one side to the other, his expressed determination to force a verdict
against the better informed and more respectable of those who formed
a great majority of the jury, if it required an indefinite period of
confinement to do it; and then, in the last hours of torture, came
squarely out and told the jury it was bound, from the law and evidence
before it, to find a verdict of guilty; and all this while knowing
the awful character of Shoemake, one of the main witnesses, as proven
on the trial; and while knowing that G. Y. Overall had no right to
prosecute in the name of G. Overall, when there were more of the same
name in the place, and to which the jury believed the confessions
applied as intended by Copeland; and more, after conviction,
anticipating something righteously in favor of the defendant, this
partial Judge declared his intention before hand not to sign any
petition for the release of the defendant from the prison; all these
incidents taken together are too strongly stamped to be explained away.
The refusal of the defendant’s application against the strongest of
reasons in contrast with his unreasonable granting the prosecution all
it wanted for several years afterwards, is also something which will
not soon be forgotten.
But it may be said that Judge McKinstry did no more than is fashionable
in the present day—that of consulting political interest in preference
to the eternal laws of justice. This is but too true. It is a
deplorable fact that, from the most inferior to the highest of courts
and officers, measures are gauged according to political considerations
and wealthy favorites. Truth is sometimes very disagreeable, but it is
nevertheless indisputable that when the progress is rapidly onward to
idolize vast possessions under a system which rather favors than checks
the spread of those evils which sap the very foundations of strength
and national vitality, and at the same time, and in the same ratio, to
dishonor the real sources of wealth—honest labor—the nation’s decline
and fall will follow in the wake of consequences under excessive
government, no matter whether of Republican or Democratic. The baneful
effects from either will be pretty much the same, as long as there are
lacking the _will_ and the _power_ to restrain or repress excesses
as they spring up. When general means of subsistence are easy, with
plenty everywhere abounding, there is not much danger of convulsive
change; but a prodigious increase of population with proportionally
narrower resources to command, together with extensive disaffection
and oppressive burdens from previous wars, then is the time for the
exercise of prudence and a strict administration of justice in every
department to maintain the life of the nation.
Granted that G. Y. Overall proved satisfactorily enough an alibi,
that is, that he was not present at the time referred to; but it is
again asked what was he doing associated with such men as Shoemake
and Bentonville Taylor? Was he the tool of more designing men? What
right—what necessity had he to turn prosecutor, when, as plainly
elicited on trial, it was another Overall that Copeland referred to in
his confessions?
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.
ANOTHER DESIGN OF ASSASSINATION.
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.
SHOEMAKE AGAIN.
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 TWO HARDENS AND THE MURDER OF SHERIFF SMITH.
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.
JAMES M’ARTHUR, OR “CALICO DICK.”
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.