The officials were justifiably
scared. They needed protection. In an effort to get martial law
declared, with Army protection, they took Deputy Williams out in the woods
and faked a shooting. They shot holes in his clothes, hat, even his
belt buckle. The word was passed that someone had tried to kill him.
He hid out at home a while. His neighbors, from both sides, gathered
around him. One ex-rebel even offered to guarantee Williams life with
his own. He was refused.
At some point here, Uncle Harry took his
wife and child, along with my Grandma, then around 13 years old, up to the mountains around
Clarksville, twenty miles away, and hid them out in a mountain cave.
He knew things were about to get hot around Dover. I don't know how
long they stayed there, could have been up to two years, the duration
of this war.
On July 8, 1872, Hickox, the County
Clerk, had a bright idea. Round up a group of local men who might
have been involved in the shootings, kill them on the way to jail,
blame the killings on local people who they will say ambushed them.
This should get martial law declared, plus the worst ones will be
dead.
They formed a posse of 30 men,
including all the local officials, even the Superintendent of
Schools. They went looking for likely suspects for all the killings.
Uncle Harry and the other most likely suspects heard about it, and
skipped. They went to arrest Matt Hale, but he had skipped, so they
arrested his father, Jack Hale, and his brother, William Hale.
Liberty West, a blacksmith, came up and begged them to release the
two. He continued following them and begging, so they arrested him
too. They finally arrested Joe Tucker (likely one of my relatives).
They continued on toward Dardanelle, supposedly to deliver the
suspects to jail. Finding no feed for their horses near Shiloh
church, they continued on into the night. Near the Shiloh bridge, an
official said, “If we are attacked, be sure to save the prisoners.”
A voice said, “It's dark.” Another voice, “Dark as Egypt.” A
third voice, “Egypt has no eyes.” On that signal, the officials
began shooting the prisoners and the horses started bucking. It's
hard to shoot a man in the dark from a bucking horse. Jack Hale laid
over on his horse's side and lay spurs to its flanks. He rode out of
it, his horse getting several wounds but he was untouched. His son,
William, rode out of it too, but so severely shot in the back that he
had to unhorse a little later. His horse got away and quickly caught
up with Jack Hale. William crawled to a house, dying a few days
later. Liberty West was thrown from his horse, hid behind a log and
listened. Joe Tucker was shot severely in the head and lay groaning.
An official walked over and shot him again.
Jack Hale did not stop running until
he reached Dover, his son's horse with a bloody saddle beside him.
When he told his story, it spread like wildfire in Dover. By
daylight, Uncle Harry and other leaders, along with 50 or so other
men, were on their way to Shiloh. They did not find the posse.
The Posse was never found, likely
having disbanded and gone to Little Rock. About two weeks later,
Governor Hadley came to Dover, but refused to declare martial law.
Now, the officials, Hickox, Dodson,
and Williams were in a bad spot. Give up their position, or return to
their jobs. About the end of August, they came back to Dover and
resumed their jobs.
On Friday, August 30, Dodson's son
drove a wagon to the courthouse, and all the county records were
loaded on, and hauled off, later found hidden in a cave. The court
house was boarded up.
The next day, word had spread that
the officials were about to leave. Tension was in the air. Armed men
were in the streets.
I am going to switch to the rebel
version of what happened next, because it was told later by a Judge
who was Uncle Harry's friend, and I think he was in the know.
About middle of the afternoon, the
three officials completed their work at the courthouse. They got on
their horses and began walking toward Russellville down the street.
Reece B. Hogins, Uncle Harry, and
John F. Hale had agreed to kill the three men as they started out,
in retribution for the Shiloh killings. The officials made their
start a little earlier than expected, and Uncle Harry was the only
one in his proper place to discharge his duty when the 3 men started
out. Continued
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