USA > Illinois > Williamson County > History of Williamson county, Illinois, From the earliest times, down to the present, 1876, with an accurate account of the secession movement, ordinances, raids, etc., 1914 > Part 10
USA > Illinois > Williamson County > History of Williamson county, Illinois, From the earliest times, down to the present, with an accurate account of the secession movement, ordinances, raids, etc., also, a complete history of its "bloody vendetta," including all its recondite causes, results, etc., etc. > Part 10
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It was the only expression of despair that ever came from the brave heart of George Sisney, although he had four times before survived the murderous missiles.
"Wearied, forsaken and pursued, at last, All safety in despair of safety placed,
Courage he thence resumes, resolves to bear All their assaults, since 'tis in vain to fear."
After the murder that night, the winds sallied, and a cold, white fog laid its moist
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fingers on the heated pulse of Carbondale. The scene in this stricken, smitten and af- flicted family was heart rending. Mrs. Sisney, who had raised the window up stairs and cried out for help, was now wringing her hands in agony. Martha Jane, who was sleeping in an adjoining room below, woke up, heard a strangling noise, and asked her father what was the matter; receiving no answer, dressed herself, and went into the parlor. The light, six feet away, had been blown out by the concussion, and all was dark. Stanley said-
"Your pa is shot. Mr. Sisney is killed dead."
He had locked the front door, and she opened it and called for help. The sad and heavy-hearted citizens came in droves, their eyes flashing with resentment, and their spirits rankling in bitter malice. They fol- lowed the assassin a piece but could not keep his trail. Sisney remained seated for an hour and a half upright in his chair, shot un- der the left nipple,which made a hole two inches in diameter. He was buried on the 30th, on his homestead, with Masonic hon- ors. There we leave him forever. Shall his memory go back to oblivion and shame, or shall it follow those who have gone without blame from intelligence, virtue or Heaven?
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I would write for his epitaph, "An honest, brave. true man."
After the murder, Marshall Crain ran down East street with his gun, and crossed into the bushes on the north side of the road leading east. When he got into Mrs. Snider's field, he got lost in the dark. The thunders bellowed over head like the trumpet of the great arch-angel calling sinners to judg- ment. Crash upon crash, and roar upon rear, till the vast vault of heaven was filled with the giant sound. The lightning, broad and bright flooded the whole sky with a lurid red, flashing its fire across the field, and illuminating with a dreadful light his solitary form alone amid the wrath of the ele- ments. After wading through swamps and bushes, he arrived at his mother-in-law's, nine miles from Carbondale, just before day, tired, wearied and almost 'broken down. Next morning, Colonel D. H. Bush, of Car- bondale, offered a reward of $500, which he refused to pay on the conviction of Bulli- ner and Baker for the murder of Sisney, and suit was brought against him by B. F. Lowe, which is now pending. Samuel Music, who was teaming for Captain Landrum, was in Carbondale the day Sisney was killed. He saw Marshall Crain there (for he had been in a while that day), who told him that he
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was there to kill Sisney, and he told Sam where he had left his coat and boots. Sam got them, and wore the boots out. On the morning after the murder, Music said, he, Marshall, and Allen Baker met in Carterville, and Baker gave as a reason for not coming to help him in the killing, as he had promised at Mrs. Snider's, that it rained. About noon, Marshall, Music and John Bulliner, met in Crainville, and Marshall told John that Sam was into this thing too, now, and they both told Sam if he told this he would be the next man killed. Marshall then told John how he killed Sisney, and John paid him $15, and told him he would pay him the rest when he sold his wheat. The same day, "Big Jep" Crain came to Marion. His presence in town created a great deal of talk, and most people believed he was in the Vendetta. He want- ed to join a proposed company of militia, and be the captain. He said he could stop the killing; but before this a subscription paper had been circulated to employ detec- tives, and he signed $25, and after a while he said "he did not like the direction things were taking," and withdrew it.
He went down to Crainville, Friday even- ing, about four o'clock, and he and Marshall and Music (according to Music's statement), went down to Marshall's old house, and after
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playing cards and drinking a while, "Big Jep" said : "The next man to kill is Spence," and told Music to go to John Bulliner's and get a gun for "Black Bill" Crain. Music said he would not do it; that he would be seen but he would get one from John Ditmore, in Crainville, if that would do. "Big Jep" said it would do, and that he would go that night and get "Black Bill" who lived four miles south of Crainville, and meet him and Marsh next morning at the 'back of Mrs. Hampton's field, which is only three miles south. "Big Jep" went off, and at dark, Music went to John Ditmore's to get his gun, but John would not let it out at night, and told him to come in the morning, which he did very early and got the gun, and put it in Marsh's old house. Then Sam and Marsh got three pints of whiskey, and met in the woods at the back of "Yaller Bill's" field, from where they walked to the back of Mrs. Hampton's field. At the north-west corner a path led up into the woods. They broke weeds and bushes off and threw them in the path as a "sign" and went on up the hill. There they fired three pistol shots as a sig- nal to "Big Jep" and "Black Bill," who came about twelve o'clock, two hours after Marsh and Sam had got there. The object of this meeting was to initiate Sam into the Ku-Klux
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as he said that "Big Jep" thought they had better join them for protection, but they did not do so. They agreed to kill Spence that night. Sam, "Black Bill" and Marsh were to do the killing, and "Big Jep" was to keep them out of trouble. He told them, if they got in jail not to mind staying there two or three months, that the door would 'be smash- ed in and they taken out.
They parted, and "Big Jep" went with "Black Bill," and Sam and Marsh went to Wesly Crain's and got dinner. Sam went home and then to Carterville, and got some more whisky, and at dark met "Black Bill" and Marshall at the back of "Yaller Bill's" field, near Crainville. They went up to Marsh's old house, about two hundred yards south of Spence's store, where they waited until ten o'clock, when everything got still. Then Marshall took a gun, which he had got out of a hollow tree in the woods, said to be a Bulliner gun, and they circled around through the woods and came up on the east side of Spence's store.
The rose-flush of day had faded in the West. The sombre-gray of twilight had fal- len around them, and the watching stars had taken their stand in the conclave up above , like unhappy sentinels doomed to keep watch over the infinity of the ocean.
WILLIAMSON COUNTY, ILLINOIS. 177 Spence was asleep up stairs. They were en- vironed 'by the intense stillness. The thought of murder rolled slowly through their minas, but still they did not relent. The eastern horizon was silvered by the rising moon, and looked like a huge mass of beryl whereon burned ruby flakes of vapor, guarded by the vestal stars above. The Sapphire arch over- head burned beautiful and mellow. Mar- shall went to the door and called out, "Mr. Spence." Spence asked who was there. Marshall said, "John Sisney; I want to get shrouding for a child." Spence said he would be down in a minute. Soon the tall, august form of William Spence, illuminated by a solitary light, was seen towering grand- ly between the counters. When he got to the door, Marshall fired both barrels into his abdomen-a charge of sixty buck-shot. Spence said, "Marsh, don't shoot me any more!" This was an address to humanity. It was a heart-rendering cry of distress from a soul in mortal strait. Such a cry ought not to go unheeded by a brother man; but Marsh run his arm through the broken pane in the door, and shot him with a pistol in the face, as he fell. He then punched a pane out of the glass front with his gun, and went into the house, and searched around through trunks and drawers for two or three minu-
-F 13
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tes, when "Black Bill" called him out. He had an old empty pocket-book. They walked off east, along the railroad, half a mile, and then turned south into "Big Terry's" field, and came out into an old road, where Music asked, "What will I do if I am arrested?" "Black Bill" said, "Have me and Marsh sub- pænaed, and we will swear you clear."
After the shooting of Henderson, no man ever understood that it was necessary to fly. They separated and went home. This occur- red July 31, 1875.
William Spence was but little known in this county. He came here a few years ago, but attended to his own business and said but little. He was a good man, strong, firm and dignified to stiffness; but was making money. His death left no orphan or widow to wail at his hearth-stone. Though about forty years of age, he was unmarried. Af- ter he was shot he laid in his store all night, and was not found until the holy hush of Sunday morning rested like a benediction on the scene. Sunday morning, Marsh and Music again met at the back of Mrs. Hamp- ton's field, and Marsh drew his revolver on Sam, and told him he believed he was a traitor, on account of some strange whist- ling he had heard, and if he did not find the whisky, which he had concealed the day be-
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fore, he would kill him. While Sam was preparing a hurried absolution, he found the whisky, which saved his life. Marshall afterwards said he wished he had shot him; that he thought he was neglecting his duty.
On this same day, August 1st, Allen Ba- ker, who lived on the dirt road, at the Crab Orchard Bridge in Jackson county, was fired on by an assassin, who mistook Baker's shadow on the window-blind for his body, and let in a charge of buck shot without kill- ing anybody.
Music was coming back from the meet- ings at the back of Mrs. Hampton's field on Sunday afternoon, drunk, as usual, and a mile south of Crainville, he fell in with Carroll Wagoner and his wife, who were going home to Crainville. He got in the wagon with them, and the subject of the murder came up, when Music said, "Yes, we put the damned old scoundrel out of the way." Mrs. Wagoner of course knew that "we" meant Music, Marshall and "Big Jep." Late Monday evening following, Music, Marsh and "Yaller Bill" met in Crainville, near Landrum's Mills, and "Yaller Bill" said, "Did either of you boys get my jewelry?" Marsh said, "No." Bill said, "If anybody got his watch, it has his name in it, and they will be detected and pull hemp as sure as hell."
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He then advised Marsh to take his wife to her mother's and leave the country, and told Sam to stop drinking, or he would leak it out. He said, "There is getting too many in this thing anyway."
This conversation is taken from Music's statement, and was denied by all the other boys. This is the only evidence of "Yaller Bill's" connection with the Vendetta. Our people do not believe he is guilty. They say that if he gave Marsh the advice spoken of 'by Music, that it is no more than any other brother would have done. Music went to Carbondale on Tuesday, and remained two weeks. While there, Marsh tried to get him out several times, but Sam was afraid and would not come. Marsh left in about a week after the murder and went to Missouri, and Sam went to Bird's Point, in the same state.
Never has there been a season of such universal consternation and anxiety among all sexes and ages and was in this county. It threatened us and our posterity with perpetu- al odium, and the very thought of having our county branded with lasting shame, filled us with living emotions of anger and fire. All felt that it was a time to summon every aid, both human and divine, and with the bay- onets save our county. Political prejudices and feelings, which had entered largely in-
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to the animus of the Vendetta heretofore, were lost sight of in the duties of the hour. It was an understanding that Republicans sympathized with the Russell side, and the Democrats with the Bulliner side of the Ven- detta ; but now public considerations of a higher character attracted the attention of our people, and they rose above the tram- mels of political sympathies, and united as a band of honest freemen. No language that I can command can give adequate utterance to the feelings that it awakened in us, to hear of our friends being shot down like beasts. It was chafing to our hopes and gadding to our spirits. Many believed that we were standing on the threshold of a mighty convul- sion, and they watched it with wonder and awe. Others prayed to that Being who sets liberty up and oppression down, to break the tornado that was hanging over us like a pall. Our lands went down in value one-third to one-half. The coal fields lay dormant. The fields of grain that were annually gathered on the west side of the county nearly fail- ed. These were stubborn facts, known at home and read by thinking minds through- out the world. The name of Williamson county had become a hiss and by-word. Strangers shunned us like a serpent, and the sting was felt. Affairs were deplorable.
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Ruffianism was rampant. Noted asassins were concealed in the thickets of the bloody ground. This was a daily talk, spoken out in thunder tones, that all understood. The air was filled with omens of disaster. Pass the street corners and the breath of murder was whispered in your face. Bold assassins stalked unbridled and unchecked. To bring these outlaws to justice was the universal de- sire of our people; but how to do it was a point that put to silence the entire country . The people were cussing the officers. Those who knew anything were afraid to tell it. Some were clamorous for public meetings, others for militia, and a few for rewards. Massac county was crying to us from the memory of her dead Vendetta; Missouri was pleading with us with her mangled hundreds, telling us to think of the gallows and the recollections that it suggested; the newspa- pers were holding a regular matinee over us, and sending a devastating storm of shot at our blood-stained county. There was no re- lying on internal strength. What was de- fective within was aggravated by what was bad from without. The abuse from without aggravated the evil influence within, which caused the banks of crime to overflow, and spread ruin and woe over the fairest lands of "Egypt." The minds which needed harden-
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ing were relaxed. The hearts which needed fortifying were dissolved. The passions which needed cooling were irritated and dis- qualified for considerate action.
At this crisis it was suggested that we meet and pass resolutions that there had nev- er been any crime committed in this county, and straddle the "dark clouds that lowered over our house" on some other county.
During this year the most malignant falsehoods and slanders were hurled over the country about this county, and were received with implicit faith. At any other time they would have returned to pay the inventor with a vengeance. I raised my voice against these outrages, and claimed that it was steel pens, not shot-guns that were ruining the business interests of our county. I knew that it was not the falling into crime that would ruin us, but the lying in it. And I did not extenuate crime by apologizing for the inaction of our people. I agreed that all collective crimes were conceived in darkness and nursed in se- cret, and challenged the attention of men only in their efforts and results, and that all our people wanted was time. They would not raise vigilance committees, as they were ad- vised by the press, and go out to cutting and shooting their fellow-men, like the cruel Moors. Unexpected as was this deep display
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of blood-thirsty feelings, the country ought not to be surprised that our people were un- prepared to meet it. We live in an age of surprise. The events of 1875 show us that it is impossible to count on what next week will bring. We never can outlive conspiracy until men are taken by the hand instead of the throat. I did not pause to deny the follies and crimes of individuals in the county had lent plausibility to the maledictions then rife upon us, 'but insisted that the whole ar- cana of human ingenuity had been rifled to find a plan to stop it, and that it would be stopped by rewards. The mills of the gods ground slowly in our case, but they ground well. Some of the papers, in speaking of this county, had the skull and cross-bones at the head. I thought that reporters could de- nounce crime without criminal and barbarous outrages on a community of honest men. Some of them evinced a reckless disregard for justice, fairness and truth, and spoke of us with a venom and zest that argued the basest kind of demonstration, which called for stern and outspoken rebuke from every honest and virtuous man. They tore down the protection of our reputation-the bul- wark of society-and left us defenseless in the presence of malevolent villancy.
That anybody should delight in this kind
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of moral piracy, and leave a community open to the ravages of moral cormorants, is a melancholy subject to think of. God never gave any man the right to poison the springs of happiness in this way. But it is unjust to charge the country indiscriminately with this crime. There were some noble exceptions. The Jonesboro Gazette and Illinois Journal maintained a diginified course towards us that was as commendable and just as it was prudent and wise. During the year 1874-5 this county had as good and trustworthy a set of Justices and Constables as any in the state, and all offenses, except assassi- nations, were as effectually punished.
On the fourth day of August, 1875, Gov- ernor Beveridge wrote to our sheriff, offer- ing to do all in his power to relieve the county whenever the Sheriff throught prop- er to call on him. At the August Special Term, 1875, the County Commissioners of- fered a reward of $1,000 for each of the mur- derers of David Bulliner, James Henderson, Vincent Hinchcliff and William Spence, and on the 9th day of August, the Governor issu- ed a proclamation offering $400 reward for the arrest and conviction of each of the crim- inals referred to, and also for the murderers of George W. Sisney and George Bulliner. And on the 22nd of August, the Jackson
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County Court offered $400 reward for the murderers of Sisney and Bulliner.
This was a gloomy period, but it was that gloom which preceded the dawn. It was the dark hour which ushered in the bright morn- ing. Criminals leave gates open for detec- tion. There are certain weak meshes in the network of develish texture. We are just looking forward to no distant day when the dark veil that concealed the festering crimes of the county should render asunder by a daring and skillful hand. It came. Mrs. Wagoner told her 'brother, James H. Duncan, of Marion, who the guilty parties were. Mr. Duncan is a man about thirty-six years old, very intelligent, firm as a rock, and a man of remarkable courage. He could not with- hold his efforts in behalf of his suffering countrymen, while they were bleeding at ev- ery vein. In him, the people felt that they had a leader in whom they could trust. A man of discretion and nerve, and though for a long time he was not publicly known in the work, yet he was backing all the efforts and laid all the plans. A woman told who were guilty, but it took a man of iron to arrest and bring them to justice. Mr. Duncan stood up firmly on the side of the people throughout the prosecutions, and but for his discretion and assistance, we might today be
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suffering the calamities of a Vendetta. He went to a "friend" and told him he knew who killed Spence, and he intended to have them brought to justice, and he wanted some man to execute his plans. His "friend" ad- vised him to get Benjamin F. Lowe, of Ma- rion. Lowe agreed to go into it. Sam Music was the first man to be arrested. Lowe went to Cairo and inquired at the postoffice for a letter for Samuel Music; being told that there was one, he told the postmaster not to let anybody have it but Music in person. Lowe then got the deputy sheriff, and about an hour Samuel called for his letter and was arrested. Lowe brought him to Marion on the 10th day of September. No confi- dence was put in the move by the people, and consequently no stir was made until Music was taken before Young, J. P., and asked time for trial. His case was set down for hearing September 20th, and he sent to jail. Two hours afterwards, through the in- fluence of Captain Landrum, who promised him protection, he sent for the Sheriff and Circuit Clerk, and made a complete confes- sion of killing Spence and Sisney, and im- plicated "Big Jep," "Black Bill," "Yaller Bill," Samuel R. Crain, Marshall Crain, John Bulliner and Allen Baker. Lowe then swore out writs against these parties for murder,
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and the Sheriff summoned a posse of twenty- five men and boarded the train for Crainvile seven miles west.
Here "Big Jep," Yaller Bill" and Sam- uel R. were arrested. The Sheriff then went with a few men to "Black Bill's" and arrested him, and another party went after John Bul- liner, and they were all 'brought to Marion that night and put under guard. Lowe went on to Carbondale and got Crain, and went to DuQuoin after Allen Baker, who had moved up there awhile before. They found Baker at home, and Lowe said: "We want you to go to Marion for killing Spence." Ba- ker made fun of the charge; he got very mad, and Lowe took down a revolver which was sticking in the wall. Baker said, "You dam- ned thief, put that back or steal something else." Lowe said he would when it became necessary ; that he would look around-that he thought he could find a Bulliner gun, --- this was their pistol. Lowe said, "I have been told that you are a brave man and a powerful man, and that you just ate men whole; so don't be surprised if I act a lit- tle curious in your presence." Baker de- manded their authority. Lowe told him to look at Bush and himself; they were the pa- pers in the case. Lowe arrived in Marion with him next morning.
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On Monday, the 13th, their case was call- ed before John H. Reynolds, J. P., but by agreement was set down for hearing on the 16th. The prisoners were loosely guarded around town for a few days, and the people became indignant, and the Sheriff put them in jail. Music accused Bulliner, Baker and Samuel R. Crain with the murder of Sisney, in Jackson county. Lowe went 'before Mur- phy, J. P., in Murphysboro, and swore out a writ for them there, and Sheriff Kimball came over on the 15th, and took them over to the Jackson jail, where they were tried on the 22nd, Music testifying against them, Samuel R. was released for want of evidence against him, and the others committed. The greatest excitement prevailed. A special term of the County Court was convered, and the State Attorney empowered to employ counsel to assist him. He employed the Hon. W. J. Allen and A. D. Duff, of Carbondale. The employment of these men produced a revolution in public sentiment. The rich men stepped to the front, and the bummers stepped aside. Landrum, Ogden, Nelson, Washburn, Ferrell, Herring, Harrison, Good- all, Campbell, Grider, Mitchell, Young, and a host of others, who have stood up for the right and breasted the world's dark tide for the good of the county, came on the stage,
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holding up one hand to save the innocent, and the other to crush the guilty. And our imagination which had been so used to scenes of blood, was now playing over the rope and gallows; and our ears, which had heard the shrieks of agonizing victims and the fierce yells of their savage slayers, were now sa- luted by the slogan of returning justice.
On Friday, September 16th, the case was called, the People proving the facts above de- tailed of the murder. The defense was an alibi, W. W. Clemens and J. B. Calvert ap- pearing for the defendants. Two of the Jacks and two Craigs swore that "Black Bill" was eight miles away that fatal night. "Big Jep" proved his whereabouts 'by a dozen wit- nesses. Other minor facts were proven, and after a tedious examination of two days che Court committed all the defendants to jail, except Music, who never had any examina- tion. Music said that Marshall had gone to his wife's aunt in Missouri. Lowe, then in or- der to find out where his wife's aunt lived in Missouri, had his mother-in-law subpoena- ed as a witness against the boys before Rey- nolds. State Attorney Hartwell then told Mrs. Rich that he believed they were going to impeach her, as she had to swear for the People, and it would be necessary for him to know where her people lived, so as to be able
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