The trial succeeded in nothing against the defendant only in crippling his pecuniary resources, and harrassing him in other ways. It rather strengthened than weakened the authenticity of the work. These circumstances, with the war, interrupted the sale for some years; but as might have been reasonably expected, truth can only be temporarily crushed to burst forth again with renewed vigor. Persecution only adds fuel to the flames.
Sick of the career of life which he had led, it was but natural for Copeland to repine against those who had shared his plunder and goaded him on to crime with ample promises of protection, and then deserted him in the last hours of his affliction.
The defendant could have had no conceivable motive to forge names—not knowing before Copeland gave them, that such persons were in existence; therefore, where there is no possible motive, there can be no crime or intentional wrong. So much then for the “wicked and malicious intentions,” as charged in the affidavit of Shoemake.
The foregoing observations close the narrations of the trial with the circumstances of connection belonging; and now for particulars, as reasonably presumed, of another attempt on the life of the defendant in 1862.
Throughout the proceedings of the trial Dr. Pitts has been properly referred to as the “defendant.” Hereafter his own proper name will be given.
In the spring of 1862, when returning from a professional visit, he was waylaid by two persons to him entire strangers. Just before the Doctor reached a by-path he was accustomed to travel, because somewhat nearer, he first suddenly discovered one of them near the main road, in a bunch of bushes by a stump, some fifty or seventy-five yards distant. The Doctor made a quick change of position; the rays of the sun fell on the bright gun in possession, which reflected a dazzling brilliancy for the moment. This extraordinary circumstance of itself was sufficient to cause well-grounded apprehensions of danger; and, accordingly, the Doctor kept a close watch for an excited moment. No sooner had he taken the by-path above alluded to, than he saw one of the two rush out—fast running through the thick woods in order to intercept him. The Doctor instantly turning his course, he at once beheld another person running in the same direction. There was but one available outlet for the Doctor to make his escape, and this through a long narrow valley with obstructing hills on each side. Both made a strenuous effort to get ahead of him in the valley, but fortunately he was mounted on a fine animal very fast on speed, which successfully enabled him to escape unhurt.
As before stated, these two parties were entire strangers, and never spoke a word during the whole transaction. On peaceable terms with every one in the settlement around, so far as known, there could not be a doubt on his mind as to this movement being another attempt on his life from the clan for the sake of vengeance for the past, and to prevent republication in the future. The same conclusions must be arrived at by every impartial judge of the affair.
The following tragic accounts have recently been carefully collected from authentic and reliable sources, which, here introduced, will form something like an episode of after transactions of the parties whose names are also found in Copeland’s confessions—transactions exactly of a character to correspond with the dark and bloody operations as given by Copeland himself.
From whatever stand-point viewed, there is something extraordinary about this man. He was particularly distinguished in the art of sculpture. He built the jail in DeKalb, Kemper county, Miss., which, when completed, was pronounced a master-piece of workmanship for substantial security. But in some length of time afterward, the report got out, probably from his own boasting, or some unguarded expression which he had made use of, that it was not safe. Inspection of the minutest sort followed, but not a sign of insecurity was discovered. However, when he got ready, he volunteered to show, and did show the defect which all previous search had utterly failed to find. He pointed to a place in the wall so perfectly concealed, yet with a very little exertion a vent could be made quite large enough for one person to pass out.
He was expert and dexterous in everything he engaged, but, as time developed, with an ultimate object of fraudulent gain in one way or the other. He was a scholar, yet this capacity only enabled him to attain greater heights of rascality with less liability of detection. Politeness, civility, and the most consummate of gentlemanly airs he could assume when his nefarious purposes could be best served by so doing. He was cruel, but not brave. It is said that the sister of his now brother-in-law received cruel treatment from him in youth; and for years this brother-in law determinedly bore it in mind, and at maturity beat Shoemake unmercifully for the same. This is a case with one man that Shoemake childishly dreaded ever afterward.
But his wife, formally called Muggy Worbington, was made of different material. She was brave sure enough, which was sufficiently evidenced on a number of occasions; one of which was in making two men, who had before vehemently offended her, jump precipitately into the river from a flat to avoid the contents of a revolver which was too resolutely presented to be mistaken.
And again, in the malignant feud between the Shoemake and Fisher family, which culminated in a pitched battle with shot-guns and pistols, near a brickyard, half a mile north of old Marion, Lauderdale county, Miss., in the fall of 1844, or early in 1845. Shoemake and his wife against Fisher and two sons, William and Theophilous. The fire from the Fisher family was too hot and severe for Shoemake; he left in haste and deserted his wife, who fought inch by inch with unfaltering fortitude until shot down by the greater opposing force with which she was in conflict.
Shoemake, before leaving Kemper county, made intimations as if disposed to divulge the interesting historical part of his life; and, at the same time, in reference to the tremendous disaster he sustained on the trial of Dr. Pitts; made significant remarks of a double meaning, but really of a nature to warrant the impression that the publisher of the Life and Career of Copeland would pass off this stage of existence, which would be certain to leave mystery behind for future contemplation.
Shoemake resided in and around Kemper county for a number of years. His conduct was always suspicious, but his address, his ingenuity, and his whole movements were so profoundly managed as to evade penal detection. Years had to elapse to fully develop the man for anything like a common consent as to his real Character. It but required time to satisfy the judgment of all that he tainted everything he touched. And this is the man who was so sensitive because Copeland confessed him to be “a big dog among the clan.”
The names of the two Hardens were given by Copeland as forming a part of the clan. More about them has since been collected, which will now be read with interest.
About the year 1853 John Harden, from the State of Alabama, stole a fine animal, buggy and negro man, and succeeded in getting them safely to Marion county, Miss., where his mother resided. The Sheriff, Mr. Smith, from the county in Alabama where said property was stolen from, pursued Harden, and on reaching this State, Mississippi, he employed the services of Philip James, of Greene county, to accompany him. Finding Harden in the night at his mother’s, he was by them taken on surprise, but made a desperate resistance, though being overpowered, was compelled to surrender. The horse, buggy and negro man were all found. Sheriff Smith had Harden confined within the buggy, and the negro man ordered to ride the horse. On returning, and when they reached the residence of Philip James, Sheriff Smith made no further request on Mr. James, and thought he could then manage without any further assistance. Accordingly they started, but shortly after they had crossed Chickasahay river the Sheriff was killed—appearances indicating that he had been beaten to death by a club. But whether by Harden or the negro man, none ever were able to ascertain. The buggy was rolled off under a hill. The horses and the two persons made their escape for the time being. Nothing positively definite, but the report followed that in some six or eight months afterward Harden was apprehended by Smith’s friends, and by lynch operations finished his career by being hung to the limb of a tree.
His brother, also mentioned by Copeland, who married a daughter of Gideon Rustin, was hung in Columbia, Mississippi, about the year 1843, for the murder of his wife. Immediately after the murder, he made his escape, and got into the State of Georgia, where he remained for some months; but subsequently returned and gave himself up to the sheriff, but had not been long in prison till he broke out, and would probably made his escape, but was captured by some parties in a boat near by while he was in the act of swimming Pearl river.
John Harden was a powerful man, not only in physical strength, but also in determined energies and resolution. Years ago, it is said that he and Hampton H. Nichols, of Perry county Mississippi, disagreed—followed by a fight betwixt the two in the usual manner, and that Harden came out the best; although, for nerve and surpassing strength, it was before thought that Nichols had not a superior. Thus, one by one do the members of the “clan” drop into eternity by violent and unnatural terminations.
There are others of the “clan” still active and surviving. James McArthur—better known in some places by the appellation of “Calico Dick” still lives. By reference to the original history of the Wages and Copeland clan, page 89, it will be seen that this man became connected with the organization in 1844; and, at the time, was acknowledged by the former members as being directly concerned with others engaged in the business of counterfeiting money. Dr. Pitts has taken considerable trouble in tracing out the character of this man, and has received information from the best citizens of Mississippi and Alabama. Let this information be read with care and attention; and then, who can have the effrontery to contend that the names given in the “confessions” “are forged and the entire work unworthy of credit.”
In former years, when the Wages and Copeland organization was in full blast, he was then looked on as a suspicious character and believed to belong to the clan, as well as having more or less to do with the counterfeiting business which had been the means of flooding the country with a spurious circulation.
This organized band of robbers, murderers and counterfeiters had become such a terror to the seashore counties of Mississippi that the good people of these sections were driven to the necessity of forming a “Vigilance Committee,” for the better protection and preservation of society. By this committee, many suspicious persons were arrested, among whom was Jim McArthur. He, with a rope around his neck, piloted the committee to the swamp, where he pointed out and dug up the coining apparatus which was used by the band in coining counterfeit money. Here he acknowledged his identity with the counterfeiters, and was only released on his solemn vow to leave the country—never more to show his face in that region of society. Accordingly, he did leave, and was not seen there again until during the late war between the States, when he returned and was a great source of trouble again to all the neighboring counties around—committing more crimes of a more shocking and atrocious character.
After the close of the war, he again left that vicinity, and made his headquarters in Mobile, Alabama, where occasionally he was seen very flush of money. Also, after the war, he made a visit to Perry county, Mississippi. While there, he made inquiry after a woman, who had left her husband while the national contest was going on. The supposition is that he, made her acquaintance on Honey Island during the war.
He is now well known to all this country as a renowned traveling gambler; and, among the fraternity of that class, is probably better known by the name of “Calico Dick,” which appellation he received many years ago, according to his own statement, when but a youth, in the State of Georgia, for stealing a bolt of calico, and for the same received thirty-nine lashes. But particulars on this subject will be best understood by giving an extract of a letter from one of Mississippi’s gifted sons:
“Calico Dick is the same brigand—the infamous Jim McArthur. He himself states that when he was a youth in Georgia, he stole a bolt of calico—was detected and received thirty-nine lashes, and ever since has been called Calico Dick. He was suspected of murdering a peddlar in Hancock county years ago, and acknowledged, with the rope around his neck, to the vigilant committee that he was a counterfeiter, and pointed out the apparatus for coining—confessed to horse-stealing and negro-stealing, and had left his wife and children in Hancock county to starve or do worse. His nephew, young Frost, who kept a cigar stand in or near the Battle House, Mobile, was arrested at Bay St. Louis last year on the charge of murder, and carried to Alabama. I have not heard the result. McArthur was unquestionably one of the Copeland clan. He committed many crimes during the war. At any time during the second year of the war, when we had no law, if I had met him, I would have shot him from my knowledge of his crimes.”
Jackson County, 1873.
From another friend, in Jackson county, he still further exhibits the man in his true colors:
“James McArthur, long known as Calico Dick, has resided many years in Hancock county, Mississippi. Though absent frequently for months, sometimes for a year or two. His own statement when he first appeared in the county, was, that he stole a piece of calico, from a country store in Georgia, and being detected received thirty-nine lashes. So far from being ashamed of this exploit, he boasts of it, and when drinking often repeats the story of his filthy life. He soon made himself known in Hancock as a gambler; and from his frequent mysterious journeys, and generally returning with a fine horse and plenty of money, he became an object of general suspicion. The Murrell clan, and, subsequently, the Wages and Copeland clan were then operating throughout the country. Negro-stealing, horse-stealing, counterfeiting, highway robbery and murder had been reduced to a system, and it was rare that anybody was brought to justice. If any party was arrested, some of the clan was always on hand to prove an alibi. Suspicion very often pointed to an individual, but people were afraid to hint their suspicions lest they might draw down upon them some secret vengeance—the burning of their dwellings or assassination. Thus, crime was committed with impunity. A peddler, known to have considerable money, was found murdered in Hancock, and though there was but one opinion as to who committed the deed, no one was arrested. The county was flooded with spurious coin. McArthur was known to make frequent journeys towards Mobile and to the Sabine on the Texas line, and when he returned, there was always an influx of bad money in circulation. He generally brought one or more strangers. Men of doubtful character, and with no apparent means of living, and never known to work, began to multiply, and this class was constantly around McArthur, and looked up to him as their chief. Though known to be personally an abject coward, he became, through these desperate men, an object of terror to the timid; and even respectable men were weak enough to court his favor. The late Col. D. C. Glenn would often say, after his attendance on the Hancock Circuit Courts, that he was shocked to see decent men jesting and drinking with such a wretch! The secret was that these men dreaded him and his gang.
Finally, somewhere about 1845, counterfeiting, horse-stealing, stock-stealing, and other crimes became so common; and the county so swarmed with idle, worthless, and suspicious characters, the citizens of Hancock formed a vigilance committee for mutual protection. It embraced the best, most responsible, and determined men in the county. They arrested a number of persons, most of whom confessed to being, or having been, members of the Murrell and Wages clans. The names of these men, and what became of them, can be given to you by some old citizen—such as Col. Claiborne, S. T. Randall, Luther Russ, J. W. Roberts, and others. Those who confessed to belonging to the above named clans, were to a man the boon companions and associates of the notorious Jim McArthur, alias Calico Dick. The committee finally arrested him. I have been told that nearly the entire committee was for hanging him instanter. Indeed the rope was around his neck; but some one suggested that if they hung him, many important secrets would die with him; and that it was better to spare his life on the conditions of full confession and his immediate and perpetual departure from the county and State. The cowardly and treacherous scoundrel clutched at this expedient to save his life. He acknowledged his crimes, gave the names of his associates, and piloted the committee to his camp in the Devil’s swamp, where he fabricated spurious money. The moulds, forge, and a quantity of base metal were found there. The forger should have been handed over to the U. S. authorities, but he was permitted to leave the county on his oath (what was the oath of such a creature worth,) never to return. He left immediately for Alabama, where it would be worth while to track him. When the war broke out, and the vigilance committee of Hancock no longer existed—its most prominent members having died or removed—this self-confessed felon returned to the county. He appeared there, I am told, in the character of a bounty jumper or substitute broker, in which he swindled a number of confiding people. A band of his old associates returned about the same time, and during the war became the terror and scourge of the country. Some were deserters from the Confederate ranks—some joined the United State army, and deserted their colors came back to their old haunts and their old leader. Some were professional thieves, robbers, and murderers, who never belonged to either army, but took to bushwacking, and jayhawking for a living; robbed the old, the widow, and the orphan without scruple, and often added arson and murder to their robberies. McArthur was constantly on the wing on the old pattern followed by Wages and Copeland. Since the war, he has passed much of his time in Alabama; but I am informed by citizens of Hancock that he has for some months past been dwelling in that county. His doings in Alabama ought to be traced out. What he is after in his obscure den in Hancock county, will, no doubt, in due time, crop out.”
Calico Dick is described by those who have seen him as having the appearance of being deformed from the effect of disease. The external appearance indicate considerable curvature of the spine. Others more intimate and better acquainted with him, say that this seeming curvature is caused by the constant wearing of a steel plate, which is used for the purpose of carrying cards; and that the plate is so constructed that he can without detection take from or add to his hand while playing, and with the assistance of his spring plate renders it impossible for any one to compete with him in this department of gambling.
The report of his death by being shot near St. Stevens is proven to be false. There is now a letter in the possession of John Champenoies, a resident of Shubuta, Clarke county, Mississippi, from Calico Dick, dated at Pensacola Junction, the 28th of May, 1873, and mailed at Whiting, Alabama.
There is another incident in his life which is rather amusing, and should not be entirely overlooked. In the year of 1868, he purchased a ticket to Enterprise, on M. & O. R. R., to Quitman, and got on board of a freight train, which carried him to the next station below, DeSoto, some four or five miles further than he wanted to go, and he had to walk back again. For this he sued the company, and got judgment against it to the tune of several thousand dollars; but the case was carried to High Court, and judgment reversed for a new trial. However, a compromise was made, and the company only paid him five hundred dollars, and gave him a free ticket on the road to ride afterwards.
Since writing the above, Dr. Pitts entertained some doubts of the truths of the whole of this story; and, to be better satisfied on the matter, wrote to one member of the company in high position, and received from him by way of reply the following:
“I know James McArthur, often called ‘Calico Dick,’ but know little of his antecedents.
“He did bring a suit against the railroad for taking him past Quitman to DeSoto, I think in 1867 or 1868, and Judge Leachman gave judgment on demurrer, not a jury, for, I think, $10,000. Exceptions were taken, and the case sent to the High Court, where the error was cause to send it back for a new trial. Before the new trial was had he proposed to compromise, and I did so for $500, he paying costs, but I do not know that he did pay, as he said he had given security for costs, and the Clerk might make them.
“I have not seen ‘Calico’ in the last two years, but presume he lives, and has his ‘Tiger’ yet. The last time I saw him was at State Line, where he told me he was ‘flat broke,’ and his ‘Tiger’ in ‘soak,’ and he wanted with his whole soul a ticket to Mobile on credit. He got it, and I have not seen him since.
“June 25, 1874.”
There must be something remarkable about this man, otherwise he could not so long have escaped the last penalties of the law and the vengeance of an outraged population. The last heard of him, of import, was his visit to Escatawpa, Ala., a short time before the foul murder of W. C. Stanley, of this place, particulars of which the reader will now examine, as related to Dr. Pitts by one of the main witnesses involved in the case; but it should be first remembered that “Calico Dick” made a visit to Escatawpa, then left for Mobile, Ala., and in a few days after his nephew, Frost, came to Escatawpa. The current belief is that he was induced to do so under the influence of his uncle.
The masterly description of the terrible clans as they have heretofore existed, and as given by the natural as well as artistical pen of the Jackson county correspondent, cannot be overestimated. It will well pay for perusal and re-perusal again and again. Let the following quotations never be forgotten:
“The worst of human crimes had been reduced to a system, and it was rare that anybody was brought to justice. If any party was arrested some of the clan was always on hand to prove an alibi. Suspicions often pointed to an individual, but people were afraid to hint their suspicions lest they might draw down upon them some secret vengeance—the burning of their dwellings or assassination. Thus crime was committed with impunity. A peddler, known to have considerable money, was found murdered in Hancock, and though there was but one opinion as to who committed the deed, no one was arrested. McArthur, though personally known to be an abject coward, became, through desperate men which he commanded, an object of terror to the timid; and even respectable men were weak enough to court his favor. The late Colonel Glenn would often say, after his attendance on the Hancock Circuit Courts, that he was shocked to see decent men jesting and drinking with such a wretch! The secret was that these men dreaded him and his gang.”
The above is a whole volume for contemplation. Decent, respectable, and distinguished persons jesting and drinking with renowned and scientific criminals through fear of conflagration and assassination. No efforts made to bring to justice—crime passing with respectable impunity.
Honor crime, and numbers will soon increase prodigiously. Make escape easy and almost certain, and the law will carry no terrors with it. Grievances, real or imaginary, and opportunities will be sought to bring in play the bowie-knife and revolver. Let life’s warm stream flow freely, the sight common, and human life will soon be worth no more than the dog’s. Let a callous indifference pervade the community when the tidings of outrage, robbery and murder are brought, and soon will the great arteries of a State’s wealth and prosperity begin to languish and decay. Under such a system, can civilization progress? Will capital invest to set the springs of industry at work? Can wealth and intelligence thrive under such blighting influences of desolation? Is not government strong enough to protect its subjects? If not it should be, and the sooner it can be accomplished, the better it will be for all classes of society. Even affluent railroad companies have to bend to such men as Jim McArthur. To produce wide-spread fear and social insecurity, it is not necessary for crime and murder to be of an every-day occurrence; it is the hopelessness of getting redress from the courts as they are at present constituted that is so pernicious in consequences.
W. C. Stanley came to Escatawpa with a small capital, and invested to the amount of two or three hundred dollars worth of goods. On or about the night of the 6th of June, 1872, he was brutally murdered, and was not found until one or two days afterward, when the woods hogs were discovered eating up his lifeless body. An inquest was immediately held, and one on the jury by the name of Oye, tried to implicate a colored man, William Powe, on a plea of his having made some threats previously, but this insignificant plea was quickly ruled out of consideration as unworthy of any credit whatever, and properly so, for the colored man satisfactory proved himself clear immediately afterward. A verdict of murder by some unknown hands was returned. However, one by the name of Frost began to get very uneasy, and left the place the second or third day succeeding. The passions of the citizens around became greatly inflamed by having such a horrid murder committed within their midst. And this was not the only one; no less than ten other brutal murders had occurred in and about the place within a very limited period of time. Blood and terror reigned to an extent never before experienced. To such a pitch of atrocity had this neighborhood got that no man could reasonably feel safe twenty-four hours.
Almost under any plea life was taken with but little hesitation by lawless violence. However, these good citizens held meetings to protect themselves against such diabolical outrages which then, of late, had been perpetrated in large numbers. They, well knowing Mr. B. F. Woulard to be a close observer, and active and energetic in every other respect, appointed him as the most suitable and reliable person in the capacity of detective to ferret out and apprehend the guilty parties. He obeyed the call, and, after Frost, took the first train to Mobile, Alabama, where, after much trouble, he learned that Frost had departed for Bay St. Louis, Mississippi. Still forward, and without delay, he very soon reached that place, where he found him stopping with one of his aunts, and arrested him almost without disturbing the family. There taken before the City Marshal, who was acquainted with Frost, and knew him to be of very bad character—knew that he had sometime before endeavored to induce young men of that city to engage in the counterfeiting business. Mr. Woulard well knew that Frost, prior to the murder of Stanley, was without money, and did not really have respectable clothing to wear, though, when arrested, he had two valises well packed with good, substantial clothing, which he had purchased when passing through Mobile, as learned by detective Woulard on his return to this city, with Frost still under arrest. Then and there, the firm of Jacobins & Brisk gave information to the effect that Frost had purchased from seventy to eighty dollars worth from this firm. It was now plain to detective Woulard that Frost had received money some where, and was required to give an account of the same. He answered by declaring to have obtained it by registered letter. On further investigation, it was satisfactorily shown that he had received no registered letter; and now finding it was vain to attempt to conceal any further, he was about to make a confession of the whole affair; but a person by the name of Cotton, in Mobile, stepped up and learned the cause of arrest, when, to detective Woulard, he proposed for Frost to be turned over to him for a while, during which time he would be apt to get from him a full confession of all the facts connected with the case. Accordingly, Frost was placed in Cotton’s custody for something like an hour, when he returned with this report: “You have certainly got the right man; go now and arrest Oye and his wife, at Escatawpa.” In compliance with such advice, detective Woulard lost no time, but hurried back with Frost, and there did arrest Oye.
But here Frost’s confession should be given, which in substance, was as follows:
“At the time Stanley was absent from home on business, Oye availed himself of the opportunity by going to Mrs. Stanley, and by an attempt at strong reasoning, he persuaded her to leave him—all the while believing that Stanley, in such an event, would become so dissatisfied to an extent sufficient to cause him to sell his goods, which could be so managed as to give Oye the preference of purchase, when the money paid for same could be got back by a devised scheme of robbery. But in the interval between the commencement of the plan and Stanley’s return, two Irish shoe-peddlers came into the neighborhood. Oye purchased the remnant of goods they had on hand. Forthwith one left—the other remained and boarded with Oye. Now, Stanley returned home, and found that his wife had left him, and his store, with all other of his effects, in the hands of Oye. This unexpected conduct of his wife had, according to Oye’s calculations, the desired effect. Frustrated and discontented to an extent better imagined than described, he at once desired to dispose of his whole interest in the place. This was what Oye wanted, and quickly proposed to buy him out, which proposition, under the circumstances, was readily accepted. Oye paid the full value of the goods without any scruples whatever, and put Frost in charge of the same. Stanley, during the time he intended to remain in the neighborhood, and Frost now became room mates, and boarded at the house of Oye. Up to this time, the progress had been attended with very little trouble, and everything seemed to promise continued success. The next movement was a secret consultation among the three—Oye, Frost and the Irish shoe-peddler, the latter of which, from inference, seemed to have before affiliated with such company, and likely his appearance as an Irish shoe-peddler at the time had all been previously arranged to produce the desired effect. This consultation was for the purpose of decoying Stanley out on a fishing excursion, so that he could be ambushed, robbed and murdered. Frost was the person agreed on to perform the part of betraying Stanley out, but, on more mature consideration, Oye could not repose sufficient confidence in the Irishman—entirely ruling him out, and broke up the first agreement. The next one adopted was for Frost to inform Stanley that Mrs. Oye had been receiving letters from his wife, Mrs. Stanley. Frost further intimated that he could so manage as to get hold of one or more of these letters, and would, the first opportunity, do so for Stanley’s satisfaction. Stanley, very much wanting to know the whereabouts of his wife and children, urged Frost to get possession, if possible, of the letters the first convenient opportunity. So far, there was a mutual understanding between the two. But little time elapsed before Frost made known that sure enough he had succeeded in getting the letters from Mrs. Oye, and was then in possession of the same. Night being present, it was agreed for Stanley to retire with him, for the purpose of reading the letters, to a place some two hundred yards in the rear of Oye’s drinking saloon, which place is a pine thicket or grove. Matches were procured, and forward they went to this designated place. Here Frost handed Stanley some sort of a paper package; and while Stanley was in the act of making a light from a match to a candle, Oye suddenly rushed up with a loaded revolver, and shot Stanley through the head—followed by five more discharges at him. After he had fallen, Oye was about to put his hand in Stanley’s pocket for money, when a hollow groan was heard, indicating that the last sign of life had not departed, to fully effect which, Oye, with his pocket knife stabbed the victim several times in the breast, and then cut the throat from ear to ear. Oye now leaves Frost to get the money and drag off the corpse to some old well near by, while Oye would return and see that all was right outside. In this operation of dragging to the well, Frost became alarmed and left the spot.
The following day, Oye made a proposition to Frost to take an axe and cut the lifeless body to pieces, so that the same could be sacked and thrown into Dog River. Frost declined to do this from suspicion of a great probability of detection in so doing. As yet, no disposition having been made of the remains, a young man by the name of William Cooper, the next evening, found the decomposing body with active and consuming hogs around it. On the bloody grounds of the murder a pistol rammer was found, which was inspected by detective Woulard. Oye hearing of this circumstance, ordered Frost to immediately take the pistol to which it belonged, and throw the same into Dog River without delay, which was done accordingly. In the confession of Frost, he further told where the pocket-book of Stanley could be found that had been taken away from him after death. Agreeable and true to his statement, the pocket-book was found, and contained a tooth, which on seeing by Mr. A. O’Donnell, was declared to belong to Mrs. Stanley—she having before shown the same to him. With it a piece of poetry, in the hand-writing of Stanley, was also found.”
The fact of Frost and Stanley boarding together at Oye’s house; the fact of the murdered body having been found; the fact of the sudden departure of Frost—before well-known to have been in want of both money and respectable clothing, and all at once, found with plenty, and then his falsehoods and failure to account for the same; and then the fact of his confession about the pocket-book having been proven to be perfectly correct; these circumstances, with others connected, all taken together, fasten guilt on Frost, and go far to establish the truth of the other part of his confessions in which Oye is represented as the principal actor of the whole.
Aware of all this when detective Woulard arrested Oye. He placed both under a vigilant guard for a short time to be controlled by Mr. A. F. Hooks. Immediately after the arrest was made, Mrs. Oye got an opportunity to speak to her husband, and was overheard to say something about a fuss, which in a few minutes followed by her using such language of obscenity and profanity against the guard which, perhaps, was never equalled from the lips of woman. During the disturbance, the intention was for Oye to get away, but the guard kept too sharp a lookout for the attempt to succeed.
The prisoners were conveyed as soon as practicable by detective Woulard, to St. Stevens, Alabama, where they had a preliminary trial, and evidence sufficiently adduced for committal. But all the while Mrs. Oye had been active. A writ of Habeas Corpus had been obtained from the Circuit Judge of the district, Mr. Elliott, requiring the prisoners forthwith to be brought before him for a further hearing. In conformity with the writ, the Sheriff of Washington county, E. L. Collins conveyed them to Mobile, and the evidence there produced was sufficiently strong for Judge Elliott to order them back to Washington county to there await the action of the circuit court.
When the case came up for trial, by motion of counsel, a change of venue was made: Oye’s case being removed to Baldwin county, and Frost’s to the county of Mobile. Owing to the great distance, with proportionate expenses, this change made it very inconvenient for witnesses to attend, by reason of which they were unable to be present in court, and the consequence was a discharge of Oye for want of evidence; but last reports say Frost still remains in Mobile jail—perhaps to be liberated also when convenience of time will justify: thus defeating the ends of justice and demonstrating the almost impossibility of convicting any belonging to the worst class of criminals.
Since the forgoing was prepared for the press, the following additional information has been received through a highly responsible source from New Orleans, La.:
“Frost shortly after the murder of W. C. Stanley, in Alabama, made his appearance at Bay St. Louis, with two carpet bags filled with fine clothing and his pockets full of money. He displayed this ostentatiously, and spent it lavishly in the coffee houses. While splurging in this style, he was arrested and taken to Alabama, on the charge of murder. When he was discharged (to the amazement of everybody) he returned to the Bay, and by some means was made an assistant light-house keeper on Chandlier Island: How he got in this position would be well worth finding out. Recently the keeper sent him to New Orleans to draw his (the keeper’s) money. Frost drew it, and wrote to the keeper that he had deposited it with a certain firm in the city. On inquiry, such deposit had not been by him made, and he with the money disappeared some six weeks ago. He and his uncle are capable of any crime, but are cowards.”
August 13, 1874.
Talk of reform and State improvements, impossible while this system of things continue; “as well expect grapes from thorns or figs from thistles.” Not occasional robberies, not occasional murders alone that poison the vitals of society. These will sometimes occur under the best government—under good laws and well administered; it is the ninety-nine chances for escape to one for conviction which produces so much evil. When punishment is sure to immediately follow the commission of crime, then society can repose in security; but otherwise, the honest and peaceable live in fear—the dishonest and disorderly in defiant lawlessness. Overt crime, regardless of law, with a determination to remain and risk all consequences from the farcical courts; in such cases, arrest sometimes follow, but the bail is ready, and with a few dollars acquittal will be almost certain. If the case is too dark and unpopular, time after time the trial will be put off, until, according to common parlance, the case is worn out, or some material witness got out of the way, and then the answer is “ready for trial”—well knowing the result which must follow. But oftener, if the criminal leave the county or State, no more notice is taken—no effort made to reach and bring him back.
It is seldom that redress is ever endeavored to be obtained by process of law. This reluctance cannot be wondered at in the face of so many unblushing recommendations and encouragements from unprincipled attorneys in open court to willful violations of law; not to be wondered at when the injured prosecutor experiences nothing but abuse and malicious, or rather mercenary, invective, while the vile criminal is allowed to walk out of court unhurt and plumed with the laurels of victory, even in the worst cases which can possibly be conceived. If one person becomes irritated against another, no matter for what cause, either real or imaginary, he thinks not of investigation in the courts, but either sets in to break up his antagonist by private and malicious mischief, or he waylays, ambushes or seeks an opportunity to create a quarrel, so that life can be taken under the plea of justifiable homicide! But sordid, corrupt and sinister motives do not always stop at acquitting the guilty; they occasionally labor as hard to harrass and punish the innocent! The author’s case, in his trial at Mobile, is one instance out of many where everything was strained to convict innocence. Sometimes one object in view, and sometimes another. Grand juries are not unfrequently acted on in a very disgraceful manner. One person, through spite, or for getting the property of another in some covert way, will seek an opportunity to get a bill from the grand jury. Another, to avoid paying a just debt, or to screen himself in some other case, for the purpose of producing intimidation, or, as it is more commonly called, “running him off,” will seek to get a bill from the grand jury. Others, if the truth is too plainly spoken, will seek to command the grand jury for libel. Under such a system, the worst of men are generally the most expert in law, and always the readiest to fly to it to subserve their purposes. Alarming abuses in one direction seldom fail to be carried on in the contrary direction pretty much with equal proportion.
Lynch law is an unavoidable consequence of a mockery of civil law. No nation can long prosper under a reign of court corruptions. If the guilty, as a rule, escape, and justice not strictly administered, the sources of wealth will soon languish and decay. If the fashions of the courts are to favor the worst at the expense of the best members of society, the necessary results cannot fail to come shortly afterward. Under such a deplorable state of things, confidence and security cannot dwell. Suspicion and distrust everywhere; industry, the desire to accumulate, and also productive capital, will all be defective.
There are but few crimes which a determined and prudent government cannot suppress. Those aggravated offenses under the name of “Ku Klux” depredations, how soon they were put down under a vigorous execution of law. If the government of this State continues as it has begun, there will be no more of dueling, or at least so rare as not to be productive of much injury. The certainty of punishment, even in rare cases, will relieve society from serious harm on this account.
States, Empires and Republics search for the first causes of their decline and fall, and they will be found to consist in the vitiated customs of the rulers in the various departments of governments, in a reckless trampling on the principles of justice without shame, without remorse, and, above all, in overgrown corruptions practiced with the honors of emoluments and distinctions.
And now it is only necessary to add, in reference to the Wages and Copeland Clan, as an organization, it is broken up, though isolated individuals who belonged to it still continue to perpetrate crime whenever anything like a favorable opportunity offers. For a lengthy duration of time this clan spread terror and desolation both far and wide. Happily for present society, as an organized body, it is numbered on the dark and bloody pages of the past.
The publication of the confessions by the author was productive of much good. The high and mighty outside aiders severely felt the blows. But for the support given by such auxiliary aiders the organization would have come to dissolution much earlier. It is such influential aiders and abettors, in warding off the chains of law, which give vitality to movements of this character. The decline began from the death of the President and leader, Wages, and also at the same time the death of the preaching hypocrite, McGrath. This change was further accelerated by the execution of Copeland, and the narrow escape of another brother, together with the publication of the confessions, laying open to public gaze the implicated parties and the principal movement of the whole.
But the expiration of one sort of lawlessness does not preclude the existence of others more dangerous, because more subtle and more in accordance with the corruptions in the high departments of States, and more in harmony with the operations of those who boldly trample on rectitude and the laws of the nation. Rings and cliques are not confined to political considerations alone, but descend to many other important affairs of life. A union of an inferior and unprincipled lawyer with a subordinate officer, and these again with a league of reckless and desperate “strikers,” who can make money almost at any time from the honest earnings of the less expert, and all by forms and processes of law. This is one class of rings complained of, the evils from which are of a frightful magnitude. They weave the net, goad the honest but unwary into its meshes, and revel on the spoils which have been extorted from litigation. The former modes of robbery, plunder and murder have, to a great extent, been superseded by, if possible, worse evils in the form of a science as taught and practiced by these rings and cliques. Crimes which formerly had to encounter hardships and danger, can now be accomplished by other means with honors, profits, and a plausible sanction of law. Government should have power sufficient to be able and willing to crush such proceedings, which, unchecked, must, ere long, produce another national convulsion.
Copeland’s crimes were huge and many. Before he had reached the meridian of life he paid the last and highest penalty of the law. He was cut down anterior to the attainment of the flower of his days—a melancholy example to all who prefer robbery and murder to the honest and peaceful pursuits of industry. With all the weight of crime belonging, he made some atonement by his valuable confessions in the last hours of his existence. It is not clear what were the actuating motives; whether smarting under disappointment, and goaded on by a spirit of revenge against those who had promised him safety and protection, but did not prevent him enduring years of imprisonment with the immediate prospect of a violent and ignominious death, or sick of life, with no hope of earthly relief, and oppressed with painful reflections on the past—conscious that the affairs of this world could not concern him but a few days longer—it is more than probable that the task of disclosing the dreadful operations of his past life in associations with others, afforded him some repose or satisfaction in the unhappy situation he was then placed. With some, in the condition of distress and despair, there is perhaps nothing which can give a greater temporary relief than for the mind to be intensely fixed and engaged on something which is to live after the body has finished its earthly career.
No matter in what way the confessions may be put to the test, they come out of the ordeal firmer and stronger than before. They cannot be broken down in the severest conflicts in organized courts for the purpose. A partisan Judge, supported by a phalanx of talent and wealth, with all other influences brought to bear, cannot, as has been tried, destroy nor impair the invulnerable facts which they contain. Search for internal evidences of truth, and they will be found in ample profusion. Appeal to the last testimony of a dying man on the scaffold, and it fully confirms the correctness of his confessions as made some short time before. Ask numbers of still living witnesses and they will vouch for the substantial accuracy of the facts as related in these confessions. Call in time, the great arbiter of disputes, and the revelations since made all go to corroborate the validity of the work so obnoxious to the guilty implicated in it.
If there are such occurrences as special acts of Providence, the author of this work has certainly been favored. The numerous snares set, the manifold plots laid for his life—these considered and understood, and it is more than marvelous how he has so far escaped destruction. Many devoted friends have endeavored to dissuade him from the present object of publication, because of the dangerous elements in high life which affect society, but, for life or death, “the die is cast.” The confidence in Providence, in prudence, and in the better portions of society give him hope—conscious that whatever fate the body may meet, truth will survive.
Long associations, official position, and many other causes may prevent abler minds from grasping the evils which have been only faintly touched on in this humble and unostentatious work which is now submitted to the public. The thunders and turbulent billows of criticism may play in wild warfare against it, but simplicity and truth will finally prove more than the match to sustain it.
The author has studiously avoided tinting any of his observations with preferences in favor of either of the conflicting political parties of the day. He has indulged in no personal considerations for the sake of revenge. He has constantly kept in view public evils as they at present exist, and can see no effective remedy from the triumph of either of the political parties. The evils are fundamental, and require new combinations to meet the exigencies of the times, and to prevent further of intestine convulsion.
In concentrating, or giving additional power, the secret and difficulty consist in preventing the abuse of this power. Not in excessively frequent elections; not in the glowing descriptions as given by Republican and Democratic orators and writers, which have had their origin in the wild domains of fancy; nor not in the harsh acerbitude which come from the archives of despotism can the remedy be found to prevent the abuse of power. All these have sufficiently been tried with a melancholy failure. A form of government perhaps well adapted to one stage in the progress of a nation, may, if continued, prove fatal in a more advanced period of progression.
Let us hope that passions will subside within due bounds for temperate reasons to mount the throne, so that this necessary change can be accomplished without further effusions of blood—resulting in permanent order, peace and prosperity for the enjoyment of every class in this great and powerful nation.