Louisiana State University LSU Digital Commons LSU Doctoral Dissertations Graduate School 2011 "The aldB Knobbers of Southwest Missouri, 1885-1889: A Study of Vigilante Justice in the Ozarks." Matthew aJ mes Hernando Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_dissertations Part of the History Commons Recommended Citation Hernando, Matthew James, ""The aldB Knobbers of Southwest Missouri, 1885-1889: A Study of Vigilante Justice in the Ozarks."" (2011). LSU Doctoral Dissertations. 3884. https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_dissertations/3884 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at LSU Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in LSU Doctoral Dissertations by an authorized graduate school editor of LSU Digital Commons. For more information, please [email protected]. THE BALD KNOBBERS OF SOUTHWEST MISSOURI, 1885-1889: A STUDY OF VIGILANTE JUSTICE IN THE OZARKS A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of the Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in The Department of History by Matthew J. Hernando B.A., Evangel University, 2002 M.A., Assemblies of God Theological Seminary, 2003 M.A., Louisiana Tech University, 2005 May 2011 for my parents, James and Moira Hernando ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Anyone who completes a project of this nature quickly accumulates a list of both personal and professional debts so long that mentioning them all becomes impossible. The people mentioned here, therefore, do not constitute an exhaustive list of all the people who have helped me along the way towards completing this dissertation. First, I would like to thank the members of my dissertation committee, Gaines M. Foster, David H. Culbert, Charles W. Royster, Paul Paskoff, and especially my advisor William J. Cooper, Jr. In addition to reading and critiquing every part of this dissertation, Dr. Cooper‟s sage advice and consistent encouragement have been invaluable to me as I have progressed through each stage of my doctoral program. Special thanks must also go to the trustees and staff of the Missouri State Archives. The archives generously awarded me the William E. Foley research fellowship, which included travel funds for research trips to the archives‟ facility in Jefferson City. During the many long days that I spent at the archives, many staff members provided me with invaluable assistance and in finding materials needed for my research. I cannot name them all here, but ones who deserve special mention include Robyn Burnett, David Snead, Brian Rodgers, and Lynn Morrow. Mr. Morrow, the director of the Local Records Preservation Program at the archives, has been especially helpful to me, not only in helping me find materials at the State Archives, but also in allowing me access to his private research collection of Ozarks-related materials at his home. I would also like to thank Robert Neumann and Beverly Johnson of the Greene County Archives in Springfield, Gwen Simmons of the Lyons Memorial Library at the College of the Ozarks in Point Lookout, and John F. Bradbury of the State Historical Society of Missouri Research Center in Rolla. iii Finally, I must thank my family and friends, especially my parents, James and Moira Hernando, whose support for my educational ambitions over the years has been constant and unflagging, and whose love I cannot repay. My brothers Eric and Daniel, and my sisters-in-law Aimee and Caylin, have all served as good natured listeners as I blathered on endlessly about my work whenever we have been together for holidays of family gatherings. Their kindness and patience has been much appreciated. My friends here in Baton Rouge, including Heather Thornton, Marc Patenaude, Wendel Stout, Hunter and Sarah Crawford, Christopher and Leah Childers, and Adam and Jennifer Pratt, deserve much credit for encouraging me and helping keep me sane through all the ups and downs of graduate school. In addition to their friendship, I owe a debt of gratitude to both Sarah Crawford and Adam Pratt for reading and editing several chapters in this dissertation. Although I have benefited immensely from the assistance of the aforementioned people, they bear no responsibility for any mistakes found in the following pages. This is my work, and I accept full responsibility for all of its shortcomings. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ...………………………………………………………………… iii LIST OF TABLES ....…………………………………………………………………………. vi LIST OF FIGURES …………………………………………………………………………… vii ABSTRACT ….……………………………………………………………………………….. viii INTRODUCTION ..…………………………………………………………………………… 1 CHAPTER 1. SOUTHWEST MISSOURI FROM SETTLEMENT TO CIVIL WAR ………….. 15 2. TANEY COUNTY FROM THE CIVIL WAR TO THE BALD KNOBBERS ….. 48 3. THE PURGING OF TANEY COUNTY ………………………………………….. 97 4. RIGHTEOUS DEVILS – THE BALD KNOBBERS IN CHRISTIAN AND DOUGLAS COUNTIES ………………………………………………………….. 137 5. “A SCENE OF GHASTLINESS:” DECLINE OF THE BALD KNOBBERS IN SOUTHWEST MISSOURI ………………………………………………………..174 6. A DUEL ON THE FOURTH OF JULY ………………………………………….. 226 CONCLUSION ……………………………………………………………………………….. 258 BIBLIOGRAPHY …………………………………………………………………………….. 271 APPENDIX A: NAMES OF BALD KNOBBERS BY COUNTY …………………………... 294 APPENDIX B: NAMES OF ANTI-BALD KNOBBERS IN TANEY COUNTY ...………… 296 VITA ………………………………………………………………………………………….. 297 v LIST OF TABLES 1.1: 1870 NATIVITY STATISTICS FOR THREE COUNTIES …….……………………….. 23 1.2: SLAVES IN SOUTHWEST MISSOURI IN 1860 ……………………………………….. 25 1.3: 1860 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION IN SOUTHWEST MISSOURI …………………….. 29 2.1: 1870-1900 NATIVITY STATISTICS FOR TANEY COUNTY …………………………. 54 4.1: CHRISTIAN & DOUGLAS COUNTY BALD KNOBBERS – OCCUPATION, AGE DISTRIBUTION, AND PLACE OF BIRTH ………………………………………..……...... 151 vi LIST OF FIGURES 1.1: MAP OF SOUTHWEST MISSOURI, c. 1885 …………...………………………………. 16 2.1: NATHANIEL KINNEY …………………………………...……………………………… 58 4.1: DAVE WALKER ………………………………………….…………………………….. 138 4.2: MAN WEARING BALD KNOBBER MASK ……………………..……………………. 154 4.3: DIAGRAM OF JAMES EDENS‟ HOUSE ON MARCH 11, 1887 ………………….…. 168 5.1: JOSEPH WALKER …………………………………………………………………..….. 182 5.2: DAVE WALKER, WILLIAM WALKER, AND JOHN MATHEWS………..…...…...... 223 5.2: AUTHOR‟S PHOTOGRAPH OF WALKER GRAVESITE ………………………..…... 225 vii ABSTRACT The Bald Knobbers of Southwest Missouri were a vigilante organization that originated in Taney County, Missouri, in 1885, before spreading to adjacent Christian and Douglas counties in ensuing years. They began as a group dedicated to protecting life and property, aiding law enforcement officials in the apprehension of criminals, opposing corruption in local government, and punishing those who violated the social and religious mores of their community. In some places, the vigilantes gained much political influence, occupied key offices, and became effectively the ruling faction in local politics. They made many enemies, however, with whom they had several violent, sometimes fatal, confrontations. Using a variety of primary and secondary sources, I advance three major arguments in this dissertation. First, the Civil War contributed to the Bald Knobber movement by leaving a legacy of bitterness and mistrust among the people of Southwest Missouri, creating a polarized political culture, and increasing the acceptance of violence and vigilantism as methods of solving problems and deterring crime. Second, the original vigilance committee in Taney County consisted of a coalition of middle and upper class men of diverse occupations and backgrounds who wanted to enforce the law, fight corruption in local government, and promote the economic modernization of their region by encouraging new investment, businesses, and settlers to come to the area. Third, in contrast to the original group, the Bald Knobbers of Christian and Douglas counties were mostly poor and overwhelmingly agricultural. Rather than promote economic modernization, they often resisted it when it produced hardships for themselves or their families. To that end, they expelled homesteaders who competed with them for land and resources, and clashed with railroad agents over what they perceived as unfair pricing and employment policies. They also emphasized moral regulation, the punishment of people who violated their standards of decent behavior, more than their counterparts in Taney County. viii INTRODUCTION The Bald Knobbers were a vigilante organization that originated in late 1884 or early 1885, in Taney County, Missouri, a thinly-populated, rural county located on the border of Missouri and Arkansas. The Bald Knobbers represented themselves as an alliance of taxpayers and law-abiding citizens dedicated to fighting rampant crime in their communities and corruption in their local government. The group‟s first recorded act of violence occurred on April 15, 1885, when they broke into the county jail in Forsyth and seized two young prisoners, Frank and Tubal Taylor, and hung them from an old oak tree a few miles outside of town.1 The Bald Knobbers followed this act with a campaign of night riding, whippings, and intimidation designed to purge the area of its criminal element, along with anyone who opposed them. In particular, they targeted members and supporters of the Democratic courthouse ring that had run the local government for most of the preceding decade. Not surprisingly, their actions and methods provoked