ARKANSAS. 



29 



son received 41,073, and those for Greeley and 

 Brown, 37,927, which gives the former a ma- 

 jority of 3,146. The total vote for Governor 

 was 80,096, of which Baxter received 41,681, 

 and Brooks 38,415 majority for Baxter, 

 5,266. The Republican majority for the oth- 

 er officers was somewhat smaller. No returns 

 were made for Greene, Poinsett, Scott, and 

 Johnson Counties, and, in some other cases, 

 the vote of single towns was thrown out. In 

 Greene County, a new registration was or- 

 dered two days before the election, after the 

 lists had been sent out to the voting-precincts. 

 When the new order was received, the clerks 

 gave notice that no election would be held, 

 but the people met, and voted under the first 

 registration. In Poinsett County, it was said 

 that the precinct-returns were stolen from the 

 clerk before his abstract was made out. In 

 Johnson County, a new registration was or- 

 dered, but not made, and, the election being 

 made under the first one, the clerk made no re- 

 turns. In Scott County, the registration-books 

 were stolen before the election, and, though 

 the people voted, no returns were made. In 

 these counties, a majority of the votes actually 

 cast were Democratic. It was also asserted, 

 by leading Democrats, that there were frauds 

 in the registration and in making up the re- 

 turns. Senator Rice, who offered a resolution 

 in Congress, asking for an investigation of the 

 matter, declared that the names of 30,000 per- 

 sons were stricken from the registration-lists 

 after they were completed, and that 17,000 

 more Republican votes were returned than 

 were actually cast. The congressional inves- 

 tigation was not ordered before the holiday 

 recess, but a mass meeting was called by the 

 Democrats and "Liberals " of the State, to be 

 held at Little Rock, January 4, 1873, to which 

 returns were to be brought, if possible, from 

 all the precincts in the State. If it should ap- 

 pear from these that Brooks was elected, it 

 was the declared purpose of the leaders of the 

 party to inaugurate him as Governor, notwith- 

 standing the official vote. On the other hand, 

 Governor Hadley called upon the President to 

 send troops into the State, to prevent disorders 

 and violations of law, and issued circulars to 

 the commanders of militia to hold their forces 

 in readiness to be called out at any time. 

 Thus the matter stands at the close of the 

 year. 



The total public debt of the State, on the 

 6th of January, 1873, was $8,662,397, consist- 

 ing of 6 per cent, bonds to the amount of 

 $3,050,000 ; old debt not funded, $2,365,748 ; 

 levee bonds, swamp-land scrip, &c., $2,146,649 ; 

 auditor's warrants and treasurer's certificates 

 outstanding, $1,100,000. Besides this there 

 were bonds issued to railroads amounting to 

 $4,950,000. 



An unfortunate occurrence, growing out of 

 political hostilities, took place, in Pope County, 

 in July. On the 4th of that month, "barbe- 

 cues " were held by both political parties, one 



at Shiloh Camp-ground, in Pope County, and 

 the other about three miles distant from the 

 same spot. The county officers, Wallace H. 

 Hickox, clerk, E. W. Dodson, sheriff, and 

 J. H. Williams, deputy-sheriff, who belonged 

 to the Clayton or radical Republican party, 

 had been charged with some irregularities in 

 office, and had many bitter political enemies. 

 In returning from the Republican barbecue to 

 the town of Russellville, Williams, the deputy- 

 sheriff, according to his own representations, 

 was fired upon and wounded. The sheriff and 

 the County Clerk thereupon formed a posse of 

 citizens, proceeded to Dover, and arrested four 

 persons suspected of participation in the as- 

 sault, and believed to have uttered threats, at 

 various times, against the county officers. 

 Among these were two young men, named 

 Joseph Tucker and William Hale. While the 

 sheriff's posse and the prisoners, with Dodson 

 and Hickox at their head, were on the way to 

 Russellville, in the night of July 8th, a firing 

 of guns took place, and Tucker and Hale were 

 killed. The accounts of this mysterious shoot- 

 ing disagree. It was declared by the enemies 

 of the county officers, that the firing was be- 

 gun by friends of the sheriff, to furnish a pre- 

 text for returning the fire, and killing the 

 prisoners. It was claimed, on the other side, 

 that certain citizens of the county had way- 

 laid the party, and fired upon it for the pur- 

 pose of rescuing the prisoners. The former 

 account was supported by the statements of 

 the two prisoners who escaped with their 

 lives, one of whom was the father of young 

 Hale. This affair caused great excitement in 

 the county, and the belief appears to have 

 been quite general that Tucker and Hale 

 were massacred at the instigation of the sher- 

 iff and County Clerk. The people very gen- 

 erally armed themselves, and the county offi- 

 cers did not dare to go to the town of Dover. 

 Governor Hadley went personally to Rus- 

 sellville, to inquire into the matter, and was 

 assured that the people desired peace, and 

 would aid in the enforcement of law, and that 

 all they asked in this case was a fair judicial 

 examination, and the treatment of all parties 

 in accordance with law. The citizens with 

 whom he consulted having expressed confi- 

 dence in the ability and integrity of Judge 

 May, that officer was requested to go to Pope 

 County, and hold the necessary preliminary 

 examinations. The Governor also commanded 

 those who were banded together in arms to 

 return to their homes, assuring them that the 

 grievances of which they complained should 

 be investigated, and justice done. Judge May 

 went to Pope County, and had the sheriff and 

 his posse arrested, on the charge of killing 

 Tucker and Hale, holding them on bail to 

 await trial at the next term of the court. 

 About ten persons were also put under arrest, 

 charged with having fired upon the sheriff's 

 posse, on the night of July 8th, and about forty 

 witnesses summoned to attend their examina- 



