Show the napoleon of american bandits the account of a forgotten national conspiracy by G T ferns by cot banditry doean doesn t flourish under our con temporary conditions in the united states sporadic crimes such as those of the train robber of the so called black hand and the lone highwayman are pregnant enough to occupy considerable por portion of the news papers as they ara in all civilized communities but we must look back to a much earlier period to find a chronicle ot an at tempt to bring together in a widely extended conspiracy under a single head all the forces ot evil which tea over 50 square miles of sparsely settled territory the field of this satanic campaign extended from cairo to the mis delta and cut the width of a broad swath through a halt score ot slave states wholesale and retail robbery counterfeiting land swin negro stealing and selling black mailing and even murder and assassa nation all played their part in this vast campaign of crime john murrell the apostle and lead er of this infernal cult the would be napoleon of chaos and crime in the mississippi valley the organizer of a desperate clan of some twelve hun dred miscreants taught his followers that it was the safest way in most cases to kill the victim unless there was some obvious reason to the con arary make an end of the tool he as wont to say rip out his bowels and heave him into the nearest swamp or bayou then the body wont rise as testimony he himself would boast in the swag ger of his cups that he had slaughter ed 40 men with his own band but most of his crimes were committed through agents but this diabolism was only the fringe of his ambition appalling as it was the goal of his hopes was a great negro insurrection throughout the south which would sweep the slave states like a flame with this lust of rapine giving it a sharper edge was a venomous jeal ausy and hatred of the rich which had become like the mania of a rabid dog the time of the slave uprising be bad fixed for christmas night 1835 about 18 months before this ex pecked climax an interesting en counter occurred in the woods of mad laon county west tennessee in what was then known as the choctaw pur chase virgil stewart a young georgian had come into a small inheritance from bis father a year before and had then concluded to invest it in the virgin lands of that newly opened tract he had made his entry paid the fee and after keeping the store of one clanton a probate judge for a while had returned to georgia to complete the purchase and take resl dence stewart was riding one evening in the early dusk when he over took a striking figure mounted on a aljie hunter which he eat with the ease of a finished horseman he ac stewart with well bred ease and the resonant voice of one accas tomed to public speaking good evening sir I 1 hope that you are enjoy ln your ride in the twilight gloaming there Is something delightful at this hour in the woods na anre declares the glory of god partly shutting his eyes with an air of pensive enthusiasm but this of day and dark among the tree pillars always makes me think of a great church made without hands stewart stared at this salutation which he politely returned and tor a moment fancied the stranger an itin arant minister of the better class but ho thought it odd that a should ride a thoroughbred hunter and carry heavy pistols in bla hoi with a knife in his belt and a sawed off shotgun on his pommel yet almost all iwhite men were wont to ride armed then in that country and there was nothing in the tact except the pious twang of the overture i the stranger caught stewart a look and said suavely my host who lives about ten miles from ayar is out of venison and so I 1 thought god would send me a chance tor a buck I 1 don t believe in eladin the beasts of the field wantonly but they were created for the use of man we are taught in holy scripture do you reside in this district sir probably I 1 shall answered siaw art as I 1 have recently bought land here and am on the outlook now tor some likely slaves I 1 may have to run down to new orleans to get them though it Is a costly trip for a good lot of them have disappeared from here of late run away or stolen a fine horse youre riding yes said the other with a ter twinkling in his eye which stew art B keen observation noted I 1 m a good judge of a boss or of the sons of ham whom god made for service 1 trust sir you will find a nag as good and all the black boys you need I 1 shall be hereabouts for the next tort night and then 1 shall obey tha corn mand ot god to call sinners to repentance pen tance at the over in shelby county up memphis way par 1 don me belr but I 1 took an instant for ou and I 1 hope we shall get furth er acquainted I 1 ride in these woods every evelln goodby till we meet again he coffed doffed his hat with great punctilio and spurred his horse through a by road in the darkling woods belth er had mentioned his name to the other stewart pondered over the meeting as he ambled home conscious ot its incongruities he mentioned the oc currence to his host rev john hen nang baptist preacher in the scattered hamlet of Tusca boma and a small planter who worked a dozen negroes the dominie rubbed a stubby chin and wagged his head 1 I wonder it it can be that fellow murrell whoa been hangan aroun fur the last six months off and on down at the corners ye know two of my boys have disappeared a tort night since just before you came I 1 back and I 1 ve suspected him of slave but coulden couldn t get any clue my dick smells the same rat and has been alyin low but ye bee neither ot us ever met him he comes and goes like a then he s got a lot of pals aroun and some ot my neighbors swear he s all right hearn him preach the finest sermons in the world lay preacher ye know and got the ot god in him A few days later he again crossed the stranger not tar from the scene ot the first meeting and the latter greeted bm with an air ot i able pleasure I 1 have thought a good deal about you sir since I 1 met you the other night I 1 reckon were kindred spirits somehow tor I 1 know human nature pretty well and rarely make a mis take with an air ot great compla 1 bency I 1 thought I 1 d like to have a long powwow tor I 1 m a lonely man though I 1 know many people I 1 am unexpectedly calle daway tomorrow evening pray sir come and spend the night with me at the corners my host ot the tavern has fine old apple and a brace of wild ducks fit for a king or tor stopping with lips pursed into an enigmatic call stewart gladly assented and they rode together a few miles farther to the corners which consisted 0 a log tavern a ramshackle store and a rude blacksmith shop the land lord lowered at stewart with a glance of suspicion but quailed at the am cerious scowl which his more familiar guest shot at him as turning with a wave of his hand he said this Is my friend mr with inquiring look oh my name Is hues adam hues answered stewart wondering with alarm whether the landlord could poa I 1 know of him after supper under a huge gum tree and with a tongue well loosened by frequent libations of apple toddy tho man of mystery began to himself you are a speculator hues and so am I 1 though not props in the same line the world has treated me badly and you too f reckon it I 1 read you aright see the swarms of the rich whose claws are fastened on all the good things of life the best to eat the best of drink the finest of clothes to wear it ye could only hear my friend john murrell talk on the thing he s one of the greatest men in the world sir beats andy jackson all to death and I 1 want ye to meet him and so he went on in a fierce tirade against the whole order of society the young man bad listened with out a word with the same feeling that a hidden spectator would have at watching cannibals at their ghastly banquet he had had time enough to make up his mind and he nerved him self to eee the thing through sir be said extending hla hand I 1 dont know who you are but put it right there 1 ahat youve said has bounded a hidden chord I 1 feel you re exactly right sir and that we ought to get even with our oppressors in any way we can you reckoned straight when you saw in me a congenial spirit the next morning as they rode through the woods talking of indifferent matters stewart was accosted with the sudden interjection 1 I am john murrell I 1 accompanied by a look of piercing question i suspected BO last night waa the answer and waa rejoiced to know a man of my own kidney A handclasp seemed to relieve the other a mind of any passing doubt and murrell said bluntly I 1 need a lieutenant a man of grit of bradna an resources will youa be that man hues I 1 picked you by an ln instinct instantly I 1 saw you the young man agreed and ano hours later they parted arranging a rendezvous for two weeks later aa murrell was compelled to go away on some call of his nefarious work during that ride and on subsequent occasions this colossal villain told in part the story ot a life bristling with crimes of every sort with a smack ot internal arlda which satan himself could not have surpassed murrell s mother a tennessee mountain woman had in spite of an honest father trained her young son as a thief from early childhood while yet a stripling be began to steal horses and in disposing of these he fell in with various small predatory gangs who did not hesitate to murder as well as rob young murrell s superior address and cunning made him an adept in disposing of robber loot and he gradually became initial ed into all the successive grades ot crime he brought to the business great craft and power of organization and the ability to make use of the villainy of others he was arrested for horse stealing and was sentenced to the penitentiary for three years he was a model prisoner and gave up bis spare time to assiduous reading more especially to the study of theology law and the rudiments of the healing art stewart met the bandit chief and as they rode west murrell told henf that they were on the way to one of the principal headquarters of the clan which was on an island in a bayou just across the river from memphis here he would meet some ol 01 the principal men and be sworn into the band murrell was exhilarated into a fierce hilarity for this napoleonic ruffian seems to have been inspired by a genial liking for his chance recruit which banished all his native caution he had in his craving tor a perfect con fl dence beguiled himself into the con that in hues he had found the very twin of his soul he now outlined to his companion something of the colossal scheme of a negro uprising over which his diabolical spirit had blooded brooded eo long this may seem too bold to you hues but that Is what I 1 glory in be said all the crimes I 1 have ever committed have been of the most dar ing I 1 ve been successful in all of em I 1 am confident I 1 shall be this matter I 1 II 11 have the pleasure and honor of seeing and knowing that by my management I 1 have glutted the earth with more human blood and destroyed more property than any rob ber who has ever lived in america or the known world I 1 look on the american people as my common enemy they have disgraced me thus he designated his short term of impels and they can do no more my life Is to me and it shall be spent as their devoted enemy my clan Is strong brave experienced and rapidly increasing in numbers I 1 t be surprised it we number ed 20 at the time of the uprising and I 1 am strong in the standing of so many of my chief councillors councilors counci lors many indeed in honorable and lucra alve offices should anything leak out prematurely those men would drive away the tears ot the people by radl cule turning it into a cock and bull story we have considerable money in the bands of our treasurers treasur ers to complete our purchases of arms and ammuel tion to fit out the companies that are to attack the cities and towns we will manage to get possession of the different arsenals and supply ourselves from every source that may otter the negroes wouldn t want many arms till they get em from the houses they destroy as a knife a club a pick or an ax will do to murder families at night when they are dazed with sleep and terror at the light of their burning homes stewart tells us that he afterward marveled that he retrained from shooting murrell then and there tor he always kept one hand on a pocket derringer a silver mounted pair of which had been given him the day be tore by this incarnate demon perhaps the feeling that the one soft spot in murrell s nature was tho curious infatuation for himself re strained bla itching hand they found themselves on the banks ot the mississippi at that alma storm lashed at dusk but the rowboat on which murrell relied was gone so they applied for hospitality at the house ot a planter named champion he looked askance at murrell when the latter requested the loan of a skiff on which to cross stewart at once appraised him as an honest man and not one ot the many secret con federates of the robber gang cham plon felt a note slipped into his hand aa the twain parted from him next morning read a warning in stewart s eyes saw a finger motioned to the lips the island rendezvous was a sin abter looking place set in a little river bend that somewhat concealed it all day long small parties arrived at the island to these adam hues was introduced as a new and trusted recruit until about BO were assembled a few of whom would never have been suspected of other than a reputable alte these were some of tha pran capal members of the grand council and this was the night of the regular quarterly meeting the council was held in tho evening reports were read from local centers as to the progress of the slave uprising conspiracy figures were given tor the three months past aa to the various money making crimea which had been committed in some five states plans were discussed for perfecting the methods of propaganda among the hosts of on the tlona the last business done was the tor mal initiation of hues as a member of the gang and as a grand councilor the young man was initiated s s arc in under blood curdling pen atles taught all the grips and signals ol 01 recognition and the night was worn out in a mad debauch the next day the grand council dissolved its members departed and murrell who stayed to superintend the loading of the black cattle in a flatboat for the slave market was aln ally left alone with his lieutenant there s in that batch he exulted and we will have another cargo next month the bandit chief in his unbounded confidence then insisted that steward should do what he had feared he might not be able accomplish make a complete list of the grand councillors councilors Counci lors their occupations places of residence and their assignments in a conspiracy of murder arson robbery and devas unparalleled in american his tory it took two days to secure this fatal transcript from the books and the scribe was amazed to find among the tour hundred names on the black schedule participants scattered over the states south of virginia men ol 01 unquestioned repute and enolal place even professed ministers of the gos pel wolves in sheep s clothing judges on the bench law practitioners newspaper editors merchants and hotel keepers men one would expect to find wedded to the stability of order and suppression of crime when the twain departed from the dismal island reeking with its crime laden mystery stewart well night overburdened with such a sinister rev elation devised an excuse to stop at champion s plantation to him he told sum dent to secure a pledge of cooperation at a moment s notice and silence until the time was ripe it was arranged with murrell that his new man should meet him at a rendezvous a week later to bo formally as signed for active duty stewart narrated his amazing story to mr and tho old preached prea chei was stricken dumb suspicious though he had been in a vague way by such a |