I appeared at ten o'clock the next Monday morning and before court
was convened, Edward Seay, an attorney-at-law, one among the ablest
lawyers at the bar, a strong rebel sympathizer, came to the writer and
said, "It is a shame that you have been indicted. It has been done for
political purpose and I want your consent to file a motion to quash the
indictment." I remarked to him that I would rather have it tried before
a jury of my country so that I could show the intention and aims of
those who caused said indictments to be procured. He still plead with
me to let him file a motion to quash it, that it would not cost me one
cent. I at last told him to use his own pleasure in regard to it, so
he filed a motion to quash it, and submitted the motion to the court
without any argument, and the court sustained the motion and quashed
the indictment. So ended that charge of murder against the writer. They
saw they were beaten again and their schemes were again exposed to the
whole people and they fell back sullen and became desperate.
In a short time the writer was informed that they were threatening to
assassinate him and to be continually on the watch. I put men on their
trails. Several attempts were made to decoy the writer into their nets,
but they failed. They then employed one Dr. Beldon, who made an attempt
to shoot the author in his own dooryard, but the writer saw him in time
to prevent his shooting, and he left the county at once. Shortly after,
the author was again warned to be on the watch, that they were still
making threats.
There was a man by the name of W. H. McCowen, who had been a
Confederate colonel, living in West Plains. He was known to be a very
dangerous man when drinking and was an uncompromising rebel. The writer
then resided in the house south of the town spring, known as the West
Plains House, and the street ran within a few feet of the gate, which
opened into a hall between the house and kitchen. There was a saloon
about forty yards west of the house, on the same street, run by a man
by the name of Jackson, another uncompromising rebel. This saloon
appeared to be headquarters for these would-be assassins. I had just
brought my horse from the stable and tied him by the gate, with the
intention of going to my farm. Mrs. Lasater, who still resides in West
Plains, had just come over to my house and was there at the time of the
shooting. Mrs. McCowen, the wife of Col. McCowen, came to my house that
morning, came in the back way, and appeared to be very much excited,
and informed me that certain men were going to assassinate me that
morning; that to her knowledge they had been plotting for three days.
They had been using every inducement, making her husband drunk and
trying to work him into it. She had shut him up and locked the doors
to keep them away from her husband, but they would raise the windows
and come in. She had done all she could to keep her husband out of it,
and she thought it was her duty to come and let me know that they had
agreed to shoot me that morning. I thanked her for the information and
said to her that I would ever be grateful to her. I further said to her
that I did not want to hurt the colonel or any other person, but they
must not come to my house on that kind of business if they didn't want
to get hurt. In a few moments she returned home, going around the back
way.
I at once sent to S. P. Woodworth, a merchant who resided in West
Plains and a strong Union man, for his double-barrelled shotgun. I had
two good navy pistols. He sent me his gun and said it was well loaded
with buckshot and was sure to fire. I advised the women, if they came,
to keep cool and go into the back room so they would be out of danger.
I raised the two front windows of the sitting-room about two or three
inches, so I could shoot under them, keeping a close watch on the
saloon. In about thirty minutes after Mrs. McCowen left, I saw two of
the men leave the saloon and come in the direction of my house. They
came to the gate, opened it and stepped onto the porch. My wife went to
the door and begged them to leave. One of the men said that he wanted
to see the colonel. He was armed with two first-class pistols, one of
the pistols belonging to Col. McCowen. I cocked both barrels of my
shotgun and stepped out on the porch with my gun presented and ordered
him to turn around and leave my premises in one minute. Just at that
moment my youngest daughter, now the wife of Mr. Green, sprang forward
and caught my gun. I said to her; "For God's sake keep away from me."
But she stood by my side. During this time he had passed outside of the
gate and had gotten behind a tree; had his pistol cocked and presented
at me and in a moment I had him covered with my shotgun. He would
attempt to get sight on me and would dodge his head back behind the
tree. Not knowing where the other man was, I watched his head and when
he attempted to take sight I fired at his head; at the crack of the gun
he fell. Then six or seven men commenced jumping out at the door of the
saloon. The first thing I thought of was, "They will pretend to arrest
me and give the mob a chance to shoot me after I am disarmed." I sprang
on my horse and rode east and in a few moments five or six men came to
my door and asked my wife who shot first. She ordered them to leave the
house. They soon found that one of the would-be assassins was shot. On
an examination it was found that one of the shot had struck him in the
right side of the forehead, the right side of the brim of his hat was
torn into fragments and the tree had caught a part of the load. The
tree is still standing in the yard. Immediately afterward I sent them
word that they had again opened the ball and I was ready to fight it
out. I never saw men begin to plead for peace as hard in my life. The
sheriff and others would come to me and say: "Colonel, why didn't you
shoot some of those fellows long ago? That is just what they needed." I
asked them why they hadn't arrested some of the assassins long ago.
When the Union men learned that an attempt had been made by these
would-be assassins to assassinate me about two hundred and fifty of
them headed by such men as J. F. Reiley, Esau Fox, Andrew V. Tabor,
David B. Nicholass, John B. Nicholass, Josiah Carico, Chas. Long, J.
Youngblood, and Geo. Youngblood rode into town well armed and publicly
notified these assassins and those who were aiding and abetting them,
that if another attempt was made to assassinate Colonel Monks, or if
they did assassinate him it would take ten of their leaders to pay
the debt and they knew just who they were. On an investigation, it
was proven that on the night before they attempted the assassination
about ten or twelve of these would-be assassins met together in the
town of West Plains, and one of their leaders set out among other
causes why Colonel Monks would have to be killed; that they had tried
to scare him away from the country but found they couldn't scare him
and the only way to keep the republican party from going into power
again in this county was to kill Colonel Monks. Some of the men that
were present were hired to do the shooting next morning and paid the
money. They drank a health to each other on the death of Colonel Monks
next morning. The man who advised and instructed them and paid them a
part of the money is still living in Howell county. This failure in
their attempt to assassinate me and the action taken by the loyal men
appeared to put a quietus on their idea of assassination; if they ever
made any further effort the writer never learned about it. They had
been defeated in every attempt made either to slander or murder me.
I want to say here that I shall ever hold sacred the memory of Mrs.
McCowen, for I owe to her the preservation of my life, and may God's
blessing ever follow her and rest upon her.
The bushwhackers and the Kuklux element were not yet satisfied and had
but one way to vent their spleen against me. That was to get right down
to hard lying. Having failed to prove a single one of their charges
against me in the courts they were bent on injuring me and damaging my
character. With no regard for the truth they would go around secretly
and tell strangers who knew nothing about me that I was a murderer
and a thief. The better element among those who had been Confederates
declared openly that these statements were false from beginning to end.
Many of them have said that I was an honest man, and that if any one
wished to employ an honest lawyer Monks was the man to go to, for no
one could buy him.
Sometimes I would be informed that a late Confederate would say: "I
believe Col. Monks was a good man and an honest one. But I dislike him
because he fought us so hard during the war." I would reply: "Tell him
that I couldn't please them in any way at the commencement of the war;
I didn't want to take up arms. I was an unconditional Union man, and
they, the rebels, came to my home and arrested me, took me into their
command and swore that I should fight; that they would make me fight
and attempted to force me into the Confederate lines, and when I found
that nothing else would do them but to fight, and I went to fighting,
then they turn about and curse me for fighting."
Again I would be informed that some of those persons, who had no regard
for the truth, would secretly charge me with being a murderer. In
reply I would inform them that every part of the country where I had
performed military service was now in the control of the Democratic
party and there was no limitation to the crime of murder.
Henry Dixon Green.
Henry Dixon Green was born in Henderson county Ky., in the year 1851.
His father, H. D. Green, was a colonel in the Confederate army, and
died while in the service. In 1876, the younger Green left his native
state, taking Horace Greeley's advice, and went west to grow up with
the country. He located at West Plains, Mo., and soon began reading law
in the office of Hon. A. H. Livingston. He was admitted to the bar, and
formed a co-partnership with Mr. Livingston in the practice of law,
which continued for several years. Afterwards he formed a partnership
with Judge B. F. Olden. This firm was for years the local legal
representative for the Kansas City, Fort Scott and Memphis Railroad
Company, now part of the Frisco System. Mr. Green acted as claim agent
for this railroad, and afterwards had charge of the claim department
of the Missouri Pacific Railroad Company for the territory of Kansas,
Nebraska, Colorado and Indian Territory, but resigned to resume the
general practice of law at West Plains, Mo. He has served as Probate
Judge of Howell county.
[Illustration: RUSSELL GREEN AND DIXON GREEN.]
Mr. Green was married in 1878 at West Plains to Miss Mary M. Monks,
daughter of Col. Wm. Monks. Mrs. Green is a strong republican while Mr.
Green is a strong supporter of the principles of the democratic party;
but their home life is perfectly peaceful and happy. Five children
have brightened this home, a daughter, now Mrs. Arch Bugg, and four
sons, Will H. D., Frank, Russell and Dixon. The children all take their
politics from their mother. The oldest son, Will, has been admitted to
the Howell county bar and is now practicing law with his father. He is
also Captain of Company K, the local military company of West Plains.
The second and third sons are also members of the company. Frank works
and studies at present in his father's law office, and the other boys
are in school.
* * * * * *
Transcriber's note:
Silently corrected simple spelling, grammar, and typographical
errors.
Retained anachronistic and non-standard spellings as printed.
Changed a few instances of Ku-Klux (excepting the title page)
to Kuklux as the author clearly preferred the latter spelling.
Changed lop-eard, lopeard, and lop-eared to lopeared as that
spelling was somewhat dominant.