashley, who afterwards became 
 United States Senator from the State of Arkansas ; 
 Major Elias Rector ; General James S. Conway, 
 afterwards elected the first Governor of the State ; 
 Colonel Samuel M. Rutherford, Treasurer of the 
 Territory in 1833 ; Richard C. Byrd, who had been 
 Territorial Auditor in 1831, and who afterwards 
 became acting Governor of the State from January 
 10, to April 19, 1849, upon the resignation of Gov- 
 ernor Drew ; William E). Woodruff, editor and pro- 
 prietor of the Arkansas Gazette, and others : all 
 warm personal and political friends of Governor 
 Pope, and who gave him a cordial welcome back to 
 the seat of Government. 
 
 One among this group of prominent men at- 
 tracted my attention in no small degree, on account 
 of his distinguished bearing and extreme elegance 
 of dress. This was Major Elias Rector, United 
 
78 EARLY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 
 
 States Marshal for the Territory, and whom Albert 
 Pike has immortalized in song as "The Fine Old 
 Arkansas Gentleman, Close to the Choctaw Line." 
 Major Rector was above the medium heigfht, and 
 very symmetrically formed, with remarkably hand- 
 some and striking- features. His hair was black and 
 glossy and was allowed to grow in length almost, if 
 not quite, to his hips, where it hung straight as an 
 Indian's when not confined under his hat by a comb, 
 such as ladies use in tucking up their hair. He 
 wore no beard or mustache and his face was as free 
 from hirsute growth as that of a woman. Once he 
 was a passenger from Memphis to Nashville in a 
 stage coach, in which there were also several lady 
 passengers. On removing his hat, his luxuriant 
 growth of hair fell down about his shoulders, 
 which so scandalized the ladies that at the next 
 stopping place they alighted from the stage, and 
 declined to proceed further in the company of a 
 woman masquerading in male attire. The situa- 
 tion was explained to the ladies and the episode 
 ended in a hearty laugh. On another occasion 
 Major Rector's long hair undoubtedly gave him 
 immunity from a bloody encounter, and probably 
 saved his life. He was attending a Mardi-Gras 
 ball in New Orleans, when the ball room was in- 
 vaded and taken possession of by a crowd of 
 drunken toughs, who locked the doors, extinguished 
 the lights and proceeded to attack the male portion 
 of the assemblage with clubs, fists, and knives. 
 
EARLY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 79 
 
 inflicting serious injuries upon some. During- the 
 melee Major Rector bethought himself of his hair, 
 and let it down to its full length. He had hardly 
 done so when he was seized by some one, who, 
 upon discovering his long flowing locks, ceased the 
 attack, supposing him to be a woman, ^he Major 
 was not long in escaping from the hall. 
 
 "When I first saw him he was dressed in a full 
 suit of black silk velvet, made in the height of 
 fashion. His linen was of the finest and very elab- 
 orately ruffled, as was then the fashion. He wore 
 a costly Mexican sombrero and morocco boots. 
 With all this elegance of attire. Major Rector was 
 in no sense a dandy. He was, withal, a man of 
 unusual good common sense, and was brave and 
 fearless in the discharge of the hazardous duties of 
 United States Marshal of Arkansas and Indian 
 Territory, which office he held for upwards of six- 
 teen years. He was a warm personal friend of the 
 late Fontaine Pope, and was the latter's second in 
 his duel with Dr. John H. Cocke, wherein six shots 
 were had without injury to either party. 
 
 The Governor was escorted to his lodgings at 
 the residence of Mr. David G. letter, at the south- 
 west corner of Louisiana and Cherry (now Second) 
 streets, where the Turner and Gans building now 
 stands. 
 
 The next day, October 17, the Governor re-as- 
 sumed the duties of his office, which had been per- 
 formed during his absence in Kentucky, by William 
 
80 EARLY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 
 
 S. Pulton, Secretary of the Territory. One of the 
 Governor's first official acts on taking- up the reins 
 of government, was to sign my commission as pri- 
 vate secretary, and aide de camj) with the rank of 
 Major. Having received my commission from the 
 hands of the Governor, I called on Secretary Fulton 
 to have the same attested and the seal of the Terri- 
 tory affixed. 
 
 At the time of which I write the Territory had 
 no public building's for the use of its officers, and 
 they were compelled to provide offices as best they 
 could. 
 
 Secretary Fulton resided in a one-story frame 
 cottage on the east side of Scott street, between 
 Mulberry (Third) and Walnut (Fourth) streets. 
 To the north of the residence and attached to it, 
 and somewhat back from the street, was a smaller 
 building used by Judge Fulton as the office of the 
 Secrietary of the Territory. A stranger would 
 never have imagined this modest looking cottage to 
 be the seat of an elegant hospitality, but such, nev^ 
 ertheless, was the case. This building stood for 
 many years devoted to various purposes, and has 
 but recently been torn down to make room for 'a 
 business house. Subsequently Judge Fulton pur- 
 chased a fine place a mile or so south of town, to 
 which he gave the name of "Rosewood." In the 
 course of time the city grew up all around this 
 place and beyond. A few years ago this old land- 
 mark succumbed to the march of improvement, and 
 
1. Col. Chester Ashley 
 
 2. Gen. Jas. S. Conway 
 
 3. W. E. Woodruff, Sr. 
 
 4. Maj. EHas Rector 
 
EARIyY DAYS IN ARKANSAS, 81 
 
 nothing' now remains to mark its location save a 
 few of the old shade trees of its once extensive 
 park. 
 
 On my first visit to the Secretary I found him 
 busily engaged in his ofl&cial duties. He gave me a 
 gracious and kindly welcome, and after signing my 
 commission and afl&xing the seal of the Territory, 
 entered into pleasant conversation which lasted for 
 sometime, much to mj' edification. He gave me 
 much information regarding Territorial affairs of 
 that and past times, which information has been of 
 great assistance in the preparation of these mem- 
 oirs. On this visit I met the Secretary's wife, a 
 beautiful and accomplished lady whom he had mar- 
 ried at Florence, Ala. 
 
 In stature. Judge Fulton was of about the 
 medium height and of slender frame ; his features 
 were large but regular ; he had dark and expressive 
 eyes, and his hair, which was also dark, was worn 
 short. In manners he was courteous and obliging, 
 and was in every sense a gentleman. He was a 
 lawyer by profession, and in early life settled at 
 Florence, Ala., where he became the editor of the 
 Floirence Gazette, which paper had the distinction 
 of bringing Andrew Jackson prominently before the 
 country as a candidate for the Presidency in 1824. 
 Judge Fulton had been an aide on Gen. Jackson's 
 staff during the Creek war, and alsci at the battle 
 of New Orleans, January 8, 1812, where he ren- 
 dered eflScient service to the commanding general. 
 
82 EARLY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 
 
 In 1829 he was appointed Secretary of Arkansas 
 Territory and moved with his family from Alabama 
 to I/ittle Rock, where a large number of his de- 
 scendants still reside, notably a daughter, Mrs. 
 Morehead Wright. He performed the duties of 
 Governor pending Gov. Pope's arrival, and, also, 
 during the latter' s visit to Kentucky in 1832. 
 
 The executive oflB.ce was in a one-story brick 
 building situated on the south side of Markham 
 street, between Scott and Cumberland streets, near 
 the residence of and belonging to Col. Chester 
 Ashley. This' building had a gable end to the 
 street and contained three rooms. The front room 
 on the street was used for the post-office. The 
 middle and rear rooms were used as oflfices by the 
 Governor. 
 
 Shortly after the seat of government was lo- 
 cated at Little Rock, a common one-story frame 
 building — a mere shell — was erected on the block of 
 ground bounded by Main and Scott streets, and by 
 what are now Fifth and Sixth streets. These two 
 last named streets were then known as Elizabeth 
 and Orange streets. This building contained two 
 rooms about twenty feet square, divided by a hall. 
 Here the Ivegislative Assembly met every two years. 
 
 The doorkeepers of the Council and House of 
 Representatives — the office of sergeant-at-arms had 
 not been created at that date— had been instructed, 
 as a part of their duties, to keep a sharp lookout, 
 and whenever they saw the Governor approaching 
 
EARL,Y DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 83 
 
 the Legislative building to make anuouucemeut of 
 the fact to the Assembly. On one occasion the 
 door-keeper of the House of Representatives, ob- 
 serving His Excellency walking in the direction of 
 the building, hastened to make announcement of the 
 fact, which he did in the regulation mode by strik- 
 ing upon the floor with his mace and proclaiming, 
 "The Governor approaches." The members arose 
 to their feet to receive the Governor, who, however, 
 did not put in an appearance, as he was on his way 
 to make a social call at the residence of Mrs. Maria 
 Stevenson, at the corner of Orange (Fifth) and 
 Rock streets. A pane of glass had been broken 
 out of one of the windows, and as the Governor 
 passed he paused a moment and" looked in upon the 
 assembled legislators, who were standing to re- 
 ceive him. The alert and watchful doorkeeper ob- 
 serving this action on the part of His Excellency, 
 proceeded to announce in an exceedingly loud voice: 
 "The Governor is peeping in at the window." The 
 members resumed their seats, somewhat chagrined, 
 and the Governor did not linger long at the window. 
 
 When I first came to Arkansas I had the good 
 fortune to become acquainted with several of the 
 old pioneers who had settled in the West shortly 
 after the close of the Revolutionary War. Prom 
 these sturdy and unique characters I obtained much 
 valuable and interesting information regarding the 
 very early times of the country. 
 
 About the 1st of January, 1807, Major John 
 Pyeatt, of Georgia, who had been an officer in the 
 
84 EARLY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 
 
 American army during the war after the Revolu- 
 tion, and his brother, Jacob Pyeatt, and their fam- 
 ilies, together with several other families from 
 Georgia and East Tennessee, left their former 
 homes, to make new ones in the recently acquired 
 possessions west of the Mississippi River. They 
 brought with them their servants, household effects, 
 horses, mules, cattle and farming implements. This 
 party made the entire journey by land through an 
 almost impassable wilderness. EJspecially was this 
 the case in West Tennessee, the home of the Choc- 
 taw and Chickasaw Indians. They followed the 
 Beau Trace — merely a blazed trail, beginning in 
 EJast Tennessee, and extending to the Chickasaw 
 Bluffs, (now Memphis.) At that place the Indians 
 assisted them in crossing the Mississippi River. 
 This was a toilsome and hazardous undertaking, as 
 it had to be done in "dug outs" and by swimming 
 the horses, mules and cattle. 
 
 Their original intention was to locate at New 
 Gascony, a French trading post, on the north side 
 of the Arkansas River, fifteen miles below where 
 Pine Bluff now stands. But after crossing the 
 Mississippi River, the party struck an Indian trail 
 that carried them to where Batesville now is, on 
 the White River. Thence they traveled in a south- 
 westerly course until they struck the Arkansas 
 River at a place about fifteen miles above the "Point 
 of Rocks," where the town of Little Rock was after- 
 wards located. Major Pyeatt determined to stop 
 
EARLY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 85 
 
 here and establish his settlement. He gave the 
 name of Crystal Hill to the place on account of the 
 proximity of an eminence of considerable height, 
 covered with quartz crystals of various sizes. Here 
 they proceeded to erect log houses and to surround 
 themselves with the rude comforts of pioneer homes. 
 
 This party of immigrants had not long been 
 established in their new homes when they were 
 greatly surprised to learn that another party of 
 immigrants from North Carolina had preceded them 
 about a year and were then living a few miles above 
 Crystal Hill, on the south side of the river, at the 
 foot of the Maumelle mountains, or, as they were 
 then called, the "Mammal Mountains." 
 
 These last mentioned people had been "Tories," 
 or British sympathizers, during the Revolutionary 
 War, and getting into bad odor among their loyal 
 neighbors of the "Old North State" on account of 
 their political principles, had been forced to leave 
 North Carolina. After wandering about for several 
 years they had permanently settled at this place. 
 
 A short time after the establishment of the set- 
 tlement near Crystal Hill, Jacob Pyeatt and a 
 portion of the settlers moved up the river about 
 twenty-three miles, and located another settlement 
 near the mouth of a small stream called the Cadron. 
 This place was for several years the temporary 
 county seat of Pulaski County. 
 
 After the two settlements had been pretty 
 thoroughly established. Major Pyeatt conceived the 
 
86 EJAELY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 
 
 idea of cutting- out a trace from the settlements to 
 the Arkansas Post, for the g-uidance and benefit of 
 those who might come in the future. With a num- 
 ber of the settlers, he set about the undertaking. 
 At a point about fifty miles from the place of begin- 
 ning and at a stream, afterwards known as the 
 Wattensaw, he struck an Indian trail that led 
 directly to the Post of Arkansas, his objective point. 
 This, I think, may well be considered the beginning 
 of road making in Arkansas. 
 
 An amusing anecdote is related of the old 
 Major, which will give the reader some idea of the 
 extreme isolation of this part of the country from 
 the outside world. 
 
 Sometime in the latter part of the year 1815, an 
 ofl&cer wearing the undress uniform of a Major of 
 the United States Army, made his appearance at 
 the Pyeatt settlement. The officer, whose name 
 was Gibson, had been detailed with about four hun- 
 dred men, by the War Department, to establish 
 military posts or forts along the upper Arkansas. 
 Major Gibson and party had descended the Ohio and 
 Mississippi rivers in barges to the mouth of the 
 Arkansas. Arriving there the officer in command 
 determined to make part of the journey overland on 
 horse- back . Attended by an orderly and a pack horse, 
 he set out and in due time arrived as before stated. 
 After having been heartily welcomed by Major 
 Pyeatt and partaken of his hospitality, the old 
 Major inquired for news from the States. The 
 
EARIyY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 87 
 
 officer replied that the most important news was 
 that the Treaty of Peace between the United States 
 and Great Britain had been ratified. "Peace!" ex- 
 claimed the old Major, "What peace? I did not 
 know the United States had been engaged in war 
 with Great Britain since the Revolutionary War. " 
 Major Gibson then told him of the war of 1812, and 
 how General Jackson had won the battle of New 
 Orleans, and of other leading events of a war that 
 had begun more than three years before. This was 
 the old settler's first intimation that his country 
 had been engaged in another long and bloody war 
 with the English. 
 
 Fort Gibson, in the Indian Territory, takes its 
 name from the Major Gibson here mentioned. 
 
 John Pyeatt, an old settler, died on the 23d of 
 July, 1823, from the effects of cold contracted while 
 crossing tlie Grand Prairie. 
 
88 EJARI^Y DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 Gold In Arkansas, The Mounds, etc. 
 
 About the year 1809, one Trammell, a hunter, 
 found near the foot of Crystal Hill — a high bluflf on 
 the north bank of the Arkansas river, some fifteen 
 miles above Little Rock — a large quartz crystal, in 
 which was imbedded lumps of ore resembling gold. 
 In the course of his hunting trips, Trammell one 
 day found himself at the Post of Arkansas, where 
 he showed the ore which he had found to Colonel 
 Notrebe. That gentleman pronounced the speci- 
 men to be gold. He purchased it from the hunter 
 and sent it to New Orleans to be assayed, giving a 
 full description of the locality where it was found. 
 
 The assay proved that the ore was pure gold, 
 and the amount of the precious metal exhausted 
 from this one specimen was worth over one hun- 
 dred dollars. It was not long before the news of 
 the discovery of gold along the Arkansas river 
 spread like wild fire and caused great excitement 
 among the bold and adventurous. 
 
 An expedition was soon organized at New 
 Orleans to go in search of these wonderfully rich 
 gold fields. 
 
EARLY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 89 
 
 The expedition was composed of persons of 
 almost every nationality under the sun, and was 
 commanded by one Captain Hillare,* a Frenchman. 
 A number of keel boats and barges were purchased 
 by them, which they loaded with provisions, mining 
 tools, and goods of various kinds to barter with the 
 Indians who occupied the country. 
 
 Ailer a long and painful journey up the Mis- 
 sissippi and Arkansas rivers, the expedition reached 
 the present site of Little Rock, where a stop was 
 made and a mining camp established at what is 
 now the foot of Spring street, and near a large 
 spring of water which is still in existence within 
 the Pulaski county jail yard enclosure. 
 
 The magnificent spring referred to has a his- 
 tory of its own far older than that of Little Rock 
 itself. It was known far and wide among the 
 Indians who came to it and remained for weeks at a 
 time. In the very early days of Little Rock it 
 furnished water for a large portion of the inhabit- 
 ants for drinking and domestic purposes. Later 
 on, and until recently, it supplied the water for 
 making steam for use in the various manufacturing 
 enterprises located in its vicinity. 
 
 Here the members of the expedition began to 
 prospect for gold ; and here a number of the party 
 sickened and died and were buried on the high 
 
 *NoTE — The people of Arkansas Post at the time believed 
 that the "Captain Hillare" referred to was none other than 
 Lafltte, the celebrated "Pirate of the Grulf." 
 
90 EARLY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 
 
 ground just east of the spring, on the spot where 
 the State House now stands. The fact of the pres- 
 ence of these graves at the place referred to was 
 the basis in after years for strong objections on the 
 part of many to the Governor's selecting this spot 
 whereon to erect the capitol buildings. 
 
 Finding no evidence of gold in the locality, the 
 expedition moved up the river about four miles, 
 where, another stop was made, on the north side. 
 Here a shaft was sunk and some traces of gold were 
 found. But, as the prospect of obtaining the pre- 
 cious metal in paying quantities was not encourag- 
 ing, and the prospectors having in the meantime 
 met the hunter who had found the rich gold-bearing 
 quartz which had sent them upon this search after 
 wealth and learned from him the exact spot at which 
 he had obtained the valuable specimen, the expedi- 
 tion at once set out for Crystal Hill. 
 
 At that time there was a low bottom about half 
 a mile wide between the foot of the hill and the 
 river. This bottom has since disappeared. 
 
 Arriving at their destination, the gold hunters 
 sunk several shafts in the low ground at the foot of 
 the hill and secured a considerable amount of gold. 
 The prospects for obtaining the metal in large 
 quantities were now so encouraging that they pro- 
 ceeded to erect a smelter higher up on the hill. 
 
 I saw the remains of this old smelter in 1848, 
 and picked up a broken earthen crucible that had 
 been used by these miners for the purpose of reduc- 
 
EARLY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 91 
 
 The gold-seekers were again doomed to disap- 
 pointment, and in the very face of the most flatter- 
 ing promises of success. The water rose so rapidly 
 in the shafts that, not being supplied with the neces- 
 sary pumping apparatus — which, indeed, had not 
 been invented then — they were unable to continue 
 their labors. 
 
 (The spot where these early miners sunk their 
 shaft is now in the river.) 
 
 Being now utterly discouraged in their search 
 for gold, the adventurers started up the river in 
 their boats on a trading expedition, bartering their 
 merchandise to the Indians along the route for furs 
 and peltries. 
 
 When the men who composed the expedition 
 reached a high rock on the river above the future 
 site of Little Rock and near where now stands the 
 town of Dardanelle — then called "Dardi" by the 
 Indians — they met with a band of Indians named the 
 Caddos, and who were friendly to the whites. 
 These Indians occupied the country between the 
 Arkansas and the Caddo rivers. They had in their 
 possession specimens of gold ore which they said 
 had been obtained in the mountainous regions to- 
 wards the southwest, near the Caddo. The region 
 referred to by these Indians is now in Montgomery 
 County. 
 
 The sight of the shining metal again awoke 
 within the breasts of the adventurers the insatiable 
 thirst for gold. Upon the representations made by 
 
92 EARLY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 
 
 these Indians, another expedition was organized to 
 go in search of the new gold fields ; while a portion 
 of the men were to remain behind to take care of the 
 boats and cargoes, and to continue trading opera- 
 tions with the Indians. 
 
 Procuring ponies, upon which were loaded their 
 camp equipage and mining tools, and accompanied 
 by several Indian guides, the new expedition set out 
 southwards, in the full expectation of the realiza- 
 tion of their fondest hopes. 
 
 After a fatiguing journey of three or four days 
 through a wild and mountainous country, the expe- 
 dition arrived at the spot described by the Indians, 
 and which to the eye of an experienced miner at 
 once indicated the presence of metal of some kind. 
 
 After having established their camp, the party 
 at once began mining operations. 
 
 It may, perhaps, be well to state here that at 
 that time the country southwest of the Caddo River 
 was occupied by a band of roving and hostile Indians 
 known as the Lipans, and who were in almost con- 
 stant warfare with the more peaceable tribe, the 
 Caddos. 
 
 The gold-seekers had sunk a shaft at the foot 
 of one of the mountains, and were obtaining a large 
 amount of gold when they were set upon by the 
 warlike lyipans, who, after a sharp fight, were driven 
 off by the miners. The Indians, however, returned 
 in a few days with largely increased numbers and 
 renewed hostilities. The miners being overcome by 
 
EARLY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 93 
 
 superior numbers, and being unaccustomed to Indian 
 warfare, were compelled to abandon the dig-giags 
 and hastily retreat to the Arkansas River, and to 
 their boats. 
 
 Being by this time completely discouraged, and 
 their numbers being greatly reduced by reason of 
 sickness and death, the adventurers determined to 
 return to New Orleans. After disposing of the 
 remnant of all articles of barter to the Indians, the 
 expedition started down the river on its return trip. 
 
 Stopping at Crystal Hill for a short stay, the 
 miners imparted to Major James Pyeatt, who resided 
 in the neighborhood, an account of their mining 
 operations near the Caddo River. 
 
 This ended, for some years, any organized search 
 for gold in Arkansas. 
 
 (The facts related above were obtained by me 
 from Major Pyeatt in the fall of 1833, and were 
 reduced to writing by me at that time). 
 
 At the time of my arrival at Ivittle Rock in 1832, 
 there was then residing there one Tapley H. Stew- 
 art, a practical gold-miner from Georgia. This 
 man left Little Rock some time in the year 1834, and 
 went to New Orleans to reside. While living in 
 that city he became acquainted with some of the 
 survivors of the ill-starred expedition, of 1809, and 
 who had then grown to be old men. From some of 
 these old adventurers he learned of the existence 
 and location of the old gold-diggings near the Caddo 
 River in Arkansas. Stewart returned to Little 
 
94 EARIvY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 
 
 Rock in the year 1839, but kept his secret securely 
 locked within his own breast for several .years. 
 
 There was then living in the latter city a man 
 named Ira B. Whitmore, a veritable "Jack of all 
 trades," and g-ood in all, being an accomplished 
 worker in metals ; besides being a fairly good chem- 
 ist and mineralogist. To his other accomplishments 
 he added that of an engraver on gold, silver and 
 steel. 
 
 Stewart imparted to Whitmore the information 
 he had obtained regarding the finding of gold in 
 Arkansas, and enlisted him in an enterprise to go in 
 search of the mines in Montgomery county. With- 
 out imparting their secret to anyone whatever, 
 these two men set out to find the old diggings. So 
 accurate was the description given by the members 
 of the early expedition, that they were not long 
 in discovering the long abandoned mines. After 
 obtaining some rich specimens of the ore, they 
 returned to Little Rock and placed it in the hands of 
 Dr. Sprague, who was an expert analytical chemist. 
 He applied the usual tests, and pronounced the min- 
 eral pure gold. EJfforts were made to induce Stew- 
 art and Whitmore to divulge the place where they 
 had found the specimens, but to no purpose. 
 
 These men made several trips to the mines, each 
 time returning with a lot of the ore. 
 
 Stewart and Whitmore were afterwards mem- 
 bers of a gang of counterfeiters, known as the 
 Trowbridge gang, and were, on the discovery of the 
 
EARIyY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 95 
 
 Operations of that gang, convicted and sentenced to 
 long terms of imprisonment in the State Peniten- 
 tiary. (Reference will be made to this celebrated 
 gang of counterfeiters later on). 
 
 From early times it has been known that argen- 
 tiferous galena existed in the neighborhood of Little 
 Rock, but whether in paying quantities or not has 
 never yet been satisfactorily determined. 
 , About ten miles north of Little Rock are situa- 
 ted what have long been known as the Kellogg Lead 
 Mines. When these mines were first discovered the 
 fact created great excitement and a mining company 
 was formed for the purpose of working the mines. 
 About fifty tons of the ore were mined and shipped 
 to Europe for the purpose of ascertaining its value. 
 No report was ever received by the mining company 
 regarding the receipt and disposition of the ore. 
 The company that had leased" the mines had but 
 limited- means and soon became bankrupt, giving up 
 the work. One lump of silver-lead ore was taken 
 out of these mines which weighed 108 pounds. 
 
 Dr. David Dale Owens in his "Geological Re- 
 connaissance of Arkansas," made in 1857, gives the 
 following analysis of two specimens of lead taken 
 from the Kellogg mines : "No. 1, a bright crystal- 
 ine-looking ore, gave, by reduction, 81.7 per cent, of 
 metalic lead. Bycupellation, this lead gave a silver 
 bead weighing 1.06 per cent, of the lead employed, 
 which is equal to 339.2 ounces of silver in a ton of 
 2000 pounds." 
 
96 EARLY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 
 
 "No. 2, a porus, fine grained ore, with particles 
 of talc disseminated, gave 73.45 per cent, of metalic 
 lead ; this, by cupellation, gave 0.7 per cent, of sil- 
 ver, equal to 224 ounces in a ton of 2000 pounds." 
 These specimens must, undoubtedly, have been care- 
 fully selected, as no other analysis of the" ore from 
 the mines has ever come anywhere near making this 
 phenomenal showing. 
 
 In 1832 sulphate of magnesia, of a fine quality, ( 
 was found in the Kellogg mines. 
 
 The Mound BuiIvDErs. 
 
 Without presuming to enter into the domain of 
 pre-historic intelligence, I take the liberty of wan- 
 dering aside a little from the main purpose in view, 
 to throw a side light upon that powerful and highly 
 civilized race of people which once occupied the 
 Mississippi valley. - 
 
 Numerous evidences are not wanting that away 
 back before the dawn of history the region now 
 known as Arkansas was peopled by the Mound 
 Builders. 
 
 Sixteen miles east of Little Rock in the Rich- 
 woods country, near Toltec station, there are a 
 number of these mounds, two of which, Mrs. Mary 
 Eliza Field Knapp informs me, "were about one 
 hundred feet in height each in 1846, but the wash- 
 ing rains of half a century and the work of plowing" 
 the ground around them has lowered them some, 
 since denuded of trees." One of them is seventy- 
 five feet high and the other eighty feet in height at 
 
LAKE MOUND EARTH WORKS 
 BY THE tOLTECS, 
 
EARLY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 97 
 
 the present time. They are enclosed with an arti- 
 ficial levee, which was ten feet hig-h. There are 
 ninety acres embraced in this enclosure, and the em- 
 bankment is semi-circular, the ends abutting- on 
 Lake Mound. The two large mounds are similar 
 to those in Mexico ; one is flat on top and the other 
 conical. On the summit of the taller mound there 
 stood until recently a larg-e elm tree which scien- 
 tists tell us was over four hundred years old. If 
 this estimate of the tree's age is correct, it was in 
 its infancy when Columbus discovered the Continent 
 of America. 
 
 Lake Mound, a sheet of water about three and 
 one-half miles long' and one-half mile wide, is near 
 by, and the hypothesis is that the bed of this lake, 
 or pond, was formed by excavating- for earth with 
 which to build the enormous mounds, for they are 
 evidently the work of man's hands. 
 
 I am further informed by Mrs. Knapp, who now 
 owns the mounds referred to, that they were pur- 
 chased by Mr. William P. Officer in 1846 from 
 Andrew J. Donelson, who sent his ag-ent, Mr. Mar- 
 tin, to convey the deed ; and that they were orig-i- 
 nally entered for General Andrew Jackson. 
 
 These mounds seem to have served a double 
 purpose — that of a sarcophagus for some renowned 
 chief of the tribe, and also as a watchtower from 
 which to view the surrounding- country. 
 
 Mounds which have been explored here have 
 been found to contain skeletons, tools and orna- 
 
98 EARLY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 
 
 ments of stone, copper, brass, silver, and even pre- 
 cious stones. Vases of pottery of various shapes 
 and sizes, wroug'ht with much ingenuity and skill, 
 and often very curiously carved and inlaid, have 
 also been found in them. Mrs. Knapp states that 
 in one of the Smithsonian explorations in these 
 mounds, in addition to other discoveries, there were 
 found some immense crystals, showing that these 
 pre-historic people must have visited Hot Springs. 
 These wonderful structures would doubtless 
 prove a rich find for the archaeologist. 
 
 A race that long has passed away 
 
 Built them ; a disciplined and populous race 
 
 Heaped with long- toil the earth, while yet the Greek 
 
 Was hewing- the Pentelicus to forms 
 
 Of symmetry, and rearing on its rock 
 
 The glittering- Parthenon. — Bryant. 
 
EARLY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 99 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 Little Rock in 1832. 
 
 But little of the capital could be seen from the 
 north side of the river when I first saw the town in 
 1832, on account of the high and irregular bluffs on 
 the south bank, which time and the march of im- 
 provement have greatly lowered and depressed. 
 
 In the first geography I ever studied, when a 
 boy, the author located the capital of Arkansas on 
 the north side of the river, and called it Arkapolis. 
 This glaring error was continued subsequently in 
 Morse's Geography. I am informed that this mis- 
 nomer grew abroad as the result of a meeting of a 
 few citizens of Little Rock, held February 10, 1821, 
 at which a resolution was adopted, changing the 
 name of the town to Arkapolis. The resolution had 
 few friends outside of the meeting, and the proposi- 
 tion fell stillborn at home, although the publication 
 of its adoption abroad found favor with the geo- 
 %;A, graphers. 
 
 The name Little Rock is the anglicization of 
 the ancient and well known French name, Petit 
 Roche, little submerged rock ; and was first used to 
 
100 EARIvY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 
 
 distinguish tbe site from the Grand Rochelle, or 
 Big Rock, a mile or more above on the river. 
 
 The incorporated portion of the town lay west 
 of the Quapaw line, which line has already been 
 described in these pages. 
 
 The steamboat landing was not inside the cor- 
 porate limits, but was then, as now, at the foot of 
 what was called First street (now Commerce street). 
 At that period, First street extended from the land- 
 ing to Markham street and no further. This east- 
 ern extension of Markham street was, however, not 
 inside the corporation. 
 
 A narrow street, scarcely more than an alley, 
 called Flm street, extended from Rock street to 
 Gaines street, then the extreme western limits of 
 the town. Flm street was also extended eastward 
 to what is now Sherman street. 
 
 On the east side of First, or Commerce street, 
 and near the river, stood two large log warehouses, 
 owned and used by Fnezy Wilson & Son for storing 
 freight brought by steamboats to this port. 
 
 On the north side of Flm street, near First 
 street, there was a group of small log houses occu- 
 pied as dwellings and owned by Richard C. Byrd. 
 Scattered about in this vicinity were a number of 
 small log houses and shanties extending along the 
 river bank to Cumberland street. 
 
 Still viewing Little Rock from the north side 
 of the river, no other buildings came in sight until 
 a point opposite Spring street was reached. Here 
 
EARLY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 101 
 
 a steam saw mill came in view, aud on the bluff im- 
 mediately west two or three neat cottages which 
 were owned and occupied by Dr. John H. Cocke and 
 Dr. Bushead W. Lee. At the foot of and on the east 
 side of Arch street was the residence of Samuel 
 Hall, lisq., a prominent lawyer of the town. 
 
 The buildings here mentioned were the only 
 ones in Little Rock that could be seen from the 
 North Side. 
 
 In the town proper," the streets extending south 
 from the river did not run due south, but had a 
 variation of eight degrees west. At that time Rock 
 was the only street that ran entirely through to the 
 southern limits of the town. The names of the 
 streets were as follows : Those running south were, 
 in the order given. Rock, Cumberland and Scott, 
 each sixty feet wide ; Main, then called E)ast Main, 
 eighty feet wide ; 'Louisiana, Center and Spring, 
 each sixty feet wide ; West Main, now Broadway, 
 eighty feet wide ; Arch and Gaines, each sixty feet 
 wide. 
 
 The streets running east and west were in the 
 following order : E)lm, a very narrow street ; Mark- 
 ham, Cherry (Second), Mulberry (Third) and Wal- 
 nut (Fourth), each sixty feet wide; ^Orange (Fifth), 
 eighty feet wide ; Flizabeth (Sixth), Chesnut (Sev- 
 enth), Hazel (Fighth), Holly (Ninth), Caroline 
 (Tenth), each sixty feet wide. North and Water 
 were two short streets west of Arch and north of 
 Markham. This constituted the entire corporate 
 limits of Little-Rock in 1832. 
 
102 EARLY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 
 
 The built up portion of the town lay, chiefly^ 
 between Cumberland and West Main (Broadway) 
 streets, and the river and Mulberry (Thfrd) street. 
 There were, however, a few houses on Scott street^ 
 as far south as Holly (Ninth). Among the latter 
 was the fine brick residence and office of Robert 
 Crittenden, Dsq. , occupying a whole block of ground, 
 with its beautiful lawn and gardens. 
 
 This property afterwards passed into the pos- 
 session of Judge Benjamin Johnson, who greatly 
 improved and added to the building. The old man- 
 sion is now the family residence of ex-Governor 
 E)agle, its interior modernized and beautified, I am 
 told. 
 
 Old buildings, especially if they have the flavor 
 of romance or tragedy surrounding them, are always 
 interesting. Of such, Little Rock had not a few, 
 particularly the tragic. 
 
 In the early days of any country, no matter how 
 intelligent, refined and honorable the better class of 
 the people were, there were to be found men of law- 
 less and desperate characters, who had to be met 
 with force and swift justice. Besides, the want of 
 action and constant occupation, and the great inter- 
 est taken in local politics ; or quarrels growing out 
 of some real or fancied wrong, or disputes over a 
 piece of land or other property, often led to bloody 
 encounters. Sometimes the}' were decided on the 
 field of honor, falsely so called, and at others resulted 
 in a rough and tumble fight or a shooting or cutting 
 
EJARIyY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 103 
 
 scrape. Arkansas was no worse in this respect 
 than any other new State. Nor was she any better 
 than her neighbors. It is a fact worthy of mention 
 that it was rare, exceedingly so, that anyone was 
 ever assassinated in cold blood, or killed for the 
 purpose of robbery. The crimes of robbery and 
 burglary were hardly known in the community. 
 Lynchings were almost unknown, and the mob had 
 no place in our early history. These things came 
 with a more advanced civilization. There was, how- 
 ever, a disposition on the part of juries to punish 
 the crime of killing by imprisonment only. This 
 practice became so notorious that Governor Pope in 
 a message to the legislative assembly in 1831, said : 
 
 "It is confidently believed that nothing has con- 
 duced more to disturb the public peace and impair 
 the security of human life than the mitigation of 
 murder to manslaughter in cases of ordinary provo- 
 cation, or sudden heat and passion. Men should be 
 brought to bridle their passions when life is at 
 stake, and no excuse for shedding blood should be 
 received but that of absolute necessity. The dis- 
 tinction between murder and manslaughter should 
 be abolished in all cases where a dirk, pistol or 
 other deadly weapon is used, except in cases of self 
 defense.'''' 
 
 These words, read in the light of passing 
 events, sixty-three years after they were uttered, 
 seem almost prophetic. 
 
104 EARLY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 
 
 With this digression, I hasten to give my read- 
 ers a description of some historic buildings and the 
 events connected with their history. 
 
 The building in which the Arkansas Gazette 
 was published was a two-story brick structure on 
 the northeast corner of Markham and Scott streets, 
 standing flush with both streets. 
 
 On the south side of Markham street, fronting 
 the Gazette ofl&ce, and standing back some distance 
 from the street, was a very large two-story brick 
 mansion, built after the Greek style of architecture, 
 with high brick columns, stuccoed in imitation of 
 stone, supporting the long portico which extended 
 the full length of the building from east to west. 
 This splendid residence, with its trimly kept gar- 
 dens and orchards ; its conservatories and hot- 
 houses ; its servants'-quarters, stables, carriage 
 houses and other buildings, which occupied the en- 
 tire block between Markham and Cherry (Second) 
 streets, and Scott and Cumberland streets, at once 
 marked its owner. Col. Chester Ashley, as a man of 
 wealth and elegance. This old time seat of refine- 
 ment and hospitality has witnessed the evolution 
 from village to town, and from town to city. Dur- 
 ing the occupation of the town by the Federal forces 
 in 1863, it became the headquarters of the command- 
 ing general, and was in turn used for real estate 
 offices, telegraph offices and various other purposes. 
 At the present writing, the old mansion is used for 
 a hotel, and the balance of the block is occupied by 
 

 
EARLY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 105 
 
 mercantile houses, cotton warehouses and factories. 
 There it stands, "somewhat back from the (city) 
 street," a venerable relic of the past, with the noise 
 and turmoil and bustle of our modern civilization 
 all about it. During- Territorial times, and the 
 early days of the State, this old manor house was 
 the political mecca of pilgrims of the Democratic 
 faith, who sought wisdom and guidance at the feet 
 of the owner of the house. 
 
 While Col. Ashley was looked up to as a leader, 
 and one of the chief sources of inspiration in his 
 party, he never sought high political preferment un- 
 til 1844, when he was elected to the United States 
 Senate. 
 
 The hotel of that day was kept by Major Nich- 
 olas Peay, and was situated on the southwest corner 
 of Markham and Scott streets. The hotel building 
 was far from imposing, and consisted of a row of 
 one-story frame buildings connected together, and 
 which were built at different times as the need for 
 more room demanded. These buildings extended 
 west to a small brick structure on the alley dividing 
 the block. This brick building was used for the 
 hotel bar. This house of entertainment was called 
 "Peay's Hotel." In after years the well known 
 Anthony House occupied a part of the ground upon 
 which this ancient hostelry stood. 
 
 By far the largest and finest mercantile estab- 
 lishment in the town was that of McLane & Bad- 
 gett. Their building was a two-story brick, and 
 
106 EARLY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 
 
 was considered at that time a very imposing- affair. 
 It stood on the west side of Main street, about mid- 
 way of the block, between Markham and Cherry 
 (Second) streets, and covered an entire lot. This 
 building- had already gained considerable notoriety 
 as having been the scene of the killing- of Major 
 Isaac Watkins by a desperado named Smith. 
 
 The facts of this deplorable trag-edy are about 
 as follows : Sometime in the year 1826, Major 
 Isaac Watkins, a prominent and hig-hly respected 
 citizen of Little Rock, visited his farm, -some 
 three miles above town, on the south side of the 
 river. Major Watkins had been g-reatly har- 
 rassed by having his cattle and hogs stolen and 
 determined to ferret out the culprit. On this trip to 
 his farm, he discovered the heads of two of his hogs 
 recently killed lying in a cane-brake near the road. 
 Near the farm was the cabin of the man Smith, 
 whom the Major suspected of the crime of hog- 
 stealing. On his return to town, he met Smith on 
 the street, and charg-ed him with the offense. Smith 
 indignantly denied the charge and applied some vile 
 epithets to Major Watkins, who struck him with a 
 small stick which he was carrying. Smith attempted 
 to retaliate, but the interference of bystanders pre- 
 vented any further hostilities at the time. The 
 next day, however. Smith rode into town carrying- 
 his rifle across his saddle. About the same time 
 Major Watkins walked into McLane & Badgett's 
 store and took a seat, tilting the chair back against 
 
EARLY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 107 
 
 the counter, presenting his left side to the front 
 door. Smith, observing the Major enter the store, 
 reined his horse up to the sidewalk, and, without 
 dismounting, took deliberate aim and fired upon his 
 victim, the ball striking a vital spot ; Major Watkins 
 fell from the chair mortally wounded, and died in a 
 few hours in great agony. Amidst the excitement 
 that followed, the assassin made his escape to the 
 dense woods, a few hundred yards distant, and was 
 never heard of afterwards, although diligent search 
 was made and large rewards offered for his capture. 
 Smith was indicted for murder, and long after I 
 came to the Territory, the case of "The People of 
 Arkansas versus John Smith" was regularly called 
 at the terms of the court, and the sheiriff as regu- 
 larly responded, "Not in custody." The case was 
 finally strickened from the docket. 
 
 Directly opposite the last mentioned building, 
 and standing back some distance from the street, 
 was a two-story brick building, occupied as a tavern 
 and kept by Theran Brow^field. This building was 
 erected in the very early settlement of the town, 
 and was the scene of many bloody affrays among the 
 lawless characters of those days. 
 
 About the year 1825, three distinguished gen- 
 tlemen from the State were sent by the general gov- 
 ernment as commissioners to negotiate the purchase 
 of lands belonging to the Cherokee Indians. Upon 
 their return journey these gentlemen stopped in 
 Little Rock and were tendered a banquet by the 
 
108 EARLY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 
 
 citizens. The banquet was spread in the tavern 
 above referred to. After the banquet was over and 
 the g"uests and more respectable portion of the com- 
 pany had retired from the hall, the tables were 
 taken possession of by a lot of rowdies who were 
 soon in a state of drunkenness bordering- on frenzy, 
 and made the hall resound with their oaths and yells. 
 In the midst of this pandemonium, one Smith John- 
 son, a young man, mounted one of the tables, and 
 walked from one end of it to the other, kicking" 
 dishes, plates, glasses and other articles of table 
 ware in all directions. When he reached the far 
 end of the table, he was seized by one of the more 
 orderly persons present and dragged from the table. 
 Johnson drew a knife and stabbed his assailant, 
 killing him instantly. In the "confusion, worse con- 
 founded" by the addition of this tragedy, the mur- 
 derer escaped and was never apprehended. This 
 building became very unsafe and fell down in 1834, 
 though unoccupied at the time. 
 
 Located on the southeast corner of Ivouisiana 
 and Cherry (Second) streets there stood until re- 
 cently a one-story, four room brick house, the prop- 
 erty and residence of Governor John Pope during 
 Territorial days. The property is now the site of 
 the Turner and Moore ofl&ce building. 
 
 Another of the old landmarks still stands near 
 the southwest corner of Spring and Cherry (Second) 
 and was until recently occupied as a residence by 
 the family of the late S. H. Tucker. When I first 
 
EARLY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 109 
 
 knew the place, it was a modest little brick cottage 
 of not exceeding three rooms. Here lived and died 
 in 1828, Governor George Izard, second Governor of 
 Arkansas Territory. 
 
 Another old house which has withstood the march 
 of improvement, and which has had a varied expe- 
 rience, stood and is still standing, at the northwest 
 corner of Cumberland and Mulberry (Third) streets. 
 When I first knew this old house, now sixty-two 
 years ago, it was a two-story log building, but the 
 addition of weatherboarding has given it the ap- 
 pearance of a frame structure. This old house was 
 built and owned by one Jesse Henderliter, a Ger- 
 man, who kept a small grocery store in the west 
 end of the building, occupying the balance as a 
 family residence. The property afterward passed 
 into the possession of Thomas Thorn, who was 
 one of the contractors for building the new State 
 House, as it was afterwards called, and gained 
 notoriety as having been the place of meeting of the 
 last Territorial Leg-islature, in October, 1835. Also, 
 as having been the place of temporary confinement, 
 under guard, of Hon. John Wilson, Speaker of the 
 House of Representatives at the extraordinary ses- 
 sion of the Legislature in 1837, and who killed J. J. 
 Anthony, a Represenative from Lawrence county, 
 in the hall of the House of Representatives at that 
 session. 
 
 Ivittle Rock had many handsome private resi- 
 dences, the abodes of an elegance and refinement 
 
110 EARLY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 
 
 not surpassed by any community in the United 
 States. 
 
 As far back as the days of which I write Little 
 Rock was noted for its abundance of flowers and 
 shrubbery, especially the rose, a notoriety it still 
 retains, being now often denominated the "City of 
 Roses." 
 
EARLY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. Ill 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 The Territorial, and Early State Press. 
 Newspapers have always been considered one of 
 the principal adjuncts of civilization, and they have 
 everywhere followed the footsteps of the missionary 
 and the ax of the pioneer. This was strikingly 
 true in the early days of this country, and any one 
 who may have access to the old files of newspapers 
 long- dead and forgotten will be struck with aston- 
 ishment at the intelligence — political, historical and 
 literary — displayed in their columns. The matter 
 contained in many of these ancient newspapers is 
 not a whit inferior to that of the present day. It 
 is true they had no Associated Press dispatches or 
 special correspondents in every part of the globe, 
 and news from the outside world was weeks and 
 months in reaching their columns ; consequently 
 the editor was compelled, -per force, to depend 
 largely upon his own resources to furnish mental 
 ■pabulum to his readers. There have gone out from 
 many pioneer newspaper offices men who have be- 
 come great in literature and in the councils of the 
 nation. Few men know how to edit and manage a 
 newspaper, though every man thinks he does. In 
 
112 EAEI^Y DAY§ IN ARKANSAS. 
 
 the opinion of the writer, editors "are born, not 
 made." 
 
 Here will be found grouped together, for the 
 sake of convenience in treatment, the names and 
 careers of the leading public journals published in 
 Arkansas from early Territorial days to the period 
 where these narratives end. 
 
 The names of several papers are omitted, but 
 they were such as had only an ephemeral existence. 
 
 The day after my arrival in Little Rock, Octo- 
 ber 18, 1832, I visited the ofi&ce of the Arkansas 
 Gazette to get a copy of the current issue of the 
 paper to send to Kentucky, and also for the purpose 
 of becoming a regular subscriber. 
 
 The name of William D. Woodruff is ^o insepar- 
 ably connected with the Arkansas Gazette that 
 anything relating to him, his personality, manners, 
 etc., will not be out of place here. 
 
 Mr. Woodruff was a native of Long Island, 
 New York, where he was born December 24, 1795. 
 After working at his trade, that of printer, in New 
 York and several of the large cities of Kentucky 
 and Tennesse, he determined to locate at some point 
 in the new Territory of Arkansas and establish a 
 newspaper. He selected the Post of Arkansas as 
 his held of future operation, where, on October 30, 
 1819, he arrived with his printing press and printer's 
 outfit, having transported the same from Franklin, 
 Tenn., by keel boat to Montgoruery's Point, at the 
 mouth of White River, Arkansas Territory. From. 
 
EARLY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 113 
 
 thence the press and materials were carried in ca- 
 noes or dug-outs to the Post. 
 
 The Arkansas Gazette was the second news- 
 paper published west of the Mississippi River, and 
 is the oldest which has had a continuous existence 
 to the present time with the same name. Sometime 
 previous to the establishment of the Gazette in 1819., 
 a paper was started at St. Louis, called the Mis- 
 souri Gazette, the names of the publishers of which 
 I do not now recall. This paper, however, soon 
 suspended publication, and the press and material 
 were boug-ht by Messrs. Chambers & Knapp, who 
 began the publication of the Missouri Republican, 
 now the St. Louis Rej)ublic. 
 
 The Gazette continued to be published at the 
 Post of Arkansas, until the removal of the seat of 
 government to Little Rock, in 1821, when it fol- 
 lowed in the wake of the government, and issued its 
 first number in the latter place December 29, 1821. 
 
 My recollections of Mr. Woodruff, as I saw him 
 on ypm October morning, sixty-two years ago, are 
 vivid and distinct. He was stoutly and compactly 
 built, but of low stature. His head, which was 
 covered with a thin growth of dark auburn hair, 
 was large and finely formed ; the forehead high and 
 broad. His eyes were a prominent feature, being 
 dark and piercing. He wore no beard or moustache, 
 his face being clean shaven, which gave to his coun- 
 tenance a more youthful look than his age would 
 have indicated, he then being in his thirty-seventh 
 
114 EARLY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 
 
 year. In manner he was extremely polite and agree- 
 able, but by no means demonstrative. As an editor 
 he was a strong and powerful writer, and under his 
 management the Gazette was always a power in 
 Territorial affairs. The paper's influence in mould- 
 ing public opinion extended to early State affairs, 
 and continues down to the present day. 
 
 At that time there were no vital questions on 
 national politics dividing the two parties. It was 
 merely a scramble for control of Territorial affairs — 
 the "Outs against the Ins." Any one reading the 
 political leaders and letters in the rival newspapers 
 as they appeared from week to week, and not being 
 well acquainted with the situation, would have 
 thought that matters of the utmost national impor- 
 tance were at stake, and would have also imagined 
 that the consequences of so much personality and 
 invective could hardly result in anything less than 
 hostile encounters. Such proved the case after 
 awhile, when valuable blood was spilled for opin- 
 ion's sake. %:'■ ■' 
 
 v 
 
 The second newspaper to be established in the 
 Territory was the Advocate, which began publica- 
 tion in March, 1830, and was owned and edited by 
 Mr. Charles P. Bertrand, a lawyer of great ability. 
 The Advocate supported Mr. Crittenden and party 
 in their opposition to the party then in power in the 
 Territory, and which was called the Sevier party. 
 
 Shortly after the first appearance of the Advo- 
 cate there were published in the columns of that 
 
EARLY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 115 
 
 paper some very bitter communications signed "Diu- 
 widdie." Miajor Fontaine Pope, nephew of the 
 Governor, demanded of the editor the name of the 
 writer of the articles, and the name of Dr. John H. 
 Cocke was given him as their author. 
 
 Major Pope at once dispatched by the hands of 
 his friend Major Elias Rector a challenge to Dr. 
 Cocke to meet him in mortal combat. The chal- 
 lenge was promptly accepted, and preparations at 
 once began for the duel. The encounter took place 
 in the State of Mississippi, opposite the mouth of 
 White River. Major Rector acted as second for 
 Major Pope, and Dr. Robert A. Watkins attended 
 him as surgeon. Mr. James B. Keatts and Dr. 
 Bushead W. Lee acted in like capacity for Dr. 
 Cocke. Regulation duelling pistols were used, dis- 
 tance fifteen paces. Three shots "were exchanged, 
 at one of which Dr. Cocke dodged after the bullet 
 had passed him. Upon being asked by one of the 
 party why he dodged, he replied by saying : "If I 
 hadn't, he would have hit me." This dodging was 
 merely an involuntary movement, and in no wise in- 
 dicated a lack of bravery on the part of the doctor, 
 who was a brave and courageous gentleman. After 
 the exchange of the third shot, Col. Bowie, of Mis- 
 sissippi, who afterward fell at the storming of the 
 "Alamo," with other friends of both parties, inter- 
 fered and put a stop to further hostilities. The 
 two principals in the affair afterwards became warm 
 personal friends. 
 
116 KARL,Y DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 
 
 Among- some of the political pleasantries of the 
 day, for politics has its bright as well as its sombre 
 side, were the soubriquets applied to leading- men of 
 both parties. Mr. Crittenden was called "Cardinal 
 Wolsey," on account of the political power which 
 he wielded "behind the throne;" Col. Ashley was 
 known as "Talleyrand," by reason of ^\% finesse in 
 politics, and Col. Charles Anthony Caldwell was 
 dubbed "Gaunt Tony" on account of his tall, spare 
 figure. Dr. Mathew Cunningham bore the nick- 
 name of "Dr. Dilleworth," of spelling book fame; 
 and Dr. Reyburn that of "Dr. Fourche," by reason 
 of his residing near that classic stream ; while 
 Judge David Rover was called ''Old de Bonis Non,'" 
 doubtless on account of being appointed administra- 
 tor in nearly all the cases of- deceased persons in 
 which there was iuothing to administer upon. Judge " 
 Samuel Hall bore the rather uncomplimentary ap- 
 pellation of "Peter Lighthead," although he was a 
 profound lawyer. Mr. Charles P. Bertrand was 
 known as "Beau Charley," fi-om the elegance of his 
 dress, and Col. Ambrose H. Sevier bore the title of 
 "Don Ambrosia" in recognition of his Spanish 
 origin. 
 
 Congress had recently passed an act donating 
 to the Territory ten sections of land for the purpose 
 of providing means for the purchase of a site and 
 the erection of a suitable building for the use of the 
 Legislative Assembly and the oflScers of the Ter- 
 iritory. The Territory -was sadly in need of public 
 
EARLY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 117 
 
 buildings, and this need was becoming more and 
 more pressing every day. 
 
 Mr. Crittenden had lately completed a large 
 and commodious brick residence, surrounded by am- 
 ple grounds, in the suburbs af the town. He had, 
 indeed, almost impoverished himself in the erection 
 of this fine building and improving and beautifying 
 the grounds. This building was far in advance of 
 the times and continued for several years to be the 
 finest private residence in the Territory. 
 
 When the Legislature met, Mr. Crittenden laid 
 before that body a proposition to exchange his 
 handsome residence and block of ground for the ten 
 sections of land donated by Congress. A bill was 
 introduced and passed accepting Mr. Crittenden's 
 proposition and authorizing the Governor to make 
 the exchange.- The bill was promptly vetoed by the 
 Governor, who gave as his reason for doing so that 
 the six thousand and four hundred acres of land 
 could be sold for vastly more than the Crittenden 
 property was worth. The estimate of value put 
 upon the respective properties by the Governor 
 proved correct, for shortly afterwards the Critten- 
 den property was put upon the market and brought 
 six thousand seven hundred dollars only, while eight 
 of the ten sections of land were sold for twenty- 
 four thousand five hundred and four dollars, and it 
 was estimated that the remaining two sections were 
 worth six thousand four hundred dollars more. In 
 point of fact, the two sections afterwards brought 
 
118 EARL,Y DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 
 
 eight hundred and eighteen dollars more than the 
 estimated value. 
 
 This action on the part of the Governor served 
 to fan the fire of hate, and the old war on Governor 
 Pope and his administration was vigorously kept up 
 by the opposition through the columns of the Advo- 
 cate and the Helena Democrat, a paper that had 
 recently been started at the latter place, and which 
 was owned by Col. Henry L. Biscoe and conducted 
 by William T. Yeomans, a strong editorial writer. 
 It was rumored about this time that Governor Pope 
 would be removed from oflEice by the President, and 
 Colonel Biscoe was anxious that the gubernatorial 
 mantle should fall upon his shoulders. To that end 
 the columns of the Democrat were vigorously used 
 to further his aspirations. The Governor, however, 
 was not removed from office, but served until the 
 end of his second term, when he was succeeded by 
 Hon. William S. Fulton, in 1835. Moreover, Con- 
 gress amended the "Ten Section Bill," giving the 
 Governor the absolute control of the disposition of 
 the ten sections, and the selection of the site and 
 erection of the buildings provided for in the act. 
 This manifestation of confidence oni;he part of Con- 
 gress in the honesty and integrity of the Governor, 
 did not put a stop to the ceaseless attacks in the 
 opposition newspapers. 
 
 These bitter attacks, the rancor and venom of 
 which are hardly conceivable at this day, culmi- 
 nated in an encounter which had a sad and fatal 
 ending. 
 
EARLY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 119 
 
 This affair was the outcome of a series of arti- 
 cles which appeared from week to week in the Ad- 
 vocaie, sig-ned "Devereux." They reflected se- 
 verely upon the Governor and his administration of 
 public affairs, and, incidentally, upon his nephew, 
 Major William Fontaine Pope. It will be remem- 
 bered that Governor Pope had but one arm, and 
 that he was agfed and somewhat infirm of body, so 
 that his nephew felt called upon to resent any in- 
 jury done to his uncle's honor. 
 
 To the attacks made by "Devereux" in the Ad- 
 vocate, Major Pope replied by a card published in 
 the Gazette, and which contained some very strong 
 and forcible language. To this card Mr. Charles 
 Fenton Mercer Noland, who had now revealed his 
 identity, responded in terms too emphatic to be mis- 
 understood or lightly valued, and which demanded 
 one reply only. Major Pope immediately challenged 
 Mr. Noland to fight a duel. 
 
 A reply to this challenge being withheld for 
 several days from some cause or another. Major 
 Pope sent Mr. Noland a note in which he stated 
 that if the challenge was not accepted he would post 
 him as a coward. Mr. Noland accepted the chal- 
 lenge without further delay, and the principals and 
 their friends left for the scene of conflict, traveling 
 together. 
 
 An amusing incident occurred at one of their 
 stopping places while on the way to the duelling 
 grounds, a^iid which robbed Mr. Noland of one good 
 
120 EARLY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 
 
 nig'ht's rest. The weather was cold and disagree- 
 able with rain. After the members of the party had 
 retired for the night, the mail rider, a mere strip- 
 pling of a youth, entered the room, dripping wet, 
 and after divesting himself of his soaking outer gar- 
 ments, started to get into bed with Mr. Noland. 
 Not relishing the idea of having a wet and half 
 frozen mail boy as a bed-fellow, Mr. Noland said to 
 him: "Look here, my friend, I have the itch," 
 hoping that such a dreadful announcement would 
 have the effect of preventing any further intrusion. 
 In this hope he was doomed to be disappointed, for 
 the boy instantly replied: "That's nothing, I've 
 got the seven year itch," and proceeded to get into 
 the bed. As the boy got in at one side, Mr. Noland 
 rolled out at the other, and sat up the remainder of 
 the night. 
 
 The party arrived at the plantation of Col. 
 Benjamin Milam, in old Miller County, February 
 4th, and were entertained by him that night. 
 Grounds were selected by the seconds that after- 
 noon, so as to have everything in readiness for the 
 encounter the next morning at sunrise. 
 
 The place selected for the meeting was a nar- 
 row strip of land at the head of Lost Prairie, and 
 which was generally supposed to belong to the 
 Republic of Texas. This strip was afterwards 
 claimed by Arkansas as a part of old Miller county. 
 The disputed Territory eventually fell into the 
 
EARLY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 121 
 
 State of Texas after the final g-overnment survey 
 was made. 
 
 The second on the part of Mr. Noland was Dr. 
 Nimrod Menifee of Conway County. Major Pope's 
 second was Major Thomas Scott, of Layfayette 
 County. Dr. William P. Reyburn attended him as 
 surg-eon. Major Elias Rector was to have been 
 Major Pope's second in this affair, but he was taken 
 with a severe attack of the quinsy en route, and 
 when the party reached Washington, Hempstead 
 County, he was too ill to proceed further, and his 
 place had to be filled as above stated. 
 
 Arriving- upon the grounds, the principals were 
 placed in position at ten paces and duelling pistols, 
 properly loaded, put into their hands. Major Scott 
 had been chosen to give the "words," which he did 
 as follows : "Gentlemen! Are you ready? Fire, 
 one, two, three, four." At the word "two," both 
 pistols were discharged, the ball from Mr. Noland's 
 weapon taking effect in Major Pope's left leg, be- 
 tween the knee and the hip, and he fell to the 
 ground, the shock having paralyzed the leg. Major 
 Scott then asked Mr. Noland : "Are you satisfied?" 
 to which the latter replied : "I am in the hands of 
 my friends." Dr. Menifee, Mr. Noland's second, 
 said : "Ask your principal if he is satisfied, being 
 the challenging party." This Major Scott pro- 
 ceeded to do, and the reply of Major Pope, who was 
 still prostrate on the ground, was, "No, I must 
 have another shot." With the assistance of his 
 
122 EARIyY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 
 
 second, he was raised to his feet and ag-ain placed in 
 position. Before the second shot could be had he 
 was seized with severe cramps in the wounded leg" 
 and again fell to the ground. 
 
 The bystanders, acting as friends of both par- 
 ties, among whom were Col. Milam, Judge Pow- 
 hatan Ellis, of the Province of Texas, and Jacob- 
 Buzzard, Esq., seeing that Major Pope was physic- 
 ally unable to continue the conflict, interfered and 
 put a stop to the duel, whereupon Mr. Noland and 
 his friends immediately left the grounds. 
 
 The surgeon proceeded at once to probe for the 
 ball, but did not succeed in finding it. Major Pope 
 was taken to the residence of Col. Milam in the 
 near neighborhood, and in a few days was removed 
 to Washington. He remained at that place about 
 two weeks under the care of his surgeon, when he 
 was conveyed to Little Rock, where he lingered un- 
 til June 17th, dying in great agony, at the early 
 age of twenty-three years. 
 
 Major Pope's wound was not considered mortal 
 at the time he received it, but the failure to at once 
 find and extract the ball, and the slow and painful 
 journey by carriage from Washington to Little 
 Rock over rough roads and in bad weather, brought 
 on a condition from which he could not rally. 
 
 It is due to the memory and character of Gov. 
 Pope to state that he used all the persuasive powers 
 at his command and what authority he possessed 
 over his nephew to prevent this duel, and did ob- 
 
KARLY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 123 
 
 tain from the latter a promise to withhold the 
 challenge. 
 
 The Gazette continued to be the official org-an 
 of the administration until December, 1833, when 
 a rupture occurred between the Governor and that 
 paper, occasioned by the publication in the Advocate 
 of articles denunciatory of the Governor, on ac- 
 count of the exorbitant prices paid for public print- 
 ing, the contract for which was held by the proprie- 
 tor of the Gazette. That paper was the only gainer 
 from these contracts, but the Governor had to bear 
 the blame and criticism in the matter. The Advo- 
 cate worked the deadly parallel column scheme, 
 showing the prices charged by the Gazette and 
 also giving the price at which the work could be 
 done and still leave a fair margin of profit. The 
 Governor demanded that the Gazette defend him 
 against the attacks of the Advocate, and that it 
 also lower its charges for public printing to a more 
 reasonable figure. It refused to do either, hence 
 the rupture spoken of. The public printing was 
 withdrawn from the Gazette and let to the lowest 
 responsible bidders, who in this instance were the 
 proprietors of the Advocate. This latter paper had 
 now changed hands, having passed into the pos- 
 session of Albert Pike and Charles EJ. Rice, Capt. 
 Pike becoming editor. 
 
 To show in what high appreciation Gov. Pope 
 was held as a national character, at a public dinner 
 given to Postmaster-General Barry, at Louisville, 
 
124 EARI/Y DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 
 
 Ky., September 4, 1833, among the toasts proposed 
 was the following- : "Gov. John Pope, of Arkan- 
 sas, our able, intelligent and tried public servant. 
 The memory of his distinguished public services 
 must ever be considered with a just appreciation of 
 his private virtues." 
 
 The Cham-pion of Freedom, an opposition pa- 
 per published at Russellville, Ky., said : "Politic- 
 ally, we are opposed to Gov. Pope, but personally 
 we esteem him on the score of every good quality 
 that can possibly recommend a human being. To 
 the noblest generosity of heart, and the highest in- 
 tegrity, is added a mind profound, capacious and 
 discriminating. From our knowledge of his charac- 
 ter, we conclude that his generous and manly nature 
 is incapable of doing injustice to any one. In the 
 present unfortunate controversy (growing out of 
 the veto of the bill to exchange the ten sections of 
 land for Mr. Crittenden's property), we think he is 
 not to be censured. An intelligent and high-minded 
 people will stand by him, for they cannot be igno- 
 rant of his worth or insensible of his wrongs." 
 
 In the month of December, 1833, there was 
 launched on the sea of journalism a newspaper 
 called the Political Intellig-encer, published at Lit- 
 tle Rock by Andrew J. Hunt, and edited by Col. 
 John W. Steele. This paper was ably edited and 
 contained many fine literary productions from the 
 pens of distinguished writers, and was the organ of 
 the administration to the end of Gov. Pope's term 
 
EARLY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 125 
 
 of office. This paper was Democratic in national 
 politics, but afterwards became a Whig organ, and 
 the name was changed to the Times, with A. J. 
 Hunt as editor. On the death of Mr. Hunt, the 
 paper was merged with the Advocate, and the two 
 papers thus consolidated called the Times and Ad- 
 vocate, with Albert Pike in control of the editorial 
 columns. 
 
 In October, 1836, Mr. Woodruff having been 
 elected by the first State Legislature to the office of 
 State Treasurer, sold the press, material and good 
 will of the Gazette to Messrs. Cole & Spooner, 
 practical printers. Spooner soon retired from the 
 paper and returned to Connecticutt to enter the 
 office of the Hartford Courant, a newspaper still in 
 existence. Cole continued to publish the Gazette 
 until sometime in the year 1840, when, getting into 
 bad odor in Little Rock, was compelled to leave, 
 and the paper again came into Mr. Woodruff's 
 possession. 
 
 In 1838 a newspaper was started at Fayette- 
 ville, Washington County, called the Fayetteville 
 Witness, Democratic in politics, and edited by 
 Charles F. Towns. This paper soon suspended 
 publication. 
 
 Farly in 1840 a paper called the Batesville 
 Eag-le, was established at that place,. Whig in 
 politics, and was ably edited by that gifted writer, 
 C. F. M. Noland, who wrote under the rather 
 2.vAVL'&va.^ nam de flume oi "Pete Whetstone." Mr. 
 
126 EARIvY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 
 
 Noland derived his pen name from a series of back- 
 woods sketches written by himself and published in 
 the New York Spirit of The Times. The leading- 
 figfure in these sketches was a typical hunter and 
 trapper named Peter Whetstone, who lived on the 
 "Devil's Fork" of Little Red River, then in Con- 
 way County, but now in Van Buren County, Ar- 
 kansas. Whetstone was almost a giant in physical 
 proportions, and was a jolly, good natured fellow, 
 fond of fun and a frolic, but "mighty handy" with 
 his rifle on occasions. Mr. Noland's contributions 
 to the literature of the day gained for him wide- 
 spread notoriety as a writer, and his sketches were 
 reproduced in other journals both in and out of the 
 State. 
 
 The years between 1840 and 1850 were produc- 
 tive of a great many ventures in journalism in the 
 State. About this time, 1840, a Whig paper called 
 the Star was started at Little Rock by David Lam- 
 bert, which advocated Gen. William Henry Harri- 
 son for the Presidency. This paper was edited with 
 much ability, and, although a star of the first magni- 
 tude, editorially, it soon ceased to shine in the jour- 
 nalistic firmament. A few numbers only of the 
 paper were issued after the election, the last issue 
 containing the full returns of the Presidential elec- 
 tion in 1840. 
 
 A paper called the Southern Shield was pub- 
 lished at Lake Village, Chicot County, owned and 
 edited by Col. De la Fletcher Roysden, a prominent 
 
EJARLY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 127 
 
 citizen of that county, and who was a Presidential 
 Elector on the Whig- national ticket in 1840. 
 
 In 1841, The Arkansas State Democrat, of Hel- 
 ena, was changed to the Southern Sentinel and con- 
 ducted by R. J. BuUard, Mr. Hanley, the former 
 editor, retiring. 
 
 In the month of February, 1842, Messrs. Van 
 Horn & Stern established the Arkansas Intellig-en- 
 cer, at Van Buren, four miles from the western 
 boundary of the State. The editor in his salutatory 
 said of his paper : "It goes east from a point fur- 
 ther west than was ever before paper published in 
 these United States. " The Intellig-encer wdu^ neu- 
 tral in politics. This paper afterwards espoused 
 the Democratic cause and was edited by Mr. George 
 W. Clark. It continued to be published until the 
 beginning- of the Civil War. 
 
 About this time the Fori Smith Herald made 
 its debut, with Judge John P. Wheeler in the edi- 
 torial chair. The paper was Democratic in bias 
 and was conducted with signal ability. 
 
 Sometime in the year 1842, or 1843, William H. 
 Etter began publishing at Washington, Hempstead 
 County, a Whig paper called the Washington Tele- 
 graph. More than usual- ability was displayed in 
 the editorial management of this paper, and it ex- 
 erted great influence in the councils of its party. I 
 am of the opinion that the Telegraph has the dis- 
 tinction of being the only one of the ante helium 
 newspapers of the State that continued publication 
 
138 EARLY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 
 
 during the entire period of the Civil War. Judge 
 John R. Eakin, late of the Supreme Bench, was its 
 editor-in-chief during and for sometime after the 
 war. He was a vigorous and polished writer of the 
 old school in journalism. This newspaper is still 
 in existence, and is one of the connecting links be- 
 tween the "Old and the New." It is not often that 
 a newspaper reaches and passes its fiftieth mile 
 stone in an unbroken career of usefulness and influ- 
 ence, as is the case with the Teleg^ra-ph. 
 
 The Camden Beacon was started about this 
 time, edited by James J. Jones, and was an organ 
 of the Whig party. 
 
 In 1843 there was published at the capital a 
 paper called the Tribune, which was edited by 
 Cyrus W. Weller, and supported Richard C. Byrd 
 for Governor in 1844. This paper succeeded to the 
 press and material of the Times and Advocate, 
 which had ceased to exist, and was published by a 
 Mr. Gish. In the columns of this paper appeared 
 for the first time the oft-published poem, "The Old 
 Canoe," and whose parentage has been variously 
 claimed. This beautiful poem has been attributed 
 by some to Albert Pike, but Gen. Pike, never to 
 my knowledge, claimed its authorship. This poem 
 was written by Thomas J. Worthen, of Little Rock, 
 a young man of much literary promise. Mr. Wor- 
 then was a contributor to the literary columns of 
 the L/ouisville (Ky.) Journal and other periodicals. 
 
EARIvY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 129 
 
 This brilliant young' writer was stricken with con- 
 sumption and died at an early age. 
 
 In the spring of 1843, Mr. Woodruff again sold 
 the Gazette, This time to Benjamin J. Borden, 
 who changed the political complexion of the paper 
 from Democratic to Whig. Under the management 
 and editorship of Mr. Borden, the Gazette did 
 valiant service for the Whig party. This change 
 left the Democratic party without an organ at the 
 seat of government. 
 
 To meet the demand for a paper espousing 
 Democratic principles, the Arkansas Banner was 
 flung to the breeze, with Dr. Solon Borland as editor. 
 Dr. Borland had had considerable experience as a 
 newspaper writer, having been connected with one 
 of the leading daily papers at Memphis, Tenn. Dr. 
 Borland continued to edit the Banner until the 
 breaking out of the Mexican war, when he was 
 elected Major of the First Arkansas Regiment of 
 Volunteers, and shortly afterwards left with his 
 regnment for Mexico. He was succeeded in the edi- 
 torial control of the Baizner by Lambert J. Reardon 
 and Lambert A. Whitely. This paper continued to 
 be published until sometime in 1853, when it suc- 
 cumbed to the fate which had already overtaken so 
 many of the early newspapers. 
 
 In 1846, Mr. William E. Woodruff again em- 
 barked in the newspaper business and began the 
 publication of the Arkansas Democrat., with Mr. 
 John E). Knight, who is still a citizen of Little 
 
130 EARLY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 
 
 Rock, as associate editor. Mr. Woodruff continued 
 the publication of the Democrat until sometime in 
 1850, when the Gazette again came into his hands, 
 and the two papers were consolidated, under the 
 name of the Gazette and Democrat. Thus the old 
 battle-scarred veteran, after having sojourned for 
 awhile in the camp of the enemy, was brought back 
 into the Democratic fold. Mr. Alden M. Woodruff, 
 then a very young man, was made associate editor. 
 
 The Arkansas Whig- was established at Little 
 Rock about this time by Messrs. J. M. and J. D. 
 Butler, practical printers and publishers. The 
 Whig- was very ably edited, at first by the brilliant 
 and talented Robert C. Parrelly, and afterwards by 
 Joseph Still well, Esq., a leading member of the 
 Little Rock bar. The Whig expired in 1854. 
 
 In the meantime the Gazette and Democrat 
 passed into the possession of Capt. C. Columbus 
 Danley, who became the editor, and who associated 
 with him in the publication of the paper William F. 
 Holtzman. The double name of the paper was 
 retained until the appearance of the True Democrat, 
 when the word "Democrat" was dropped, and the 
 paper has ever since been known as the Arkansas 
 Gazette. The Gazette has been in continuous exis- 
 tence from the year 1819 to the present time, with 
 the exception of a suspension during the civil war, 
 from September, 1863, to 1865, when publication 
 was resumed. 
 
EARLY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 131 
 
 The True Democrat was started in 1854 by Col. 
 Richard H. Johnson and Capt. R. S. Yerkes, Col. 
 Johnson doing- the editorial writing. In 1860 Col. 
 Johnson was the candidate for Governor on the 
 straight Democratic ticket, and withdrew from the 
 editorship of the paper. He was succeeded in that 
 capacity by Major E)lias C. Boudinot, with John S. 
 Black assistant editor. This paper suspended publi- 
 cation shortly before the occupation of Little Rock 
 by the Federal army in' September, 1863. 
 
 Sometime in the year 1855 there appeared at 
 Fayetteville a newspaper that gained no little noto- 
 riety. This was the Inde-pendent, and was edited 
 by that prince of wits, William Quesenbury, popu- 
 larly known as "Bill Cush." This writer was a 
 "fellow of infinite jest and humor," and he made 
 the columns of the Independent sparkle with the 
 brilliancy of the diamond. He was, also, a carica- 
 turist of no mean degree, and his political cartoons 
 were the subject of much merriment, and of no lit- 
 tle chagrin on the part of those politicians who 
 happened to be the objects of his satire and ridicule. 
 One of these cartoons appeared just after the 
 gubernatorial election in 1860 and bore the title 
 "Tom, Dick and Harry." Judge Thomas Hubbard 
 of Hempstead County, the Union candidate for Gov- 
 ernor, was represented as " Old Mother Hubbard " 
 of nursery rhyme fame, diligently searching the 
 cupboard for the traditional bone to give to her no 
 less traditional dog. But finding the cupboard 
 
132 EARLY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 
 
 bare of provender for her faithful canine, was in 
 much perplexity. Col. Richard H. Johnson, the 
 straight-out Democratic candidate, was mounted 
 upon a whiskey barrel, surrounded by a crowd of 
 devoted adherents, explaining how it all happened ; 
 while Col. Henry M. Rector, the independent Demo- 
 cratic candidate, was represented as wearing a 
 rooster head and gallantly strutting and lustily 
 crowing over his victory. 
 
 The Old Line Detnocrai was established in the 
 spring of 1860, with Major Thomas C. Peek as edi- 
 tor. The paper supported the candidacy of Col. 
 Henry M. Rector, the independent Democratic can- 
 didate for Governor. Col. Rector was elected at 
 the August election, 1860. 
 
 In the early part of 1860, Dr. C. V. Meador 
 started the publication of the National Democrat, a 
 paper which supported Stephen A. Douglass, of 
 Illinois, for the Presidency. This paper had but a 
 weakly existence and sank into an early grave. 
 
 Of all the persons named in connection with the 
 newspapers here mentioned, either as editor or pub- 
 lisher, only two remain alive to-day. These are 
 Major Thomas C. Peek, now of San Antonio, Texas, 
 and Mr. John E). Knight, of Little Rock. 
 
EARLY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 133 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 The Territorial Militia — Indians — Church 
 History. 
 
 Shortly after my arrival in Little Rock, the 
 annual regimental muster of the militia of the county 
 took place. During- the previous summer one Chris- 
 tian Brumbach, a German bricklayer and plasterer, 
 was elected colonel of the regiment. The election 
 of Brumbach to the colonelcy was effected more in 
 a spirit of fun than otherwise, hardly any one sup- 
 posing for a minute that he would accept the prof- 
 fered honor. He did accept, however, qualified and 
 was duly commissioned by the Governor. Colonel 
 Brumbach, as I shall now call him, at once set 
 about organizing his staff and getting ready for the 
 annual muster. He went to considerable expense 
 in procuring a uniform befitting his rank. This 
 uniform was fashioned after that worn by officers 
 in the Revolutionary War, and was profusely be- 
 decked with gold lace and gilt bullet buttons. He 
 also wore a cocked hat and feather. The Colonel 
 was a heavy set man, very awkward in his move- 
 ments, and had a face resembling the full moon. 
 
If4 EARLY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 
 
 Besides, he was bow-legged and pigeon-toed — cer- 
 tainly not a very acceptable model for a soldier. 
 
 In the regiment was a company commanded by 
 Capt. Fowler, the law partner of Robert Critten- 
 den, Esq. Fowler's company, as it was called, was 
 composed of the flower of Little Rock's chivalry, 
 and was handsomely uniformed and equipped and 
 splendidly drilled. The balance of the regiment 
 was composed of those persons from different parts 
 of the county who were subject to militia duty. 
 This part of the regiment reported at the annual 
 muster, clad in what seemed to each individual mili- 
 tiaman best fitting the occasion, or as necessity 
 demanded. They were armed in a like indiscrimi- 
 nate fashion. Some had long squirrel rifles, some 
 shot-guns, while others had hickory sticks, blue 
 cotton umbrellas and other such warlike weapons. 
 The regimental band consisted of a fife and drum, 
 and the repertoire consisted chiefly of "Yankee Doo- 
 dle," "The White Cockade," and such like inspir- 
 ing tunes. 
 
 The place appointed for the rendezvous was an 
 open block between Main and Scott streets, and 
 what is now Sixth and Seventh streets. As soon 
 as the regiment was formed, the Colonel appeared, 
 gorgeously appareled and mounted on a tall, raw- 
 boned white horse, very finely caparisoned. After 
 putting his troops through several evolutions, he 
 marched them down to the corner of Main and 
 Markham streets, where they were to be inspected 
 
EARLY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 135 
 
 and reviewed by the Governor. Just as the Gover- 
 nor and staff were passing- down the line on their 
 tour of inspection, a heavy rain that had been 
 threatening- all day came down in torrents, and the 
 whole reg-iment, with the exception of Fowler's 
 company and a few members of other companies, 
 precipitately broke ranks and made for shelter in 
 the neighboring houses, leaving the Colonel no 
 regiment to command, and the Governor none to in- 
 spect. The scene was ludicrous in the extreme, the 
 doughty Colonel, his handsome uniform soaked with 
 water and feathers bedraggled, trying in vain to 
 rally his scattered forces, while those who were 
 armed with umbrellas were standing in the now al- 
 most entirely deserted ranks, using their weapons 
 as protection against the downpour of rain. The 
 Colonel was so mortified and chagrined at the con- 
 duct of his troops in the presence of the commander- 
 in-chief that he ordered a courtmartial to try the 
 runaways. The courtmartial fined each man who 
 left the ranks five dollars, and the Colonel com- 
 pelled payment in every case. This ended Col. 
 Brumbach's career as an officer, for at the next- 
 regular election for regimental officers^ which came 
 off shortly afterwards. Col. Brumbach was rele- 
 gated to the ranks. 
 
 About the first of November, 1832, shortly 
 after my arrival in Arkansas, there passed through 
 Little Rock six or seven thousand Choctaw and 
 Chickasaw Indians from North Mississippi and West 
 
136 EARLY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 
 
 Tennessee on their way to their new homes in the 
 Indian Territory. The presence of this vast body 
 of Indians, with their household goods, cattle and 
 ponies, made a sight never to be forgotten. These 
 Indians were attended by several United States offi- 
 cers and surgeons. 
 
 Two days before this migrating party reached 
 Little Rock, an officer arrived in town and warned 
 the citizens of the thieving propensities of the 
 lower class of the Indians, and advised them to 
 close their stores and dwellings while they were 
 passing through. With all the vigilance that could 
 be displayed, many articles of the utmost useless- 
 ness to the Indians disappeared from the yards of 
 private residences. This body of Indians was 
 several days in crossing the river, although hurried 
 out of town as rapidly as possible. They had a 
 great desire to loiter and spy around, and had to be 
 driven almost like sheep. Most of the males wore 
 only the breechcloth, leggings and moccasins, the 
 latter profusely ornamented with variously colored 
 beads and porcupine quills. They were, for the 
 "most part, a fine looking body of men. The women 
 rode ponies, manwise, and had their papooses slung 
 in blankets at their backs. 
 
 These two tribes were attended by their princi- 
 pal chiefs, Pittman Colbert, a French-Chickasaw 
 half breed, and Greenwood Le Plore, a French- 
 Choctaw half breed. These men were well educa- 
 ted and had considerable refinement. They were 
 
BARLY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 137 
 
 very wealthy and traveled in great style and com- 
 fort, having large roomy carriages and numerous 
 baggage wagons and large numbers of negro 
 slaves. Their state and authority resembled that 
 of the patriarch of old. They were looked up to 
 as the fathers of their people, whose word was law. 
 
 Greenwood Le Flore became dissatisfied with 
 the country soon after reaching the Indian Terri- 
 tory, and severed his tribal relation. He returned 
 with his family and slaves to Mississippi, and be- 
 came a citizen of the United States. He afterwards 
 represented his county in the State legislature. 
 
 The spring of 1833 witnessed the arrival of 
 another large body of Indians bound for the Nation. 
 These Indians were dreadfully scourged by the rav- 
 ages of the cholera, which invaded their ranks when 
 they reached the Mississippi River at Memphis. 
 Large numbers of them died on the march, and it 
 was said that their route westward from the Mis- 
 sissippi was strewn thick with graves. 
 
 These disease-stricken Indians were not per- 
 mitted to cross the river at Little Rock, but were 
 compelled to cross several miles below town and go 
 out by way of Fourche, where they struck the mil- 
 itary road. "As soon as they reached the pine hills 
 southwest of town the disease began to abate. 
 
 It was during the prevalence of the cholera 
 along the Mississippi River that year that my old 
 friend, the noble and generous-hearted Captain 
 David Miller, commander of the "Reindeer," was 
 
138 EARI^Y DAYS IN ARKANSAS, 
 
 stricken with the dreadful plague and died. Cap- 
 tain Miller was among' the very first steamboatmen 
 to navigate the Arkansas River. 
 
 Several years previous to this exodus of Indians, 
 the Quapaws had removed from the southwestern 
 part of Arkansas to the mountains near the head 
 waters of the Arkansas in the Indian Territory. 
 Shortly after their arrival there, Old Saracen, a 
 head-chief, returned to Arkansas and begged the 
 Governor to allow him to remain and pass his last 
 days in the land of his forefathers. Governor Pope 
 explained to the old chief that he had no authority 
 to grant him his request, but told him to remain if 
 he so greatly desired to do so and that he would not 
 be molested. The old Indian seemed to be deeply 
 grateful, and returned to his old home in Jefferson 
 County, where he passed the remainder of his days 
 in peace and quiet. A beautiful story is told of this 
 old Indian chief, which I reproduce from a paper 
 called "Souvenir of a Silver Jubilee," in honor of 
 Rt. Rev. Edward Fitzgerald, Catholic Bishop of 
 Little Rock : 
 
 "On one occasion a band of Chickasaw Indians 
 stole two children from a trapper's family living a 
 few miles below Pine Bluff. The white settlers 
 were greatly alarmed. The news was brought to 
 Saracen. Going to the weeping mother, he said, 
 'When the sun is so high (pointing with his hand) 
 Saracen will bring your children. If Saracen not 
 find them, you will see Saracen no more.' Alone 
 
EARLY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 139 
 
 and unaided, he overtook the marauding' party near 
 Arkansas Post. With Indian warwhoop and tom- 
 ahawk uplifted, he sprang- in upon them and took 
 the children. For this deed a monument will likely 
 be^erected to his memory at Pine Bluff. For this, 
 and his kindness to Catholic missionaries, a memo- 
 rial window was placed in his honor in St. Joseph's 
 Church, Pine Bluff." 
 
 Gov. Pope made a practice of entertaining- the 
 members of the Legislature at dinner, during the 
 sessions of that body. On one of these occasions, 
 the member from Hot Spring County, a Mr. Wells, 
 familiarly known as "Old Mountain Sprout," was 
 among the guests. The census of the Territory 
 had just been taken, and the Governor wishing to 
 pay some attention to the member from Hot Spring 
 asked him what the census of his county was, and 
 received this amusing reply, "Well Governor, I 
 reckon I'm about the most sensible man in the 
 county, or they wouldn't have sent me here." This 
 reply sent a broad smile around the table. The 
 Governor, however, did not exhibit the slightest sign 
 of amusement at this very unexpected answer to his 
 question. A gentleman sitting next to Mr. Wells 
 explained to him the meaning of the Governor's 
 query, and he proceeded to give him the desired in- 
 formation. 
 
 Upon his return after the adjournment of the 
 Legislature, the old man, in giving an account of 
 the Governor's entertainment, informed his neigh- 
 
140 EARLY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 
 
 bors that the Governor g-ave his guests tin cups to 
 drink from. Uneducated and unaccustomed to the 
 refinements of a higher civilization, this man repre- 
 sented a type of pioneer life as honest as it was rug- 
 ged, and as incorruptible as truth itself. Reared 
 in the hard school of experience, constantly battling 
 with the forces of nature and the wild beast of the 
 forest, these men became possessed of a large amount 
 of hard common sense, and an absolute love and 
 veneration of truth and justice. 
 
 A decided sensation was created in Little Rock 
 in the fall of 1832, by the appearance of a Metho- 
 dist preacher from Indiana, who took charge of the 
 Methodist church as pastor. 
 
 At that time this congregation worshipped in 
 McLane & Badgett's warehouse, on the alley just 
 east of where the Capital Hotel now stands. This 
 man was Alfred W. Arrington, preacher, lawyer, 
 politician and author. He was brilliant in all these 
 callings — an intellectual giant — but a moral mon- 
 strosity. In stature he was over six feet tall, and 
 weighed nearly one hundred and eighty pounds. 
 His limbs were long and powerful, with very large' 
 hands and feet. He had large, wide-opened light 
 blue eyes, and his hair was of a flaxen color. One 
 of his most striking features was his mouth, which 
 was that of a sensualist. In eloquence he was re- 
 sistless, and in logic convincing. His preaching 
 was the sensation of the day, and hundreds flocked 
 daily and nightly to hear him preach. A prominent 
 
EARLY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 141 
 
 lady, of another denomination, said of him after 
 hearing him deliver one of his fervid discourses, 
 that "he seemed to reach up and grasp the stars 
 and set them on his brow." His popularity, how- 
 ever, began to wane when it was found out that he 
 was not all he professed to be, and he was requested 
 to resign his pastorate, which he did and moved to 
 Missouri. There he became involved in a scandal 
 and was forced out of the ministry. Arrington 
 next turned up in Payetteville, Ark., where he be- 
 gan the practice of law, in which profession he 
 gained as great celebrity as he had already done in 
 the pulpit. To the law he added politics, and was 
 elected to the Legislature in 1842 from Washington 
 County, as a Whig. In the year 1844 he was 
 appointed an Elector on the National Whig ticket, 
 but having met Col. Ashley on the stump, and 
 listening to his speech on the Texas annexation 
 question, withdrew from the Whig electoral ticket, 
 declaring the Democrats were right on the question 
 of annexation. From Fayetteville he went to Texas, 
 and was elected a circuit judge, from which position 
 he resigned to avoid impeachment. We next hear 
 of this eratic genius, for genius he certainly was, 
 in Chicago, where he soon took a leading position at 
 the bar. It was in the latter city that he wrote his 
 infamous book, "The Desperadoes of the South- 
 west." This book, which had a wide circulation, 
 was a tissue of falsehoods and wild imaginings 
 from beginning to end. Some of the most eminent 
 
142 EARLY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 
 
 men of our State were among- his "Desperadoes." 
 He pretended to give an account of the Pope-Now- 
 land duel, in which he called Fent Nowland "Kent 
 Toland," and made of that splendid character a 
 veritable desperado. Col. Fowler, he called "Col. 
 Towler," and placed him in the same uncompliment- 
 ary category. This strange make-up of greatness 
 and meanness died a few years ago in the city of 
 Chicago. 
 
 The first office building erected in Little Rock, 
 occupied the lots on the north side of Markham 
 street, where the Dodge & Meade block now stands. 
 The building was a long one-story brick, containing 
 fourteen rooms, divided into suits of two rooms each, 
 front and rear, and was the property of Colonel 
 Ashley. Adjoining this building on the west, and 
 located on the lot on which the City Hall now 
 stands, was a frame building containing two fairly 
 large-sized rooms. One of these rooms was occu- 
 pied by the Superior Court of the Territory, while 
 the other room was used by the Rev. James W. 
 Moore as a school room, and in which he preached 
 on Sundays to the Presbyterian congregation, of 
 which he was the first pastor. This congregation 
 was the nucleus of the now flourishing First Pres- 
 byterian Church of Little Rock. The Rev. Mr. 
 Moore was succeeded in the pastorate by the Rev. 
 Aaron Williams, father of Colonel Sam W. Will- 
 iams. The Revs. Messrs. Henderson and Joshua 
 F. Green were among the old-time pastors of this 
 congregation. 
 
EARLY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 143 
 
 In 1833, the Presbyterians began the erection 
 of a frame church building near the southeast corner 
 of Main and Cherry (Second) streets, nearly on the 
 same ground on which Strattiiian's shoe store now 
 stands. This building was used for church pur- 
 poses until about 1853, when the congregation built 
 a commodious house of worship on East Markham 
 street, between Cumberland and Rock streets. The 
 Rev. Thomas R. Welch succeeded Mr. Green in the 
 pastorate of this church, and continued as such until 
 his death. 
 
 I often acted as deputy clerk of the Superior 
 Court during the absence of the clerk. Major Will- 
 iam Field. On one occasion while the court was in 
 session Judge Benjamin Johnson, one of the judges 
 of the couft, and who was at times very irritable, 
 discovered Colonel Ashley in the act of whittling, 
 with his pen knife, one of the wooden benches in the 
 court room. Doubtless wishing for some object 
 upon which to vent his ill-humor that day, he called 
 out with some show of impatience, "Colonel Ashley, 
 I wish you would quit cutting this court house to 
 pieces !" To which Colonel Ashley replied good 
 naturedly, "If it pleases your honor, I do not know 
 who has a better right to do so ; it is my property." 
 
 Besides being the Clerk of the Superior Court, 
 which was really a Federal position, Major Field 
 was also the Postmaster, a combination of official 
 preferment not considered' incompatible at that 
 time. Major Field was succeeded in the Post-office 
 
144 EARIvY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 
 
 by Judge David Fulton, father of the Hon. William 
 S. Fulton, who was in turn succeeded by Mr. Bar- 
 nett Williams, uncle of the late Robert W. and 
 Richard H. Johnson. Barnett Williams was a 
 most excellent man, but had some peculiar eccen- 
 tricities, being- an old bachelor. The boys of the 
 town used to worry the old gentleman very much 
 by popping- their heads in at the general delivery 
 window, and enquiring in assumed voices for mail 
 for fictitious persons, and then scampering away. 
 One of their favorite names was Thompson. One day 
 a man with a very squeaky voice appeared at the 
 window and asked if there was anything for 
 Thompson. The Postmaster replied without look- 
 ing up from his work of assorting letters, "Yes, 
 there's a big stick here for Thompson." The man, 
 who was a stranger, was thunderstruck with aston- 
 ishment at this reply to his question, and demanded 
 an explanation, which was at once given when Mr. 
 Williams discovered who the enquirer was. On 
 another occasion a Methodist preacher, by the name 
 of Bump, a man of great dignity of deportment, and 
 who possessed a rich, deep bass voice, approached 
 the general delivery window and asked in deep 
 measured tones for letters for Bump. Mr. Williams, 
 who did not know Parson Bump, as he was called, 
 replied, "If you don't bump yourself out of this 
 office at once I'll bump you out at the toe of my 
 boot." "Sir!" responded the Parson, "what do 
 you mean?" Mr. Williams soon saw the mistake he 
 
EARLY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 145 
 
 had made, and hastened to apologize for his seeming 
 rudeness and to explain matters. Williams re- 
 mained Postmaster until 1846, when he was re- 
 moved, and Mr. William E. Woodruff appointed as 
 his successor. 
 
 When I came to Little Rock in 1832, there stood 
 on the south side of Mulberry (Third) street, be- 
 tween Main and Scott streets, a neat hewed log 
 church house, built by the Baptist denomination in 
 1825 and which was presided over by the Rev. Silas 
 T. Toncroy, until 1829. 
 
 In the spring of 1832, the Rev. Benjamin F. 
 Hall, of Kentucky, a noted revivalist, belonging to 
 the Christian denomination, arrived in Little Rock 
 and began to hold revival services in the Baptist 
 church. His preaching completely revolutionized 
 the Baptist church, nearly all- the members of the 
 latter denomination joining the new church upon its 
 organization in the following summer. In this con- 
 nection, it may not be out of place to give a short 
 account of the visit of the celebrated revivalists, the 
 Revs. Messrs. John T. Johnson and Thomas Rick- 
 etts, in 1843. These gentlemen were from Kentucky 
 and were ministers of the Cbristian church. The 
 Rev. John T. Johnson was a brother of Judge Ben- 
 jamin Johnson, Judge of the Superior Court of 
 Arkansas Territory. Both of these gentlemen 
 were endowed with splendid oratorical powers and 
 preached with great force and persuasion. Their 
 preaching made extensive inroads into the member- 
 
146 EARI/Y DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 
 
 ships of other denominations, but after the excite- 
 ment attending the revival had become allayed, 
 many of the accessions from the Methodist and 
 Presbyterian churches returned to their old folds. 
 This great revival was kept up day and night for 
 about two months. 
 
EARIyY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 147 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 IvAST Years of the Territory. 
 
 The population of the Territory in 1833, was, 
 according^ to the national census, which had been 
 recently taken, 40,026. That of Little Rock was 
 given at 527 souls. 
 
 A large immigration, principally from Tennes- 
 see, Mississippi, North Carolina and Georgia, but 
 also from Kentucky and Virginia, began to flow 
 into the Territory, and the outlook for Arkansas' 
 future prosperity was very encouraging. 
 
 In the first week of the month of March, 1833, 
 active preparations were begun for erecting the 
 Legislative Assembly Building, as it was then 
 called, on the site selected by the Governor, which 
 was a block of ground facing Center street, and 
 which also fronted on the Arkansas River. Two 
 other sites were offered the Governor on which to 
 erect the buildings. They were the piece of ground 
 now known as the Tucker Block, opposite the 
 Pulaski County Court House, and the square on 
 which the First Presbyterian Church now stands. 
 
 Some objection was raised against the site se- 
 lected. It was urged by some of the objectors that 
 
148 EARLY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 
 
 the spot was an old Indian burial ground,* but the 
 Governor dismissed the subject by saying, "We 
 will build a monument to their memory." In dis- 
 cussing the appropriateness of the site, the Gov- 
 ernor said in a letter to the public : "It is a com- 
 manding situation on the river, with a street on 
 every side, and the view from the river or the town 
 can never be obscured by other buildings." The 
 funds for erecting the public buildings for the Ter- 
 ritory were, as I have already shown, derived 
 from the sale of certain public lands, donated by 
 Congress for that purpose. 
 
 Congress had also donated to the Territory an 
 additional one thousand acres of land to provide a 
 court house and jail for the use of Pulaski County. 
 A portion of this thousand acre grant lay adjacent 
 to the town, south of Markham street and east of 
 the Quapaw Line, and is now known as Pope's Ad- 
 dition to the City of Little Rock. 
 
 In order to correct an erroneous impression in 
 regard to this land, I will here state that the term 
 "Pope's Addition," which so often occurs in the 
 transfer of property in the City of Ivittle Rock, had 
 no reference whatever to Governor Pope's owner- 
 ship of the land, of which he did not possess a foot, 
 but was simply a designation bestowed upon the 
 
 *NoTE. — As stated in Chapter VI, a number of the members 
 of the gold-seeking- expedition of 1809 from New Orleans who 
 had sickened and died were buried here. The place may also 
 have been an Indian burial ground. 
 
EARLY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 149 
 
 land from th'e fact of its having been laid off and 
 disposed of by the Governor in his official capacity. 
 
 The funds rising from the sale of the Thousand 
 Acre Grant, with the exception of a small amount 
 reserved for building the Pulaski County jail, and 
 which was not sufficient for that purpose and had 
 to be supplemented by an appropriation by the 
 county court, was merged into the Legislative As- 
 sembly Building Fund. 
 
 While the workmen were engaged in excavating 
 for the foundation of the west wall of the main 
 building, they came across two rude coffins which 
 seemed to have been hewn out of pine logs and cov- 
 ered with rough pine slabs. When the covers were 
 removed the log coffins were found to contain the 
 remains of men, but there was nothing left to indi- 
 cate of what race or kindred they were. The only 
 thing certain was that they had been long buried, 
 although many of the larger bones were in a fair 
 state of preservation. 
 
 The laying of the corner-stone of this now his- 
 toric old building was conducted in the simplest 
 and most matter-of-fact manner possible. Unlike 
 similar occasions at a later day, there were no cere- 
 monies observed, whatever. Of the adult persons 
 present at that corner-stone laying, I presume, I am 
 the only one living to-day. The work progressed 
 slowly, and it was not until nearly the end of 
 the year that the walls were up and the building 
 enclosed. 
 
150 EARLY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 
 
 The main building, containing- the Council 
 Chamber and the Hall of the Assembly, on the sec- 
 ond floor, presented about the same external appear- 
 ance as it does to-day. The east and west wings 
 were separated from the main building by open 
 courts, on the north and south sides of which ran 
 paved porticos, with brick columns supporting the 
 roofs. These open courts were walled up several 
 feet high, but had no roof. They stood exposed to 
 the weather for several years and peach bearing 
 trees grew up within them. The offices of the State 
 Treasurer and the Commissioner of Mines, Manu- 
 factures and Agriculture now occupy the places 
 where these open courts were. 
 
 • The larger part of the east wing of the Capitol 
 building was to be devoted to the use of Pulaski 
 county as a court house and office of the clerk of the 
 circuit court. The circuit clerk was also clerk of 
 the county and probate courts and ex-officio recorder. 
 For a long time there was no second floor in the 
 south or circuit court end of the east wing, the room 
 being open clear to the roof. It was afterwards 
 floored over and the second floor used as a county 
 court room. Pulaski county continued to use this 
 part of the building for many years, and was finally 
 ousted by a decree of the Supreme Court. 
 
 The north end of the east wing was designed 
 for the use of the Superior Court, with the law; 
 library and judges' chamber above. The judges 
 did not have then, as now, separate chambers. The 
 
EARLY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 151 
 
 Superior Court of the Territory did not have any 
 opportunity of occupying this courtroom, as the 
 building- was not completed for some years, or until 
 after the Territory became a State, and this court- 
 room was occupied the first time by the Supreme 
 Court of the State. 
 
 The north end of the first floor of the west wing 
 of the building contained the United States District 
 Courtroom, the ofi&ce of the Clerks of the United 
 States Court and a jury room. The south end con- 
 tained the United States Marshal's office and a jury 
 room. 
 
 The second story of the west wing was devoted 
 to the use of the Governor, who occupied the two 
 rooms in the south end ; and the Secretary of State, 
 whose office was in the north end. The Auditor and 
 Treasurer occupied offices on the ground floor of the 
 main building. 
 
 It is well to remember that this occupancy of 
 the Capitol was after the Territory became a State 
 in 1836. None of the Territorial officers ever occu- 
 pied this building. 
 
 A memorable event in the history of L/ittle 
 Rock was the stopping there, for a few hours only, 
 of the noted author, Washington Irving, and the 
 celebrated ornithologist, John James Audubon. 
 These gentlemen were returning east after having 
 been with the expedition sent out by the Govern- 
 ment, under command of Capt. B. Iv. E). Bonneville, 
 United States Army, to make a reconnoissance of 
 
152 EARLY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 
 
 the plains. The troops engaged in this expedition 
 were a part of a regiment of dragoons that had been 
 engaged in the second Black Hawk War during the 
 previous year. 
 
 It was during this expedition that Washington 
 Irving obtained material for his . highly interesting 
 book, entitled, "Adventures of Captain Bonne- 
 ville. " Audubon also secured on this trip many 
 sketches and descriptions of the native birds of the 
 far west, to be used in the preparation of his world 
 famous work, "Birds of America." 
 
 The citizens of the town tendered these dis- 
 tinguished authors a complimentary banquet, which 
 they were obliged to decline on account of the ina- 
 bility of the boat, the steamer "Ivittle Rock," on 
 which they were passengers, to lay over for th& 
 neccessary length of time. 
 
 After the purpose for which the expedition had 
 been sent out was accomplished, the regiment of 
 dragoons was disbanded, and Major Bonneville, 
 afterwards Brigadier General, settled at Fort Smith, 
 and became a leading citizen of that place after the 
 Civil War. He and the late William E. Woodruff, 
 Sr., were friends in boyhood at Brooklyn, N. Y., 
 and continued a life-long correspondence. Dr. Holt, 
 the surgeon to the expedition, became a 'citizen of 
 Little Rock, and was the step-father of the late 
 David F. Shall. Another member of the Bonneville 
 expedition who came to live at Ivittle Rock was 
 Thomas Parsel, a soldier in the regiment of dra- 
 
Robert Crittenden. 
 
EARLiY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 153 
 
 goons. He was for many years crier of the United 
 States Court. 
 
 In the fall of this year another man of national 
 reputation visited Little Rock. This distinguished 
 personage was ex-Gov. Sam Houston, formerly of 
 Tennessee, but who was at that time a resident of 
 the Cherokee Nation, Indian Territory, of which 
 tribe he had become a member by adoption, and who 
 was afterwards a conspicuous figure in the Texas 
 "War for Independence. Gen. Houston was one of 
 the most magnificent specimens of physical manhood 
 I have ever seen, being over six feet tall and admira- 
 bly proportioned. His head was large and finely 
 formed, with prominent but regular features. I 
 first saw him on the public road a few miles out 
 of town. He was riding a splendid bay horse, and 
 his saddle and bridle were of the most exquisite 
 Mexican workmanship and were elaborately orna- 
 mented with solid silver plates and buckles in pro- 
 fusion. He was enveloped in a Mexican "poncho," 
 which was richly ornamented with Mexican em- 
 broidery work. When I again saw him on the 
 streets of Ivittle Rock, he was dressed in a suit of 
 some dark rich material and wore immaculate linen. 
 It was hard to realize that this elegantly appearing 
 gentleman had voluntarily given up home and kin- 
 dred and official preferment to join himself to a 
 b^d of half-civilized Indians, and had adopted their 
 ^^ess when with them, and also, in a great meas- 
 ure, their habits of life. This remarkable man had 
 
154 EJARLY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 
 
 been a lawyer, Governor, and a United States Sena- 
 tor. He was, however, more conspicuous in the 
 field than in the halls of Congress. It is related 
 of him that during the sessions of the Senate he 
 was usually engaged in whittling sticks of soft 
 white pine or cedar, which were regularly provided 
 for him by the Sergeant-at-Arms. 
 
 As we have already seen, the Methodist congre- ' 
 gation worshipped in a warehouse in 1832. In the 
 year 1833, a plain little brick church, without any 
 attempt at ornamentation within or without, strictly 
 in keeping with the early simplicity of that denomi- 
 nation, was erected on the north side of Cherry 
 (Second) street between Main and Ivouisiana streets. 
 The first stationed preacher at the new church was 
 the Rev. Andrew Hunter, still a veteran in Method- 
 ism, whose previous and subsequent services in the 
 Master's vineyard took him into all parts of the 
 Territory and the Indian country. 
 
 In those early days ministers of the Gospel 
 were compelled to be more than mere pastors of a 
 peaceful flock. They were essentially ;preachers, 
 going into all the wild and sparsely settled regions 
 preaching, exhorting, condemning and consoling. 
 Besides, they had to be men of hardy frame and 
 undaunted courage in the presence of human foe and 
 the ravenous wild beasts with which the country 
 abounded. These men knew no fatigue of body, 
 nor weariness of spirit in their sacred calling. Such- 
 a man was Andrew Hunter. 
 
EARIyY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 155 
 
 The Rev. W. P. Ratcltffe, a godly and pious 
 man, succeeded to the pastorate of the Methodist 
 church in lyittle Rock. 
 
 One of the shining lights in Arkansas Metho- 
 dism in early days was Mrs. Ann Conway, mother 
 of Congressman Henry W. Conway and Governors 
 James S. and Elias N. Conway. This saintly 
 woman was affectionately known by all as "Mother 
 Conway." She was eloquent in prayer, and often 
 led, with trembling lips and simple trusting faith, 
 the public congregation in their devotions. When 
 attending the services of the Church, Mrs. Conway 
 habitually sat in a large old-fashioned split-bot- 
 tomed chair, placed near the altar rail. This old 
 chair was the object of much veneration, and was 
 permitted to occupy its accustomed place in the 
 Church long after its beloved owner had gone to 
 share her Master's Throne. I am of the belief that 
 this old chair was still in the Church when the 
 building was taken possession of by the Federal 
 Military authorities in 1863. 
 
 As this congregation suffered more from the 
 vicissitudes of war than did any other Church organ- 
 ization in the town, it may not be considered out of 
 place to give in this connection a bit of the history 
 of that period. 
 
 After the occupation of I/ittle Rock by the 
 Federal Army, this church building was taken pos- 
 session of by the Military authorities and turned 
 over to the Northern Church Organization. The 
 
156 EARLY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 
 
 only place then available for the old Second street 
 cong-regation to worship in was the brick building, 
 still standing- on the northwest corner of Main 
 and Fourth streets, now used for a drug store. 
 The first, or ground floor of this building was then 
 fitted up and used as a variety theatre. The the- 
 atrical performances at this house would often be 
 kept up on Saturday nights until nearly Sunday 
 morning. Then as the Holy Sabbath morn arrived, 
 the faithful pastor, Rev. J. R. Colburn, and his 
 little flock, would repair to the theatre, using the 
 top of the piano within the orchestra for a reading 
 desk, and offer up their devotions to the King of 
 kings. It sometimes happened that evil-minded 
 persons would invade the premises during the ser- 
 vices and roll heavy cannon-balls across the stage 
 behind the drop-curtain. A stop was soon put to 
 this annoyance, however, when the matter was 
 laid before proper authorities. It certainly pre- 
 sented a strange contrast, the services of prayei: 
 and praise being held where but lately the obscene 
 song and ribald jest held sway ; another illustration 
 of the Fortunes of War. 
 
 As it is my desire to be just to all sides, I have 
 to say that when the church was finally restored to 
 its rightful owners, the authorities caused the 
 building to be put in a good state of repair. 
 
 No sketch of early Arkansas Methodism, how- 
 ever limited, would be complete without mention of 
 that prince of pulpit orators, Augustus R. Winfield. 
 
IJARLiY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 157 
 
 This fervid preacher and eloquent orator, a veri- 
 table Boanerg-es, was another one of the product 
 of an age and time that demanded a peculiar order 
 of talent in the ministry, men who seemed fitted by 
 nature to the environments, and were equally bold, 
 fearless and aggressive, or tender, sympatheic and 
 loving when standing before the great men of this 
 earth, or when preaching to a rude and unlettered 
 congregation beneath the forest trees — God's first 
 Temple. 
 
158 EARLiY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 
 
 CHAPTER .XL 
 A Notable Political, Campaign. 
 
 In the month of May, 1833, there began one of 
 the most memorable political campaigns in the early 
 annals of Arkansas, Robert Crittenden and Ambrose 
 H. Sevier being the rival candidates for delegate to 
 Congress. 
 
 Mr. Crittenden was a Whig in national affairs, , 
 while Mr. Sevier represented national Democratic 
 principles. The issues of this campaign did not 
 involve much of national polity, but related almost 
 wholly to the conduct of public affairs within the 
 Territory. It was the well-known characters aad 
 great ability of the candidates that gave more than 
 usual prominence to this campaign. 
 
 The two political parties in the Territory were 
 then known as the "Sevier Party" and the "Crit- 
 tenden Party," respectively. 
 
 At the beginning of the campaign, Mr. Critten- 
 den proposed that the canvass be conducted without 
 that bitterness and intense party feeling which had 
 characterized former political discussions, and which 
 
EARIvY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 159 
 
 had been productive of so many evil consequences 
 among' the leading men of the times. 
 
 This proposal for moderation and toleration 
 was made by Mr. Crittenden in his opening speech, 
 and was acceded to by Mr. Sevier, who said : "I 
 will meet my honorable competitor more than half 
 way on that proposition." 
 
 Neither of the candidates made any attempt at 
 concealment or subterfuge, but were bold and out- 
 spoken in the enunciation and defense of the princi- 
 ples they represented. 
 
 At that period Mr. Crittenden was just enter- 
 ing the prime of life, being thirty-five years of age. 
 He was a splendid specimen of physical manhood, 
 and was in every essential a man to attract univer- 
 sal admiration. He possessed in an eminent degree 
 a mind at once logical and discriminative, to which 
 was added the rare gift of eloquence. Mr. Critten- 
 den was not, however, a man of the people, and his 
 speeches were better suited to the forum than the 
 hustings. 
 
 Like his opponent, Mr. Sevier was a man of 
 large physical proportions, somewhat taller than 
 Mr. Crittenden. He was of very dark complexion, 
 with fine dark eyes and raven black hair. In point 
 of eloquence and rhetorical finish, he was not the 
 equal of his opponent. But his appeals to the 
 sturdy common sense of the people, and his sallies 
 of wit and humor, were far more effective in winning 
 votes than was the polished eloquence of Mr. Crit- 
 tenden. 
 
160 EARLY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 
 
 While this campaign was strictly conducted on 
 the hig-h plane established at the outset by the 
 honorable rivals, some one of the opposition felt 
 called upon, after the election, to send Mr. Sevier a 
 challenge to fight a duel. Mr. Sevier's note in 
 reply to the challenge was one of the severest speci- 
 mens of sarcasm I have ever read, and it effectually 
 quieted the sender of the challenge. 
 
 Mr. Crittenden's defeat was overwhelming, and 
 was his last appearance in the political arena, fie 
 at once turned his whole attention to the practice of 
 his profession, and died shortly af terwa,rds at Vicks- 
 burg, Mississippi, where he had gone on professional 
 business. The circumstances surrounding tliis em- 
 inent Arkansan's death were sad in the extreme. 
 
 Mr. Crittenden had been retained in several 
 large • cases before the VIcksburg section of the 
 Supreme .Court of Mississippi, in which suits he 
 was both associated with and opposed by Missis- 
 sippi's great lawyers and orators, Sargent S. Pren- 
 tiss and Henry S. Foote. He had just finished' an 
 argument of seven hours' duration in . one of the 
 cases, arid at its close showed unmistakable signs 
 of great fatigue and weariness. When he sat down 
 the presiding judge asked him to re-state his au- 
 thorities bearing, on the case, saying that his utter- 
 ances were so rapid that the court could not keep 
 up with him. As he arose to give the court the de- 
 sired information, he staggered forward and fell 
 into the arms of a brother lawyer, in a dead faint. 
 
A 
 
 1 1 
 
 
 
 t^^^l^-^^s^ /^-^iA^ 
 
EJARLY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 161 
 
 Mr. Crittenden was conveyed to his hotel, where he 
 remained for several days under the care of a physi- 
 cian. When he was able to leave the hotel he went 
 to the court room to hear the decisions rendered, 
 which in one of his cases was favorable to his 
 clients. When the court was about to adjourn, Mr. 
 Crittenden arose and in a short speech which was 
 said to have been the perfection of grace and elo- 
 quence, thanked the court and its officers and attor- 
 neys for courtesies extended him and took his leave. 
 Upon returning- to the hotel, he at once went to his 
 room and to bed, from which he never arose, dying 
 in a very short time. 
 
 Away from home and wife and kindred ; beyond 
 the confines of the Territory he loved so well, and 
 which he had served so faithfully in its infancy, this 
 great man breathed his last. 
 
 It was during the Crittenden-Sevier campaign 
 that Albert Pike came prominently before the pub- 
 lic as a contributor to the political literature of the 
 day. Mr. Pike styled his contributions to the Ad' 
 vocaie '' Intercepted Letters," purporting to have 
 been written by Mr. Sevier to Messrs. Woodruff 
 and Ashley, and their replies thereto. These let- 
 ters were strikingly characteristic of the persons 
 named and fully portrayed the political opinions and 
 bias of the pretended authors. There also appeared 
 in the columns of the Advocate, about this time, 
 extracts from Pike's diary of his journeyings in the 
 
162 EARLY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 
 
 Indian and Mexican country, and also some of his 
 earliest political writings. 
 
 Albert Pike was a native of Boston, Mass., and 
 received a classical education at Harvard Univer- 
 sity. After teaching school for a while in Tennes- 
 see, he loaded his earthly possessions into a canoe 
 and floated down the Cumberland River to Padu- 
 cah, Ky., and took passage on a steamboat for St. 
 Louis, Mo. At that place he joined Choteau's 
 trading expedition, which was about to set out 
 across the plains for Santa Fe, Mexico. He next 
 made a trip through the Rio Grande country, re- 
 turning to Santa Fe. Here he joined a hunting 
 and trapping party bound for the Rocky Mountains. 
 This party of hunters and trappers had a very suc- 
 cessful trip and accumulated a large amount of furs 
 and peltries. The party now determined to return 
 east. They had the Indians make for them several 
 large birch bark canoes, into which they loaded 
 their store of furs, etc., and launched out into the 
 upper Arkansas, floating down the river to Fort 
 Bent, a point where the old Santa Fe trail crosses 
 the Arkansas River. After reaching Fort Bent, 
 they disposed of the results of their expedition to 
 the traders at that place, and the party, with the 
 exception of Pike, started overland for St. Louis. 
 Pike continued down the Arkansas River and 
 finally arrived at the plantation of Judge James 
 Woodson Bates, on the Piney, in Pope county. 
 When he reached Judge Bates' he was very sick 
 
EARLY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 163 
 
 ■with fever, and the g-ood old Judg-e took him and 
 kindly cared for him. Judge Bates became so 
 much attached to Pike that he offered him a home 
 for as long- as he would stay. Pike remained in 
 this nei£fhborhood teaching- school until the fall of 
 1833. It was here that he met and became ac- 
 quainted with Robert Crittenden and Mr. Sevier. 
 Mr. Crittenden became so much interested in the 
 young- scholar, on account of his learning and bril- 
 liancy, that he induced him to come to Little Rock 
 and embark in the newspaper business. No ade- 
 quate biography of Albert Pike can possibly be 
 g-iven in the limited space at my command, or in 
 following out the plan of this work. He became a 
 great lawyer, a noted poet, a profound scholar of 
 the oriental languages and a brave soldier. Ben. 
 Perley Poore, the veteran Washington City jour- 
 nalist of ante-bellum days, aptly styled Pike "The 
 Kit North and Korer of America." 
 
 Robert W. Johnson, who afterwards became a 
 United States Senator from Arkansas, had recently 
 returned from Kentucky, where he had attended a 
 law school. He became very much incensed against 
 certain persons, some of them high in political cir- 
 cles, an account of the attempted impeachment by 
 the United States Senate of his father. Judge Ben- 
 jamin Johnson, one of the Judges of the Superior 
 Court of the Territory. Mr. Johnson singled out 
 Absalom Fowler and Wm. Cummins as the instiga- 
 tors of the impeachment proceedings, and expressed 
 
 \ 
 
164 EARLY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 
 
 the determination of bring-mg- them to account. The 
 truth of the matter is, the articles of impeachment 
 were drawn up by Orson V. Howell, a practicing- 
 lawyer of the town, and indorsed by Messrs. Fowler 
 and Cummins. The charges were of a two-fold 
 character — official and personal. When the matter 
 was broug-ht up in the Senate it was referred to the 
 Committee on the Judiciary. Upon the testimony 
 of Gov. Pope, Secretary Fulton, the court officers 
 and nearly all the members of the Bar of the Circuit, 
 that committee reported adversely and recommended 
 that the impeachment proceeding's be dismissed, 
 which was done, thus completely vindicating' Judge 
 Johnson. 
 
 Mr. Johnson was induced to return, for a short 
 time, to Kentucky without carrying' out his avowed 
 purpose of calling' to account those who had been 
 mainly instrumental in the attempt to blacken his 
 father's character. His return to Kentucky at this 
 time was brought about by the friends of Sevier, 
 who was a candidate at the approaching election 
 for delegate to Congress, against Mr. Crittenden. 
 Shortly after the election in August, 1833, Mr. 
 Johnson again returned to Little Rock and proceeded 
 to seek redress for the wrongs inflicted upon his 
 father. He sent a challenge to Mr. Cummins, 
 which was intrusted to the hands of his friend, Mr. 
 Constantine Perkins, to be delivered. Mr. Cum- 
 mins declined to accept the challenge, on the ground 
 that he was old enough to be Mr. Robert Johnson's 
 
KARLY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 165 
 
 father, and also that he had a family to provide 
 for, and that his duty to his clients forbade his put- 
 ting his life in jeopardy. These objections were 
 reduced to writing at the request of Mr. Per- 
 kins, and signed by Mr. Cummins, who also stated 
 that he would always be prepared to repel any 
 attack that might be made upon him. 
 
 A few days after this interview', the par- 
 ties met on the streets, and Mr. Johnson attacked 
 Mr. Cummins with a walking stick. As he raised 
 the cane for a second blow, it was seized by Mr. 
 Cummins, and in the scuffle which ensued both gen- 
 tlemen were thrown to the ground, Mr. Cummins 
 uppermost. The latter attempted to draw a 
 weapon, but was prevented by the bystanders from 
 doing so, and the combatants were separated and 
 .placed under bonds to keep the peace. 
 
 On Saturday, August 15, a few days after the 
 occurrence just narrated, Mr. Johnson dispatched 
 by the hand of Mr. J. Madison Craig a challenge to 
 Mr. Absalom Fowler, also demanding satisfaction 
 for the indignity offered to his father. The chal- 
 lenge was taken to the law office of Messrs. Crit- 
 tenden & Fowler, on the southeast corner of Scott 
 and Chestnut (Seventh) streets, on the spot where 
 the private residence of Judge B. B. Battle, of the 
 Supreme Court, now Stands. Upon Mr. Craig 
 making known the object of his visit, he was po- 
 litely informed by Mr. Fowler that he should 
 refuse to receive any communication, whatever. 
 
166 EARIyY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 
 
 from Mr. Robert W. Johnson. Mr. Craig then in- 
 timated that he would receive a communication 
 from him, Craig, as Mr. Johnson's friend, as was 
 the law of the code. - At this announcement Mr. 
 Fowler arose from the chair in which he was sit- 
 ting, and, seizing another in a rather threatening 
 manner, pointed to the door, and Mr. Craig 
 withdrew. The result of this interview being re- 
 ported to Mr. Johnson, he at once had a number of 
 hand bills printed in which he denounced Mr. Fow- 
 ler as a coward and a persecutor of the innocent. 
 These hand bills were put up in the most conspic- 
 uous places about town. When Mr. Fowler was 
 advised of what had been done, he came down town 
 and proceeded to tear down the obnoxious placards. 
 When he reached the northwest corner of Main and 
 Markham streets, his attention was- called to the 
 fact that his adversary was standing on the oppo- 
 site corner. Mr. Johnson stepped into the street 
 and called out to Mr. Fowler that if he had a spark 
 of manhood left to draw and defend himself, thus 
 chivalrously giving his enemy time to draw his 
 weapon. They both fired simultaneously and 
 missed each other. They again drew and fired, 
 with like result. They then advanced upon each 
 other, but before they could close in they were in- 
 tercepted by the ofl&cers of the law and placed un- 
 der arrest. 
 
 Mr. Johnson had determined to horse whip 
 Orson V. Howell, the real author of the articles of 
 
EARIvY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 167 
 
 impeachment, considering- him beneath the dignity 
 of a challeng-e to fight a duel. Howell, however, 
 was sick in bed at the time, and died a short time 
 afterwards. 
 
 Filial love and affection for an aged parent, and 
 a man who had served his country with such distin- 
 guished honor as had Judge Johnson, was a pallia- 
 ting circumstance for the vindictiveness with which 
 this son pursued the traducers of his father's name 
 and fame. 
 
168 EARLY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 An EJvente'ul, Period. 
 
 In 1833 there occurred the most extensive and 
 disastrous overflow, to both life and property, that 
 had ever taken place on the Arkansas River within 
 the memory of the oldest inhabitant up to that 
 time. The river began to rise about the middle of 
 May, and attained its greatest height about the 
 first of June. Whole plantations, with all their 
 buildings, live stock and farming implements, were 
 completely swept away. A number of human lives 
 were lost in the devouring floods. The force of the 
 current was so resistless that where bends occurred 
 in the river the water ploughed across the points 
 of land made by these bends and created new 
 channels, leaving the old beds of the river in the 
 shape of lakes and bayous. 
 
 In several instances, farmers living on one side 
 of the river went to bed at night to awaken the next 
 morning to find their farms on the opposite side of 
 the river to where they were located the day before. 
 In other cases, some farms were diminished in size, 
 while others were increased in dimension. A numhpr 
 
EARLY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 169 
 
 of fine plantations were utterly ruined for cultiva- 
 tion by being- covered to the depth of three or four 
 feet by a deposit of sand which was left by the 
 waters when they receded. 
 
 One of the most unique affairs of honor, so 
 called, in the annals of duelling, occurred at Little 
 Rock in the month of October, 1833, and took place 
 at the corner of Main and Markham streets, then 
 the heart of the town, and was conducted without 
 the assistance of seconds, surgeons or friends on 
 either side; all the preliminaries being made, drawn 
 up and signed by the principals themselves, and 
 were based upon a code duello of their own de- 
 vising. The parties to this strange duel were Rob- 
 ertson Childers, a man of some prominence as a 
 lawyer, and one Stewart, a professional gambler. 
 The quarrel grew out of a dispute at cards. 
 
 Childers and Stewart agreed to meet on a cer- 
 tain day and hour at the corner of Main and Mark- 
 ham streets, the one to take position on the south- 
 east corner, where the First National Bank building 
 now stands, and the other on the northeast corner, 
 where Gibson's drug store now is. It was- further 
 agreed that double-barrelled shotguns, loaded with 
 buckshot, were to be used first, and, if neither was 
 injured, then pistols were to take the place of the 
 shotguns ; if they still remained unhurt, dirk knives 
 were to be drawn and they both to advance to the 
 middle of the street and proceed to carve each other 
 after the most approved fashion. 
 
170 EARLY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 
 
 On the day and hour fixed these two men met 
 as fer agreement, and proceeded to carry out their 
 bloody programme. At the first fire, Mr. Childers 
 received a slight flesh wound in the leg. The re- 
 maining barrels were discharged, without effect, 
 when the shotguns were thrown aside and pistols 
 resorted to, with bloodless result. The pistols 
 were then discarded and the murderous dirk knives 
 drawn, but just as the now infuriated combatants 
 were advancing for the final encounter. Judge Ben- 
 jamin Johnson, Judge of the Superior Court, ap- 
 peared upon the scene. He commanded the peace 
 and summoned the bystanders — a large crowd had 
 gathered by this time — to assist him in arresting 
 the parties. 
 
 Thus ended, without serious injury to either 
 party, what promised at the outset to be a fight to 
 the death of one or both of the participants. Chil- 
 ders and Stewart were heavily fined and put under 
 large bonds to keep the peace. 
 
 The Legislature of 1833 met in a one-story 
 frame house near the northwest corner of Main and 
 Mulberry (Third) streets. This building extended 
 for about ninety feet on Main street, and contained 
 four rooms, each about twenty feet square, fronting 
 on Main, and four shed rooms in the rear. The 
 building was divided by a hall east and west. The 
 partition dividing the two south front rooms had 
 been taken down, forming a room about forty feet 
 long by twenty feet wide. This room was used as 
 
EARLY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 171 
 
 the Hall of the Legislative Assembly. The Coun- 
 cil (Senate) used one of the smaller rooms on the 
 north side of the hallway for the deliberations of 
 that body ; while the remaining- rooms were for the 
 use of the committees of both houses. 
 
 The two bodies met at noon on the seventh day 
 of October, and organized by the election of John 
 Williamson, of Pope county. President of the Coun- 
 cil, and John Wilson, of Clark county. Speaker of 
 the House. 
 
 An exciting- and at the same time an amusing 
 scene occurred during this session of the Legisla- 
 ture, between Dr. Matthew Cunningham, an early 
 settler of the town and a prominent physician, and 
 J. Alexander, a representative from Washington 
 county. Dr. Cunningham had written and had pub- 
 lished in the Advocate an article severely criticising 
 Mr. Alexander's career as a legislator, charging 
 him, among other things, with stupidity and ignor- 
 ance ; and also taking the people of Washington 
 county to task for sending such a man to the Legis- 
 lature. 
 
 Alexander demanded of the editor of the paper 
 the name of the writer of the article, and was in- 
 formed that Dr. Cunningham was its author. That 
 afternoon, upon the adjournment of the Legislature 
 for the day, Alexander discovered Dr. Cunningham 
 crossing the street in the direction of the Legislative 
 building. He advanced to meet the Doctor, and as 
 he came within striking distance dealt him a blow 
 
172 EARL,Y DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 
 
 with a stick which felled him to the ground, and 
 stood over his prostrate enemy raining blow after 
 blow upon him. The Doctor's wife, who was stand- 
 ing in the doorway of their family residence, just 
 across the street, observing the state of affairs, 
 seized a large stick and went to her husband's res- 
 cue. Before Alexander could realize what was 
 about to happen, he received a furious blow over 
 the head and another in the face which brought him 
 to the ground and put a stop to the fight. The old 
 Doctor was considerably bruised but had no bones 
 broken. Alexander, however, was prevented from 
 attending to his Legislative duties for several days. 
 The winter of 1833-4 was a season of much 
 gayety at the capital. Numbers of beautiful and 
 brilliant women from the States who were visiting 
 relatives and friends in Arkansas, besides our native 
 wit and beauty, lent their fascinating presence to 
 the social circle. Party spirit, which had run high, 
 was now on the ebb. This party feeling had be- 
 come so intense and bitter during the previous years 
 that it had invaded the Church as well as the family 
 circle. Members of the same religious denomination 
 but of different political faith had, in some instances, 
 abstained from the sacrament of the "Lord's Sup- 
 per" because they did not feel that they were "in 
 love and charity with their neighbor." However 
 mistaken these partisans were in their ideas, they 
 were, at least, consistent, and declined to pretend 
 to "love and charity" when they had "hatred and 
 
EARLY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 173 
 
 malice" in their hearts. But, a better and more 
 reasonable feeling- had now taken possession of the 
 people and old friendships that had been severely 
 strained, and, in many cases, completely sundered, 
 were now beginning to be renewed, and old political 
 differences forgotten in the "era of good feeling" 
 that had dawned. 
 
 The terrible hardships and suffering expe- 
 rienced by the Indians who had previously passed 
 through the Territory of Arkansas by land on their 
 way to the Indian Territory soon satisfied the Gov- 
 ernment at Washington that some easier and more 
 expeditious mode of travel would have to be adopted. 
 Thereafter steamboats were employed for trans- 
 porting the Indians. This was certainly in accord- 
 ance with reason and the dictates of humanity. 
 
 During the years 1834-5-6 the tribes of the 
 Cherokees from Georgia, North Carolina and East 
 Tennessee, with a tribe of the friendly Creeks from 
 Alabama and lower Mississippi, were transported 
 by boats up the Arkansas River to the lands set 
 apart for them. The contract for conveying these 
 Indians to their new homes was secured by Captain 
 Simeon Buckner, an old steamboatman and a man of 
 great humanity, who treated the Indians under his 
 charge with great kindness and forbearance. The 
 boats engaged in this work were the "Portsmouth," 
 the "Princeton" and the "Creole." 
 
 Long years before this time, a band of the 
 Cherokees had broken loose from their tribal rela- 
 
174 EJARLY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 
 
 tions with the main body in Georgia, and had settled 
 in what is now Conway County, Ark. As late as 
 1827 their title to these lands had not been fully ex- 
 tinguished. 
 
 In November, 1832, to go back somewhat, a 
 band of sub-chiefs of the Seminoles arrived in 
 Little Rock, on their return from a tour of inspec- 
 tion of the country granted them by the Govern- 
 ment in exchange for their lands in Florida. This 
 band of Indians camped just below the town, and 
 remained for several days. I frequently visited 
 their camp. They had with them a negro inter- 
 preter named Sam, who was as black as the pro- 
 verbial " ace of spades," and who, although a slave, 
 possessed great influence among the tribe. 
 
 On their return to Florida these sub-chiefs, 
 who had been sent out to view the country, advised 
 against the proposed removal, stating, among other 
 objections, that the climate was cold and windy in 
 winter, whereas they were accustomed to a sub- 
 tropical climate. Besides, the method of procuring 
 subsistence for themselves and families was labori- 
 ous in comparison to. their easy life in Florida, where 
 they lived principally upon fish and fruits, which 
 were to be had in luxuriant abundance. 
 
 A delegation of the Seminoles visited Washing- 
 ton and had an interview with the President, in 
 which they stated their objections to leaving their 
 ancestral homes and begged to be allowed to remain 
 
EARLY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 175 
 
 in Florida. President Jackson told the delegation, 
 very emphatically, that they had to move. 
 
 For several years no steps were taken by the 
 Government to coerce these Indians. In the mean- 
 time the Seminoles were secretly making prepara- 
 tions to resist any such attempt should it be made. 
 
 During these years there was a large influx of 
 white settlers into Florida, and conflicts between 
 these settlers and the Indians were of frequent oc- 
 currence. The Seminoles, now aided by a band of 
 renegade Creeks, who had refused to go out with 
 their brethren under their principal chiefs, Rolla 
 and Chilley Mcintosh, in 1833, began to show a 
 spirit of open defiance to governmental authorit}'. 
 United States troops were sent to Florida to enforce 
 the order of removal. After several fruitless at- 
 tempts to bring the refractory Indians to obedience. 
 Gen. ^achary Taylor was placed in command of the 
 troops, and his forces strengthened by the addition 
 of the Third, Fourth and Fifth regiments of regulars 
 and several batteries of artillery from Forts Gib- 
 son, Towson, Ouachita and Arbuckle in the Indian 
 Territory. These troops went by the way of Little 
 Rock to New Orleans, where they took shipping 
 and joined Gen. Taylor at Tampa Bay. 
 
 With this now adequate force. Gen. Taylor 
 moved upon the Indians, who were in hiding in the 
 almost impenetrable everglades. The Indians were 
 finally driven to the high ground, where the artillery 
 was brought into action with such deadly effect that 
 
176 EARLY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 
 
 the Indians were forced to surrender, with their 
 renowned and principal chief, Osceola, and also the 
 sub-chiefs Micanopy, Aligator, Tiger Tail and 
 Juniper, These chiefs were taken to Fort Moul- 
 trie, Sullivan's Island, Charleston's Harbor, and 
 placed in confinement. Osceola died in a short time 
 after his incarceration, his proud spirit being bro- 
 ken by defeat and captivity. His fellow-prisoners 
 were released after a few months' confinement. 
 They and a large part of the hostile Seminoles and 
 Creeks, with their families, were sent, under a 
 strong guard of soldiers, to the Indian Territory. 
 
 Soon after the close of the Seminole war, Gen- 
 eral Taylor was appointed to the command of the 
 military department of the Southwest, comprising 
 Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas and Louisiana. 
 
 The month of February, 1834, witnessed the 
 most disastrous overflow that had ever taken place 
 in Red River of which any account had been kept. 
 None of the oldest inhabitants who were then living 
 remembered its equal in volume and extent. The 
 destruction to life and property was appalling, and 
 the descriptions given by those who were eye-wit- 
 nesses of the great inundation were heart-rending 
 to listen to. Many persons were drowned in their 
 beds, so sudden was the rise, while others were res- 
 cued, more dead than alive, by passing steamboats, 
 after having been imprisoned in tall trees for sev- 
 eral days and nights. 
 
EARLY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 177 
 
 In order that those of the present day and gen- 
 eration may see with what fervor and zeal those of 
 the ancient regime observed the natal day of Amer- 
 ican Independence, and that they were not unmind- 
 ful of the blessings of liberty or the sentiments 
 which inspired our forefathers, I give here a brief 
 description of an old time Fourth of July celebra- 
 tion in 1834. 
 
 The celebration was given under the auspices 
 of the Ivittle Rock Debating Society, then the lead- 
 ing literary organization in the town. 
 
 The day was ushered in by firing a National 
 salute at sunrise. Later in the day the people 
 assembled in the Presbyterian Church, where the 
 exercises were opened by prayer, followed by the 
 reading of the Declaration of Independence, and a 
 splendid oration by Albert Pike. The exercises at 
 the church then closed with the benediction. In 
 the evening a dinner was given at Leeche's Hotel, 
 at which the following toasts were proposed and 
 appropriately responded to: "The day we cele- 
 brate," "The President of the United States," 
 "The memory of Washington, Adams, Jefferson, 
 Monroe and Madison," "The army and navy," 
 "The heroes of 1776," "Lafayette, the hero of the 
 Revolution," "The West," "The youth of our 
 country," "Ireland, the country of E^mmet, Curran 
 and Grattan," "Our honorary members," "Our 
 fair countrywomen of the Territory of Arkansas." 
 The voluntary toasts were: "The health of His 
 
 12 
 
178 EARIvY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 
 
 E^xcelleticy, Hon. John Pope, Governor of Arkan- 
 sas," " The Little Rock Debating- Society, the nur- 
 sery of the future statesmen and patriots of Arkan- 
 sas," "The health of the Hon. Wm. S. Fulton, 
 Secretary of Arkansas," "The rights of the State 
 and the union of the States, may the heart of every 
 true American be devoted to the preservation of 
 both ;" "The American people, may they enjoy the 
 same freedom in i8g2 that they do at this day." 
 Geo. C. Watkins, Esq., offered the following: 
 "May we be free, but not too free." Much orator- 
 ical talent was displayed on the occasion, but not 
 the slightest thing occurred to mar the good feeling 
 and decorum of the dinner. 
 
 Another source of entertainment and amuse- 
 ment afforded the people before the advent of the 
 professional actor within the borders of the Terri- 
 tory, were the performances given by the Thalian 
 Club, a theatrical organization composed of the 
 young men of the town. The proceeds from the 
 performances were invariably devoted to purposes 
 of charity — we have the poor with us always, and 
 at all ages of the world. Mr. George C. Watkins 
 usually assumed the leading female roles in the sev- 
 eral plays presented by the club. It is hard to 
 realize, at this distant day, the man who in after 
 years became the learned and distinguished Chief 
 Justice of the Supreme Court treading the mimic 
 stage, arrayed in flowing skirts and crinoline and 
 with powdered face. The first performances by 
 
EARLY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 179 
 
 the club were given in the same building in which 
 the Legislature of 1833 had its sessions. The reper- 
 toire consisted of such plays as "She Stoops to 
 Conquer," "The Soldier's Daughter," "Who's the 
 Dupe," etc. 
 
 On November 30, 1834, a total eclipse of the 
 sun was observed in Little Rock in its fullest gran- 
 deur. The eclipse began at about 11:30 o'clock, 
 a. m., and ended at 2:20, p. m., a duration of two 
 hours and fifty minutes. The obscuration of the 
 sun was fully total for a space of two and a half to 
 three minutes. At about five minutes before one 
 o'clock, one very large star was plainly visible and 
 remained so for more than an hour ; several smaller 
 stars were more or less visible at the same time. 
 It is impossible to adequately describe the sub- 
 limity of the scene. The atmosphere was per- 
 fectly transparent, thus affording a fine oppor- 
 tunity for observations. The effects of the eclipse 
 upon the ignorant and superstitious was laughable 
 and at the same time pitiable. Some of these, of 
 both colors, were frightened almost out of their 
 senses, and could scarcely be re-assured that the 
 Day of Judgment was not actually at hand. 
 
 It was an odd sight to see the chickens and 
 fowls going to roost at midday, and the frightened 
 ignorant people crouching in dread and awe or seek- 
 ing supposed safety under beds and elsewhere. 
 
 The winter of 1834-5 was intensely cold in this 
 region of the country, the thermometer registering 
 three decrrees beln-w 7,Rrn nri Tf^ebrnarv 10 18'?^ 
 
180 EJARIvY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 
 
 Ice four inches in thickness formed at the 
 "Point of Rocks." It was said by the "oldest in- 
 habitant" to have been the coldest winter ever ex- 
 perienced in Arkansas. The winter of 1832-3 had 
 been, on the other hand, so mild that it was with 
 the greatest difl&culty that meat could be cured. 
 
EARLY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 181 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 A CHANGE IN TERRITORIAL AFFAIRS. 
 
 The year 1835 witnessed a chang-e in Territo- 
 rial aflFairs. Governor Pope's second term having- 
 expired, Hon. William S. Fulton was appointed by 
 President Jackson Governor of Arkansas, and Mr. 
 Lewis Randolph, grandson of Thomas Jefferson, 
 was appointed Secretary of the Territory. 
 
 Governor Fulton served as such one year only, 
 being legislated out of office by the adoption of the 
 State Constitution of 1836 and the admission of 
 Arkansas into the Union as a State. 
 
 During this year a band of the Seneca Indians 
 from around Buffalo, New York, who had been out 
 viewing the Indian country, passed through Little 
 Rock en route east. The tribe, hawever never left 
 its eastern home. This once powerful nation rap- 
 idly dwindled away before the advance of civiliza- 
 tion, and to-day its name and fame are but little 
 more than a tradition. 
 
 About the first of this year an incident occurred 
 which occasioned a furor of excitement throughout 
 the Territory and widespread fear and apprehen- 
 
182 EARL,Y DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 
 
 sioti among- the guilty parties involved. This was 
 the appearance of a book written by one Stewart, a 
 detective living- in Mississippi, and which purported 
 to give an account of the operations of the "Murrell 
 Gang." This "gang" was a thoroughly org-ani zed 
 body of desperate characters, banded together for 
 the purpose of carrying on a systematic plan of 
 robbery, negro stealing, counterfeiting, and even 
 murder. The leader of the band resided in Missis- 
 sippi, and the operations of the scoundrels were 
 carried on, principally, in the counties of Missis- 
 sippi and Arkansas bordering on the Mississippi 
 River. The "gang" had emissaries in other parts 
 of the country also. 
 
 Stewart had joined this "gang" for the pur- 
 pose of becoming- acquainted with its organization. 
 After becoming possessed of the history, secrets, 
 etc., of the members of the band he made his escape 
 from the brotherhood and soon afterwards published 
 his expose. This book, which was highly sensa- 
 tional, was at first looked upon as a canard. But, 
 events occurring about this time gave color and 
 plausibility to some of the author's statements. 
 Vigilance committees were formed who carefully 
 scrutinized all new comers. All who could not give 
 a satisfactory account of themselves were taken to 
 the woods and subjected to a severe whipping and 
 ordered to leave the country for good. In their 
 overzealousness, the vigilantes went to some ex- 
 tremes, and several innocent parties were made to 
 
EARLY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 183 
 
 suffer. The book contained the names of quite a 
 number of citizens, among them those of some very- 
 prominent men who had nothing-, whatever, to do 
 with the desperadoes. 
 
 While this book was, as we have already said, 
 highly sensational and, in the main, unreliable, it 
 served a good purpose, for shortly after its appear- 
 ance the "gang" became disorganized and several of 
 the leaders were arrested and sent to the Mississippi 
 penitentiary, the others leaving for parts unknown. 
 
 In the early fall of 1835, "Davy" Crockett and 
 a party of Tennesseans passed through Little Rock 
 en route to Texas to assist the patriots in their 
 struggle to free themselves from the Mexican yoke. 
 
 When it was known that the noted Tennessean 
 was in town a committee waited upon him to tender 
 him a complimentary dinner. When the committee, 
 of which Col. Robertson Childers was chairman, 
 reached the hotel, they found a number of strangers 
 sitting on the porch, and on inquiring for Col. 
 Crockett, were informed that he was in the back 
 yard slaughtering a deer, which he had killed some 
 five miles out of town. There they found the future 
 hero of the "Alamo" engaged in his bloody task. 
 Upon being addressed by Col. Childers, Crockett 
 turned, and as he faced the speaker, exclaimed : 
 "Robertson Childers, as I'm alive," recognizing in 
 the Colonel an old Tennessee acquaintance. Referr- 
 ing to the deer he was engaged in skinning, he 
 remarked : "I made h,im turn ends at two hundred 
 
184 EARLY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 
 
 yards." Old hunters will appreciate this turning- of 
 ends. The Rifle Club of Philadelphia had recently 
 presented Col. Crockett with a magnificent rifle of 
 the most approved pattern, the stock and barrel of 
 which was richly inlaid with silver. This relic is 
 still in the possession of his grandson, Col. Bob 
 Crockett, of Arkansas County ; also, the old fash- 
 ioned timepiece, with its buckskin guard intact (as 
 it was taken from its owner's body after the fall of 
 the "Alamo.") The rifle with which he had made 
 the deer "turn ends at two hundred yards" was a 
 long, old fashioned deer rifle, with flint lock, and 
 which he tenderly referred to as "Old Bet." 
 
 Col. Crockett declined the dinner, stating that 
 he and some of his neighbors were on their way to 
 Texas to assist the people of that Province to gain 
 their independence, and that they were anxious to 
 reach the scene of conflict. He remarked at the 
 same time that he hoped there were no deputy 
 marshals present, having in mind, doubtless, Presi- 
 dent Jackson's order of neutrality. He was assured 
 that he might freely express his sentiments on that 
 question, as the people of Arkansas were in deep 
 sympathy with the Texans in the present struggle. 
 
 While declining the public dinner. Col. Crockett 
 informed the committee that he would be pleased to 
 address the citizens for a short time that evening. 
 An impromptu banquet was hurriedly gotten up at 
 the City Hotel on E)lm street, kept by Charles L. 
 Jeffries. 
 
EARL,Y DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 185 
 
 As a matter of course, Colonel Crockett was 
 the principal speaker, and his speech was devoted 
 mainly to the subject of Texan independence. He, 
 however, dwelt at some length upon the causes that 
 had brought about his recent defeat for re-election 
 to Congress. 
 
 I was very agreeably suprised in Colonel Crock- 
 ett, both as to his manners and personal appearance. 
 I had always been of the impression that the clown 
 was one of his leading characteristics. His manner 
 was dignified and gentlemanly, and, while he showed 
 some lack of a thorough education, he displayed a 
 wide range of information upon the leading topics 
 of the day. While his speech abounded in flashes 
 of wit and humor, it never descended to the clownish 
 or vulgar. 
 
 That night after the banquet was over Crockett 
 and his party again took up their march towards 
 the Province of Texas. 
 
 It would be almost beyond the stretch of the 
 most vivid imagination for a visitor to the city of 
 Hot Springs to-day to realize in the smallest degree 
 the appearance of the primitive village of Hot 
 Springs as I first saw it fifty-nine years ago, nest- 
 ling in the valley of the Ozark mountains, through 
 which the little creek ran unconfined. At that 
 time the village was the county seat of Hot Spring 
 County, and consisted of two log store-houses, one 
 of which was kept by Hiram A. Whittington, a pio- 
 neer printer, who was an honored resident of the 
 
186 EARIvY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 
 
 place until his death, which occurred recently.' The 
 other store was owned by L/udovicus Belding-, 
 father of Major Albert Belding-, of Little Rock. 
 The hotel, if such it could be called, was merely a 
 group of log- cabins, and was kept by one Lawson 
 Runyon. The earliest visitors to the Springs 
 usually built for themselves log cabins, or occupied 
 tents. 
 
 Some of the springs had fitted into them wooden 
 curbing and hollowed out gum logs. The great 
 vapor spring was surmounted by a rude box-like 
 contrivance, in which the patient was placed to 
 undergo the sweating process. 
 
 It is not the purpose of the writer of these 
 sketches to attempt to give here a full description 
 of this health renewing valley, with its romantic 
 surroundings, which abounds in numerous and 
 striking works of nature. This task has been 
 essayed by other and abler pens, with varying de- 
 grees of success. No pen or pencil, however 
 touched with the fire of genius, or of romance, can 
 give a true description of, or do full justice to, this 
 wonderful sanitarium of Nature's own providing. 
 It must be seen and thoroughly explored to be ade- 
 quately appreciated. 
 
 Our province is to record impressions of men 
 and manners, and, incidentally, of things. 
 
 The curative properties of these hot waters 
 had long been known, but their almost inaccessi- 
 bility had prevented any large number of invalids 
 from seeking their healing touch. 
 
EARLY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 187 
 
 The trip from Little Rock to these Springs had 
 to be made in private conveyance, over rough and 
 dangerous roads, and few invalids were equal to the 
 hardships and fatigue of such a journey. In a 
 short time, however, a line of Troy coaches was put 
 on and the trip was then made with somewhat more 
 ease and comfort. 
 
 I met here, for the first time, Mr. Roswell 
 Beebe. When he arrived at Little Rock from 
 New Orleans, then his place of residence, he had 
 to be carried from the steamboat on a litter, so 
 acute were his attacks of rheumatism. Hei was 
 placed in a wagon and conveyed to Hot Springs. 
 When I saw him a few months afterwards he 
 was climbing all over the mountains, with the 
 strength and agility of renewed youth. Col. Fred- 
 erick Notrebe and family were also there, camp- 
 ing in tents. 
 
 The first permanent resident physician at Hot 
 Springs was Dr. William A. Hammond, a man of 
 much ability in his profession, and who located at 
 the Springs sometime in 1850. 
 
 It is a tradition that Ponce de Leon, the great 
 Spanish .adventurer, visited these Springs in his vain 
 search after the fabkd "Fountain of Perpetual 
 Youth." It is a pretty well authenticated fact 
 that the early Spanish and French adventurers, 
 and Indians, resorted to these waters for health 
 and recuperation. 
 
 The days of the Territory were now about 
 numbered, and the last Territorial Legislature met 
 
188 EARIyY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 
 
 October 5, 1835, and held its sittings in the old 
 Henderliter house on the northwest corner of Cum- 
 berland and Mulberry (Third street) streets. This 
 old log- house is still standing-, and was at that time 
 the property of Thomas Thorn, one of the con- 
 tractors of the new State House, that was to be. 
 
 The most important measure passed at this session 
 was a bill calling a Constitutional Convention to 
 frame a State Constitution to be submitted to Con- 
 gress upon Arkansas applying to be admitted into 
 the Union as a State. The population of the Terri- 
 tory was now nearly 48,000. 
 
 Up to this time Arkansas had not within her 
 borders a town dignified with the title of city. The 
 Territory was rapidly increasing in population and 
 material wealth, and was about to ask of Congress 
 that the dignity and authority of Statehood might 
 be conferred upon her. In order to keep pace with 
 the times and enlarge its corporate powers, the 
 citizens of the capital held an important meeting on 
 October 20, 1835, to take steps to procure from the 
 Legislature a city charter for Little Rock. The 
 meeting was presided over by the Rev. W. W. 
 Stevenson, a gentleman who always took a deep in- 
 terest in the prosperity of the community. A com- 
 mittee composed of Col. De Lafayette Roysdon, 
 afterwards a prominent citizen of Chicot County ; 
 Col. Chester Ashley ; Judge David Rover ; Dr. 
 Alden Sprague ; Major Peter T. Crutchfield ; Rev. 
 W. W. Stevenson and Captain Albert Pike, was ap- 
 
EARLY DAYS IN AliKANSAS. 
 
 189 
 
 pointed to draft a city charter to be laid before the 
 Legislative Assembly. The charter was granted, 
 and at the first election for city officers under it, 
 Jesse Brown was elected Mayor ; Jefferson Smith, 
 City Recorder ; Thomas J. Sutton, City Marshal ; 
 and John Hutt Judge of the City Court. 
 
 The great and noble never lack for biographers, 
 but the humble and lowly are not often taken note 
 of, however much they may have been identified 
 with the up-building of a country's prosperity. 
 
 In this view of the case, I may be pardoned, 
 perhaps, for devoting a short space to the first 
 mayor of the city of Little Rock. Jesse Brown was 
 a native of Massachusetts and came to Arkansas in 
 early days. He was a veritable "Caleb Quotem," 
 and combined the duties of jtistice of the peace, 
 school teacher, bookkeeper, clerk in the post-office, 
 house and sign painter and glazier and tinker in 
 general, and was withal a man of good common 
 sense and intelligence. Whenever this man of many 
 resources would leave the post-office for any pur- 
 pose, he would affix to the office door a card reading 
 somewhat like this : ' 'Gone to paint Mr. A's house, ' ' 
 or "Gone to put in a pane of glass at Mr. B's," or 
 "Posting Mr. C's books," or "Taking depositions 
 at Mr. D's office." He never seemed to be idle. 
 Mr. Brown was extremely fond of a social game of 
 cards, and sometimes, to make the game more inter- 
 esting, money was bet. On one occasion he became 
 engaged in a game of cards for gain with a Mr. 
 
190 EARLY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 
 
 Wyatt Thompson, who was an overmatch for the 
 future mayor. He lost all his ready money and his 
 mare and colt to his opponent, and at the end of the 
 game was still in Thompson's debt, to cover which 
 he gave his note payable in "science and literature." 
 It is not recorded that the holder of the note ever 
 demanded payment, however. 
 
 In 1836, and for some years previous, two wealthy 
 and influential families, the McKees and Scotts, 
 lived in the Ashley Mills neighborhood, in the eas- 
 tern part of Pulaski County, and had fine planta- 
 tions in the rich alluvial river bottoms. 
 
 The McKee family consisted of four unmarried 
 brothers, one a lad living in Little Rock and clerk- 
 ing in the store of Jacob Reider, and two sisters. 
 
 Alex McKee, the elder brother, was looked upon 
 as the head of the family. 
 
 The McKee brothers, with the exception of the 
 third brother, who was afflicted, were handsome and 
 intelligent, and the second brother, William, was a 
 dashing and gallant fellow. 
 
 The Scott family consisted of Major William 
 Scott and wife, three grown sons and a daughter, 
 whose names I have now forgotten. 
 
 Major Scott was of an old aristocratic Kentucky 
 family, and had come to Arkansas in early times. 
 
 The daughter of this house and Alex McKee 
 became very much enamored of each other and deter- 
 mined to marry. The Scott family strenuously 
 opposed the match, but finally gave their consent to 
 
EARLY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 191 
 
 the union, and the nuptials were celebrated with 
 old time planter hospitality. 
 
 The country g-eutry for miles around were invi- 
 ted to the wedding-, and the negroes from the quar- 
 ters were given a holiday, and, dressed up in their 
 "Sunday best," were permitted to view the cere- 
 monv and afterwards partake of their master's 
 bounty. 
 
 While in the "big house" the festivities were 
 enlivened by the usual plantation orchestra, a first 
 and second fiddle and, perhaps, a banjo. The ebony 
 hued, white haired old negro leader, feeling the 
 importance of his position, and, doubtless, encour- 
 aged by a "wee drop" from the master's private 
 stock, would throw all his energies into his elbow 
 and the house would reverberate to the sounds of 
 "Money Musk," "Annie Dickson" and "Devil 
 Among the Tailors," until dancers and musicians 
 would fain cry "quarters." 
 
 There was, however, on the occasion referred 
 to, an occurrence which marred the pleasure of the 
 festivities. 
 
 Buford Scott, the elder brother of the bride, 
 absented himself from the ceremony, refusing to 
 see his sister married. 
 
 William McKee, the groom's brother, made 
 inquiry concerning young Scott's absence, and was 
 given some evasive answer. He became very much 
 incensed at this breach of etiquette and left the 
 house in anger. Major Scott endeavored to ex- 
 
192 EARLY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 
 
 plain his son's absence and tried to prevail upon 
 young- McKee to remain his g-uest, but to no pur- 
 pose. This episode threw a damper upon the af- 
 fair and was the course of much future comment 
 among- the neig-hbors. 
 
 In this same neighborhood lived a very estima- 
 ble young- lady to whom both William McKee and 
 Buford Scott were paying marked attention. 
 
 Shortly after the marriage of Alex McKee to 
 Miss Scott, William McKee rode over one Sunday 
 morning to the house of the young lady of his 
 choice to escort her to church. When he reached 
 the house he found that his rival had come over the 
 night before, and, in country fashion, had been the 
 guest of the young lady's parents over night. 
 
 McKee was cordially received by the family, 
 and when he told the young lady that he had come 
 to escort her to church she courteously informed 
 him that she already had an escort, Buford Scott, 
 but invited him to join the party. McKee said 
 nothing at the time, and soon the party, consisting 
 of several persons, were on their way to the church, 
 some distance off. 
 
 McKee rode up alongside of Scott and suddenly 
 struck him a stinging blow across the face with his 
 riding whip. Both men jumped from their horses, 
 but the young lady quickly dismounted and threw 
 herself between the enraged men and prevented an 
 unseemly fight. 
 
 Not long after the encounter just related Mc- 
 Kee and Scott met in DeBaun's store in Little Rock 
 
EARI^Y DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 193 
 
 and McKee renewed the quarrel and attempted to 
 strike Scott over the head with an iron spade. 
 Scott defended himself, but persons in the store 
 prevented any damage being done to either party. 
 The two men were arrested and put under heavy 
 bonds to keep the peace for twelve months. It was 
 hoped by the friends and families of the two young 
 men that this would put an end to the unfortunate 
 matter. 
 
 On Christmas Eve, 1836, the McKee family 
 was enjoying a late dinner, having as a guest on 
 that occasion General Hardy Robinson, an old 
 pioneer citizen of the neighborhood. After dinner, 
 when General Robinson went out to where his horse 
 was hitched, William McKee accompanied uhim. 
 Just then Buford Scott passed, driving a four horse 
 team, the wagon loaded with cypress logs. When 
 McKee saw Scott he turned to his companion and 
 said, "Do you see the impudence of that d — d 
 scoundrel in passing this house?" " Yes," replied 
 General Robinson, "I see Buford Scott driving 
 past, but is this not a public road? " 
 
 "It is," said McKee, "but I have forbidden 
 that fellow to come by this house." 
 
 Gen. Robinson endeavored to persuade young 
 McKee to cease the unseemly quarrel, and urged 
 him to remember that he and Scott were now con- 
 nected by marriage, his brother's wife being Buford 
 Scott's sister. He also stated that everybody in 
 the neighborhood was talking about the affair, and 
 
 13 
 
194 EARLY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 
 
 pointed out the folly and dangfer.he might incur by 
 constantly abusing and making threats against 
 Scott. He showed McKee that some accident might 
 befall Scott, of which he might be wholly innocent, 
 but that suspicion would naturally point to him as 
 being implicated in it. 
 
 When McKee returned to the house after bid- 
 ding Gen. Robinson good-bye at the gate, he took 
 down his rifle and went out in the direction of the 
 barn, telling his sister-in-law that he was going to 
 the woods to shoot squirrels. 
 
 Gen. Robinson had hardly gotten a mile on his 
 road home when Buford Scott lay in the public road 
 a corpse. 
 
 Young Scott, not returning home after dark 
 had set in, the family became somewhat uneasy 
 about him. His brothers and several servants, with 
 torches, set out to search for him, thinking that, 
 perhaps, his wagon had become disabled. After 
 going along the road for some distance, they found 
 the team drawn to one side of the road and one of 
 the front wheels of the wagon locked against a tree. 
 A little further on the searching party discovered 
 the body of the young man, cold in death, having 
 been shot in the head from behind. 
 
 Suspicion at once centered upon William Mc- 
 Kee as having committed the murder, and he and 
 his brother Alex were both- arrested and taken to 
 . Little Rock and placed in jail. When the grand 
 jury met they were jointly indicted for the murder 
 of Buford Scott. 
 
EARLY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 195 
 
 On the trial the indicted men elected to sever, 
 and Alex McKee was tried first ; but, there not 
 being a particle of evidence against him, he was 
 promptly acquitted. 
 
 When William McKee's trial came on- a stub- 
 born fight for his life was made by his attorneys, 
 Fowler & Cummins, but the evidence of his guilt 
 was overwhelming. The most damaging testimony 
 against him was that of Alex McKee's wife. He 
 was convicted and sentenced to be hung. 
 
 The day after William McKee's conviction Alex 
 McKee walked into court and made affidavit that 
 he killed Bufbrd Scott. No one believed his state- 
 ment, however, and no official notice was taken of 
 it. It was looked upon as a last resort on his part 
 to save his brother's life. After the execution of 
 his brother, Alex McKee went to reside in Louis- 
 iana and never saw his wife and child again, the 
 wife returning to the bosom of her own family, 
 where she led the life of a recluse. 
 
 One of the saddest episodes of this sad affair 
 is yet to be told. Albert, the youngest of the Mc- 
 Kee brothers, a handsome and manly but slightly 
 built little fellow, about 15 years old, and a general 
 favorite with everybody, sat by his brother Will- 
 iam's side during the whole of the trial, with his 
 brother's hand clasped tightly in his own delicate 
 little hand. When the verdict of guilty was ren- 
 dered the boy fainted dead away in his brother's 
 arms and died shortly afterwards, it is said, of a 
 
196 
 
 EARLY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 
 
 broken heart. There is no doubt that the terrible 
 shock to his overwrought delicate nervous organism 
 caused the little fellow's death. He stood by his 
 brother in trouble and followed him in death. 
 
EARLY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 197 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 The Constitutional Period. 
 
 The Constitutional Convention met at Little 
 Rock, January 4, 1836, and was held in the Presby- 
 terian Church, on the east side of Main street, near 
 the corner of Cherry (Second) Street. The build- 
 ing- stood about the middle of the lot and somewhat 
 back from the street. 
 
 The Convention organized by the election of 
 John Wilson, of Clark County, President, and Chas. 
 P. Bertrand, of Pulaski County, Secretary. 
 
 There were thirty-one counties represented, 
 and fifty delegates had seats in the Convention. 
 
 The Convention of 1836 was composed of as 
 fine looking and intelligent men as ever assem- 
 bled together in Arkansas, before or since. There 
 were such men as Absalom Fowler, Terrence 
 Farrelly, Bushead W. J^ee, John Wilson, Anthony 
 H. Davies, Dr. Nimrod Menifee, Judge James Wood- 
 son Bates, Grandison D. Royston, Sam C. Roane, 
 James S. Conway, Townsend Dickinson, Judge An- 
 drew Scott, Thomas S. Drew, Travis G. Wright, 
 Judge Thomas J. I/acy, Henry L. Biscoe, Elijah 
 
198 EARLY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 
 
 Kelly, Wm. McK. Ball, David Walker and others 
 whose names I do not remember. 
 
 Grandison D. Royston, one of the delejfates 
 from Hempstead County, was, in after years. Presi- 
 dent of the Convention of 1874, which framed our 
 present State Constitution. 
 
 The two most important matters that engaged 
 the attention of the Convention were the ordinances 
 relating- to the suffrage or representation in the 
 Ivegislature, and authorizing the Legislature to pro- 
 vide by law for establishing the State and Real 
 Estate Banks. On these two questions the Conven- 
 tion found itself very much divided. The opposi- 
 tion to the establishment of the banks, led by Mr. 
 Fowler, was that it would create a large debt 
 which the State would ultimately have to pay; and 
 also that the issue of these banks would be prac- 
 tically worthless outside the State. The realiza- 
 tion of this prophecy, if such it can be called, was 
 not long delayed, as witness the "Holfoird Bond" 
 and other bank cases. The opposition also pointed 
 to the fact that Arkansas was already flooded with 
 the notes of other State banks, some of which were 
 utterly worthless, while others were received only 
 at a discount. 
 
 The friends of the measure urged as one of the 
 reasons wh^ the State should establish these banks 
 that the issue of home institutions would drive 
 out of circulation in the State the notes of foreign 
 banks and cause the home product to be received at 
 
EARLY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 199 
 
 par. The bank ordinance was finally adopted and 
 became a part of the organic law. 
 
 The other question upon which the Convention 
 came very nearly being- disrupted was that of repre- 
 sentation. One party contended for the three-fifth 
 rule, i. e., making the whole number of both 
 whites and blacks the basis of representation in the 
 Legislature. The other, and weakest party, con- 
 tended for the white basis alone. 
 
 The three-fifth rule was adopted, which gave 
 those counties having a large negro population the 
 lion's share of representatives. 
 
 The Convention finished its labors on the 30th 
 day of January, 1836, having been in session about 
 twenty-six days. 
 
 An engrossed draft of the Constitution as 
 adopted was intrusted to the care of Mr. C. F. M. 
 Noland to bear to Washington and lay the same 
 before Congress, where he arrived March 8, 1836. 
 
 On June 15, 1836, Congress passed the bill ad- 
 mitting Arkansas into the Sisterhood of States. 
 
 During the meeting of the Constitutional Con- 
 vention leading Democrats and Whigs from different 
 parts of the Territory held caucuses, at which State 
 Central Committees were appointed and clothed 
 with authority to call State Conventions to nominate 
 candidates for State officers and Congressmen, in 
 anticipation of the Territory becoming a State. 
 
 The Democratic State Convention was called 
 for April 12, and that of the Whigs on the 19th of 
 the same month. 
 
200 EARLY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 
 
 When the Conventiotis met, James S. Conway 
 was nominated by the Democrats for Governor and 
 Archibald Yell for Congress. The Whig-s chose 
 Absalom Fowler as their standard bearer, and 
 Wm. Cummins was nominated for Congressman. 
 
 Presidential electors were also chosen by the 
 two parties, at their respective Conventions. 
 
 The campaign which was inaugurated at this 
 time was of more than usual interest, for it was the 
 first one at which candidates for State offices and 
 Presidential electors went before the people to dis- 
 cuss the political questions of the day. Heretofore, 
 Arkansas, being a Territory, had no voice in choos- 
 ing a President. Mr. Conway, the Democratic 
 nominee for Governor, did not, however, meet his 
 opponent, Mr. Powler, on the stump, assigning as 
 one of the reasons for his failure to do so that his 
 duties as Surveyor^General of the Territory pre- 
 cluded his taking any active part in the canvass. 
 Besides he had already given his views on National 
 and State affairs in a letter to the public. Mr. 
 Conway did not pretend to be a speaker, but was 
 essentially a man of the very highest order of busi- 
 ness talent. His public letter, above referred to, 
 was a masterly presentation of the questions before 
 the country, from a Democratic standpoint. 
 
 It may, perhaps, be well to state that this cam- 
 paign took place during the months of April and 
 May, 1836, while Arkansas was yet a Territory. 
 
early days in arkansas. 201 
 
 Free Masonry. 
 
 The first introduction of Free Masonry into 
 Arkansas is so enveloped in the mist of uncertainty 
 that no reliable or satisfactory information in the 
 matter is now attainable. Certain it is, however, 
 that the mystic rites were not entirely unknown to 
 the early Spanish and French occupants of the 
 land. 
 
 In an admirable address delivered before the 
 Grand Ivodg-e of Arkansas, by Dr. D. R. DuVal, of 
 Fort Smith, the following' interesting- bit of Masonic 
 history is found: "Tradition, vag-ue and uncertain, 
 informs us that Masonry was first introduced into 
 Arkansas by the Spanish about one hundred years 
 ago, and that it was at the Post of Arkansas where 
 they established a Lodge. How long it existed 
 and what it did, there is no voice to answer ; the 
 dead past has the secret locked in its silent breast. 
 
 "In 1819, Brother Andrew Scott, acting as 
 W. '. M.*. of a Masonic Lodge, working under Dis- 
 pensation in Potosi, Washington county. Mo., re- 
 ceived the appointment of Superior Judge of the 
 Territory of Arkansas. The officers and brethren 
 of said Lodge thought it advisable to surrender 
 their letter of Dispensation, and did so accordingly. 
 Brother Scott at the same time praying the Grand 
 Lodge for permission to retain possession of the 
 Lodge Jewels as a presentation to the first Masonic 
 Lodge in the Territory of Arkansas, which was 
 granted. Bro. Scott settled at the Post of Arkan- 
 
202 EARLY DAYS IN ARKAKSAS. 
 
 sas, the seat of g-overnment of the Territory. In 
 1819, a number of the brethren petitioned the Grand 
 Ivodg-e of Kentucky, at an adjourned meeting- begun 
 and held on the 29th day of November, 1819, for 
 letters of Dispensation for "Arkansas Lodge," at 
 the Post of Arkansas. On the 30th day of Novem- 
 ber said petition was presented to the Grand Lodge 
 (Kentucky) by Grand Senior Warden McKinney, 
 which was granted, and on the 1st day of Decem- 
 ber, 1819, Bro. Robert Johnson was installed W.". 
 M.', of "Arkansas Lodge" U. D.; the aforesaid 
 Jewels being presented said Lodge by Bro. Scott. 
 
 "When the seat of government was removed to 
 Little Rock, many of the brethren dimitted, which 
 caused the Lodge to surrender the Dispensation. 
 Bro. Scott again obtained permission to retain the 
 Jewels as a presentation to the next oldest Lodge 
 of Arkansas Territory." 
 
 Upon the demise of "Arkansas Lodge" Masonry 
 in Arkansas seems to have slumbered for several 
 years, and it was not until 1836, that interest in the 
 matter was again revived. 
 
 In that year, Dr. DuVal tells us, "A number of 
 brethren petitioned the Grand Lodge of Tennessee 
 for a Dispensation for a new Lodge at Fayetteville, 
 Washington County, to be called Washington Lodge. 
 The petition was granted, and Bro. Scott presented 
 said Lodge with the aforesaid Jewels." 
 
 The following Lodges met in Convention at 
 Little Rock, on the 21st day of November, A. D. 
 
EJARI<Y DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 203 
 
 1838, and proceeded to organize a Grand Lodge, 
 to-wit : 
 
 Washington Ivodge No. 82, Fayetteville, work- 
 ing under authority of the Grand Lodge of Tenn- 
 essee, and represented by Onesimus Evans, Past 
 Master ; Washington L. Wilson, Robert Bedford, 
 A. Whennery, R. C. S. Brown, Samuel Adams and 
 Williamson S. Oldham. 
 
 Western Star Lodge No. 43, Little Rock, 
 working under authority of the Grand Lodge of 
 Lousiana, represented by William Gilchrist, Past 
 Master; Charles L. Jeffries, Past Master; Nicholas 
 Peay, Past Master ; Edward Cross, Past Master ; 
 Thomas Parsel, Dr. Alden Sprague and John 
 Morris. 
 
 Morning Star Lodge No. 42, Post of Arkansas, 
 working under authority of the Grand Lodge of 
 Louisiana, represented by John W. Pullen. 
 
 Mount Horeb Lodge, Washington, U. D. of the 
 Grand Lodge of Alabama, represented by James H. 
 Walker, Allen M. Oakley, Joseph W. McKean and 
 James Trigg. 
 
 Upon the permanent organization of the Grand 
 Lodge of Arkansas, William Gilchrist was elected 
 the first Grand Master, and George C. Watkins the 
 first Grand Secretary. 
 
 Following up the old Jewels, Dr. DuVal informs 
 us that, "In 1845, Clarksville Lodge surrendered 
 her Charter, and Bro. John H. Strong, M. *. W. ■. 
 of Franklin Lodge, No. 9, being appointed by the 
 
204 EARLY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 
 
 Grand Lodge to take possession of all moneys, books, 
 papers, furniture, etc., belonging to said Lodge, and 
 send same up to tke Grand Lodge, with permission 
 to retain the historic Jewels for the use and benefit 
 of Franklin Lodge No. 9, in whose possession they 
 were in 1857. On the 27th of October, 1857, 
 Franklin Lodge, by resolution, pfesented to the 
 Grand Lodge of Arkansas the aforesaid Jewels." 
 * * * Bro. Andrew Scott installed the officers 
 of Arkansas Lodge at the Post of Arkansas in 1819, 
 and the Apron on that occasion worn by him was 
 worn subsequently by our present M.". W.'. Grand 
 Master, Sam W. Williams, on the 24th day of June 
 1869, on the occasion of laying the corner-stone of 
 Dover Female Academy, Dover, Pope County, Ark, 
 
 " This Apron is a dear souvenir of the past, 
 and had it language, much of interest to the Craft 
 it might tell, and furnish many links now lost, prob- 
 ably forever, in the chain binding the past with the 
 present. This Apron is now in the possession of 
 Bro. John R. Homer Scott, son of Bro. Andrew 
 Scott." 
 
 There died in this year at the Capital, a man 
 whose career had been somewhat remarkable, and 
 whose eccentricities were very striking. Bernard 
 Smith, for many years Registrar of the United States 
 Land Office at Little Rock, was a native of New 
 Jersey, and a graduate of Princeton College. 
 When he reached his majority he was elected to a 
 seat in the Legislature of his native State. During 
 
EARLY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 205 
 
 the war of 1812 he was sent by this Government as 
 the bearer of secret dispatches to the United States 
 Minister at the court of Napoleon. He became an 
 attache of the American Embassy at Paris, France, 
 and remained there until the Treaty of Ghent, 
 when he returned to the United States. Mr. 
 Smith possessed remarkably fine conversational 
 powers and was never so pleased as when enter- 
 taining his auditors with a description of his resi- 
 dency at the French capital and his visits to Napo- 
 leon I and Lafayette. The one drawbadk to his 
 narrative was that in his extreme absent-mindedness 
 he would relate the same story to you over and over 
 whenever occasion offered, totally oblivious of the 
 fact that you had heard it from his own lips for, per- 
 haps, the twentieth time. 
 
 He was of the most lovable disposition and sin- 
 gleness of mind, and was the freest from guile, I 
 think, of any man I ever knew. I remember once 
 taking supper at his house, a little distance out of 
 town in the country, when a rather amusing inci- 
 dent occurred. 
 
 It was in the month of October and the even- 
 ings were a little chilly. A fire had been lit in the 
 dining room and we sat around it to await supper. 
 The daughter of the house, Virginia, a comely dam- 
 sel in her teens, brought in a plate heaping full of 
 nice crisp biscuits and placed it on the hearth to 
 keep warm, pending further preparations. Mr. 
 Smith was in his most talkative vein that evening, 
 
206 EARLY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 
 
 and every now and then he would reach down and 
 take a biscuit and proceed to eat it. By the time 
 supper was announced only three biscuits remained 
 on the plate, and supper had to be delayed until a 
 fresh supply could be prepared. The family never 
 referred to the incident, but took it as a matter of 
 course. When his pony was brought out of morn- 
 ings for him to ride to town upon, unless some 
 member of the family was present to see to it that 
 he got upon the animal's back, he would trudge all 
 the way to town on foot, the pony following on 
 behind. This absent-minded gentleman had been 
 -two terms a member of Congress from New Jersey, 
 in 1816 and 1"818, but was defeated in 1820, on ac- 
 count of his vote on the Missouri compromise ques- 
 tion. He was appointed by President Monroe, in 
 1821, Registrar of the United States Land Office at 
 Little Rock and held the position until his death, in 
 1835. He was a most capable and painstaking offi- 
 cial, despite his peculiarities. 
 
 An event occurred in Arkansas about this time 
 which of itself would be considered of but little im- 
 portance — simply the arrest and subsequent escape 
 of a criminal from justice from another State — were 
 it not for the peculiar circumstances surrounding 
 the man's past life, and the verification of ihe old 
 adage that "murder will out." 
 
 At the sessions of the Arkansas Territorial Leg- 
 islatures of 1833 and 1835, St. Francis County was 
 represented by a man known in his county as John 
 
EARLY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 207 
 
 Hill, and so appeared upon the rosters of the House 
 of Representatives, but whose real name, as it was 
 afterwards found, was Nixon Curry. 
 
 In the year 1822, one Nixon Curry was arrested 
 in Iredell County, North Carolina, charged with 
 the crime of negro stealing and was convicted and 
 sentenced to a term of years in the State Peniten- 
 tiary at Raleigh. Before he could be taken to the 
 State prison he broke jail and fled to the mountains, 
 where an ineffectual attempt to recapture him re- 
 sulted in the death of some of the sheriff 's posse. 
 After remaining in hiding for some time, he managed 
 to elude the officers and escaped to the country 
 then occupied by a band of Cherokee Indians, in 
 what are now Conway and Pope Counties, Arkan- 
 sas. Here he soon married a Miss Bolinger and 
 went to live in St. Francis County, and began to 
 lead a quiet and contented life, greatly esteemed 
 by his neighbors and acquaintances, for he was 
 possessed of more than ordinary intelligence for a 
 backwoodsman, and was very companionable. He 
 became of so much influence among the people of the 
 county that they elected him to the Territorial Leg- 
 islature for two terms, as I have already shown. 
 
 Sometime in the month of May, 1836, some 
 movers, emigrating from North Carolina, crossed 
 the St. Francis River at Strong's Ferry. It so 
 happened, that day of all, that Curry, alias Hill, 
 was standing on the bank of the river when these 
 movers crossed. One of the men of the party 
 
208 EARLY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 
 
 stepped up to him and addressed him as Curry. 
 Curry stoutly denied that that was his name and 
 stated that he was John Hill. The mover, nothing- 
 daunted, persisted in calling him Nixon Curry and 
 called up some of his companions to identify Curry, 
 which they did not hesitate to do. Curry became 
 very indignant and most vehemently denied ever 
 having been in North Carolina. Some of the emi- 
 grating party went before a magistrate and made 
 aflSdavit that Nixon Curry alias John Hill was a 
 fugitive from justice. They also stated that there 
 was a standing reward of five thousand dollars 
 offered by the Governor of North Carolina for 
 Curry's arrest and delivery to the North Carolina 
 authorities. The sheriff of St. Francis county 
 wrote to the authorities of Iredell county. North 
 Carolina, giving the facts in the matter as I have 
 detailed them, and asking for full particulars. 
 
 In answer to the Sheriff's letter, the North 
 Carolina authorities sent him a copy of the Raleig-Ji 
 News, containing the Governor's proclamation offer- 
 ing a reward for the arrest of Nixon Curry, and 
 giving a full description of the man. Upon satis- 
 factory proof that Curry was located in Arkansas, 
 the Governor of North Carolina issued a requisition 
 upon the Governor of Arkansas Territory for his 
 arrest and delivery to an agent of the State of. 
 North Carolina. 
 
 Gov. Fulton issued his warrant to the Sheriff 
 of St. Francis County to cause to be arrested 
 
EARLY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 209 
 
 Curry alias Hill, and to deliver his body to the 
 custody of the agent of the State of North Caro- 
 lina. The warrant was duly executed and the 
 prisoner was placed under guard pending the ar- 
 rival of an officer from North Carolina. Curry's 
 good conduct during the time he had been a citizen 
 of St. Francis County — nearly fourteen years — had 
 made him many warm friends and admirers among 
 the people of the community in which he lived, and 
 a large part of them were opposed to his being re- 
 turned to North Carolina and to State's prison. 
 They had known him long and intimately as a law 
 abiding citizen and could not bring themselves to 
 believe in his guilt. Accordingly, in a wrong and 
 mistaken view of the case, some of Curry's friends 
 overpowered his guard and released him. This 
 much hunted man fled to the Cache swamps, where 
 a number of his most devoted friends gathered 
 about him and determined that he should not be re- 
 arrested. He was followed into the swamp by the 
 sheriff and his posse, and a skirmish ensued in 
 which the sheriff's party was considerably worsted 
 and Curry was severely wounded in the shoulder. 
 Curry finally left his hiding place in the Cache 
 bottoms and returned to the locality in which he 
 had married fourteen years before, and which had 
 become a part of Pope County. 
 
 After his escape from St. Francis County the 
 sheriff offered a reward of four hundred dollars for 
 his arrest. Curry was shortly afterwards taken by 
 
210 EARLY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 
 
 surprise while living in Pope County, and was appre- 
 hended and conveyed to the Conway County jail for 
 safekeeping-. He did not remain in jail long, however, 
 for a party of his friends visited the jail at Lewis- 
 burg and compelled the jailor to release him. He at 
 once returned to his home in Pope County and no 
 further attempt was ever made to molest him. The 
 long time elapsing since the commission of his crimes 
 in North Carolina, and his subsequent good behavior 
 until recognized by the movers from his old home, 
 had rendered the authorities and the people indif- 
 ferent in the matter. 
 
 Curry's life had a tragic ending, however. He 
 now became a very hard drinker and quarrelsome. 
 In 1841, in the spring I think, he was killed with 
 his own knife, at Norristown, by Vincent L. Hutton, 
 with whom he became involved in a quarrel. 
 
 There is yet another circumstance connected 
 with this man whom the fates seemed to delight in 
 pursuing. On one of his trips to the Capital in 
 1833, or 1835, he stopped at a farm house in what 
 is now Prairie county. At the supper table that 
 night the hostess asked him if his name was not 
 Curry. He assured her that it was not but that it 
 was Hill. After looking at him very intently for a 
 few seconds the woman remarked, "You remind me 
 very much of a man I once knew in Iredell county. 
 North Carolina." Nothing more was said upon 
 the subject until after supper, when Curry sought 
 an interview with the woman and confessed to her 
 
EARLY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 211 
 
 that he was Nixon Curry. He also stated to her 
 that he had long since reformed and was endeavor- 
 ingf to lead a g-ood and useful life ; and furthermore 
 he was now the head of a family, and that if she 
 exposed him now it would ruin him and bring- great 
 distress upon an innocent wife and children. He 
 so worked upon the good woman's feelings that she 
 promised not to reveal his identity, and she kept 
 her word. 
 
212 BAELY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 Arkansas a State. 
 
 The bill admitting' Arkansas into the Union 
 passed Congress June 15, 1836, and was signed by 
 the President the next day. 
 
 The election for Governor, a Congressman, 
 Presidential Electors and members of the Legisla- 
 ture was held on the first Monday in August of that 
 year, and James S. Conway was elected Governor 
 and Archibald Yell Congressman. The Presiden- 
 tial Electors chosen were all Democrats and when 
 the time arrived cast the three Electoral votes of 
 the State for Martin Van Buren of New York and 
 Richard M. Johnson of Kentucky. 
 
 After Arkansas had become a State, but before 
 the election and inauguration of a Governor, the 
 State was called upon by the Federal Government 
 for troops for active service on the frontier. 
 
 After the regular United States troops sta- 
 tioned at the several forts in the Indian country had 
 been withdrawn to assist Gen. Taylor in the Semi- 
 nole War, the Comanches, the Pawnees and the 
 Lipans, wild tribes of the plains, made frequent 
 
EARLY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 213 
 
 and bloody incursions against their more peaceable 
 neighbors, the Choctaws and the Chickasaws. 
 
 According- to the treaty stipulations, the Gov- 
 ernment of the United States was bound to protect 
 these last named Indians against the wild tribes. 
 
 President Jackson accordingly made a requisi- 
 tion upon the Governor of Arkansas for one full 
 regiment of cavalry. Gov. Fulton, who was still 
 the acting Governor, issued his proclamation calling 
 for one regiment of mounted volunteers. 
 
 The first company to respond was the one re- 
 cruited by Absalom Fowler during his canvass for 
 the office of Governor. After his defeat at the Au- 
 gust election he completed the organization of the 
 company and was elected captain. The regiment 
 was to be composed of ten companies, five of which 
 were to rendezvous at Little Rock and five at Van 
 Buren, and then to proceed to Washington, Hemp- 
 stead County, to be mustered into the service. 
 
 The regiment remained in active service, with 
 headquarters at Fort Towson, Indian Territory, 
 until February 1837, when it was disbanded, its 
 services being no longer required. 
 
 The first session of the State Legislature met 
 September 12, 1836, in the new Capitol, the main 
 building of which was then about completed. In 
 the Senate Sam C. Roane, of Jefferson County, was 
 elected President, and A. J. Greer Secretary. John 
 Wilson, of Clark County, was chosen Speaker of 
 the House of Representatives, and Samuel H. Hemp- 
 
214 EARL.Y DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 
 
 stead, of Pulaski County, Clerk. The vote for 
 State officers having been canvassed, James S. Con- 
 way was declared elected Governor for the term of 
 four years. 
 
 The first attempt at any kind of public display 
 upon the occasion of the inauguration of a Governor 
 of Arkansas took place when Governor-elect James 
 S. Conway was inducted into office. 
 
 At 3 o'clock, September 13, 1836, a procession, 
 consisting of a band of music, Capt. Kavanaugh's 
 company of mounted volunteers from Randolph 
 County and a large concourse of citizjens, led by Mr. 
 James DeBaun, chief marshal, and Dr. Holt and 
 Major Thorn, aides, marched to Mr. Conway's resi- 
 dence and escorted him to the State House, where 
 the inaugural ceremonies were held. The Gov- 
 ernor-elect was attended by the Hon.- Ambrose H. 
 Sevier, Judge Edward Cross, Lieut. -Col. Rector, 
 United States Dragoons ; Capt. Brown and Lieut. 
 Collins, United States Army. When the procession 
 reached the State House the cavalry opened ranks 
 and the gubernatorial party passed through and 
 into the building. They were met at the door of 
 the House of Representatives by Robert McCamy, 
 of the Senate, and Grandison D. Royston, of the 
 House, and the Governor-elect was escorted to the 
 Speaker's desk, where he delivered his inaugural 
 address and took the oath of office. 
 
 At this session of the Legislature, ex-Gov. Wm. 
 S. Fulton and Ambrose H. Sevier were elected 
 
EARLY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 215 
 
 United States Senators, Gov. Fulton drawing the 
 short term of four years. He was re-elected by the 
 Legislature of 1840, for the full term of six years. 
 He did not, however, complete the term for which he 
 was elected, for taking seriously ill in Washington 
 City, he returned home, when, on August 5, 1844, 
 he died, full of honors and the respect of his coun- 
 trymen. 
 
 Under the Constitution of 1836, all the State 
 officers, except Governor and the Judges of the 
 Supreme and Circuit Courts, were elected by the 
 Legislature. 
 
 Pursuant to this provision of the organic law, 
 the following complement of State and Judicial 
 officers were chosen : Dr. Robert A. Watkins, Sec- 
 retary of State ; Elias N. Conway, Auditor of State ; 
 William B. Woodruff, State Treasurer ; Daniel 
 Ringo, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, and 
 Thomas J. Lacy and Townsend Dickinson, Asso- 
 ciate Justices. 
 
 Two of the most important measures passed at 
 this session of the Legislature were the bills char- 
 tering the State and Real Estate Banks. It is not 
 purposed to discuss here the history of these banks 
 — theii- organization, rise, decline and final collapse, 
 further than to say that John Wilson, Speaker of 
 the House of Representatives, became the first Pre- 
 sident of the Real Eistate Bank on its organization. 
 
 It would be an undertaking far beyond the limit 
 of my present purpose to fully treat of the bench 
 
216 EARLY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 
 
 and bar of the State. Already in the course of 
 these memoirs mention has been made of some of 
 the leading- members of a profession that had in its 
 ranks many learned and able men in Arkansas. 
 
 The early days of the State were especially 
 prolific in men of eminent legal ability. It is to be 
 very much doubted if the present day can show so 
 large an array of .first-class forensic talent, to say 
 nothing of the question of profound thought, deep 
 research and acquaintance with authorities, and al- 
 most unerring judgment in arriving at just and 
 wise conclusions. 
 
 To be sure, the field was not so wide, nor the 
 concerns so varied as now, still the multitudinous 
 questions which were constantly being brought be- 
 fore the courts were such as would naturally grow 
 out of the unsettled state of affairs of a new coun- 
 try, and the transition from the Territorial period 
 to Statehood. These questions, which were often 
 of a very complex nature, taxed the ability of coun- 
 sel to unravel and courts to settle. There was but 
 little mediocre talent on the bench or at the bar in 
 those early days, nor was there any easy and quickly 
 trodden path to preferment in the profession. It 
 was not sufficient that the would-be lawyer have a 
 copy of the statutes under one arm and the code un- 
 der the other, and but very little of either in his 
 head, to enable him to pass the required ordeal for 
 license to practice. It was also a very difficult 
 matter for a young and untried lawyer to rise in his 
 
EARLY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 217 
 
 profession. He had an apprenticeship to serve and 
 had to be content, at first, with what was tendered 
 him from his master's table, so to speak. But his 
 reward came in time, when, after much study and 
 preparation, and the practice of great patience, 
 which was about all the practice the most of them 
 had for several years, they were invited to come up 
 higher and enjoy their reward, which was usually 
 ample when once a footing was obtained among the 
 elect. 
 
 Few, if any, new States could show such an 
 array of legal and oratorical talent and ability as 
 Chester Ashley, David Ringo, A. H. Sevier, Charles 
 A. Caldwell, Albert Pike, Charles P. Bertrand, 
 Absalom Powler, William and Ebenezer Cummins, 
 Frederick W. Trapnell, Samuel S. Hall, John W. 
 Cocke, Samuel H. Hempstead, Peter T. Crutch- 
 field, George C. Watkins, James M. Curran, John 
 J. Clendennin, Pleasant Jordan, William H. Field 
 and David J. Baldwin, of Little Rock ; Jesse Tur- 
 ner, George W. Paschal, William Walker and Rich- 
 ard S. C. Brown, of Crawford County ; Townsend 
 Dickinson, W. D, Regan, David Walker, Alfred M. 
 Wilson, Williamson S. Oldham, Wm. McK. Ball, 
 Archibald Yell and S. G. Sneed, of Washington 
 County ; Terrence Farrelly, of the Post of Arkan- 
 sas ; William K. Sebastian, Thomas B. Hanly, Chas. 
 W. Adams and William McPherson, of Phillips 
 County ; W. H. Sutton and De La Fletcher Roys- 
 den, of Chicot County ; Daniel T. Wetter, Grandi- 
 
218 EARIvY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 
 
 son D. Royston, Edward Cross, John R. Eakin, 
 John P. Field, Thomas Hubbard, James P- Jett, 
 Georg-e Conway and William Conway, of Hemp- 
 stead County ; Sam C. and John S. Roane and' Mar- 
 tin W. Dorris, of Jefferson County ; Thomas J. 
 Lacy, William Beyers, Judge Fairchild, W. C. Den- 
 ton, William K. Patterson and Thomas Johnson 
 (afterwards of Pulaski), of Independence County ; 
 Bennett H. Martin and Totn Murray, of Pope 
 County ; Thomas G. Floyd and Felix G. Battson, 
 of Johnson County ; Christopher C. Scott, of Cam- 
 den ; Judge Cain, of Randolph County ; Green B. 
 Nunn, of Lawrence County, and Albert Rust, of 
 Union County. Some of these men became Gov- 
 ernors, Judges of the Supreme and Circuit Courts, 
 Senators and Representatives in Congress and Gen- 
 erals in the Mexican War and in the Confederate 
 Army. 
 
 There were, doubtless, others who would 
 fittingly fill a place in this roll of honor, but the 
 long lapse of time intervening between then and 
 now has effaced their names from my memory. 
 
 The first term of the Supreme Court of the 
 State of Arkansas began on November 6, 1836, in 
 the unfinished Supreme Court room in the east wing 
 of the Capitol Building, with Judges Ringo, Lacy 
 and Dickinson on the bench. 
 
 There was enacted at this first term of the 
 Court a scene which had some of the elements of 
 comedy, if not downright burlesque, about it. The 
 
KARLY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 219 
 
 Legislature, in its assembled wisdom, had passed a 
 law regulating the practice in the Supreme Court, 
 which required that all applicants for license, the 
 old and tried practitioner, as well as the young 
 sprig, should submit their qualifications to another 
 ''''favorable examination," as it was termed, before 
 they should be allowed to practice before the High- 
 est Court in the State. In some of its features the 
 law was a good one, but it did certainly seem awk- 
 ward, not to say embarrassing, to see old lawyers 
 of long standing, and who had reaped distinction 
 and riches in their chosen profession, brought back 
 to their hornbooks, so to speak. John J. Clenden- 
 nin, Esq., who afterwards occupied a seat on both 
 the Supreme and Circuit Court benches, was treated 
 to the most rigid examination of any, but he came 
 off with flying colors. 
 
 Of the original formation of the Judicial Cir- 
 cuits of the State we have space here to mention 
 only the Fifth, or Capital Circuit, composed of the 
 counties of Pulaski, White, Conway, Pope, Perry 
 Yell and Saline, in 1836. The first Judge of the 
 Circuit' was Charles A. Caldwell, of Saline County; 
 and John J. Clendennin, of Pulaski County, was the 
 first Prosecuting Attorney. 
 
 The State House still being in an unfinished 
 condition, for lack of funds. Congress donated, at 
 this time, an additional five sections of land to the 
 State to complete the buildings. 
 
 These lands brought at public auction the sum 
 of $34,450. 
 
220 EARLY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 
 
 Towards the latter part of September, 1836, 
 Lieut. F. L. Jones, United States Army, arrived 
 from Washington City, charged with the duty of 
 selecting a site for a United States Arsenal to be 
 established at I/ittle Rock. The present site, which 
 has recently been converted into a city park, was 
 selected. 
 
 The tract of land, which contained a fraction 
 over thirty-six acres, was part of the 1000 acres 
 donated by Congress to build a Territorial Court 
 House and Jail, and had been purchased from the 
 Governor by Richard C. Hawkins, who established 
 a race-course on the land and fitted up the grounds 
 in first-class condition for racing purposes. 
 
 In 1837 active preparations for putting up the 
 buildings were begun. At first a few small frame 
 buildings for the temporary use of a small number 
 of troops and workmen were built. 
 
 The first building of a permanent character to 
 be erected was the Armory, located on the east side 
 of the grounds and constructed of brick, with heavy 
 stone foundations. All of the principal buildings 
 were of brick and stone. The stone for foundation 
 and basement work *was obtained from Big Rock. 
 
 The next building to go up was the Barracks, 
 a large two-story and basement structure facing 
 north, with upper and lower verandas running the 
 full length of the building. 
 
 The officers' quarters, or "Tower Building," 
 the most imposing of the group of buildings, fol- 
 lowed. 
 
EJARIvY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 221 
 
 The Commaiidant's residence, a handsome two- 
 story and basement house just west of the "Tower 
 Building," was the last of the large buildings to be 
 erected. 
 
 Additional buildings were erected from time to 
 time as the necessities of the service required, and 
 it was not until after 1841 that all the original 
 buildings were completed. 
 
 The grand stand on the race-course was moved 
 to the southwest part of the grounds and fitted up 
 for use as a stable for army horses. 
 
 In 1838 the armament at the Arsenal consisted 
 of sixteen six-pounder cannon, 8,500 muskets and 
 accoutrements complete, 1500 Hall's rifles complete, 
 thirty barrels of rifle powder, 7000 pounds of rifle 
 balls and 1,000,000 musket ball and buck-shot cart- 
 ridges. 
 
 There were never any large number of troops 
 stationed here until during and after the Civil War. 
 Before that time the Arsenal was used principally 
 for storing arms and military stores for use on the 
 frontier. 
 
 At various periods different officers were de- 
 tailed to superintend the work*, one of whom I re- 
 member with much distinctness. In 1840, Major 
 Richard Hannum, an old officer of the War of 1812, 
 retired on half-pay, was the military store-keeper. 
 Major Hannum gained recognition for conspicuous 
 bravery at the defense of Fort Stevenson, Ohio, 
 against the combined forces of the British and In- 
 dians in 1812. 
 
223 EARLY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 
 
 The State of Kentucky presented the old hero 
 a magnificent sword, the scabbard and hilt of which 
 were of solid gold. 
 
 In the fall of 1836 a military company, called 
 the First Company of Arkansas Artillery — com- 
 monly known as "Pike's Artillery" — was organized 
 at Ivittle Rock and mustered into the service of the 
 State. The first officers of the company were. 
 Captain, Dr. John T. Pulton ; First Lieutenant, 
 Albert Pike ; Second Lieutenant, William F. Pope. 
 Shortly after the organization of the company, Dr. 
 Fulton resigned the captaincy and Albert Pike was 
 elected Captain and David W. Carroll (for sixteen 
 years ■ the Chancellor of the Pulaski Chancery 
 Court), First Lieutenant. The company was sup- 
 plied with two six-pounder field pieces, and became 
 very adept in handling the guns. Tke company 
 was also drilled in infantry tactics and was very 
 efficient in the manual of arms and in the field 
 movements. The uniforms, of which there were 
 two, consisted of a full suit of black broad-cloth, 
 the coat cut swallow tail and faced with red. The 
 trousers were of the same material, with a wide 
 gold braid down the outside seams. For headgear 
 they had black beaver Shakos, with red pompons. 
 For summer wear, the uniform was a gray blouse, 
 with red trimmings, white duck trousers and gray 
 fatigue caps. The guns, sabres and muskets were 
 supplied by the State, but the members, of which 
 there were forty, rank and file, furnished their own 
 
EARLY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 223 
 
 uniforms, which were procured in the city of New 
 York, where a special agent of the company was 
 sent for that purpose. 
 
 The Real Estate and State Banks having sus- 
 pended specie payment, the Governor issued his 
 proclamation convening the Legislature in extra 
 session to take some action in the matter, and for 
 other purposes. 
 
 That body met in extra session on the first 
 Monday in November, 1837, and proceeded to the 
 consideration of the matters laid before it. 
 
 A bill was passed renewing and amending the 
 charters of the banks and legalizing the suspension 
 of specie payment. Aside from the matters relating 
 to the banks, the discussions of which were of the 
 bitterest, description between the supporters and 
 opponents of the institutions, but little else was 
 done at this session, although it will ever be mem- 
 orable as the occasion of one of the bloodiest and 
 most dastardly crimes that ever stained the pages 
 of Arkansas' history — the killing of J. J. Anthony, 
 a member from Randolph County, by John Wilson, 
 Speaker of the House of Representatives, during 
 the open session of the House. The facts of this 
 ■ terrible tragedy are about as follows : A member 
 from Marion County had introduced a bill — said to 
 have been written by Wm. P. Hicks, now of Lonoke 
 County, then a young man residing in Little Rock, 
 at the request of the member from Marion, who it 
 was also said was unable to write, or at least to 
 
224 EARLY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 
 
 formulate a bill — to increase the bounty on wolf 
 scalps from $1.50 to $2.50. On the second reading- 
 of the bill, an amendment was offered to the effect 
 that the person killing a wolf should be allowed to 
 deposit the scalp with the nearest justice of the 
 peace, who should issue his certificate of the fact, 
 which certificate should be receivable in payment of 
 county taxes. 
 
 Mr. Anthony, who had taken a leading part in 
 opposition to re-chartering the banks, moved as an 
 amendment to the amendment that the certificate so 
 issued by the magistrate should be countersigned 
 by the President of the Real Estate Bank, referring 
 to John Wilson, Speaker of the House, who was 
 also at that time president of said bank. This was 
 a home thrust, which the Speaker very keenly felt, 
 and he excitedly and peremptorily ruled Anthony 
 out of order and commanded him to take his seat. 
 This Anthony refused to do, saying that he stood 
 there as the representative of the people of Ran- 
 dolph County and that he was entitled to the floor 
 and should refuse to resign it at the dictates of 
 John Wilson. Instead of calling upon the Ser- 
 geant-at-Arms to enforce order, the Speaker, livid 
 with rage, left the chair, saying: "Then, I will ■ 
 make you." As he descended from the Speaker's 
 stand, he drew his knife and advanced down the 
 aisle to where Anthony was standing behind his 
 desk. As Wilson approached nearer, Anthony, who 
 was a very large and powerfully built man, over 
 
EARLY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 225 
 
 six feet tall, weighing- 200 pounds, and by no means 
 a coward, said, in rather conciliatory terms, "My 
 remarks were intended as a joke." Wilson, how- 
 ever, continued to advance, and as he did so An- 
 thony drew his knife, stepped into the aisle and 
 awaited his antagonist's coming. Grandison D. 
 Royston, a member from Hempstead County, who 
 occupied a seat near Anthony's, raised a chair and 
 thrust it between the now infuriated foes. Both 
 men grasped the chair with their left hand and be- 
 gan cutting at each other, and Anthony inflicted a 
 slight wound on Wilson's left arm. At the second 
 attempt to reach his enemy Anthony's knife flew 
 out of his hand and he was placed at the mercy of 
 his antagonist. Wilson raised the chair, and, stoop- 
 ing down to make his aim sure, plunged his weapon 
 into his foe's abdomen. Anthony fell, exclaiming 
 "I'm a dead man," and immediately expired. Wil- 
 son stood for a few seconds gazing upon his victim 
 and then remarked, "It is not the first time he has 
 insulted me." Col. Allen Martin, Sheriff of the 
 county, arrived at this juncture and Wilson was 
 taken into custody. 
 
 As soon as the body was removed, and order 
 was somewhat restored, the House was called to 
 order by the clerk and a resolution expelling Wil- 
 son was introduced and carried, and Grandison D. 
 Royston was chosen Speaker. 
 
 Wilson was promptly indicted by the grand 
 jury for murder in the first degree, but upon a 
 
 IS 
 
226 EARIvY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 
 
 chang-e of venue to Saline county, was acquitted on 
 the grounds of excusable homicide — a verdict that 
 caused the most intense indignation throughout the 
 entire State. 
 
 This tragedy was most sad and deplorable, 
 looked at from all sides. A family despoiled of its 
 head and support, and the very first pages of the 
 history of a State just ushered into existence 
 stained with the blood of a representative man, 
 slain by the hand of another high in oflScial prefer- 
 ment. Truly a bloody baptism for the new Capitol 
 building. 
 
 In the fall of 1837, the first professional the- 
 atrical troupe to visit Arkansas arrived from Nash- 
 ville, Tenn., and opened in McLane & Badgett's 
 warehouse on the alley between Main and Louisiana 
 streets, now known as "Shell Alley." This same 
 warehouse had been used five years before by the 
 Methodist denomination for Church purposes. The 
 troupe was under the management of Sam Waters, 
 and had for its star a player named Douglass. 
 This man was an actor of no mean ability. The 
 plays presented were "She Stoops to Conquer," 
 "The Golden Farmer,' "The Soldier's Daughter," 
 "Black Eyed Susan," etc. 
 
 In 1838, Waters leased a building located on 
 E)lm street, between Main and Scott, which had 
 originally been built for a government warehouse 
 but had subsequently been used as a livery sta- 
 ble. The lessee extended the building back to the 
 
EARLY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 227 
 
 river bank and fitted it up in first-rate style for 
 theatrical purposes. Here appeared during the 
 years 1838, 1839 and 1840 such players as Charles 
 Parsons, of Louisville, Ky., who was superb in 
 "Othello," "King Lear," "Virginius," "Neck of 
 the Woods," etc.; Mason, from New Orleans, whose 
 forte was melodrama, and who acted in "The Sub- 
 altern," "The Wife of Mantua," "The Stranger," 
 and such like plays. Mrs. Cabell, a tragedy queen 
 from Lexington, Ky., acted in this house in 1839. 
 
 A notable event in the history of this theatre 
 was the appearance there of two youths about six- 
 teen years of age who essayed the roles of "Rich- 
 ard" and "Richmond" in "Richard III." The 
 youth who took the part of "Richard," and whose 
 name was Bowers, was slightly humpbacked by 
 nature and his rendition of the character of the 
 malevolent "Gloucester" was as finished a piece of 
 acting as I ever saw on any stage. 
 
 This place of amusement was destroyed by fire 
 in April, 1840. This was the largest fire which 
 had ever occurred in Little Rock up to that time. 
 It destroyed not only the theatre building, but also 
 every building on the block, which was pretty sol- 
 idly built up. The means for extinguishing fires 
 at that time were very crude and inadequate. The 
 fire department consisted of one diminutive hand 
 engine and a "bucket brigade." Water had to be 
 obtained from the river under the high banks and it 
 was a slow and laborious process. 
 
228 EARLY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 
 
 Doubtless a bit of the history of two of the 
 actors who appeared in I/ittle Rock in early days 
 may be of interest to the lovers of the histrionic art. 
 
 Mason was in form and feature the exact coun- 
 terpart of the First Napoleon, whether on or off the 
 stage, and whenever he appeared in "The Subal- 
 tern," arrayed in a long gray overcoat and wearing 
 a small chapeau, with his left arm carried behind 
 his back, the hand clasping a snuff box, as was Na- 
 poleon's habit, the likeness was life-like and aston- 
 ishing. So wonderfully like was he to the great 
 Emperor that whenever he appeared in the New 
 Orleans theatres, cries of " Vive V Emfereur''' would 
 rend the air and the old French soldiers in the audi- 
 ence would mount the stage and, taking him upon 
 their shoulders, would parade around and around, 
 singing French songs until their enthusiasm cooled. 
 
 Once during a season of revival services held at 
 the Brookss Street Methodist Church in Louisville, 
 Ky., conducted by the great revivalist John New- 
 land Maffiltt, a scene was enacted which rivaled in 
 grandeur and pathos any ever acted upon the stage. 
 
 As is the well known custom at such meetings, 
 penitents were invited at the close of the sermon to 
 come forward for prayer. The church was crowded 
 to its utmost capacity. Suddenly the celebrated 
 actor, Charles Parsons, was seen advancing down 
 the aisle in the direction of the chancel. When he 
 was discovered, cries of " Othello ! " "Othello ! ! " 
 arose from a portion of the audience. Parsons 
 
EARLY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 229 
 
 Stopped and faced the large congreg-atlon, and, fold- 
 ing his arms, exclaimed in his magnificent voice, 
 "Othello's occupation's gone," and turned and knelt 
 at the altar. 
 
 He joined the Church and was soon afterwards 
 given a circuit, or charge. At the time of Parson's 
 conversion he was deeply in debt and his property- 
 was heavily mortgaged. The Church agreed to pay 
 his debts, but for some cause failed to do so. Par- 
 sons, whose conversion was sincere and genuine, was 
 unwilling to continue in the ministry while he owed 
 large sums of money to his creditors.. He resigned 
 from the ministry and went back upon the stage for 
 several years in order to earn the means with which 
 to discharge his obligations. This he finally suc- 
 ceeded in doing and returned to the ministry and 
 died a faithful and earnest minister of the Gospel. 
 He was stationed for several years at one of the 
 leading churches in St. Louis and enthralled all who 
 heard him by his matchless pulpit oratory. When 
 he was playing in Little Rock in 1839, after his re- 
 turn to the stage, he attended Church and the prayer 
 meeting as often as possible. 
 
 In 1838, the Secretary of War decided in favor 
 of Fort Smith as the location for a Garrison for 
 United States troops and the work of construction 
 was begun. 
 
 The second regular session of the State Legis- 
 lature was convened November 5, 1838, and remained 
 in session about forty days. It was a very unevent- 
 
230 EARLY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 
 
 ful session, and about the only measure passed in 
 which the present generation has any concern was 
 the bill to establish a State Penitentiary at Ivittle 
 Rock. Commissioners were provided for, and the 
 sum of $20,000 was appropriated to purchase land 
 and commence the buildings. The tract of land 
 selected was the present site, which was then in 
 the country, a heavy stretch of woods shutting it off 
 from the town. The price paid for the land was 
 $20 per acre and was considered then a very high 
 figure. The work of construction was begun in 
 1840, and the Legislature of that year made an addi- 
 tional appropriation of $40,500. 
 
 A bill was also passed at this session to charter 
 the "Little Rock Trust and Insurance Company," 
 but, like a great many other enterprises started in 
 those years, it came to nothing. 
 
 John Hutt was elected State Treasurer at this 
 session and again in 1843. 
 
 In the fall of 1839, the Hon. Richard M. John- 
 son, of Kentucky, Vice President of the United 
 States, visited Little Rock, and a complimentary 
 ball, at Beck's hotel, was tendered the distinguished 
 visitor. The arrangements were very complete and 
 the ball was a success in every particular. 
 
 So much has already been written and sung 
 anent the "Arkansas Traveler," that I would fain 
 pass the subject by with the silence it deserves were 
 it not for the fact that many intelligent people be- 
 lieve to this day that the humorous caricature repre- 
 sents a leading type of Arkansas character. 
 
EARLY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 231 
 
 Only a few months ago a Philadelphian asked 
 a citizen of Little Rock, Ark., who was sojourning 
 in the city of "Brotherly Love," this question : "Do 
 the Mexicans and Indians bother you much down 
 there ?" 
 
 Mexicans and Indians, indeed! Might as well 
 ask the Philadelphian or New Yorker if they were 
 still worried by the presence in their midst of 
 the British and Hessians. There never were any 
 Mexicans in Arkansas except an occasional visitor 
 or traveler ; and as for Indians, they were removed 
 from beyond the limits of the State too long to talk 
 about except as a matter of ancient history. 
 
 But to return to the "Arkansaw Traveler." 
 The picture with its accompanying colloquy, which 
 has had a wide-spread circulation, has done untold 
 injury to the good name of the State and her people. 
 
 Conceived in a spirit of fun and jocularity, and 
 intended for the amusement of a passing hour, the 
 "Arkansaw Traveler" and his leaky cabin and 
 squeaky fiddle has become in the eyes of many peo- 
 ple the typical inhabitant of Arkansas. 
 
 Every community, no matter where, has among 
 its people certain lazy, shiftless characters whose 
 sole aim in life is simply to exist and raise up a 
 numerous brood of as worthless and good for noth- 
 ing children. 
 
 That there is some slight foundation for the 
 story I do' not pretend to deny. But the pen of the 
 romancer and the artist's pencil have given the sub- 
 
232 EARLY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 
 
 ject more promineace than it deserves, while other 
 matters of more import have been neglected. 
 
 The origin of the "Arkansas Traveler" epi- 
 sode is about as follows : On one occasion Col. 
 Sandford C. Faulkner, a wealthy planter of Chicot 
 County, Ark., became lost among- the wild, rugged 
 hills of the Bayou Mason country in that county, 
 and in his wanderings happened upon the dilapi- 
 dated cabin of a squatter of the lowest type, when 
 the now famous colloquy between the traveler and 
 the squatter took place regarding the leaky condition 
 of the cabin, which could not be repaired when it 
 rained and which did not need repairing when the 
 weather was good. So between the conditions of 
 good weather and bad weather the miserable hovel 
 continued open to rain and sun alike. 
 
 The squatter, who was non-committal to all 
 inquiries of the traveler as to the locality, the road, 
 or the way out of the hills, and who was very 
 peremptory in his refusal of accommodation for the 
 traveler and his horse, was engaged in a bungling 
 attempt to play upon an old cracked and battered 
 fiddle the first bar or two of an old familiar air 
 much in vogue with the settlers of some of the older 
 Southern States. Col. Faulkner, who was some- 
 what of a fiddler himself, took the squeaky instru- 
 ment and played the whole of the tune and played 
 himself into the heart and home; of the surly old 
 squatter, who joyously accorded him tht only dry 
 spot in the cabin, feed for his horse, and a pull at 
 the old black whisky jug. 
 
EARLY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 233 
 
 These points being related to a writer who had 
 a keen sense of the humorSus, were fully elabo- 
 rated from the storehouse of the imagination and 
 published in a volume of short stories entitled "Big 
 Bear of Arkansas and Other Sketches," said to 
 have been written by Albert Pike. 
 
 A native artist, Charles P. Washburn, of Pope 
 County, executed a very fine oil painting of the 
 scene as described to him by Col. Faulkner. This 
 painting, which was really a work of art, measured 
 about 18x24 inches, and hung for many years, un- 
 framed, in Col. Faulkner's parlor in Little Rock. 
 Charles Washburn was undoubtedly an artist of 
 rare merit, but death cut him down in early man- 
 hood, and all the examples of his talent are lost to 
 sight and memory except the "Arkansas Traveler." 
 
 I knew Sandford Faulkner intimately. He was 
 a most original, jovial and generous-hearted man. 
 I have heard him repeat the dialogue which took 
 place between himself and the squatter many a 
 time. He usually told the story at parties which 
 he would attend, sometimes accompanying it with a 
 tune on the violin, and it always afforded much 
 amusement. 
 
 In recounting the tragedies which have stained 
 the pages of Arkansas' early history, it is with no 
 desire to ruthlessly tear open and expose to view 
 the wounds which time has healed, and over which 
 the veil of forgetfulness has J)een partially drawn. 
 My aim is to place in a just and true light those un- 
 
234 KARLY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 
 
 fortunate occurrences from which no country or 
 people are exempt. Human nature is, In some par- 
 ticulars, the same yesterday, to-day and forever, and 
 the heart of man is acted upon by sudden heat and 
 passion in all ages, and in all climes. Arkansas 
 has had no more tragedies than any other new 
 State. The demon of anger knows no time nor 
 country. Were it otherwise, "man's inhumanity 
 to man," would in a great measure cease to " make 
 countless thousands mourn." 
 
 One of the most deplorable affairs that ever 
 occurred in our history, took place on the streets of 
 Little Rock in 1838. 
 
 At the April term, 1838, of the Pulaski County 
 Court, Judge David Fulton obtained an order of 
 Court opening up a rpad south from Arch street 
 through Dr. William C. Howell's farm, which was 
 then located where Mrs. Weldon Wright's sub- 
 urban home now stands. Dr. Howell had a crop of 
 oats growing upon his place at the time, and, 
 although he did not object to having the road cut 
 through his farm, agreeing to give the whole of the 
 right of way upon his land, he protested against 
 work commencing until he had harvested his oat 
 crop. 
 
 No immediate steps were taken to open the 
 road, and Dr. Howell went to attend an important 
 case of sickness at Hot Springs. 
 
 During Dr. Howell's absence at the. Springs, 
 Judge Fulton insisted that the county overseer of 
 
EARLY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 
 
 235 
 
 roads proceed with the work, notwithstanding Dr. 
 Howell's protest. The road overseer objected to 
 beginning- the work until the oat crop had- been 
 gathered, saying that he would resign if compelled 
 to do the work at that time. Judge Fulton per- 
 sisted in having the order of court executed without 
 further delay and the road overseer resigned. Judge 
 Fulton was then appointed road overseer and at once 
 warned the hands, among them Dr. Howell's farm 
 manager, to begin the work, and Howell's front and 
 rear fences were thrown down. The day after the 
 work began Dr. Howell returned from Hot Springs, 
 and upon being informed of the matter, went out to 
 his farm and had his servants put up the fences 
 again. He then rode out to where Judge Fulton 
 and the gang of hands were at work cutting out the 
 road. An angry dispute ensued between the two 
 men, in the course of which Judge Fulton gave the 
 doctor the lie direct. Dr. Howell dismounted, and 
 picking up a switch struck the old Judge several 
 blows over the shoulders. The bystanders inter- 
 fered and shamed Dr. Howell out of any further 
 attempt to chastise the Judge. Dr. Howell ex- 
 pressed regrets for having struck Judge Fulton, 
 although the provocation was very great. He came 
 to town and saw his lawyer. Col. Fowler, and 
 requested him to get out an injunction and an order 
 of court requiring Judge Fulton to give one-half the 
 road off his lands. Judge Fulton also came to town 
 and reported the attack made upon him by Dr. 
 
236 EARLY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 
 
 Howell to his son, Dr. John T. Fulton. Judge 
 Fulton's family and friends were very much incensed 
 at the harsh treatment he had received at the hands 
 of Dr. Howell, and David Douglass, a grandson, in 
 company with another young kinsman, went to the 
 drug store of Dr. Thomas J. Howell, a brother of 
 Dr. William C, and standing on the sidewalk in 
 front of the store began to abuse Dr. Thomas J. 
 Howell roundly. He stepped to the door and tried 
 to expostulate with the young men, telling them 
 that he had nothing whatever to do with the matter. 
 Douglass and his companion still persisting in their 
 abuse, he threatened to have them arrested and put 
 under bond to keep the peace. This had the effect 
 of bringing the young men to their senses and they 
 left. 
 
 A few days after this last occurrence, old man 
 Charles L. Jeffries gave a birth-day party at his 
 City hotel and invited a large number of the best 
 people of the town. Among the guests were Dr. 
 John T. Fulton and wife and Dr. Thomas Howell. 
 Dr. William C. Howell did not attend- During the 
 evening Dr. Fulton grossly insulted Dr. Thomas 
 Howell and ordered him to leave the house, which, 
 of course, he refused to do. The matter coming to 
 the ears of the host, he told Dr. Fulton that he must 
 not insult his guests, and the old man, who was 
 somewhat of a privileged character, reprinjanded 
 Dr. Fulton pretty severely on his conduct. The 
 doctor sought out his wife and went home. 
 
EARLY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 237 
 
 Dr. William C. Howell was then living: on the 
 corner of Scott and Walnut (Fourth) streets, in the 
 residence recently occupied by the late Dr. R. L. 
 Dodge, and his brother, Dr. Thomas Howell, was 
 boarding with him. 
 
 At the breakfast table the next morning Dr. 
 Thomas Howell made no mention- of the occurrence 
 at the birthday party of the previous evening. But 
 when Dr. William C. Howell went down town he 
 learned of the affair fr®m others. His anger was 
 now greatly aroused against Dr. John T. Fulton, 
 and going to the gunsmith shop of Henry Griffith 
 he purchased a very fine double barrel shotgun, 
 loaded it with buckshot, and started out, it was 
 supposed, to find Dr. Fulton. 
 
 The meeting between Dr. William C. Howell 
 and young Douglass was purely accidental. As Dr. 
 HoWell stopped in front of the bar-room of Peay's 
 hotel on the site afterwards occupied by the "An- 
 thony House," some one asked him if he was going 
 birding. Howell replied that he was in pursuit of 
 a "very foul bird." Some one else remarked, "Doc- 
 tor, you carry a very fine gun ;" to which the doctor 
 replied: "I find it necessary to carry a fine gun 
 when such scoundrels as Dr. Fulton are allowed to 
 insult unoffending men." 
 
 At that moment young Douglass stepped out of 
 the post-offiice, next door, and said : "Dr. Howell, if 
 you abuse my uncle I will kill you." Dr. Howell 
 turned to Mr. James B. Keatts and myself who 
 
238 EARLY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 
 
 were standing- conversing in the street a few feet 
 from the sidewalk, and raising his gun and spring- 
 ing the hammer of one of the barrels threw the 
 piece in the hollow of his left arm, the mu2;zle 
 pointing in a northwesterly direction, and said : 
 "Gentlemen, I want you both to take notice that he 
 says if I abuse his uncle he will kill me." Dr. 
 Howell commenced turning to face Douglass, re- 
 marking as he did so, "Dr. Fulton is a contemptible 
 puppy." The words were scarcely uttered when 
 Douglass fired, the load of buckshot and slugs with 
 which the gun was loaded striking Dr. Howell in 
 the right hip. 
 
 The shock had the effect to draw the charge 
 from the right hand barrel of Dr. Howell's gun, 
 which struck a negro girl belonging to Mr. William 
 F. Woodruff and who was passing on the opposite 
 side of the street at the moment, from the effects of 
 which she died two days later. Before Dr. Howell 
 could recover from the shock Douglass fired again, 
 lodging the contents of his second barrel In Dr. 
 Howell's abdomen, literally tearing it to pieces. The 
 wounded man was picked up and carried into a 
 back room adjoining the saloon and laid upon a cot. 
 At his request he was taken to his home, where he 
 died at 4 o'clock the same day. 
 
 Youn^ Douglass was promptly arrested and 
 placed in jail. He was indicted by the grand jury 
 and placed on trial at the October term of the 
 Pulaski Circuit Court. 
 
EARLY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 239 
 
 Douglass was defended by Gen. Washington 
 Barrow, of Tennessee, a noted lawyer and a great 
 friend of the Pultons. Judge Anderson, of Vicks- 
 burg. Miss., equally as distinguished, and John W. 
 Cocke, the "Tom Marshall" of Arkansas, one of 
 the most eloquent lawyers who ever practiced in 
 any court and the peer of Prentiss, were of counsel 
 for the defense. 
 
 The prosecution was conducted by John J. 
 Clendennin, Absalom Fowler and William Cum- 
 mins, all of Little Rock. The case was stubbornly 
 fought on both sides, but the jury disagreed, seven 
 being for murder in the first degree and five for 
 manslaughter. 
 
 Douglass' attorneys took a change of venue to 
 Phillips County. Being a witness in the case, on 
 the part of the State, I was deputized to take the 
 prisoner to Helena and deliver him to the sheriff of 
 Phillips County. When I went to the jail, the day 
 of our departure, to get Douglass, I found him sur- 
 rounded by members of his family who had come to 
 bid him good-bye. I soon discovered that Douglass 
 was in irons, being shackled at the ankles and the 
 chains carried up under the legs of his trousers and 
 attached to a belt around his waist, which was 
 secured by a pad-lock. I at once informed Major 
 Lawson, the sheriff, that I should refuse to take the 
 prisoner into my custody in irons, and that I would 
 be responsible for his safe delivery to the sheriff of 
 Phillips County. Major Lawson gave me the key 
 
240 EARI.Y DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 
 
 and told me to do as I pleased about it, and I relieved 
 Doug-lass of the hideous manacles. If David Doug-- 
 lass had been turned loose and told to report for 
 trial at Helena he would have done so. 
 
 We made the trip to Helena by land, traveling- 
 in a double bug-g-y. Doug-lass and I slept together on 
 the trip and he assisted me in feeding- , and harness- 
 Jng- the team. We left Little Rock, November 15, 
 and arrived at Helena on the 18th, the court con- 
 vening- the next day. 
 
 On the trial at Helena the defense was con- 
 ducted by Gen. Barrow, assisted by Hon. Bailey 
 Peyton, of Tennessee ; Judge William K. Sebastian, 
 of Helena, and John W. Cocke, E)sq., of Little JRock. 
 The prosecution was by William M. McPherson, of 
 Helena, and Messrs. Absalom Fowler and Dbenezer 
 Cummins, of Little Rock. The result was a mis- 
 trial, the 3ury standing- eleven for murder in the 
 first degree and one for acquittal. The case then 
 went over Until the May term of court, 1839. 
 
 Meanwhile one of the State's witnesses had 
 died, three had left the State, and one, Mr. James 
 B. Keatts, was too sick to attend, and Jacob Tut- 
 wiler and myself were the only witnesses on hand. 
 The case was then put off until the next November 
 term of court. At that term the State had no wit- 
 nesses present, for we had gotten tired of running 
 back and forth at our own expense. At this term 
 Douglass was admitted to bail in a large sum and 
 
EJARIvY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 241 
 
 released from custody, and his father took him to 
 Tennessee, where he lived. 
 
 At the May term, 1840, Douglass returned to 
 Helena ready for trial, but the State having no wit- 
 nesses on hand, the Prosecuting Attorney entered 
 a nolle -prosequi in the case and Douglass was set 
 at liberty. He went back to Tennessee, and when 
 the gold excitement broke out in 1849, he went to 
 California and was appointed by the President, 
 United States Marshal for the ~ Territory. He 
 afterwards became a distinguished citizen of that 
 State. 
 
 16 
 
242 EARLY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 "Flush Times in Arkansas." 
 
 The Presidential campaign of 1840 was the 
 most exciting which had ever taken place in this 
 country, and is still, in many respects, the most 
 memorable that has ever occurred in our political 
 history. 
 
 It will be remembered that this struggle be- 
 tween the Democratic and Whig parties for su- 
 premacy was facetiously called the "Log Cabin 
 and Hard Cider Campaign." Some Democratic 
 speaker had sneeringly referred, in the beginning of 
 the campaign, to Gen. Harrison as having emanated 
 from a log cabin, and that that was the place for 
 him to remain. The Whigs adopted the sugges- 
 tion as a party emblem. This homely device — a 
 log cabin with a coon skin nailed to the door and 
 a barrel of hard cider near at hand — occupied a 
 conspicuous place in their campaign literature, 
 songs and decorations. Every town, village and 
 hamlet through the country had its log cabin 
 headquarters, at which was the ubiquitous barrel 
 of hard cider, free to all comers. 
 
EARLY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 243 
 
 Arkansas was not behind in catching the con- 
 tagion that was sweeping over the country. 
 
 In the month of June, 1840, the Democrats held 
 a State mass meeting at Little Rock, attended by 
 about 1000 delegates from all parts of the State. 
 A large torch-light procession was had at night and 
 stirring Democratic speeches were made by Robert 
 W. Johnson, Judge Edward Cross, of Hempstead 
 County, Judge Hanley, of Helena, and others. 
 
 This demonstration did not, however, compare 
 either in numbers or enthusiasm with the monster 
 Whig meeting which took place on the 13th and 
 14th of the following July. People came from 
 every nook and corner of the State, many of them 
 prepared to camp out during the meeting. A party 
 composed of one hundred and fifty men and fifty 
 ladies rode horseback all the way from Independ- 
 ence County. They brought with them a large 
 canoe, emblematic of Tippecanoe, and enthusiastic- 
 ally sang 
 
 "Then hurrah for the field where the bold eagle flew 
 In pride o'er the hero of Tippecanoe." 
 
 This huge craft was made in sections and trans- 
 ported in a wagon from Batesville. On the day of 
 the great parade — the procession was estimated to 
 have contained between four and five thousand peo- 
 ple — the canoe was put together and mounted upon 
 wheels, and in it was seated a bevy of pretty ladies; 
 representing the twentj-six States, and wearing 
 Harrison and Tyler badges. The prow of the 
 
244 EARLY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 
 
 boat was surmounted by a miniature log cabin, upon 
 the roof of which was perched a live coon. After 
 parading the principal streets of the city singing 
 campaign songs, the refrains of some of which 
 were "Van, Van, Van is a used up man," "Tippe- 
 canoe and Tyler too" etc., the procession proceeded 
 to the Arsenal grounds, where the meeting was 
 held and speeches were delivered by Jesse Turner, 
 of Van Buren ; "William McPherson, of Helena ; De 
 La Fletcher Roysden, of Chicot county, and other 
 leading Whigs. 
 
 But with all the enthusiasm displayed, despite 
 the log cabins, Tippe-caraoe^, hard cider and poon 
 skins of the Whigs, they were unable to overcome 
 the large Democratic majority in the State and the 
 electoral votes of Arkansas were cast for the Dem-r 
 ocratic candidates. Van Buren and Johnson, who, 
 however, received the electoral votes of only five 
 States, or sixty electoral votes in all. Harrison 
 and Tyler carried twenty states and received one 
 hundred and thirty-four votes in the Electoral Col- 
 lege. South Carolina threw her seven votes away 
 upon R. H. Phett, of South Carolina, and Porter, 
 of Pennsylvania. 
 
 In the State election which had been held in 
 August, Archibald Yell, the Democratic nominee, 
 was elected Governor, and on November 5, 1840, he 
 was formally inducted into office. 
 
 At the hour of 1 o'clock, p. m., on the day set 
 apart for the purpose Governor-elect Yell, attended 
 
EARLY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 245 
 
 by committees of both Houses of the Legislature, 
 Judges of the Supreme and Circuit Courts, Colonel 
 Absalom Fowler, United States Senator Wm. S. 
 Fulton, National and State officers, assembled at 
 Governor-elect Yell's residence and he was escorted 
 from thence to the State House, the procession 
 moving in the following order : 
 
 Band of music. 
 
 Battery of Artillery (State). 
 
 Detachment of the Third United States Regulars. 
 
 Committees of the Legislature, in carriages. 
 
 Governor and Governor-elect. 
 
 Judges of the Supreme and Circuit Courts, 
 
 And other official personages, in carriages. 
 
 Clergy, in carriages. 
 
 Invited guests, in carriages. 
 
 Masons. 
 
 Odd Fellows. 
 
 Citizens in carriages, mounted and on foot. 
 
 When the procession reached the State House 
 the troops opened ranks and the gubernatorial party 
 passed through into the Capitol building and up into 
 the hall of the House of Representatives, where 
 both houses were in joint session. 
 
 The Governor-elect was escorted by Col. Cald- 
 well, of the Senate, and Mr. Nolajid, of the House, 
 to the chair of State between the President of the 
 Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representa- 
 
246 EARLY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 
 
 tives. Prayer was offered by Bishop Waugh, of 
 the Methodist Church. 
 
 Governor-elect Yell then delivered his inaug- 
 ural address, at the conclusion of which the oath of 
 office was administered by Chief Justice Ringo, of 
 the Supreme Bench. When the oath had been ad- 
 ministered a salute of twenty-six guns was fired by 
 the Battery stationed on the river front. 
 
 On December 23, 1840, a ball was given at the 
 American House (afterwards the famous Anthony 
 House) by the Legislature, complimentary to Gov- 
 ernor Yell, and which was a very brilliant affair. 
 
 The material and industrial development of the 
 State was now progressing in a satisfactory manner. 
 
 Despite the wave of financial depression which 
 had swept over the country in 1837, and whose effect 
 was not felt in Arkansas until the fall of 1841 and 
 the beginning of 1842, and notwithstanding the sus- 
 pension of specie payment by the banks, money was 
 plentiful and the period was referred to as the 
 "Flush times in Arkansas." 
 
 New enterprises were being put in operation, 
 and large bodies of land opened up to cultivation. 
 
 A specimen of coal from Spadra in Johnson 
 County was received at Little Rock, and when 
 burned in a common basket grate set into an ordi- 
 nary fireplace comfortably heated a room 20 by 40 
 feet. 
 
 A few months after a barge of coal arrived from 
 the mines and was put upon the market. The min- 
 
EARLY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 247 
 
 Ing company expected to mine $150,000 worth of 
 coal during the year. This was undoubtedly the 
 first attempt at coal-mining for profit in Arkansas. 
 
 A factory for the manufacture of hats and caps 
 was started about this time by Messrs. Butt & 
 Lockwood, at Little Rock. The output of this 
 factory, while not large, was of a good and salable 
 character. 
 
 The George Brothers, thrifty Germans from 
 Prankfort-on-the-Rhine, established a brewery in 
 the city and produced a superior quality of ale and 
 beer. 
 
 The building trades were also actively en- 
 gaged, and a large number of substantial buildings 
 were erected. The Real Instate and State Bank 
 buildings, the last one still standing on the south- 
 east corner of Markham and Center streets, and the 
 other located on the southwest corner of First (now 
 Commerce) and Markham streets, where the Dick- 
 inson Hardware Company's store recently stood, 
 were completed about this period. 
 
 On the 16th day of March, 1840, Bishop Iveon- 
 idas Polk of the Eipiscopal Church arrived in Little 
 Rock and held services and preached in the Presby- 
 terian Church. 
 
 In the month of March, 1841, Major James C. 
 Anthony leased the hotel building which up to that 
 time had been called the "American Hotel," and 
 changed the name to the "Anthony House," which 
 
248 EARIvY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 
 
 historic name it went under during- all its subse- 
 quent years of notoriety, and until destroyed by fire. 
 
 The first Catholic mass said in Ivittle Rock was 
 celebrated by Father Richard Bole in an upper 
 room of Dug-g-an's store, near the northwest corner 
 of Main and Cherry (Second) streets, in 1838. 
 
 In the spring- of 1841, a plain but comfortable 
 brick church building- was erected by Father Bole 
 on the southeast corner of Louisiana and Eliziabeth 
 (Sixth) streets, Ivittle Rock, and was dedicated by 
 Bishop Ivoras, of Dubuque, Iowa, in the presence of 
 a large congregation. The building resembled a 
 dwelling house more than it did. a church edifice. 
 Part of the building was devoted to the use of the 
 Sisters of Loretto for school purposes. In after 
 years it was rented out for a dwelling house and 
 was at one time occupied by a family of theatrical 
 people. 
 
 In March, 1844, Rt. Rev. Andrew Byrne was 
 consecrated at Baltimore first Catholic Bishop of 
 I/ittle Rock. When this prelate arrived in his new 
 see he repudiated the action of Father Bole in the 
 matter of the church building and gave the house 
 to the Sisters of Mercy when they arrived a few 
 years afterwards from County Kildafe, Ireland. 
 
 The Sisters of Mercy came in 1849 and estab- 
 lished a female seminary called St. Mary's Academy. 
 Three of the Sisters who came over from Ireland 
 are still living, Sister Alfonsas, the present Mother 
 
EARIyY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 249 
 
 Superior of the Convent, and Sisters Teresa and 
 Xavier. 
 
 Shortly after Bishop Byrne's arrival he built 
 the old St. Andrew's Cathedral, a large frame struc- 
 ture on the northeast corner of Center and Cherry 
 (Second) streets, where the Hotel Richelieu now 
 stands, 
 
 I distinctly remember my first meeting with 
 Bishop Byrne. It was on the opposite side of the 
 river, a few miles above the town. He was en route 
 to Van Buren to make an Episcopal visitation. 
 He had brought over with him from Ireland a gen- 
 uine Irish jaunting car, which he often used while 
 journeying over the State. This odd looking vehi- 
 cle attracted much attention. Even my horse be- 
 came frightened at the unusual sight. Mutual 
 introductions followed and some time was spent in 
 pleasant conversation. When we were about to 
 separate the Bishop invited me to join him in a 
 parting cup of pure sherry wine, a supply of which 
 he had provided for his journey. 
 
 This truly good man and priest died at Helena, 
 Ark., in 1862. 
 
 No old citizen of the State can forget Rev. 
 Patrick O'Reilly, familiarly known to all as Father 
 Pat. He was a man of commanding presence and 
 great dignity of bearing, but with a warm and 
 loving heart that drew all men to him, regardless 
 of creeds. He was Vicar-General of the Diocese at 
 the time of his death, not many years ago. 
 
250 EARLY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 
 
 Rt. Rev. Edward Fitzgerald succeeded Bishop 
 Byrne as Bishop of L/ittle Rock. 
 
 The scramble for oflS.ce under the new national 
 administration was loud-mouthed and persistent. 
 
 Gen. Harrison recognized fully the extent to 
 which the bestowal of public patronage for party 
 services had gone, and determined, if possible, to 
 correct some of the most flagrant cases of the abuse 
 of this power. But his efforts in that direction 
 were in vain. Politicians from all over the country, 
 wearing log cabin emblems and coon tails in their 
 hats, and, in some instances, coon-skin caps, invaded 
 Washington City and made the President's life 
 almost unbearable. 
 
 Arkansas loudly demanded recognition in the 
 distribution of the spoils of oflEce. 
 
 Soon after the inauguration of President Har- 
 rison, an article appeared in the New Orleans Pic- 
 ayune, under the caption of "What's in the Wind," 
 and which was as follows : 
 
 "Thomas Butterworth, of lyittle Rock, adver- 
 tises that he will give 623 cents for coon skins. 
 Arkansas is a strong Van Buren State, and we are 
 unable to say what Mr. B. wants a large number of 
 coon skins for unless he is attempting to revolution- 
 ize it." 
 
 The Arkansas Gazette copied the article just 
 quoted and added : "Pze/ You're mistaken. It was 
 reported here that the army and all the office hold- 
 ers under the administration would be ordered to 
 
EARI^Y DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 251 
 
 wear coon skin caps. Ten thousand skins would 
 not supply those who expect offlce.'' Surely there 
 is "nothing- new under the sun," and the politicians 
 of the present do but follow in the footsteps of their 
 predecessors. 
 
 In the summer of 1841, during- the month of 
 June, I think. Gen. Zachary Taylor arrived at Lit- 
 tle Rock on board the steamer "Artizan," en route 
 to Fort Gibson, to relieve Gen. Arbuckle, who had 
 been ordered to New Orleans. 
 
 A committee of citizens went aboard the boat to 
 tender the General a public dinner. We were met 
 and welcomed by a splendidly uniformed set of staff 
 ofl&cers. Gen. Taylor was a stickler for military 
 etiquette, and required his oflBcers to always appear 
 in uniform, though he did not pay much attention 
 to his own personal appearance. 
 
 Upon inquiring for General Taylor the commit- 
 tee was informed by Captain Dicks, Assistant Ad- 
 jutant General, that he had gone up into the city. 
 Upon further inquiry as to what kind of looking 
 man the General was we were informed that he was 
 a low, heavy-set man, with prominent features and 
 gray eyes, and that he wore a pair of gray jeans 
 trousers, an undress surtout without insignia of 
 rank, and that he had on a broad brimmed palmetto 
 hat and heavy shoes. 
 
 We had seen this by no means attractive figure 
 going up Markham street as we came down, but 
 
252 EARLY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 
 
 could not by the liveliest stretch of the imag-ination 
 believe it to be the renowned General Zacha.ry 
 Taylor. 
 
 The General presently returned to the boat, 
 accooLpanied by his old-time friend, Major Nicholas 
 Peay. After the committee had been introduced to 
 the General he was made acquainted with the object 
 of our visit, but courteously declined the dinner on 
 the plea of want of time (the boat only laid at the 
 wharf a few hours) and his extreme desire to get to 
 his new post of duty. Captain Albert Pike posted 
 his Battery on the bluff in rear of the State House, 
 and as the "Artizan" passed up fired a General's 
 salute, which was responded to by a Battery on 
 board, the band of the Fifth Regulars, which was 
 also on the boat, furnishing- the music for the occa- 
 sion. 
 
 The next time I saw General Taylor was when 
 he passed through Little Rock on his way to the 
 seat of war in Mexico. 
 
 In November, 1841, the remnant of two hundred 
 Seminole Indians, with their noted hostile chiefs, 
 "Wild Cat" and "Hospatka," in charge of Captain 
 Sewall, Lieut. Brittan and Assistant Surgeon 
 Walker, of the Seventh United States Infantry, 
 passed up the river, bound for the Indian Territory. 
 
 In the fall of 1841, the store of Keatts & Thi- 
 bault was broken into and robbed of about $5000 
 worth of fine jewelry, and the perpetrators of the 
 theft were not discovered until sometime after- 
 
EARLY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 253 
 
 wards. This discovery was broug-ht about in a 
 very unexpected manner, as we shall have occasion 
 to see. 
 
 That the people of the first years of the State 
 were not indifferent to the importance of matters 
 educational and historical, I will mention the annual 
 meeting of the "Antiquarian and Historical Society 
 of Arkansas." This meeting- was held on January 
 5, 1842, and the Rev. W. W. Stevenson, of the 
 Christian Church, was elected President ; the Rev. 
 William Yearg-er, of the Episcopal Church, vice- 
 President ; Mr. George C. Watkins, Secretary ; Mr. 
 William E. Woodruff, Treasurer and Dr. Alden 
 Sprague, Ivibrarian. 
 
 It is to be very much regretted that the trans- 
 actions of the Society have not been preserved, for 
 they would be of great interest and instruction to 
 the student now-a-days. 
 
 The new Episcopal Church edifice, near the cor- 
 ner of Orange (Fifth) and Scott streets, which was 
 begun in 1840, was completed in 1842, and services 
 were held in it for the first time in the latter part 
 of August, 1842. 
 
 The Rt. Rev. James H. Otey, Bishop of Ten- 
 nessee, , was appointed Missionary Bishop of Missis- 
 sippi, Alabama, Florida and Arkansas, succeeding 
 Bishop Polk, who was made the Bishop of L/buis- 
 iana. Dr. Yearger was succeeded in the Rectorship 
 of this, Christ's Episcopal Church, by the Rev. 
 Andrew Freeman, son of Rt. Rev. George W. 
 
254 EARLY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 
 
 Freeman, Bishop of the Diocese, in 1848, and son- 
 in-law of Col. Chester Ashley, whose only daugh- 
 ter, Mary Prances, he had married. The next 
 Rector of this Church was the Rev. J. T. Wheat, 
 who remained until after the breaking out of the 
 late war, when he returned to North Carolina. Dur- 
 ing the war period the Church building was used 
 most of the time for a hospital, and the services of 
 the Church were often held at private residences 
 by the Bishop, Rt. Rev. Henry C. Lay. The next 
 Bishop to be appointed to the Diocese, and who still 
 holds the sacred office, was the Rt. Rev. Henry 
 Niles Pierce, who is also the Missionary Bishop of 
 the Indian Territory. 
 
 On April 26, 1842, the twenty-third anniver- 
 sary of the establishment of the Independent Order 
 of Odd Fellows was fittingly celebrated by Far 
 West Lodge and visiting brethren by religious ser- 
 vices at the Methodist Church, and a banquet in the 
 evening at the "Anthony House," at which appro- 
 priate toasts were drunk in cold water. 
 
 The first daguerrean artist to visit Arkansas 
 came about this time and opened a studio in the 
 "Anthony House," where hundreds went to have 
 their "likenesses taken," as it was then termed. 
 This new process in portraiture rapidly supplanted 
 the more expensive x and tedious miniature painting 
 on ivory, in water colors ; and the cutting of silhou- 
 ettes from black paper on a white ground, or from 
 
EARLY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 255 
 
 white paper on a black ground, the style in which 
 the profiles of so many of our ancestors are 
 preserved. 
 
 The population of Little Rock had now reached 
 1531. 
 
 An occurrence transpired about this time which 
 caused the greatest excitement, not only in Little 
 Rock, but throughout the entire State, the recital 
 of which I trust the reader will have the patience 
 to peruse to the end. 
 
 In the Spring of 1839, the three-story brick 
 building which in after years gained such celebrity 
 as the Anthony House was finished by its owners. 
 Major Nicholas Peay and myself, and the hotel was 
 run under the name of the American Hotel. In the 
 month of April, 1840, we leased the building and 
 furniture to one Samuel G. Trowbridge, formerly 
 of Chicago, 111. This man Trowbridge gathered 
 about him a lot of new comers from abroad, who 
 never seemed to have anything particular to do 
 except to frequent the hotels and bar rooms. 
 
 I shall now be compelled to go back and gather 
 up the threads of my story. 
 
 After the adjournment of the extra session of 
 the Legislature of 1837, a number of the business 
 men of Little Rock began the issuance of change 
 tickets, commonly called "Shin Plasters," with 
 which they flooded the country, almost entirely 
 driving out of circulation silver, until their pres- 
 ence became an unmitigated nuisance. 
 
256 EARLY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 
 
 At the regular session of 1838, the Legislature 
 amended the city charter so as to permit the city of 
 Little Rock to issue corporation notes of small de- 
 nomination. These corporation notes were very 
 finely engraved and were signed by the Mayor and 
 attested by the City Recorder, and were redeemable 
 in Arkansas State money when presented in lots of 
 not less than five dollars. At the city election in 
 1842, Trowbridge succeeded in having himself 
 elected Mayor of the city. 
 
 During Trowbridge's occupancy of the Mayor's 
 office the iron safe of James D. Fitzgerald, an auc- 
 tioneer, and also a justice of the peace, was broken 
 open one night and a large amount of real estate 
 bank notes upon which Frederick W. Trapnell, 
 E)sq., had brought suit before Esquire Fitzgerald — 
 about $13,000 — :were stolen. These bills were of 
 the denominations of from five dollars to one hun- 
 dred dollars. The justice was in the habit, in 
 these cases, of putting these bills in lots of one 
 hundred dollars and docketing a suit against each 
 one hundred dollars worth of the money. He also 
 wrote across the back of each bill, in red ink, the 
 words, "Filed and writ issued," giving the date of 
 filing, and then signing his name as justice of the 
 peace. In rendering judgment in these suits he 
 always gave a minute description of each bill — date, 
 series and number. 
 
 When the robbery was discovered, it was found 
 that not only was the Real Fstate Bank money miss- 
 
EARLY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 257 
 
 ing- but also the justice's trial docket. The matter 
 was kept very quiet for some time, scarcely anyone 
 but Mr. Trapnell being informed of the robbery, ex- 
 cept Trowbridg-e, whom the justice suspected from 
 the start, and whom he made a seeming confidante 
 of. Trowbridge expressed much surprise at the 
 news of the robbery and offered his assistance in 
 ferreting out the thieves. 
 
 Some little time after the robbery, the wives of 
 Trowbridge, Caldwell, a carpenter, and Hunt, a 
 tailor, visited the dry goods store of Adamson & 
 Prather, who had advertised to sell at cost and that 
 Real Estate Bank money would be taken at fifty 
 cents on the dollar, and purchased several thousand 
 dollars' worth of dry goods, millinery and notions, 
 and paid for them in Real Estate Bank notes. 
 
 That night at the close of business, one of the 
 members of the firm who was engaged in counting 
 up the day's receipts, held up before the lamp one 
 of the bills which had been received from the three 
 women, and was much surprised to see the words, 
 dim but perfectly legible, "Filed and writ issued 
 (date), J. D. Fitzgerald, J. P." When the bill was 
 removed from before the flame of the lamp, the en- 
 dorsement made by the justice did not appear. 
 
 A large number of the notes were examined by 
 the aid of the lamp and all showed the same endorse- 
 ment, except as to dates. 
 
 Mr. Prather at once made known to Mr. Fitz- 
 gerald his discovery, and warrants were issued for 
 
 17 
 
258 EARLY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 
 
 the arrest of the parties supposed to be implicated. 
 
 When the sheriff went to the house of Caldwell, 
 he was not in; and when the officers entered Mrs. 
 Caldwell's room, she attempted to throw a larg-e 
 roll of the bank money into the fire, but was pre- 
 vented. When found with the evidence of guilt in 
 her possession, she broke down and made a full con- 
 fession of the robbery and other matters implicating- 
 Trowbridge ; Caldwell, her husband ; Hunt ; Keys, 
 a clerk in a store ; Walker, a carpenter ; Van Horn, 
 a printer ; Tapley Stewart ; Wilson, a gambler, and 
 Whitmore, a blacksmith. 
 
 Stewart and Whitmore, with their manifold tal- 
 ents, have been mentioned before in these pages. 
 
 Upon the trial, by the confession of Trowbridge 
 and others, the existence of a thoroughly organized 
 band of burglars and counterfeiters was brought to 
 light. 
 
 Trowbridge, the mayor of the city, was the 
 organizer of the band and its controlling spirit. 
 The engraved plates for the spurious corporation 
 notes and the bank notes of other States were made 
 by Whitmore, the accomplished. The counterfeit 
 corporation notes were so perfectly executed that 
 the city had to redeem between $17,000 and $18,000 
 of notes upon which experts could not decide whether 
 they were genuine or false. The printing of the 
 notes was done by Van Horn on a little hand press 
 located at first in the attic of a frame building 
 adjoining the "American Hotel." 
 
EARLY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 259 
 
 The press and counterfeiting- outfit was after- 
 wards removed to tlie northwest corner of Fourth 
 and Rock streets, where it and the tools and moulds 
 for making spurious gold and silver coins were found 
 after the arrest of the band. 
 
 Whitmore was absent on a trip to Hot Spring 
 county when the balance of the gang were appre- 
 hended, and he was not arrested until the following 
 Monday, which was a special election day. At the 
 general election which had been held in the previous 
 August, the opposing candidates for Representa- 
 tives, and also for sheriff, had tied, which neces- 
 sitated another election for those offices. This spe- 
 cial election was held on the first Monday in October. 
 Anticipating Whitmore's return that day, the 
 sheriff posted a man out near the edge of town on 
 the Hot Springs road to watch for Whitmore and 
 induce him to come to the polling place and vote be- 
 fore going home. This Whitmore agreed to do, 
 and all unconscious of what had befallen his com- 
 panions in crime, and also what was in store for 
 him, went to the polls and cast his ballot for the 
 men of his- choice. He had no sooner performed 
 this act of a freeman than he was arrested. His 
 saddle bags were found to contain a large amount 
 of ore resembling gold, silver, and also some of a 
 baser sort. 
 
 Upon the trial, Trowbridge was sentenced to 
 fifteen years in the penitentiary, from which he was 
 pardoned by the Governor for good conduct during 
 
260 EARLY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 
 
 the burniag- of the prison in 1846. Keys received a 
 sentence of six years in the Penitentiary, and was 
 also pardoned for services rendered at the burning- 
 of the Penitentiary. Van Horn, who printed the 
 notes, g-ot six years, as did also Walker. Tapley 
 Stewart refused to confess. He was tried on two 
 indictments — for robbery and passing counterfeit 
 money, and was convicted on both and sentenced 
 to one year. He died a few years after leav- 
 ing the' walls. The man Wilson was sentenced 
 to fifteen years, and was one of the ring leaders of 
 the rioters who burned the State Prison a few years 
 after. 
 
 One of the saddest events that ever occurred in 
 the city of Little Rock grew out of the breaking- 
 up of this gang of robbers and counterfeiters. 
 
 When the sheriflF and his posse went at night 
 to arrest Caldwell, he was out in the back yard, 
 and when the posse entered his house, getting wind 
 of the presence of the sheriflF, he ran out the back 
 gate and made for a hiding place. He was gone 
 several days, but finally returned and gave himself 
 into custody. 
 
 While Caldwell was in hiding, the sheriflF placed 
 a regular deputy and a special deputy, a Mr. E). G^ 
 Baker, a merchant, to watch Caldwell's house, in 
 the hopes of his return. One night while the reg- 
 ular deputy sheriflF, Nelson B. Thomasson, was at 
 his post at one end of the house, he observed a tall 
 man-^Caldwell was a tall man — crossing the back 
 
EARLY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 261 
 
 yard. He ordered the party to halt, who, instead of 
 doing- so, turned and ran. The deputy sheriff, sup- 
 posing the fleeing man to be Caldwell, fired, and 
 killed his companion of the watch. Baker. 
 
 The breaking up of the Trowbridge gang, and 
 the trial and conviction of its members, brought to 
 light the fact that the same gang had been impli- 
 cated in the robbery of Keatts & Thibault's store 
 in 1841. 
 
 The principal part of the legislative session of 
 1842-3 was devoted to heated and acrimonious dis- 
 cussion of the tangled affairs of the banks. A 
 short time before the Real Estate Bank had gone . 
 into liquidation and its affairs had been placed in 
 the hands of trustees, one of whom is still living, 
 Mr. Peter Hanger,* of Little Rock. 
 
 Gov. Yell tried to attach the assets of the 
 bank in the hands of the trustees by quo warranto 
 proceedings in the Supreme Court, and have the 
 bank placed in the hands of a receiver. The Su- 
 preme Court sustained the assignment to trustees, 
 the opinion of the court being delivered by Town- 
 send Dickinson, Associate Justice. 
 
 When the matter of the banks was up for dis- 
 cussion in the House of Representatives, there 
 came very near being a repetition of the bloody 
 scene enated in the Hall in 1837. 
 
 *NoTE — Hon. Peter Hang-er died February 24, 1895, since this 
 work was written, at the advanced age of 88 years. — Publisher. 
 
262 EARLY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 
 
 John Wilson, who had killed J, J. Anthony 
 during the sitting of the Extraordinary Session in 
 1837, and who was acquitted of the charge, as it 
 will be remembered, returned to his home in Clark 
 County, but his old neighbors and acquaintances 
 gave him the cold shoulder, and by many unmistak- 
 able signs gave him to understand that his presence 
 in their midst was not desirable. He went to re- 
 side in Pike County and was, in 1842, sent to repre- 
 sent that county in the Legislature. It was now 
 nearly five years since that deplorable tragedy on 
 the floor of the House of Representatives, in which 
 he had borne such a prominent part. 
 
 Time, and a residence among a new people had, 
 in a measure, obliterated, or put out of sight, the 
 memory of that terrible affair, and Wilson took his 
 seat as a legislator and at once began an attempt to 
 regain his lost prestige as a leader in the House. 
 
 At this session an attempt was made to over- 
 ride the decision of the Supreme Court in placing 
 the assets of the banks in the hands of trustees. 
 Wilson, who had now completely changed front in 
 the bank controversy, took a leading part in the 
 debates in opposition to the appointment of trustees 
 to manage the affairs of the banks. 
 
 Among the most ardent supporters of the decis- 
 ion of the Supreme Court in the matter was Dr. 
 Lorenza Gibson, then a representative from Hot 
 Spring County. 
 
EARLY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 263 
 
 In the course of the debates upon the subject of 
 the banks, Wilson charg-ed that Dr. Gibson did not 
 represent the popular sentiments of his (Gibson's) 
 constituency in the matter, as he (Wilson) had am- 
 ple opportunity for knowing-. 
 
 In his reply to Wilson Dr. Gibson, among other 
 things, said: "The member from Pike county 
 ought to be the last man on this floor to open his 
 mouth on the subject of the Real Dstate Bank." 
 Wilson moved uneasily in his chair under this terri- 
 ble reminder. Continuing, Dr. Gibson said : "While 
 the member from Pike was speaking, I cast my eyes 
 to a dark and ominous spot on the floor near where 
 he is now sitting, and which is happily covered over 
 with a carpet, but into the wood of which the blood 
 of a murdered man has sunk so deep that nothing 
 but the tongue of fire or the tooth of decay can 
 obliterate it ; and I expected to see the ghost of the 
 murdered Anthony rise up and rebuke into silence 
 his murderer." Wilson, wild-eyed and livid with 
 rage, sprang to his feet, and with bowie knife 
 drawn, started for the man who had so scathingly 
 denounced him. Before he had taken a step, how- 
 ever, he was seized by several pairs of strong arms 
 and forced back into his seat. Dr. Gibson stepped 
 into the aisle and said, with the utmost coolness and 
 witkout a tremor : "Let the murderer come. He will 
 not find me an Anthony." The scene at that moment 
 is almost beyond the power of words to describe. 
 I was present on the floor at the time and now 
 
264 KARLY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 
 
 almost hear the sharp "click," "click," as pistols 
 were cocked and the friends of Dr. Gibson leaped 
 over the lobby rails and surrounded him. Members 
 jumped upon their desks, shouting, and flourishing- 
 weapons of various descriptions, while cries of "or- 
 der," "order," rent the air. Finally, by the united 
 efforts of the Speaker and the Doorkeeper — we had 
 no such officer as Sergeant-at-Arms in those days — 
 and some of the cooler heads, order was restored, 
 and the two belligerents were summoned to the bar 
 of the House and reprimanded by the Speaker. 
 Strange to say, nothing further ever came of the 
 matter. 
 
 Dr. Gibson informed me once that he after- 
 wards met Wilson face to face on the lonely road 
 between Little Rock and Rockport, Hot Spring 
 County, but that they passed without seeming to 
 note each other's presence. 
 
 It cannot be denied but that John Wilson was a 
 man of great native ability, and had it not been for 
 his' ungovernable temper he might have risen to 
 almost any position of eminence in the State. He 
 often deplored his great failing, which bore with it 
 such rash and fatal consequences. 
 
 Shortly before the meeting of the Legislature 
 at which the matters of the banks had been so 
 fiercely debated, the Arkansas Gazette contained 
 this bit of pleasantry apropos to the banks: 
 
 "Gone into Zz^wordation — A waggish friend 
 informed" us yesterday that immediately after the 
 
KARLY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 265 
 
 election of President of the Real Estate Bank the 
 Board of Directors of that institution passed a reso- 
 lution to g"0 into immediate liguorda.t'ion, and forth- 
 with repaired to the 'Anthony House' and carried 
 it into effect. We understand the resolution was 
 carried with entire unanimity." 
 
 The Leg'islature of 1842-3 also provided, by 
 bill, for a Geological Survey of the State. The re- 
 sults of this survey are contained in "A Geological 
 Reconnoissance of the Northern counties of Arkan- 
 sas, made during the years 1857 and 1858, by David 
 Dale Owen, Principal Geologist." 
 
 The State experienced great diflSculty in secur- 
 ing the services of a competent man to undertake 
 the survey, and it was not until 1857 that the work 
 was begun. 
 
 David Dale Owen and his brother, Robert Dale 
 Owen, were the founders of the New Harmony 
 Community, on the Wabash River, Indiana. This 
 community was established upon the principles of 
 Fourierism — really the doctrine of Agrarianism. 
 
 About the year 1843, there appeared in the city 
 of Little Rock a very interesting and eccentric 
 character. 
 
 Ignatius Williammoicz was a political exile 
 from Poland. He had been an oflEcer of engineers 
 in the Polish army, but having taken part in one of 
 the many plots to free his country from the Russian 
 yoke after the dismemberment of Poland, he was 
 compelled to emigrate to America. 
 
266 EARLY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 
 
 For sometime after reaching- the United States, 
 he was employed as a civil eng-ineer on one of the 
 early railroads in Indiana. He finally came to Little 
 Rock, and was given employment in the Surveyor- 
 General's office of the State. Mr. Williammoicz 
 was a very accomplished man, intellectually, and 
 doubtless was of the nobility or the aristocracy of 
 his native country. Personally, he was of a very 
 striking figure, being some three or four inches over 
 six feet in height, very raw-boned, with large 
 angular features. 
 
 This singular man had the reputation of being a 
 miser, but such was hot the case. He was very sav- 
 ing, and, at times, even penurious with his means. 
 He was of a bluff and surly disposition, but, when 
 he took a liking to a person, was very companionable 
 and generous with his money, and, I am sorry to 
 have to say it, his generosity was sadly abused in 
 several instances. He slept on an iron bedstead and 
 leather mattress and pillow. 
 
 He almost always wore a long dark-blue 
 blanket overcoat and high Wellington boots drawn 
 over the legs of his trousers. He was an old bach- 
 elor and boarded for many years at the "Anthony 
 House." His appetite was enormous, and his gas- 
 tronomic feats simply appalling. The proprietors 
 of the hotel always charged him double price for 
 board, which he paid without a murmur of dissent. 
 He usually began his dinner with not less than two 
 large platefuls of soup, and his "More zoup, John," 
 
EARLY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 267 
 
 grunted out in his deep guttural tones, is well re- 
 membered by the old habitues of the hotel. He 
 accumulated considerable property in Ivittle Rock, 
 and when he died, after the late Civil War, it was 
 found that he had willed the bulk of his property to 
 the Catholic Church. He did not forget his faith- 
 ful old negro servant, Fanny, to whom he be- 
 queathed some property on West Seventh street. 
 Little Rock. 
 
268 EARI/Y DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 
 
 CHAPTl^R XVII, 
 The Campaign of 1844. 
 
 The year 1844 was an exciting one, politically, 
 both in National and State affairs. 
 
 In the spring- of that year both political parties 
 held State Conventions to nominate Governor, Con- 
 gressman, Presidential electors and delegates to 
 the National Convention. 
 
 The Democrats nominated Elias N. Conway, 
 of Pulaski County, for Governor, and David J. 
 Chapman, of Independence County, for Congress ; 
 and the delegates to the National Convention were 
 instructed to vote for James K. Polk, of Tennessee, 
 for President. 
 
 There being some dissatisfaction with the nomi- 
 nation of Mr. Conway, Gen. Richard C. Byrd, of 
 Pulaski County, announced himself as an indepen- 
 dent Democratic candidate for the office of Governor. 
 
 When the Whig State Convention met it nomi- 
 nated for Governor Dr. Lorenzo Gibson, of Hot 
 Spring County, and David Walker, of Washington 
 County, for Congressman, and instructed for Henry 
 Clay, of Kentucky, for the Presidency. 
 
EARI^Y DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 269 
 
 Soon after the Whig's held their State Conven- 
 tion, Dr. Gibson addressed a note to both the regu- 
 lar and independent Democratic candidates for Gov- 
 ernor, enclosing- a list of appointments for public 
 speaking, and invited them to meet him on the 
 stump and discuss the issues of the campaign. Gen. 
 Byrd accepted the invitation, but Mr. Conway 
 declined, stating that the requirements of his office 
 — he was at that time Auditor of State — would pre- 
 clude his taking any active part in the canvass. 
 The Democratic press throughout the State insisted 
 that he meet Dr. Gibson in debate or else decline 
 the nomination. Mr.- Conway withdrew from the 
 ticket. Upon Mr. Conway's withdrawal, the State 
 Central Committee met and compelled David J. 
 Chapman to relinquish the nomination for Congress 
 and induced him to accept that for Governor instead. 
 The committee then placed Archibald Yell upon the 
 Congressional ticket. 
 
 Gov. Yell at once resigned the gubernatorial 
 office and took the stump. By the resignation of 
 Gov. Yell, Samuel Adams, of Johnson County, 
 President of the State Senate, became, by virtue of 
 his office, acting Governor of the State. Gov. 
 Adams was the father of the late Major John D. 
 Adams, of Little Rock. 
 
 Gen. Byrd, the independent Democratic candi- 
 date for Governor, withdrew from the canvass upon 
 the declination of Mr. Conway to make the race. 
 
270 EARLY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 
 
 After having met Dr. Gibson at several of his 
 appointments, Mr. Chapman was taken ill, and 
 never having fully become reconciled to the action 
 of the State Central Committee in depriving him 
 of the Congressional nomination, in the language 
 of the prize ring, "threw up the sponge" and quit 
 the canvass. 
 
 The Democratic nomination for Governor was 
 then offered to Thomas S. Drew, of Randolph 
 County, who accepted the same and entered on the 
 canvass, being elected in August. Archibald Yell 
 was elected to Congress. 
 
 In the spring of 1844, both national conventions 
 met at Baltimore, and the Democrats nominated 
 James K. Polk, of Tennessee, for President, and 
 George M. Dallas, of Pennsylvania, for Vice Presi- 
 dent. 
 
 The Whigs in national convention assembled 
 chose Henry Clay, of Kentucky, and Theodore 
 Frelinghuysen as their standard-bearers in the 
 Presidential race. 
 
 Mr. Polk had taken strong grounds on the 
 Texas annexation question, favorable to the scheme, 
 which made him very popular among the large 
 numbers of emigrants who were pouring into the 
 Republic of Texas. 
 
 Large bodies of these emigrants passed through 
 Arkansas during the summer and fall of this year. 
 
 Those favorable to annexation, and they were 
 in the majority, bore at the front of their wagons 
 
EARLY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 271 
 
 hug-e poke bushes, and had traced upon the sides of 
 their wagons in rude characters, done with the . 
 juice of the poke berry, the motto, "Polk, Dallas 
 and Texas." 
 
 The votes of Arkansas in the Electoral Colleg'e 
 were cast for Polk and Dallas. 
 
 The sandbar, opposite Fort Smith, seems to 
 have been a favorite duelling ground. It w^as there 
 that the Borden -Borland, the Pike-Roane, and sev- 
 eral other affairs of lesser note, took place. 
 
 The encounter between Benjamin J. Borden and 
 Solon Borland was the outgrowth of a bitter politi- 
 cal controversy carried on on the one side in the 
 columns of the Arkansas Gazette, then a Whig 
 paper, and of which Mr. Borden was the editor, and 
 on the other in the Banner, the Democratic organ, 
 edited by Major Borland. The main question at 
 issue at the time was the rival presidential candidacy 
 of James K. Polk and Henry Clay. The controversy 
 between the Gazette and the Banner in support of 
 their favorite candidates became so warm that it 
 descended to the bitterest kind of personalities. 
 
 The rival editors having met upon the streets, 
 the controversy was resumed and became so hot and 
 exciting that Major Borland could not contain his 
 anger and struck Mr. Borden a powerful blow in 
 the face, which felled him to the ground. Friends 
 interfered and put a stop to the matter, temporarily. 
 
 Mr. Borden, smarting under the indignity of 
 the blow, challenged Major Borland to a duel. 
 
272 EARLY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 
 
 which was accepted, and the meeting' took place 
 soon afterwards at the place mentioned. ' 
 
 The duel was foug-ht at ten paces, with regula- 
 tion duelling- pistols. At the first fire, Mr. Borden 
 fell severely, but not fatally, wounded in the chest. 
 Both parties now declared themselves satisfied, and 
 Mr. Borden's wound having- been carefully dressed 
 by his surg-eon. Dr. James A. Dibrell, of Fort 
 Smith, the antag-onists became reconciled and re- 
 turned to Little Rock together. 
 
 Hon. William S. Fulton having died before the 
 expiration of his second term as United States 
 Senator, Col. Chester Ashley was chosen as his 
 successor. Col. Ashley's speech in the United 
 States Senate on the bill to admit Texas into the 
 Union as a State was said to have been one of the 
 most brilliant of the many great speeches delivered 
 on that question. This effort gave him a national ' 
 reputation as a statesman and orator. 
 
 The treaty of annexation between the United 
 States and the Republic of Texas, whereby the 
 latter became a State in the Union, having been 
 ratified by the United States early in the month of 
 March, 1845, the Republic of Mexico made threat- 
 ening demonstrations looking to the recovery of the 
 lost Province. In this state of affairs Texas de- 
 manded Federal protection for her frontier. The 
 President of the United States, recognizing the fact 
 that the Rio Grande had been established by the 
 treaty powers of the United States and Texas as 
 
EARLY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 273 
 
 the boundary line between the Republic of Mexico 
 and the State of Texas, ordered General Taylor 
 to take position on that river. He marched from 
 Corpus Christi, March 8, 1846, with a force of 
 four thousand men for the boundary line. After 
 reaching -the Rio Grande, General Taylor estab- 
 lished a depot of supplies at Point Isabel, and ad- 
 vanced to a point opposite the Mexican city of 
 Matamoras. Here he threw up fortifications, 
 mounted several heavy field-pieces, and garrisoned 
 the fort with a number of men, under command of 
 Major Brown. The place was called Fort Brown, 
 since known as Brownsville, Texas. 
 
 It may' be interesting to state that the first of- 
 ficer, if not the first soldier of any grade, killed 
 during the Mexican war was Major Jacob Brown, 
 commandant of the fort. 
 
 Major Jacob Brown had been for many years 
 previously a resident of L/ittle Rock, having been 
 stationed at that place as a paymaster and disburs- 
 ing officer of the United States Army. At one time 
 he owned the lot on which the First National Bank 
 building now stands, and his daughters still own 
 the adjoining lots, as well as several other valuable 
 pieces of city property. 
 
 During Gen. Taylor's absence from Fort Brown, 
 with the main body of his troops, the Mexican Gen- 
 eral, Arista, crossed the Rio Grande with a large 
 force and bombarded the fort. Its commanding 
 officer. Major Brown, was killed in this fight. 
 
 18 
 
274 EARLY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 
 
 On Mareh 11, 1846, President Polk informed 
 Congress by message that a state of war existed. 
 War between the United States and Mexico was 
 then declared in due form. 
 
 The President of the United States at once 
 issued his proclamation announcing- the declaration 
 of war, and calling upon the States to furnish troops 
 for the prosecution of the same. 
 
 Arkansas' quota was fixed at one regiment of 
 cavalry for service in Mexico, and a battalion to 
 protect the western frontier of the State from the 
 depredations of the hostile Pawnees and Co- 
 manches. The Cherokees were also giving the peo- 
 ple of the border counties considerable trouble and 
 uneasiness. 
 
 Gov. Drew issued his proclamation in accord- 
 ance with the President's call for troops, and the 
 First Regiment of Arkansas Cavalry was organized 
 in June, 1846. Archibald Yell left his seat in Con- 
 gress at the first call for troops and was elected 
 Colonel of the regiment. 
 
 The other regimental officers were John Selden 
 Roane, Lieutenant Colonel ; Solon Borland, Major ; 
 Gaston Mears, Adjutant ; Dr. Craven Peyton, Sur- 
 geon ; William Quesenbury, Quartermaster, and 
 Josiah Houston, Sergeant-Major. 
 
 Two companies were recruited in Little Rock 
 and Pulaski County, known, respectively, as com- 
 panies "B" and "E." The former was commanded 
 by Capt. C. C. Danley, who was severely wounded 
 
EARLY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 275 
 
 at the storming of one 6£ the forts about the City 
 of Mexico, and rendered a helpless cripple for life. 
 
 The other oflScers of this company were Isaac 
 Hamilton, First Lieutenant, and Josiah M. Giles 
 and Hiram Carr, Second Lieutenants. 
 
 Company "E" was composed principally of 
 citizens of Little Rock and what is now Lonoke 
 County. Albert Pike was Captain ; Hamilton Rey- 
 nolds was First Lieutenant ; William H. Cousin, 
 Second Lieutenant. John C. Peay, George S. Mor- 
 rison, Alden M. Woodruff, Jacob Tschemier and A. 
 M. Crouch belonged to this company. 
 
 In the limited space at my command, to give a 
 full history of the Arkansas troops in the Mexican 
 War, or to mention individually all who took part 
 in it, were an impossibility. 
 
 Soon after reaching Mexico, Col. Yell expressed 
 a desire to return to the United States and serve 
 out the balance of his term as Congressman. This 
 request being presented to Gen. Wool, to whose Di- 
 vision the Arkansas troops were attached, he very 
 promptly told Col. Yell that he must either resign 
 his seat in Congress or his position in the army. 
 He chose the former, and remained with his regi- 
 ment. 
 
 At Monclova Gen. Wool detached Capt. Pike's 
 Little Rock Company and Capt. John Preston's 
 Phillips County Company from the Arkansas regi- 
 ment, and formed them into a squadron, under com- 
 mand of Capt. Albert Pike. 
 
276 EARLY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 
 
 This squadron had the honor of bring-ing on 
 the battle of Buena Vista, the only battle in which 
 Arkansas troops were engaged, and also of _ closing 
 it. This squadron was detached from the main 
 army to watch the movements of the enemy, and in 
 performing this service precipitated the fight. After 
 the battle, Pike's squadron was selected to follow 
 up and harrass the fleeing Mexicans. 
 
 Much adverse criticism has been passed upon 
 the conduct of a large part of the Arkansas regi- 
 ment at the battle of Buena Vista. This criticism 
 was applied with equal force to the conduct of some 
 of the Indiana and Kentucky troops at the same 
 battle. 
 
 With the exception of Pike's and Preston's 
 companies, the Arkansas regiment had not been 
 thoroughly drilled. It showed a woeful lack of 
 discipline, and at the battle the companies com- 
 pletely "lost their heads." 
 
 Colonel Yell, seeing the disordered state of the 
 command, hastily gathered about him some thirty 
 or forty of his bravest, dashed impetuously with 
 them into the thickest of the fight, and needlessly, 
 nay, recklessly, threw his life away in an attempt 
 to save the honor of his State and his own name. 
 Never fell a braver son of an ungrateful State. 
 After nearly fifty years, no testimonial, erected by 
 the State, tells of his name and fame. A blood- 
 stained sabre belt, taken from his dead body after 
 the battle, now in the office of the Secretary of the 
 
EARLY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 277 
 
 State of Arkansas, alqne remains to testify of this 
 brave Arkansan. 
 
 The others of Yell's devoted band who fell in 
 that bloody charge were Captain Andrew Porter 
 and ensign Saunders, both of Independence county, 
 who were literally cut to pieces ; Young John Pel- 
 ham, the "bravest of the brave," and Thomas Row- 
 land, both members of Danley's Pulaski County 
 company. 
 
 One of the most thrilling episodes of that ter-. 
 rible charge was the experience of "Josh" Dan ley, 
 a younger brother of Capt. C. C. Danley. Young 
 Danley was singled out by a Mexican lancer, who 
 made for him at full tilt and inflicted a wound in his 
 elbow. Danley grasped the head of the lance which 
 was attached to the Mexican's wrist by a leather 
 strap. In the tussle that ensued both combatants 
 were dragged from their horses. Danley secured 
 the Mexican's weapon and ran him through with it, 
 causing his death. Danley brought the lance back 
 home with him. 
 
 When the Arkansas troops returned home after 
 the expiration of their term of service, a large crowd 
 of people assembled at the wharf to see the troops 
 disembark and welcome their return. 
 
 In the crowd was ex-Gov. Adams, whose son, 
 John D., who had been slightly wounded, was among 
 the returned soldiers. After giving his son the 
 parental greetiug, Gov. Adams said: "I'm told 
 you all fought like h — 1 at Buena Vista." Giving 
 
278 EARLY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 
 
 one of his characteristic laughs, John, who was not 
 yet out of his teens, replied : "We ran like h — 1 at 
 Buena Vista." The joke was greatly relished by 
 some but not by all. 
 
 While the "Division of the Center," commanded 
 by Gen. Wool, was encamped opposite Monclova, 
 the General and staff were invited by the alcalde of 
 the town to a banquet in the citadel. The festivi- 
 ties were kept up pretty late at night, and when 
 the party attempted to cross the bridge spanning 
 the river between the town and the camp of the 
 American army, the sentinel, a long, lank Arkan- 
 san, barred the way with leveled musket and de- 
 manded the countersign. Gen. Wool protested that 
 he had not the countersign and stated in a very 
 authoritative manner that he was Gen. Wool, com- 
 manding the American forces, and insisted on pass- 
 ing. The sturdy Arkansan brought his musket to 
 a more threatening position and replied: "I don't 
 care if you are Gen. Wool, or Gen. Jackson, or Gen. 
 George Washington, you can't pass here without 
 the countersign." The old General blustered and 
 fumed considerably, and talked about court martials 
 and having the sentinel shot, etc. But the man on 
 guard could not be overawed, nor intimidated, and 
 the General and party had to remain seated upon 
 their horses, in a drenching rain, until the relief 
 guard arrived, and the officer of the watch recog- 
 nized the General and supplied him with the coun- 
 tersign. 
 
EARL,Y DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 279 
 
 The next morning General Wool sent for the 
 sentinel of the night before and made him an or- 
 derly, and provided him with a new uniform and 
 outfit. 
 
 In 1847, Congress passed a bill authorizing the 
 raising of ten new regiments for the regular army. 
 When the re'giments were formed, the President ap- 
 pointed Alden M. Woodruff and John C. Peay of 
 Little Rock, Ark., to lieutenancies in the regular 
 army. But when these young men reached New 
 Orleans on their way to join their commands, they 
 heard of the capture of" the City of Mexico by the 
 American forces, and learning that the war would 
 now speedily close, resigned their commissions and 
 returned home. 
 
 General T. J. Churchill, ex-Governor of Ark- 
 ansas, served with distinction in the Mexican War 
 as a member of Humphrey Marshall's Kentucky 
 Cavalry. Gen. James F. Fagan of Little Rock, 
 went from Johnson County, and was one of the 
 youngest soldiers in the Arkansas regiment. He 
 enlisted as a private in Capt. Patrick's company, 
 and came out a Second Lieutenant. 
 
 Arkansas was conspicuously honored during 
 this period in the appointment of Senator Sevier by 
 the President in 1847, as one of the Commissioners 
 on the part of the United States, clothed with ex- 
 traordinary plenary powers, to settle the terms of 
 peace between our Government and that of Mexico, 
 after the fall of the City of Mexico. The treaty of 
 
280 EARLY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 
 
 Guadalupe Hidalgo, aegotiated by the Commis- 
 sioners, of which Justice Clifford of the United 
 States Supreme Court was the other member on 
 the part of the United States, secured to this coun- 
 try a rich and vast extent of territory, including 
 Upper California, New Mexico, Arizona, etc. 
 
 After the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, by 
 which the United States acquired such vast extent 
 of western territory, the Mormons ceased to be 
 subjects of Mexico and became citizens of the 
 United States. For some time they did not feel the 
 change of allegiance, in fact, they were only cogni- 
 zant of such change when the payment of official 
 salaries was made by the Federal Government to 
 those of their own peculiar religious belief, which 
 was certainly not an unpleasant reminder. More- 
 over, the Saints in Utah were reaping a rich har- 
 vest of gain from the large number of emigrants 
 passing through their country, en route to Califor- 
 nia, after the discovery of gold in 1848-9. 
 
 The emigration to California, however, left a 
 considerable Gentile population in their midst that 
 was hostile and totally inimical to their religious 
 tenets, and whose criticism or hostility provoked 
 the wrath of the Mormons, and the Destroying 
 Angels, as they were called, being in reality a 
 band of bloody assassins, were commanded to begin 
 their dreadful work. 
 
EARLY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 281 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 AFTER THE MEXICAN WAR. 
 
 Shortly after the close of the Mexican war there 
 appeared in the columns of a Little Rock newspaper 
 an article written by Albert Pike, severely criticis- 
 ing- the conduct of a part of the Arkansas regiment 
 at the battle of Buena Vista, of which regiment 
 John Selden Roane was Lieutenant-Colonel. Col. 
 Roane construed the remarks of Capt. Pike as a 
 personal aflfront which reflected upon his bravery, 
 and he demanded of the writer satisfaction accord- 
 ing to the code. 
 
 The challenge was promptly accepted by Capt. 
 Pike, and the meeting took place on the sandbar 
 opposite Fort Smith, in the Indian Territory. 
 
 I was not in the State at the time this duel was 
 fought, but was in Kentucky on a visit to ray old 
 home. 
 
 In treating this subject, I have thought it well 
 to take the testimony of an eye-witness to the affair, 
 who was also one of the surgeons in attendance. 
 
282 EARLY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 
 
 In the Arkansas Gazette of April 2, 1893, ap- 
 peared a very interesting- article from the pen of Dr. 
 James A. Dibrell, Sr., of Van Buren, giving- the 
 particulars of the aforesaid duel. Dr. Dibrell 
 ■wrote : 
 
 "On the bar opposite Fort Smith, Albert Pike 
 as principal, with Ivuther Chase and John Dren- 
 nen as seconds and the writer as surgeon, accom- 
 panied by Pat Farrelly and Wm. H. Cousin and 
 Dr. R. Thruston as friends on one side, and John 
 S, Roane as principal, with Henry M. Rector and 
 R. W. Johnson as seconds and Dr. Phillip Bur- 
 ton as surgeon, met in mortal combat to decide a 
 controversy by the code d' honneur, so falsely called. 
 Pike, to the best of my recollection, was the chal- 
 lenging party, at least, was so considered on my 
 side of the ground. At call, both parties promptly 
 stepped forward, distance ten paces, when duelling 
 pistols were loaded and placed in their hands. Both 
 stood firm and determined, neither displaying the 
 least agitation. Pike was enjoying a cigar during 
 the firing. At the word, both parties fired but 
 neither was wounded. A second fire was had, with 
 the same result. Some one has said that Pike's 
 beard was touched; if so, I have no recollection of it. 
 After the second fire. Pike and myself were sitting 
 on a Cottonwood log on the edge of a forest that 
 fringed the bar, when Dr. Burton was seen ap- 
 proaching us, with his usual slow and dignified step, 
 and when within a few paces of us, beckoned to 
 
EARI^Y DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 283 
 
 me to meet him. I did so. He remarked : 'Dib- 
 
 rell, it's a d d shame that these men should 
 
 stand here and shoot at each other until one or the 
 other is killed or wounded. " They have shown 
 themselves to be brave men and would fire all day 
 unless prevented. The seconds on neither side can 
 interfere, because it would be considered a great 
 disparagement for either to make a proposition for 
 cessation of hostilities. So, let us, as surgeons, 
 assume the responsibility and say they shall not 
 fire another time ; that unless they do as we desire 
 we will leave the field to them helpless, however 
 cruel it might seem.' 
 
 "I replied that I knew nothing about the code, 
 but would consult my principal. I stated Dr. Bur- 
 ton's proposition word for word as made to me. 
 Pike remarked, 'I want one more fire at him and 
 will hit him in a vital part ; I believe he has tried 
 to kill me ; I have not tried to hit him.' 
 
 "After reflection, he said, 'Do as you think 
 proper about it, but do not by anything compromise 
 my honor.' " 
 
 The good oflSces of Drs. Dibrell and Burton in 
 the interest of peace and humanity were so effective 
 that the matter ended, honorably to both parties. 
 
 This was the last- duel of prominence fought 
 between citizens of Arkansas. 
 
 Among the very earliest acts of the Territorial 
 Legislature, are to be found stringent laws against 
 duelling. So rigidly were the laws in this behalf 
 
284 EARLY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 
 
 enforced in those days that, within my recollection 
 or knowledg-e, not a sing-le duel between citizens 
 was fought within the limits of the Territory or 
 State. 
 
 On the 4th day of July, 1846, the Arkansas 
 State Penitentiary, located in the suburbs of the 
 city of Little Rock, was completely destroyed by 
 fire. On that day Major Harolson, the warden, had 
 given the convicts a special dinner and holiday, in 
 commemoration of the birthday of American Inde- 
 pendence. 
 
 After the dinner, the warden left the prison to 
 visit his family in the city. On leaving, the warden 
 instructed the turnkey to place the prisoners in their 
 cells at the usual hour. The main prison building 
 was three stories high, and the cells were located on 
 the second and third floors, while the first, or ground 
 floor, was used for ofl&ces, warden and guard 
 rooms and shops. While the two inside guards 
 were engaged in locking up the prisoners for the 
 night, a band of the most desperate criminals as- 
 sembled in one end of the hall and refused to go into 
 their cells. One of the guards attempted to force 
 them to enter their cells, when he was seized by 
 some of the refractory ones and thrown through a 
 large opening in the hall floor to the floor below. 
 He was not seriously hurt and arose and ran out of 
 the building. The second guard, seeing his com- 
 panion disappear through the opening in the floor> 
 ran down the stairs, and they both made for the 
 
EARLY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 285 
 
 workshop, where they locked themselves in and pro- 
 ceeded to f^ive the alarm as best they could. 
 
 The turnkey, having now been made aware of 
 the state of affairs, hastily closed and bolted the 
 heavy wrought-iron door opening into the prison 
 yard, thus leaving a large number of the convicts in 
 the yard, which was enclosed by a high board fence. 
 
 At the north end of the building was a door 
 opening out upon the commons. The jams of this 
 door were of cut sand stone. The revolting con- 
 victs attacked this door with sledge hammers, 
 which, upon being discovered, several "trusties," 
 among them one Trowbridge, were sent to pile 
 heavy timbers against the door, to prevent escape 
 by that way. When the convicts discovered that 
 their plan' of escape by that way was frustrated, 
 they went into one of the workshops on the west 
 side and began knocking the bricks out from under 
 one of the windows. This attempt being discov- 
 ered, the guards drew their guns on the convicts 
 and compelled them to desist. They then left the 
 workshop and went into a corridor. Presently 
 smoke was discovered issuing out of some of the 
 upper windows and the terrible cry went forth that 
 the main building, in which was already confined, in 
 their cells, a number of convicts who had been 
 locked up by the guards before the revolt had com- 
 menced, was on fire. Some of the revolting convicts, 
 maddened at the failure of their attempts to escape. 
 
286 EARLY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 
 
 and heedless of the helpless and terrible situation 
 of those already locked in their cells, had set fire to 
 the building. 
 
 At the first cry of fire, one Keys, a "trusty," 
 was sent to the city to procure assistance. He ran 
 all the way, crying- the alarm. When he reached 
 the State House yard he was arrested by a deputy 
 sheriff and he had hard work to convince the officer 
 that he was not an escaping convict. 
 
 Before any assistance arrived from the city, 
 three or four members of Humphrey Marshall's 
 First Kentucky Cavalry, on their march to join their 
 regiment in Mexico, rode up, and, upon being made 
 acquainted with the situation of affairs, dismounted 
 and were admitted into the prison enclosure. The 
 turnkey formed the guards and the volunteers, and 
 such of the " trusties " as were strictly reliable, in 
 line in front of the main door and swung it back. 
 Standing near the door in the lower corridor were the 
 ten or twelve ringleaders of the revolt, armed with 
 crowbars, sledge hammers, hatchets, etc., and at 
 their head one Morgan, with a hatchet in one hand 
 and a knife in the other. As the door was opened, 
 Morgan rushed out and ran between the frame work- 
 shop and a small building used as a blacksmith shop, 
 and made for the fence. As he did so, one of the 
 armed " trusties " ran around the workshop just as 
 Morgan reached the fence. He called upon him to 
 halt, which he refused to do, when the "trusty" 
 fired, killing him instantly. The fire burned very 
 
EARLY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 287 
 
 slowly at first, and it was not until the flames 
 reached the roof that the conflagration became 
 alarmitlg, although the building was filled with 
 smoke and resounded with the cries, prayers and 
 curses of the imprisoned convicts. On the death of 
 Morgan, the other conspirators threw down their 
 weapons, surrendered, and were marched out and 
 placed under guard. The work of rescuing the 
 locked-up prisoners then began and was prose- 
 cuted with such diligence that every man was taken 
 out, without having suffered any injury beyond be- 
 ing badly frightened. 
 
 By the time assistance arrived from the city the 
 buildings were almost in total ruins. The convicts 
 who were engaged in the revolt were chained to- 
 gether and they, with the balance of the prisoners, 
 were marched to town and part of them placed in 
 the county jail, while the remainder were kept in 
 some small houses in the jail yard, under guard. 
 
 The good conduct of Trowbridge, Keys and 
 several other convicts on the occasion of the burning 
 of the Penitentiary, and the valuable assistance 
 rendered by them to the authorities at that time, in- 
 duced the Governor to grant these men a free pardon 
 for their offenses against the laws of the State. 
 
 The resignation of Col. Yell from his seat in 
 Congress left a vacancy to be filled by a special 
 election, which came off in January, 1847, and Major 
 Thomas W. Newton was elected. He was the first 
 
288 EARlvY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 
 
 and only Whig ever elected to a seat in Congress 
 from Arkansas. 
 
 At the regular November election, 1847, Robert 
 W. Johnson, Democrat, was chosen to succeed Major 
 Newton in Congress. 
 
 In 1847, Col. Chester Ashley, who had been re- 
 elected to the United States Senate in 1846, died in 
 Washington City, after having served only one year 
 of his second term ; and Hon, A, H. Sevier resigned 
 his seat in 1847 to go to Mexico as one of the Com- 
 missioners on the part of the United States to settle 
 the terms of peace between that country and Mexico. 
 The Legislature of 1848 was, therefore, called upon 
 to elect three United States Senators, one to :fill 
 out the unexpired term of Hon. A. H. Sevier, 
 whose seat in Congress had been temporarily 
 filled by Solon Borland, by appointment of the Gov- 
 ernor ; (Major Borland had shortly before returned 
 from the seat of war in Mexico) ; one for the iull 
 term of six years, from the 4th of March, 1849, and 
 one to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Hon. 
 Chester Ashley. Major Borland was elected for the 
 balance of the term for which Mr. Sevier had been 
 elected, and also for the full term of six years. 
 Wm. K. Sebastian, of Phillips County, was chosen 
 as Col. Ashley's successor. 
 
 On the last day of December, 1848, Col. Sevier 
 died at his plantation in Chicot County, located on 
 ,lands purchased by him at the sale made of the 
 
EARLY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 289 
 
 lands donated by Congress to enable the Territory 
 of Arkansas to erect public buildings. 
 
 On the 10th day of January, 1849, Thomas S. 
 Drew resigned the office of Governor, having al- 
 ready served one full term, and had recently been 
 re-elected to another. 
 
 In April of the same year John Selden Roane, 
 of Jefferson County, was elected to the oflEce of 
 Governor. 
 
 On the 2d day of October, 1849, the State was 
 called upon to mourn the death of one of her oldest 
 and most devoted public servants — Judge Benjamin 
 Johnson, who had served in the Federal Judiciary 
 of the Territory and State for a period of nearly 
 thirty years. Judge Daniel Ringo, of the State 
 Supreme Court, became Judge Johnson's successor 
 on the United States District Court bench. 
 
 The first authentic news of the discovery of 
 gold in California in 1848, set the whole country 
 wild with excitement. 
 
 The reports of the finding of this El Dorado of 
 the West penetrated to the most remote and quiet 
 settlements. All sorts and conditions of men caught 
 the prevailing infection and made haste to get into 
 the land which was teeming with the precious 
 metal. 
 
 The lawyer left his desk and cases, the mer- 
 chant his goods and wares, the farmer and mechanic 
 their homestead and work bench and the hunter and 
 trapper his lonely campfire, and all went in the mad 
 
290 EARIvY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 
 
 search for gold. Dven the preacher left his pulpit 
 and flock and joined the throng- bound for the prom- 
 ised land not spoken of in Holy Writ. 
 
 In the early part of 1849, several parties left 
 Arkansas for California by way of Cape Horn, by 
 steamers from New York and New Orleans. 
 
 In the spring- of 1849, a large party from Pu- 
 laski and adjoining counties in Arkansas started to 
 make the overland journey to the land of gold. 
 Among this party were Rev. W. W. Stevenson and 
 son, Robert W., then a mere lad; Henry Keatts, 
 who took with him a very black negro servant 
 named Mingo, who became free after reaching Cali- 
 fornia ; A. M. Woodruff and J. McView, Thomas 
 Parsel, Dr. William Pagan, who had recently grad- 
 uated from one of the leading medical colleges and 
 was a young man of unusual promise. Dr. Pagan 
 sickened and died en route. 
 
 E)lijah Robbins, anothor one of the party, un- 
 dertook the arduous trip while in almost the last 
 stages of consumption. No one supposed he would 
 live a month. He, however, gradually improved in 
 health as they progressed, and when the party 
 reached San Prancisco, after a tedious journey on 
 foot of six months duration, he was well and strong. 
 He lived "for several years afterwards, and when he 
 died his death was from other than lung troubles. 
 
 This party was organized on strict military 
 principles, under the leadership of O. D. Moulton, 
 
EARLY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 291 
 
 a practical expert miner from the Kellogg Lead 
 Mines, near Little Rock. 
 
 Their outfit was very complete. The bodies 
 of their wagons were made water tight and fash- 
 ioned at each end like the bow and stern of a flat- 
 boat, and were used in ferrying over swollen streams 
 and deep rivers. They also bought up and drove 
 along young cattle for beef. 
 
 This expedition had rather an uneventful jour- 
 ney and the members of it were not molested by the 
 Indians that infested the plains. 
 
 Of this party, Messrs. Keatts, Haralson, Par- 
 sel and young Stevenson returned to Little Rock. 
 The elder Stevenson never came back, and it has 
 been only a few years ago that he died in California, 
 at the advanced age of 9Q years. 
 
 In the year 1851 another party left Arkansas 
 for California.' In this party was an old couple 
 named Hammond. Mrs. Hammond, a very old lady, 
 walked almost the entire distance. 
 
 The first letters written back to Arkansas 
 came by ship around Cape Horn to New York. 
 The postage was forty cents, single rate, and the 
 postage on some of the letters reached as high as 
 several dollars. 
 
 In the summer of 1849, during the administra- 
 tion of Gov. John Selden Roane, there occurred in 
 Marion County a serious armed encounter between 
 
292 EARLY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 
 
 the Tutt and Everett families and their respective ' 
 followers, which is known as the Marion County 
 War. 
 
 The Tutts and the I)veretts were the leading 
 families of the County, and the strife grew out of 
 disputes as to who should control the offices of the 
 County. 
 
 The Tutts were Whigs and the ]E)veretts were 
 Democrats. Soon after Marion County was formed, 
 in 1835, Bart. E)verett became Sheriff of the County, 
 and his brother, EJwell, County Judge. About this 
 time, Hamp. Tutt put up a grocery and sold the 
 natives "fighting whiskey." This was the only 
 place in the County where whiskey could be ob- 
 tained, and Tutt, who was a shrewd business man, 
 soon became very popular., particularly among the 
 whiskey drinkers. At every election for county offi- 
 cers after that time there was a warm contest be- 
 tween the Eiveretts and the Tutts as to who should 
 have the offices. The Tutts never offered for office 
 themselves, but selected some of their prominent 
 friends. The contests became so hot that not un- 
 f requently there was a fight between some of the 
 parties. The first serious difficulty was humorously 
 called by the attorneys, when the parties were on 
 trial in the circuit court afterwards, the "June fight 
 of 1844." In this fight, rocks, sticks, as well as 
 fists, were freely used. Simmons Everett, a pow- 
 erful man, over six feet in height, was knocked down 
 with a hoe in this fight, and for a while, it was 
 
EARLY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 293 
 
 thought that he would die from his injuries. This 
 riot was quelled, but almost every time the Tutts 
 and Everetts met afterwards there was trouble. 
 Sim. Everett was a hard drinker, and he was gen- 
 erally the starter of the trouble. He always sought 
 a fight when drinking, and no man in the County 
 could withstand the ponderous blows of this stal- 
 wart, six-foot, long-armed Kentuckian. (The Tutts 
 were Tennesseans.) The Tutts had no man who 
 was a match for him in a fisticuff encounter, and so 
 they armed themselves with knives, rocks, etc., and 
 afterwards with pistols, which caused the Everetts 
 to do likewise. 
 
 Later there came to this county a large man of 
 commanding appearance and violent temperament, 
 by the name of Jesse Mooney, and he allied himself 
 with the Everetts. There also moved there a man 
 by the name of William King, who had several sons, 
 two of whom were drinking and fighting men. The 
 others, with "Old Uncle Billy," as the father was 
 called, seemed to be genteel, sober men. This fam- 
 ily took sides with the Tutts. Mooney afterwards 
 ran for Sheriff, supported by the Everetts. 
 
 Difficulties became so common between the 
 Tutt and Everett factions, that their animosity 
 against each other was worked up to a fever heat 
 all the time, and soon the whole male population of 
 the county was classed as being the friends of either 
 one or the other of the parties. 
 
294 EARIvY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 
 
 Finally there was a gathering at Yellville, 
 the county seat, the Everetts and their friends 
 making serious threats against their enemies. 
 They came to the village, many of them armed 
 with rifles, and others with knives, pistols, etc. 
 
 The EJveretts and their friends formed in the 
 street, in front of Hamp. Tutt's grocery, in regular 
 order of battle. The Tutts and their friends stood 
 outside of the grocery, but not in regular order. 
 Angry words were passed between some of the 
 crowd on both sides. There was an open space 
 between the parties of about twenty feet. The by- 
 standers were looking for an engagement every 
 moment, when, strange to say, a dry whirlwind 
 seemed to drop down and come directly between the 
 belligerents, raising a blinding dust, which scattered 
 the parties for the time being. In fact, there was 
 no fighting that day, and things seemed to quiet 
 down. Finally the Dveretts, or most of them, got 
 on their horses and started home. But one of their 
 friends, named Bob Adams, did not get ready as 
 soon as the others. He was untying his horse where 
 it was hitched in the bushes, when Charles D. 
 Wood, of the Tutt party, who was called "Derrel" 
 Wood, and known as one of the most quarrelsome 
 men in the County, went down to where Adams was 
 and commenced cursing him and the-Everetts. By 
 this time the Everetts were out of sight in a dense 
 thicket of underbrush, but, hearing the fuss, they 
 wheeled their horses around and came galloping 
 
EARI^Y DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 295 
 
 back, and, alighting" from their horses, began shoot- 
 ing. The Tutts, when they saw their adversaries 
 coming, secreted themselves behind trees and brush, 
 and returned the fire with their pistols. Sim. 
 Everett and Bart. Everett were killed, and one of 
 the Tutt party. Jack King, was wounded, and died 
 the next day. James King, who afterwards lived, 
 until his recent death, in Lonoke' County, where he 
 was a respected citizen and had labored as a minis- 
 ter, was slightly wounded, and one Watkins, also of 
 the Tutt party, was shot and his scalp torn off by 
 the ball. Another of the Tutt party had his arm 
 broken by a thrust from a rifle after it was dis- 
 charged. H. L. King, a son of the James King 
 referred to, is now living in Lonoke County. 
 
 A. G. Robertson, of Kentucky, a man of some 
 ability, but a drunkard, was the man whom the 
 Tutts put forward to oppose the Everetts, but he 
 was not in the fight. He was afterwards elected to 
 the Legislature. 
 
 Lumas King and a man by the name of Sin- 
 clair were styled the leading fighters of the 
 Tutt party. Sinclair lived in Searcy County, 
 and was considered a bad man. He was the man 
 who killed Sim. Everett, and it was thought that 
 Lumas King killed Bart. Everett. 
 
 A posse of the Everett's friends went in search 
 of Sinclair in Searcy County, and found him one 
 morning asleep in a tree top near one of his friends' 
 
296 EARLY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 
 
 houses. He was awakened by the posse and at- 
 tempted to- escape, but was killed by a shot from 
 a rifle. Writs were gotten out for the arrest of the 
 Kings and put in the hands of Jesse Mooney, sher- 
 iff, and the friend of the Everetts. Before this a 
 brother of the Everetts, Jesse by name, came from 
 Texas, where he had been living a year or more, 
 and brought with him one Stratton, a desperate 
 character. They waylaid Hamp. Tutt and shot at 
 him while he was traveling along the road. The 
 Everetts took Jesse Mooney and went after the 
 Kings, as they had heard by this time where they 
 were. They also got the sheriff of Van Buren 
 county to go with them. They arrested the Kings 
 and brought them to Searcy County, giving them up 
 to the sheriff, the Everetts all the time acting as 
 a posse to guard the Kings. When they got to the 
 Marion County line, the Kings were delivered up to 
 Mooney, still guarded by the Everetts. Late in 
 the evening, when they were some ten miles from 
 Yellville, Mooney said he was compelled to go 
 home, and he left the Kings in the hands of the 
 guards, the Everetts. There were five of the 
 Kings. The Everetts left the road, and soon com- 
 menced shooting them. Three of them, old man 
 William King, and his two sons, Lumas and Bill, 
 were killed on the spot. James and Hosea King 
 made their escape, the Everetts shooting at them 
 as they ran. Old Man King and his son Hosea 
 were in the fight when the Everetts were killed. 
 
EARLY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 297 
 
 The Everetts and their friends banded together 
 with the sheriff, made a posse, under the control of 
 the deputy sheriff, and went out to arrest them, 
 but found them too well fortified, as well as too 
 numerous, to be taken. 
 
 A demand was made on Gov. Roane to order 
 out the militia, and Gen. Allan Wood was sent to 
 take command. He was a soldier of the Mexican 
 War, and a member of the House of Representa- 
 tives in 1854. When Wood arrived with his militia, 
 the Everetts and their friends retreated to Searcy 
 County, where they had some friends and quite a 
 number of relatives. A camp meeting- was being 
 held in Wiley's Cove by the Methodists. Wood 
 ascertained that the Everetts were at the meeting, 
 and he swooped down on them by night and cap- 
 tured them. There being no jail in Marion County, 
 they were taken to Smithville, in Lawrence County, 
 for safe keeping. They remained there only a short 
 time, when their friends from Marion County went 
 to Smithville with crowbars and broke the jail door 
 down, letting the prisoners out. They went back 
 to Marion County and laid in the woods and at their 
 friends' houses, making every effort to kill Hamp. 
 Tutt. At last they prevailed on a man by the 
 name of Wickersham, who had recently come to the 
 county, to waylay and kill him, which he finally 
 succeeded in doing. The Everetts then went back 
 to Texas. Jesse N. Everett, the leader, took the 
 
298 KARLY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 
 
 cholera on his way back, somewhere on Big Red 
 River, and died. The county then had a resting- 
 spell. 
 
 I am indebted to Hon. William B. Flippin, of 
 Marion County, for refreshing my memory in regard 
 to the Tutt-E)verett war. Indeed, the facts in the 
 foregoing history of that disgraceful feud are ob- 
 tained from his recollections of it as furnished by 
 him to me. 
 
 William B. Flippin was born in Monroe County, 
 Kentucky, September 4, 1817. In 1824 he moved 
 with his father to Tennessee, from which State 
 he removed to Marion County, Arkansas, in 1837, 
 where he has resided ever since, having livedvon the 
 same farm for over fifty-five years. In 1841 he was 
 married to Miss Agnes W. Adams, of Hopkins 
 County, Kentucky, by whom he has three living 
 children, James A. and Thomas H. and a married 
 daughter. He has held numerous positions of honor 
 in his county and served two terms in the State 
 Legislature. He raised a company during the Civil 
 War, of which he was chosen captain. He is an 
 ordained minister of the Church of Christ, as well 
 as a farmer. 
 
KARLY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 299 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 Thb Knownothing Party in Arkansas. 
 
 On the 7tli day of July 1850, President Zachary 
 Taylor died, and Vice-President Fillmore was sworn 
 in as President the next day. 
 
 It was during Mr. Fillmore's administration 
 that postage stamps came into use for the first time 
 in this country. Prior to that time pre-payment of 
 postage was optional with the sender of a letter, 
 and the rate of letter postage at that date was a 
 uniform one of ten cents. 
 
 The first postage stamps issued by the Govern- 
 ment were of the denomination of ten cents. They 
 were light red in color and bore a medallion of the 
 head and bust of Washington. 
 
 The adhesive quality of the new stamps was 
 very poor, and it often happened that the stamps 
 became detached from letters in transit through the 
 mails. All sorts of devices were resorted to for 
 making the new f angled things stick. Sometimes the 
 stamps^were af&xed with wafers or sealing wax, and 
 very often were simply pinned onto the envelope. 
 
300 EARLY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 
 
 I was postmaster at Ivittle Rock when the first 
 issue of stamps was made and recall several amus- 
 ing occurrences arising on account of the poor 
 quality of the stamps. 
 
 At that time, and for a good many years after- 
 wards, the post office at Little Rock was a very 
 important one, being the general distributing office 
 for the entire southwestern country. 
 
 Soon after the introduction of postage stamps, 
 a letter passed through this office addressed to a 
 Mr. Nicholas, somebody or other, whose last name 
 I have now forgotten. The sender of the letter 
 had affixed the stamp in the usual way, and had 
 written at the top the following bit of doggerel : 
 
 "My old friend Nic, 
 If this don't stick, 
 Out very quick 
 With two silver pics." 
 
 And across the face of the stamp was written, 
 
 "Hold on, Mr. Washington." 
 
 A five cent silver piece was usually called a 
 "pic." (A picayune, however, was 6j cents). 
 
 Letters frequently passed through the office 
 having the expressive, if not elegant, announcement 
 written across the envelope, "Postage paid if the 
 d — d thing sticks." 
 
 The Post Office Department soon adopted a five 
 cent letter rate for points within a radius of 500 
 miles of the office of mailing, and ten cents beyond 
 that limit. The next change was to adopt a uni- 
 
EARLY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 301 
 
 form rate of five cents, reg-ardless of distance. This 
 continued to be the rate until the adoption of three 
 cent postage, which was the rate until long after 
 the close of the Civil War. 
 
 At this period the post office at Little Rock 
 was kept in the lower part of a high two-story and 
 attic frame building, located on the east side of 
 Main street, near the corner of Cherry (Second) 
 street, about where the Bank of Commerce build- 
 ing now stands. The attic of the building was 
 fitted up for a lodge room of the I. O. O. F. 
 
 On the night of February 3, 1853, the post 
 office building and its entire contents were destroyed 
 by fire. James Murphy, a clerk in the office — now 
 an honored and wealthy citizen of Arkansas City, 
 Desha County, Ark., lost all his personal effects, 
 including a fine library of choice literature. 
 
 The post office was then re-opened in a frame 
 building on the southeast corner of Markham and 
 Rock streets, where the Geyer & Adams Wholesale 
 Grocery Company now does business. 
 
 In 1855, John 5«. Reardon was appointed post- 
 master, and removed the office to the State Bank 
 building, opposite the State House. In 1857, Thomas 
 J. Churchill succeeded Mr. Reardon as postmaster 
 and the office was removed to the Real Estate Bank 
 building, a fine and commodious brick structure on 
 the southeast corner of Markham and Commerce 
 (First) street. The post office continued to be at 
 this location until the evacuation of the city of Little 
 
302 UARIyY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 
 
 Rock by the Confederate forces, September 10, 1863. 
 The United States post office authorities occupied 
 this building for some time after the occupation of 
 the city by the Federal army. 
 
 In 1852 Elias N. Conway was elected Governor 
 of the State, many old Whigs voting for him in 
 preference to the regular candidate of that party. 
 Mr. Conway was re-elected in 1856, and was suc- 
 ceeded in 1860 by Hon. Henry M. Rector, known as 
 the "War Governor." 
 
 Hon. George C. Watkins was placed upon the 
 Supreme Bench in 1852, being elected Chief Justice 
 to succeed Hon. Thomas Johnson. 
 
 The Hon. Solon Borland having been appointed 
 by the President Minister Plenipotentiary to Nica- 
 ragua, resigned his seat in the Senate and Robert 
 W. Johnson, then in the National House of Repre- 
 sentatives, was appointed by the Governor to serve 
 in Col. Borland's stead until an election could be 
 had to fill the vacancy. On November 10, 1853, 
 Mr. Johnson was elected by the Legislature as 
 United States Senator to serve until March 4, 1855. 
 
 Hon. George C. Watkins having resigned the 
 office of Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, Al- 
 bert H. English was elected to that position. 
 
 The elevation of Judge English to the bench 
 left the office of Reporter of the Supreme Court 
 vacant, which was at once filled by the appoint- 
 ment of Mr. Luke E. Barber, clerk of the court, to 
 be Reporter also. 
 
EARLY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 303 
 
 Mr. Barber continued to be the official Reporter 
 of the decisions of the Supreme Court for upwards 
 of twelve years. 
 
 The volumes of Reports of the Decisions of the 
 Supreme Court prepared by Judge English and 
 Mr. Barber constitute a large and valuable part of 
 the written law of the State. 
 
 The decline of the Whig party as a political 
 organization, which began during Mr. Fillmore's 
 administration, in 1850, was finally completed by 
 the defeat of Gen. Winfield Scott for the Presidency 
 in 1852, when the party was entirely overthrown 
 and wiped out of existence. 
 
 A political party known as "The Order of 
 United Americans," was then started, out of which 
 sprang, in 1854, that remarkable political combina- 
 tion, the "Knownothing Party," the two cardinal 
 principles of which were, opposition to foreign immi- 
 gration, and hostility to the Roman Catholic Church 
 from a political standpoint. 
 
 The party was organized on the secret society 
 principle and had its paraphernalia, degrees, grips, 
 pass-words and signs. The lodges were called 
 councils. Albert Pike was the chief organizer in 
 Arkansas, and Andre J. Hutt was the first Presi- 
 dent of the State Council. 
 
 Subordinate councils were established in many 
 parts of the State. Not only Whigs became mem- 
 bers of the party, many of whom did not, but many 
 Democrats joined th? councils. No one was solic- 
 
304 EARLY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 
 
 ited to join, and whenever a member was approached 
 by an outsider in reference to the matter, he pro- 
 fessed to know nothing; hence the name. 
 
 The "Knownothing" party captured the Legis- 
 lature in 1854, and elected all the State oflBcers, 
 elective by that body, except Secretary of State, 
 which office nobody in the party seemed to want. 
 
 The "Knownothings" nominated James Yell, 
 of Pine Bluff, for Governor in 1856, but Elias N. 
 Conway, the Democratic nominee, beat him by 
 about 14,000 votes. Absalom Fowler was nomina- 
 ted by that party for Congress, but. was defeated 
 by Albert Rust, Democrat, in the Second District. 
 
 Rust's advent into Congress was signalized by 
 his giving Horace Greeley a severe caning, a pro- 
 ceeding which caused wide-spread indignation 
 among all parties and made Rust very unpopular 
 for a while. 
 
 It is a fact well known to the student of polit- 
 ical history, that no party has ever existed long 
 which was based upon only, one, or at most, two 
 leading ideas. Such was the "Knownothing Party," 
 which soon ceased to be a factor in either State or 
 National politics. 
 
 Henry A. Wise, of Virginia, who had been a 
 "Whig, but was now the Democratic candidate for 
 Governor of that State, gave Knownothiilgism its 
 quietus in a speech delivered in Charleston, Western 
 Virginia, as that part of the Old Dominion was then 
 called. In the course of his speech, he called on 
 
3 
 
EARIyY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 305 
 
 " Sam," (the Knownothings called themselves Uncle 
 Sam's boys,) to stand up and be counted. Seventeen 
 hundred answered the summons, and got such an ex- 
 coriating for their trouble from that master of in- 
 vective, that the party never recovered from the 
 blow. 
 
 During the existence of the " Knownothing 
 Pafty" in Arkansas, Rt. Rev. Andrew Byrne, first 
 Catholic Bishop of Little Rock, wrote a series of 
 letters, afterwards published in pamphlet form, in 
 answer to the charges made by the party against 
 the Catholic Church. 
 
 The Bishop's pamphlet is an able defense of the 
 principles and practices of Roman Catholicism. 
 
 It is safe to say that not one person in a thou- 
 sand of those who daily visit the post office in Lit- 
 tle Rock nowadays ever see, or seeing, give any at- 
 tention, to the little old weather-beaten one-story 
 brick cottage with its slanting moss-covered roof 
 and long low piazza, situated directly opposite the 
 Government building on West Second street. 
 
 The house itself stands retired from the street, 
 shaded by a few old scraggy and deformed mul- 
 berry trees. It seems to shrink from the public 
 gaze, like one who has been distanced in the race of 
 life and left alone by all his fellows. 
 
 This house once occupied spacious grounds, and 
 was built and owned by Samuel C. Roane, a promi- 
 nent citizen of the State. The building must be 
 
 20 
 
306 EARLY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 
 
 nearly seventy-five years old now, as it was stand- 
 ing when I came to the Territory, more than sixty 
 years ago. 
 
 On Saturday night, February 20, 1858, a hand- 
 some looking and neatly dressed man, about thirty- 
 five years of age, appeared at the door of this cot- 
 tage, then occupied by a free negro woman named 
 Jennie Lindsay, familiarly known as "Aunt Jennie," 
 and who carried on the business of a laundress. 
 
 The visitor carried a bundle of soiled and damp 
 clothes, liberally bespattered with red clay and 
 river mud. He requested that the clothing be 
 washed and dried that night. The old woman pro- 
 mised to give the matter immediate attention, but, 
 worn out with the labors of the day, she threw the 
 bundle of clothes under her bed, and, lying down, was 
 soon fast asleep. The clothes were never washed. 
 
 The man went to the theater, and after the 
 performance repaired to his room at Jeffries' Hotel 
 and went to bed. 
 
 Some little time before the occurrence just re- 
 lated, there came to Little Rock from Georgia a 
 nicely appearing young man who bore, the patri- 
 otic name of General George Washington Lester. 
 His mission to Little Rock was to endeavor to have 
 released from State Prison his uncle, who had been 
 convicted in Monroe County, on a change of venue 
 from Philips County, for the crime of negro steal- 
 ing. There was very strong presumption of the 
 prisoner's innocence, and Gov. EJlias N. Conway 
 
EARLY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 307 
 
 had promised young- Lester to pardon his uncle if 
 he would produce a petition for Executive clemency 
 signed by the officers of the court and the grand 
 and petit jurors in the case. 
 
 Soon after Lester arrived in Little Rock, he 
 became acquainted with one Cosgrove, recently from 
 Ohio, a gardener and ditcher by trade, but who had 
 until a short time previously been engaged as a 
 guard at the Arkansas Penitentiary. 
 
 The two young men became very intimate and 
 had agreed to embark In the mercantile business to- 
 gether. Lester always seemed to have plenty of 
 money, which he spent very freely in company with 
 his new found friend. 
 
 About dark on the evening of February 20, 
 1858, Lester and Cosgrove called at the post office, 
 and Lester got a letter containing a draft for $80. 
 The pair left the office and proceeded east on Mark- 
 ham street, then over to Cherry (Second) street, 
 and out that street in the direction of a ten pin 
 alley, located just east of where the Southern Cot- 
 ton Oil Mills now stand. They met several people 
 who recognized Cosgrove. That was the last seen 
 of Lester alive. 
 
 The next morning, Sunday, the 21st, Harvey 
 Lewis, who lived near the eastern terminus of Mark- 
 ham street, awoke very early and went out to view 
 the river, which was rising rapidly. While crossing 
 a deep ravine, the sides of which were of a red 
 sticky clay, he discovered a black object hanging 
 
308 EARI,Y DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 
 
 from a thorn bush. On closer inspection the object 
 proved to be one of the skirts of a black frock coat. 
 The ground in the vicinity was trampled and torn 
 up, as if a struggle had taken place there. He also 
 discovered pools of blood, and a track, as of some 
 heavy body having been dragged towards the brink 
 of the river. 
 
 Mr. Lewis reported his discovery to Mr. James 
 A. Henry, who lived in the neighborhood, and to 
 several other parties, and they secured the coat skirt, 
 in the pocket of which they found a packet of letters 
 addressed to Lester. The matter was at once re- 
 ported to the nearest peace officer. 
 
 Inquiry at the post office elicited the fact that 
 Lester, in company with Cosgrove, had called at 
 the office the evening before and had gotten a letter 
 in which there was a draft. 
 
 A warrant was sworn out for Cosgrove's arrest, 
 charging him with murder. 
 
 When the sheriff found Cosgrove he was stand- 
 ing in the yard of old St. Andrews Cathedral in a 
 group of men who were waiting for services to 
 begin. 
 
 He had in his hand at the time of his arrest a 
 book of devotion called "The Garden of the Soul." 
 
 About the usual time for the Church bells to 
 begin ringing, the sharp, quick clangor of the mar- 
 ket house bell smote the quietude of the Sabbath 
 stillness. I stepped out of my residence on Main 
 street to inquire into the unusual occurrence and 
 
EARLY DAYS IN ARKANSAS, 309 
 
 met Dr. A. W. Webb, who informed me of the 
 tragedy of the night before, and that a mass meet- 
 ing was being held at the city hall to discuss the 
 propriety of mobbing Cosgrove. When I arrived 
 at the place of meeting, Mr. Burgwin, a merchant 
 of the city, was addressing the crowd, strongly 
 urging them to go to the jail and take the prisoner 
 out and hang him. The most intense excitement 
 prevailed, and the rope was gotten ready. But Mr. 
 Charles P. Bertrand, Capt. C. C. Danley, and sev- 
 eral others, urged that the law be allowed to take 
 its course. Mr. Bertrand promised that if Cos- 
 grove was acquitted he would be among the first 
 to swing the murderer to the nearest tree. 
 
 Wise counsel finally prevailed and the mob dis- 
 persed, but the mob spirit was not yet entirely 
 quelled, for shortly afterwards another mob went 
 to the jail, bent on carrying out their purpose. 
 But the determined stand taken by the sheriff, 
 Thomas Fletcher, and the jailer, Thos. Parsel, 
 frustrated this attempt. 
 
 No further effort was made to lynch Cosgrove, 
 and in due time he was given a fair and impartial 
 trial. 
 
 Three or four days after the murder, the body 
 of the victim was found on a sand-bar, some fifteen 
 miles below town. 
 
 The trial took place before Hon. John J. Clen- 
 dennin. Judge of the Circuit Court. The State was 
 represented by J. L. Hallowell, Prosecuting Attor- 
 
310 EARLY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 
 
 ney, assisted by Chas. P. Bertrand, Esq., who was 
 active in working up the case. The defendant was 
 assigned, by the court, the very best of legal talent 
 — Messrs. Sam W. Williams and Pleasant Jordan. 
 Mr. Williams' plan of defense was the most ingen- 
 ious piece of legal strategy in the annals of our 
 criminal jurisprudence. His speech in defense of 
 Cosgrove will long be remembered by all who heard 
 it as a master effort in eloquence, logic, sarcasm 
 and pathos. But the chain of circumstantial evi- 
 dence, from the time that Cosgrove and I/ester were 
 seen together that Saturday night, to the finding of 
 the bundle of soiled and bloody clothing at the 
 cottage of the old negro washer-woman, and which 
 proved to have belonged to Cosgrove, was too com- 
 plete to be broken, and Cosgrove was adjudged 
 guilty of murder and sentenced to death. The ex- 
 ecution took place June 10, 1858. 
 
 People came' from a distance of fifty miles, and 
 camped in the vicinity of the penitentiary to witness 
 the execution. The prisoner stoutly maintained his 
 innocence to the last. But, after the execution, the 
 jailer found among the murderer's underclothing 
 the $80 draft. In his trunk were also found a 
 "billy" and a leaden "slung-shot." 
 
 In the whole history of Arkansas as Territory 
 and State up to that time, this was the second 
 murder, only, in which the purpose was robbery. 
 
 As soon as it was discovered that Lester had 
 been murdered, Gov. Conway at once granted Cole, 
 
EARIvY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 311 
 
 the young man's uncle, a full pardon and he was 
 immediately released from the penitentiary. Poor 
 young Lester's mission to Arkansas was not in vain, 
 although accomplished at such a dreadful sacrifice. 
 
 In 1855, or 1856, Perley Pratt, a Mormon apos- 
 tle, had seduced the wife and stolen the children of 
 a Mr. McLean in California. The children were 
 rescued and Pratt was arrested and taken to Van 
 Buren, Ark., for trial before the Federal Court at 
 that place. On the trial, Pratt, through some 
 technicality of the law, was acquitted. This mis- 
 carriage of justice so aroused the indignation of 
 McLean that he rushed upon the despoiler of his 
 home and slew him. 
 
 The killing of Pratt only intensified Mormon 
 hate against the aliens, and fresher and more atroc- 
 ious outrages were set on foot against them, 
 which culminated in the massacre at Mountain 
 Meadow in September, 1857. 
 
 In detailing this horrible affair, in which the 
 victims were citizens of Arkansas, I cannot do bet- 
 ter than quote from the "Life of Gen, Albert Sid- 
 ney Johnston" by his son, William Preston Johns- 
 ton—Harper Bros., 1879: "A band of emigrants, 
 about 135 in number, quietly traveling from Ark- 
 ansas to Southern California, arrived in Utah. 
 This company was made up of farmers' families, 
 allied by blood or friendship, and far above the 
 average in wealth, intelligence and orderly conduct. 
 They were Methodists, and had religious services 
 
312 EARLY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 
 
 regularly morniHg and evening-. They expected, 
 according to custom, to refit their teams in Utah, 
 and buy food and forage sufficient to pass the Cali- 
 fornia Desert ; but, to their horror, this reasonable 
 traffic was everywhere refused. When they stopped 
 at the Jordan to rest, they were ordered to move on; 
 and Brigham Young sent a courier ahead to forbid all 
 intercourse with the weary and terror-stricken band. 
 Pity or courteousness evaded the decree so far as to 
 permit the purchase of thirty bushels of corn at 
 Fillmore, and fifty bushels of flour at Cedar City. 
 But so exhausted did the emigrants become, that 
 they made but thirty-five miles in their last four 
 days of travel." 
 
 "As they were thus crawling along, the decree 
 was passed, devoting said company to destruction ; 
 and the militia was regularly called out under 
 orders from a military council at Parowan. The 
 authorities were Col. W. H. Dunn, Ivieutenant-Col- 
 onel ; Isaac C. Haight, President and High Priest 
 of Southern Utah, and Major John D. hee, a Bishop 
 of the Church. Their orders were to kill the entire 
 company, except the little children.' The Mormon 
 regiment, with some Indian auxiliaries, attacked 
 the emigrants soon after they broke up camp, on 
 September 12th." 
 
 "The travelers quickly rallied, corralled their 
 wagons, and kept up such a fire that the assailants 
 were afraid to come to close quarters. Reinforce- 
 ments were sent for, and arrived, but still the Mor- 
 
EARIyY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 313 
 
 mons did not venture to assault the desperate men, 
 who were fighting for their wives and little ones." 
 
 "At last, on the 13th, the fourth day of the 
 sieg-e, Lee sent in a flag of truce, offering, 'if the 
 emigrants would lay down their arms, to protect 
 them.' They complied, laid down their arms, and 
 half an hour afterwards the massacre began. All 
 were killed except seventeen little children. EJvery 
 atrocity accompanied the slaughter, and the corpses 
 were mutilated and left naked on the ground. 
 Three men got out of the valley, two of whom were 
 soon overtaken and killed ; the other reached Muddy 
 Creek, fifty miles off, and was overtaken and killed 
 by several white men and one Indian." 
 
 "Eighteen months afterwards the surviving 
 children were rescued and restored to their friends 
 in Arkansas, by Jacob Forney, Superintendent of 
 Indian Affairs." 
 
 , The infamous and bloodthirsty John D. Lee, 
 after twenty years of impunity, was at last brought 
 to justice, and tried and executed for his crimes, in 
 1877. 
 
 The survivors of the massacre were delivered 
 to Hon. William D. Mitchell, United States Gov- 
 ernment Agent at Fort Leavenworth, who brought 
 the party back to Arkansas. Mr. Mitchell was the 
 father of Prof. James Mitchell, the present post- 
 master at Little Rock. 
 
 I will here state that the unfortunate expedi- 
 tion was commanded by Captain Fancher, an uncle 
 
314 EARI<Y DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 
 
 of Hon. Polk Fancher, of Carroll County, Arkansas. 
 One of the survivors of the Mountain Meadow Mas- 
 sacre is now a resident of Little Rock, Miss Sarah 
 Dunlap, a teacher in the Arkansas School for the 
 Blind. 
 
 It was the author's intention, at the outset, to 
 bring- these recollections up to and including the 
 year 1861. But the weariness of the body incident 
 to an extreme old ag-e warns me to cease from my 
 labors. Besides, the time lying- between the years 
 1856 and 1862 is so near the present that the hap- 
 penings of that period are known, generally, to all 
 men. 
 
 I can not, however, find it to my inclination to 
 bring these memoirs to a close without reference to 
 some of the leading men of former times. 
 
 In addition to those prominent persons already 
 mentioned in former portions of this work, I am re- 
 minded of the names of some of the members of the 
 legal and medical professions who were prominent 
 in the State at a later period, some of whom are still 
 with us. 
 
 The bare mention of their names in this connec- 
 tion is but a poor tribute to pay to their worth and 
 abilities. I would that strength of body and the 
 power of intellect to properly and fully record their 
 deeds and virtues permitted a more extended treat- 
 ment of the subject. 
 
 Those eminent in the legal profession whose 
 names now rise up before my mental vision are : 
 
EARLY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 315 
 
 Elbert H. English, Sam W. Williams, Joseph W. 
 Stilwell, George A. Gallagher, Charles C. Farrelly, 
 Henry M. Rector, John T. Trigg, Wm; M, Ran- 
 dolph, Pleasant Jordan, A. H. Garland, Z. P. H. 
 Farr, John E. Knight, of Little Rock. Of the 
 younger men of the Little Rock Bar, there were 
 Robert C. Newton, Wm. Lawson, Davis Williams, 
 the brilliant younger brother of , Judge Sam W. 
 Williams, whose career was cut short by an un- 
 timely death ; James W. Pinley, who died early in 
 life, while serving as a member of Woodruff's Artil- 
 lery in the Confederate Army. 
 
 Of prominent lawyers in other portions of the 
 State, I now recall the names of Freeman W. Comp- 
 ton, of Dallas County (later of Little Rock, where 
 he died); U. M. Rose, of Batesville, now a distin- 
 guished resident of Little Rock ; William Porter 
 Grace, M. L. Bell and Willoughby Williams, of 
 Pine Bluff ; Oliver H. Oates, John J. Horner and 
 James C. Tappan, of Helena ; J. H. Patterson, of 
 Augusta ; Ben T. DuVal and Sol F. Clark (since 
 removed to Little Rock), of Fort Smith; W. W. 
 Mansfield, of Franklin County; Hugh F. Thomas- 
 son, of Van Buren ; T. F. Sorrels, of Monticello ; 
 John R. Eakin, James Ervin, B. F. Hempstead, 
 Rufus K. Garland and A. B. Williams, of Hemp- 
 stead County; George P. Smoote, of Columbia ; E. 
 A. Warren (afterwards of Prescott and Texar- 
 kana), of Ouachita County; the Pindalls, of Desha 
 County. There were others through the State whom 
 
316 EARLY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 
 
 it would be a pleasure to place in this category, 
 but their names have escaped from my memory. 
 
 Of eminent physicians, there were Doctors C. 
 Peyton, P. P. Burton, A. W. Webb, J. J. McAl- 
 mont, P- O. Hooper, Corydon McAlmont, W. W. 
 Adams, W. A. Cantrell, and Drs. Peter Brug-man 
 and H. N. Case, dentists, of Little Rock ; Drs. 
 James A. Dibreljl and Richard Thruston, of Van 
 Buren ; Drs. William A- Hammond and George W. 
 I/awrence, of Hot Springs ; Dr. William Lawrence, 
 of Batesville ; Dr. E. R. DuVal, of Fort Smith ; 
 
 Drs. Benjamin Jett, W. P. Hart and Poster, 
 
 of Washington ; Dr. Candler, of Hempstead County; 
 Dr. I/inthicum, of Helena ; Drs. Rozelle and George 
 C. Tulley, of Pine Bluff. 
 
 Nor would I forget the business men, the foun- 
 ders and promoters of our commercial prosperity. 
 Of these, of early and later years, I remember Emzy 
 Wilson & Son, John McLane, Noah Badgett, Will- 
 iam B. Wait, S. H. Tucker, Dunn & Sutton, Wal- 
 ter Mitchell, W. P. Officer, John M. Boyle, L. and 
 William R. Gibson, Dudley Martin, Foster & Fin- 
 ley, James DeBaun, James Pitcher, Fbenezer Wal- 
 ters, James V. Keatts, Felix J. Thibault, D. C. 
 Fulton, Lambert J. and John F. Reardon, James 
 
 A. Henry, Jacob Reider, Andre J. Hutt, William 
 
 B. and J. B. Badgett, Jacob Hawkins, James, John 
 and William Vance, S. M. Weaver, T. D. Merrick, 
 George S. Morrison, George A. Worthen, Albert 
 Cohen, John P. Karns, M. Navra, Marcus Dotter, 
 
EARI^Y DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 317 
 
 A. Bott, D. McGowan, Isaac Levy, W. P. Rapley, 
 Peter Hanger, Reese Pritchard, Joseph Fenno, 
 Gabriel McGowan, Hues Scull, Ritchie & Van 
 Pradell, Wood Tucker & Son, Dr. Hummell, Dr. 
 Habberman, R. L. Dodge, J. J. McAlmont, of L/ittle 
 Rock. 
 
 Scott, Pennywit & Co., J. Henry Williams & 
 Co., Morrell & Mareen, Wallace & Ward, and 
 Hanley & Co., Van Bur en. 
 
 R. M. Johnson, Bennett, Walton & Co., and 
 Charles Johnson, Fort Smith. 
 
 Joseph Merrell and Drew White, Pine Bluff. 
 
 Newland & McGuire, and Fnzer & Co., Bates- 
 ville. 
 
 Ludovicus Belding, A. H. Whittington, Charles 
 Miller and William V. Hull, A. Kempner, Hot 
 Springs. 
 
 Dickson & Thurman, Fayetteville. 
 
 E. Hill & Co., Tyre & Co., Camden. 
 
 B. Iv. Britton, Abraham Bloch & Co., Benjamin 
 P. Jett & Co., Dr. Foster, W. H. Ftter & Co., 
 Burt & Co., Andrews & Co., McNair & Co., Han- 
 nah & Fall, and William and Martin Moss, Wash- 
 ington, 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
APPENDIX. 321 
 
 "EVERY YEAR." 
 
 BY GBN. ai,bb;rt pikb. 
 
 (Revised in 188S by the author). 
 
 Ifife is a count of losses, 
 
 Every year ; 
 For the weak are heavier crosses, 
 
 Every year ; 
 L(Ost Spring's with sobs replying. 
 Unto weary Autumns' sighing-, 
 While those we love are dying. 
 
 Every year. 
 
 The days have less of gladness, 
 
 Every year ; 
 The nights more weight of sadness. 
 
 Every year ; 
 Fair Springs no longer charm us. 
 The winds and weather harm us, 
 The threats of death alarm us. 
 
 Every year. 
 
 There come new cares and sorrows. 
 
 Every year ; 
 Dark days and darker mortows. 
 
 Every year ; 
 The ghosts of dead loves haunt us. 
 The ghosts of changed friends taunt us, 
 And disappointments daunt us. 
 
 Every year. 
 
 To the Past go more dead faces. 
 
 Every year ; 
 As the loved leave vacant places. 
 
 Every year ; 
 31 
 
322 EARLY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 
 
 Everywhere the sad eyes meet us, 
 In the evening's dusk they greet us, 
 And to come to them entreat us. 
 Every year. 
 
 " You are growing old," they tell us, 
 
 Every year ; 
 " You are more alone," they tell us, 
 
 Every year ; 
 " You can win no new affection, 
 " You have only recollection, 
 " Deeper sorrow and dejection, 
 
 "Every year." 
 
 Too true I L/ife's shores are shifting. 
 
 Every year ; 
 And we are seaward drifting. 
 
 Every year ; 
 Old places, changing, fret us. 
 The living more forget us, 
 There are fewer to forget us, 
 
 Every year. 
 
 But the truer life draws nigher, 
 
 Every year ; 
 And its morning-star climbs higher. 
 
 Every year ; 
 Earth's hold on us grows slighter, 
 And the heavy burthen lighter, 
 And the Dawn Immortal brighter. 
 
 Every year. 
 — From La Chaine d' Union, Paris, France, 1885. 
 
 The first and last stanzas of the original ver- 
 sion of "E)very Year," were as follows: 
 
 The Spring has less of brightness, 
 
 Every year ; 
 The snows a ghastlier whiteness, 
 
 Every year ; 
 
APPENDIX. 323 
 
 Nor do Summer's flowers quicken, 
 Nor Autumn's fruitage thicken, 
 As they once did, for we sicken. 
 Every year. 
 
 Thank God ! no clouds are shifting-. 
 
 Every year ; 
 O'er the land to which we're drifting, 
 
 Every year ; 
 No losses there will grieve us. 
 Nor loving faces leave us. 
 Nor death of friends bereave us. 
 
 Every year. 
 
324 EARLY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 
 
 THE) DEAD CHILD. 
 
 (Said to be the last poem written by General Pike.) 
 
 The young- leaf lives in Spring its little hour, 
 
 And f alleth from the limb^who knoweth why? 
 
 The fair young- bud blooms not into a flo-wer, 
 But sickening droops and hasteneth to die. 
 
 Who knoweth why? 
 
 Our Father knows, from whom the bud and leaf 
 
 Received their life, so beautiful and brief. 
 
 Those loved by us, — the young, fair, intjocent, — 
 
 When like your dear ones they have grown more dear,. 
 
 For but a little season to us lent. 
 
 He calleth home, letting us live on here — 
 
 Who knoweth why? 
 
 They in the early morning of Ivife's day 
 
 Do fade and fade, while we grow old and gray. 
 
 Our Father knows. He knew they did not need 
 
 I/ife's discipline and sorrow's chastening pain 
 To make them fit for Heaven, and early freed 
 
 These pure white souls to Him returned again. 
 For us to intercede. 
 Thus we, amid Life's sorrows, toils and cares, 
 Have entertained his angels unawares. 
 
 —Albert Pike. 
 Washington, March 28, 1884. 
 
APPKNDIX. 325 
 
 THE ARKANSAW TRAVELER. 
 
 [The story of the "Arkansas Traveler" is not published in 
 this work as a sample literary gem, or as an advertisement for 
 the State, but, because the famous colloquy is associated with 
 those early days of which the book treats, and, also, for the 
 benefit of those readers of the present day who have not read it 
 and smiled over its ridiculousness.] 
 
 "An Arkansaw Traveler, who has become lost, 
 approaching the cabin of a Squatter, about fifty 
 years ago, discovered the proprietor seated on an 
 old whisky barrel near the door, partly sheltered 
 by the eaves, playing a Fiddle, when the following 
 dialogue ensued, the Squatter still continuing to 
 play the same part over and over: 
 
 Traveler. — Helloo, stranger. 
 
 Squatter. — Hello yourself. 
 
 T. — Can I get to stay all night with you? 
 
 S. — You can git to go to h — 1. 
 
 T. — Have you any spirits here ? 
 
 S. — Lots of 'em. Sail saw one last night by 
 that thar ole holler gum, and it nearly skeered her 
 to death. 
 
 T. — You mistake my meaning, have you any 
 liquor ? 
 
 S. — Had some yesterday, but Ole Bose he got 
 in and lapped all uv it out'n the pot. 
 
326 EARLY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 
 
 T. — You don't understand me, I don't mean 
 pot liquor. I'm wet and cold, and want some 
 whisky. Have you g-ot any ? 
 
 S. — Oh, yes — I drank the last this morning. 
 
 T. — I'm hungry, haven't had a thing since 
 morning, can't you give me something to eat ? 
 
 S. — Hain't a d d thing in the house. Not a 
 
 mouthful of meat, or a dust of meal here. 
 
 T. — Well, can't you give my horse something?" 
 
 S. — Got nothin' to feed him on. 
 
 T. — How far is it to the next house? 
 
 S. — Stranger ! I don't know, I've never been 
 thar. 
 
 T. — Well, do you know who lives here? 
 
 S.— I do. 
 
 T. — As I'm so bold, then, what might your 
 name be ? 
 
 S. — It might be Dick, and it might be Tom ; 
 but it lacks a d d sight of it. 
 
 T. — Sir ! will you tell me where this road goes 
 to? 
 
 S. — It's never been any whar since I've lived 
 here, its always thar when I git up in the mornin'. 
 
 T. — Well, how far is it to where it forks? 
 
 S. — It don't fork at all, but it splits up like the 
 devil. 
 
 T. — As I'm not likely to get to any other house 
 to-night, can't you let me sleep in yours, and I'll 
 tie my horse to a tree, and do without anything to- 
 eat or drink. 
 
APPENDIX. 327 
 
 S. — My house leaks. Thar's only one dry spot 
 in it, and me and Sail sleeps on it. And that thar 
 tree is the ole woman's persimon, you can't tie to 
 it, 'case she don't want 'em shuk off. She 'lows to 
 make b-ier out'n um. 
 
 T. — Why don't you finish covering- your house, 
 and stop the leaks. 
 
 S. — It's been raining all day. 
 
 T. — Well, why don't you do it in dry weather ? 
 
 S. — It don't leak then. 
 
 T. — As there seems to be nothing alive about 
 your place but children, how do you do here any 
 how? 
 
 S. — Putty well, I thank you, how do you do 
 yourself ? 
 
 T. — I mean what do you do for a living here ? 
 
 S. — Keep tavern and sell whisky. 
 
 T. — Well, I told you I wanted some whisky. 
 
 S.— ^Stranger ! I bought a bar'l mor'n a week 
 ago. You see me and Sail went shares. Arter we 
 got it here, we only had a bit tweenst us, and Sail, 
 she didn't want to use hern fust, nor me mine. You 
 see I had a spiggin' in one eend, and she in tother. 
 So she takes a drink out'n my eend, and pays me 
 the bit for it ; and then I'd take un oiit'n hern, and 
 give her the bit. Well, we's getting long fust-rate, 
 
 till Dick, d d skulking skunk, he bourn a hole 
 
 on the bottom to suck at and the next time I went 
 to buy a drink, they wurnt none thar. 
 
328 EARLY DAYS IN ARKANSAS, 
 
 T. — I'm sorry your whisky's all gone ; but, my 
 friend, why don't you play the balance of that 
 tune ? 
 
 S. — It's got no balance to it. 
 
 T. — I mean you don't play the whole of it. . 
 
 S. — Stranger, can you play ih.efiddul? . 
 
 T. — Yes, a little sometimes. 
 
 S. — ^You don't look like a fiddlur, but ef you 
 think you can play any more onto that thar thune, 
 you kin just git down and try. 
 
 (The Traveler gets down and plays the whole of it . ) 
 
 S. — Stranger, take a half a do^en cheers and 
 sot down. Sail, stir yourself round like a six horse 
 team in a mud hole. Go round in the holler, whar 
 I killed that buck this mornin', cut off some of the 
 best pieces, and fotch it and cook it for me and this 
 gentleman, directly. Raise up the board under the 
 head of the bed, and git the old black, jug I hid 
 from Dick, and give us some whisky; I know thar's 
 some left yit. Till, drive old Bose out'n the bread 
 tray, then clime up in the loft, and git the rag that's 
 got the sugar tied in it. Dick, carry the gentle- 
 man's hoss round under the shed, give him some 
 fodder and corn, as much as he kin eat. 
 
 Til. — Dad, thar ain't knives enouff for to sot 
 the table. 
 
 S. — Whar's big butch, little butch, ole case, 
 cob-handle, granny's knife, and the one I handled 
 yesterday? That's 'nuff to sot any gentleman's 
 table, without youv'e lost um. D — n me, stranger, 
 
APPENDIX. 329 
 
 ef you can't stay as long as you please, and I'll 
 give you plenty to eat and drink. Will you have 
 coffee for supper ? 
 
 T.— Yes, sir. 
 , S. — I'll be hanged ef you do tho', we don't 
 have nothin' that way here, but Grub Hyson, and I 
 reckon it's mighty good with sweetnin'. Play 
 away, stranger, you kin sleep on the dry spot to- 
 night. 
 
 T. — (After about two hours fiddling). My 
 friend, can't you tell me about the road I'm to 
 travel to-morrow? 
 
 S. — To-morrow ! Stranger, you won't git out'n 
 these diggins for six weeks. But when it gits so 
 you kin start, you see that big sloo over thar? 
 Well, you have to git crost that, then you take the 
 road up the bank, and in about a mile you'll come 
 to a two acre and a half corn-patch, the corn's 
 mitely in the weeds, but you needn't mind that, jist 
 ride on. About a mile and a half, or two miles, 
 from that you'll come to the d — dest swamp you 
 ever struck in all your travels ; it's boggy enuff to 
 mire a saddle blanket. Thar's a fust-rate road 
 about six feet under thar. 
 
 T. — How am I to get at it ? 
 
 S. — You can't git at it nary time, till the 
 weather stiffens down sum. Well, about a mile be- 
 yant, you come to a place whar thur's two roads. 
 You kin take the right hand ef you want to, you'll 
 foller it a mile or so, and you'll find it's run out ; 
 
330 EARLY DAYS IN ARKANSAS. 
 
 you'll then have to come back and try the left, when 
 you git about two miles on that, you may know you 
 are wrong-, fur they ain't any road thar. You'll 
 then think you are mighty lucky ef you kin find the 
 way back to my house, whar you can come and play 
 that thune as long- as you please." 
 
 THE END.