Central States Lawman and Outlaws Historic Assoc. In the late 1800s - and early 1900s The River of humanity flowing west, was both wide and deep. Caught in the current of manifest destiny, were settlers, soldiers, business interests, and Outlaws. It was a perfect whirlwind of the Wild west. G.C. Stevens
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"As the founder of New West Entertainment, I build stories that bridge the grit of history with modern imagination. While Blue Eyed Devil is our first chapter, New West is built for the long haul—reimagining the American frontier one legend at a time."
-Lloyd Strickland
(4) Coincidentally, In 1867, another enigmatic figure arrived in Woddruff County and that was a man identified as Captain L.J. Crocker. When he arrived in Augusta Arkansas, he was walking down the street, when a man by the name of Hutchinson saw Crocker, he became agitated and identified Crocker as the famed civil war guerrilla leader William Quantrill. According to this story, Captain Crocker downplayed the encounter and explained that yes, he had been involved with Quantrill and that Hutchison was the only man to make his escape from the "Gorilla Gang."
Another witness, by the name Mrs. Watt Keith of the town of Howell-Wiville tells a story of spending many days in the Crocker home and that Captain Crocker would talk for hours about his pioneer life, and it was said that he was never known to have a picture made of himself and that he died he died in 1905.
But out of these early stories, rumors and legend began to grow around Captain L.J. Crocker it was said that Crocker was none other that the infamous Guerrilla leader, William Clarke Quantrill, The story however, in this community goes much deeper than mere legend and it appears that Crocker and Quantrill were connected in many unexpected ways. The story takes a very strange twist when a man by the name of Mr. Fakes was in St. Louis in 1904 during the World's Fair and went to a theater where Frank James was a door man. He tried to talk to him, but Frank James refused to talk until Mr. Fakes told him he knew Captain Crocker. Upon hearing Crockers name, Frank James attitude changed and he opened up to Fake and he admitted his connection to the story and told of his visit when he was wounded at the Edmonds home. Though it was suspected for many years, It was not known for certain until then that the wounded gentleman was Frank James. Then in 1910, in an open confession to a good friend, W.E. Ferguson of Woodruff County.
Adding to this story is an article found on find a grave By author Gary Telford titled: The Great Quantrill-Crocker Mystery in Augusta, Arkansas. The author provides a fair summary of the mystery surrounding L.J. Crocker:
“On Friday August 21, 1863, in one of the more tragic and senseless acts of the Civil War, William Clarke Quantrill, an outlaw and self-appointed Southern officer, and a number of his men raided Lawrence, Kansas, burning the town, looting the stores and people's purses, and murdering about 150 men in a wanton slaughter that served no useful purpose.
They destroyed about $1,500,000 worth of property. After which the mention of his name brought terror to Northern sympathizers in Missouri, Kansas and Kentucky.
Quantrill led the largest and best-known band of guerrillas in Missouri. Anyone who wanted to join his band was asked only one question: "Will you follow orders, be true to your comrades, and kill those who serve and support the Union?" Frank James and Cole Younger were two of the people who answered "yes" to this question and joined Quantrill's Raiders. Whole battalions of Federal troops were sent out to track Quantrill down and bring him in dead or alive.
Finally on Wednesday May 10, 1865, in a farm house near Spencer, Kentucky, Quantrill and a small number of his band were surrounded by Federal troops. He and his men fought desperately from the windows and doorways of the house until their ammunition was exhausted.
Quantrill was badly wounded in the shoulder by a bullet that raged down through his body, and his left hand was mangled. After the surrender he and one of his men, who was even more severely wounded, were placed under guard and taken to a military hospital at Louisville, Kentucky for treatment, where according to one legend, William Clarke Quantrill died. The death of Quantrill would effectively close a long and bloody chapter of guerrilla warfare motivated more by criminal than patriotic instincts. The legacy of Quantrill's Raiders would long haunt the hills of Missouri.
"Did he really die?" Not so, according to another legend; Here is what really happened.
Quantrill, who was so badly injured that he lay quietly in his bed, pleaded with the authorities to let his wife visit him. Finally they agreed. Then one of the most bizarre escapes in all of American history took place.
When Mrs. Quantrill arrived in the hospital room, Quantrill's companion in the next bed had just died. She and Quantrill stripped the dead man and dressed the body in Quantrill's uniform and placed it in Quantrill's bed. Then Quantrill himself put on his wife's clothes. She in turn put on the dead man's clothes, was gagged and tied, and lay down in the dead man's bed. Quantrill, dressed as a woman, walked out a free man. Mrs. Quantrill was later discovered bound and gagged, gasping she had found her husband dead in his bed and had been attacked by the other man in the room who made her exchange clothes with him and then gagged and tied her up. The Authorities believed her story and as a result of this dramatic escape plot no further search was ever conducted for Quantrill. Instead, the Louisville hospital records reflect William Clarke Quantrill died of his wounds and that an unknown member of his gang managed to escape.
Quantrill and his wife stayed in Kentucky for the next two years while Quantrill was fully recovering back to his normal health. Then one day in 1867 a stranger rode into the little town of Gregory, Woodruff Co., AR south of Augusta, on a very beautiful horse. He introduced himself as Captain L. J. Crocker. He wanted to buy some land, and he had the cash in his saddle bags to pay for it. He bought a tract of land about 12 miles south of Augusta, and he and his wife began clearing some acreage and building a log cabin.
At first Captain and Mrs. Crocker kept very much to themselves. Mrs Crocker seldom ever leaving the house. Captain Crocker rode his horse frequently into Gregory and Augusta making new friends wherever he went.
But there persisted an air of mystery about the Crocker's. Someone said that Mrs. Crocker was the daughter of Colonel Younger, the father of Cole, Bob and Jim Younger, the notorious bandits in Missouri. And it was rumored that the famous Jesse James and his brother Frank made several visits to the Crocker farm.
Then one day when Captain Crocker was chatting with friends in the livery stable at Augusta, a newcomer by the name of Hutchinson approached him and said, "You, Captain Crocker, are the man I knew as Quantrill, I was in the Federal Army and was captured by your men. It was you who finally let me escape."
Captain Crocker looked at the man and smiled slowly. "You are mistaken, Sir. My name is L. J. Crocker, and furthermore I think Quantrill would have shot any Yankee soldier that he captured." There were many other times when Crocker was recognized as Quantrill but each time he denied it.
Captain L. J. Crocker established a store south of what is now the town of Gregory by 1870, and his wife, Gabriella, was postmaster of the Crockersville post office, which was located in the store, from 1870 to 1873. In 1880, L. J. Crocker was granted a license to sell wine, beer and other liquors in quantities less than a quart in the town of Crockersville. In 1881, the firm of Crocker and Smith obtained a license to sell liquor in the town of Augusta. It is belived that Captain and Mrs. Crocker were separated at this time.
Captain and Mrs. Crocker had a daughter named Laura Lee, born September 26, 1864 and died August 1, 1868 and is buried in the Augusta Memorial Park Cemetery. They also adopted a son whose name was Joseph "Joe" Crocker, born in May of 1882 in Missouri. He was adopted when he was eight years of age. While still a young man Joe was brutally murdered. The man who committed the murder was sent to prison for several years. However Crocker always felt that another man in the community was responsible for the death of Joe. Joe is also buried in the Augusta Cemetery.
Captain Crocker had told a friend or two and his wife, who really knew who he was, not to reveal his true idenity until after his death.
Captain L. J. Crocker --or William Clarke Quantrill-- lived on his farm near Gregory for 50 years, from 1867 until his death in 1917.
Captain Leonard Josiah "L. J." Crocker was born October 18, 1839 in Kentucky and died June 23, 1917 in Woodruff Co., AR and is buried in the Augusta Memorial Park Cemetery.
After the death of Captain Crocker his wife, Gabriella "Gabie" Younger Crocker, who was born in 1841 in Kentucky, left Woodruff County and moved back to her relatives ( the Younger's) in Missouri.
Shortly after the death of Captain and Mrs. Crocker a news article appeared in the Arkansas Gazette under this title, "Man Who Lived and Died Near Augusta Said to Have Been Quantrill, Notorius Guerrilla and Foe of Federals in 60's."
Could Captain L. J. Crocker have been William Clarke Quantrill?. His true identity may always remain a mystery to all of us and probably went to his grave with him at his death.
The story is not over yet, as I anticipate additional information to come out in the near future.
-G.C. Stevens
-The Editor
Leaving Nauvoo Was Not As Simple as It Sounds
The Knights in the Spring Exodous from Nauvoo: was complicated as explained in “The Iowa Mormon Trail”, most Latter Day Saints, 10,000 to 12,000, left the Nauvoo area in the spring of 1846, not in the winter with Brigham Youn’s group of 2,000 to 2,500. Once the Nauvoo Temple was dedicated April 30 and May 1, they began pouring across Iowa. When ready, they left on their own, traveling in small groups of 2 to 25 wagons. Newel Knight’s diary (LDS Archives, Salt Lake City) contains one of the best accounts of someone in the Spring Exodus, and Lydia in her Lydia Knight’s History supplements it. Their records show that the act of leaving town was not as simple as it sounds.
Departure Difficulties
Newel and Lydia Knight had 2 sons and 4 daughters plus an extended family of some 20 couples with children. Most of them lacked sufficient cash to buy wagons, animals, and supplies they needed because they could not sell or trade their property and belongings or could get only a fraction of actual value. Before they could leave, the Knight’s had to pay off obligations. Newel, a miller, had business debts. To pay back Elijah Fordham $250, he traded his gristmill, house, and barn, in total worth $1,000, in return for oxen, cows, a wagon and cash. Lydia, meanwhile, “got our tent, wagon covers, sacks, etc, all in readiness, provisions and goods packed, and all things about ready for the journey.” But then a creditor with a $200 note demanded payment in cash. So, Newel sold the items he had just traded for. By early April he managed to round up an outfit of 3 yoke of oxen, 2 wagons, and 3 cows for the the trek west.
Go With or Without Relatives?
In April Newel recorded that “some of my cousins called upon me, this evening, and said they knew no way that they could move, they could not bear the idea of my going and leaving them.” He wanted to help. “I asked God to give us wisdom, to devise a plan for their good.” He came up with an idea-a shuttle method of transport whereby the most able men and teams would travel about 200 miles west, taking farming tools and equipment and as many families as possible. They would stop, plant a crop and leave some men there to tend things, while other men and teams go back and retrieve those left behind. At first, some relatives liked the plan. Lydia, disappointed to be slowed down by it, nevertheless “cheerfully consented.” Most , however, backed out, except for two families, brother-in-law Freeman DeMille, somewhat crippled, and Newel’s elderly father, Joseph Knight Sr. Newel agreed to help the DeMilles move to central Iowa, then go back to help his father move.
Ten Days to Cross a River
On April 13, Newel and Lydia visited the temple (2 weeks before its dedication) “ to take our last view.” The next day he laid out covers on his wagons and “got ready for to load them.” But then the DeMilles slowed their departure by more than a week. Freeborn had but one yoke of oxen and a “very light wagon.” To make room for DeMille’s belongings, Newel unloaded items from their wagon and Lydia “left some things by the road.” He gave Freeborn lumber and irons for a wagon box, and money to buy nails. He traded a new saddle, rifle, a pair of blankets, and bedding for a horse “to help us along.” By then, Lydia wrote later, the Knights had given up “mills, house, barn, and all their possessions.” On April 15, Newel finished loading their wagons and drove to the river ferry. But, high winds prevented a crossing. So, they went back and helped the DeMilles load. On the 17th, Newel arose before sunrise , fed and yoked his cattle , “bade farewell to our comfortable home, “ and started again to the ferry. So Newel “went to see my father and bade him farewell, and also left him sufficient means for his support, until I could return for him.” Finally, on April 18, at sunrise, the Newel Knight family ferried across the Mississippi. Near Montrose, they drive back from the landing and waited for the DeMilles. But, once more winds made waters to treacherous. I remained the balance of the day with my family, “ Newel wrote, “pitched a tent, felt to offer thanks.” The next day, Sunday, he recrossed the river “and once more had the satisfaction of walking through the streets of the City of Joseph, and beholding the great works, he had so nobly reared before his martyrdom.” Newel helped the DeMilles , then returned to his family. Three days later on Wednesday April 22, Elder Wilford Woodruff, still in Nauvoo, recorded that there was “much excitement “ about threats being made by the mob. Perhaps this excitement convinced Freeborn it was time to get out of town, for that evening the DeMilles finally crossed the river , with Newel’s help. They camped near the Knight’s tent. After another day and night encamped , the Newel Knight family started from Montrose on their journey across Iowa on April 24th, six days after they left Nauvoo.
This article was written By Bill Hartley for the IMTA Newsletter the “Wheel Writes” Volume 9 Issue 2 Spring 2002 edition
Robinson Brothers Photographic Artists
I received a prompt email response from Kellen Cutsforth, who is currently the executive director of the Western Writers Association, he told me:
"So we do not have any provenance for this particular photo. It was acquired long before any of our current staff came on board. When it was acquired, the staff did not sign any agreements nor retain any receipts detailing whether it was purchased or a donation."
This photo is but one of many photos that have surfaced over the years that have purported to be Jesse James. But what was unique about this photo was that it was part of a published set, alongside other photos which were confirmed to be members of the James - Younger gang who were involved in the Great Northfield Minnesota Raid in 1876. There were however, also some inconsistencies with the descriptions of other parties involved.
Boot Hill Cemetery Tombstone AZ. RPPC from the Authors Collection The western period of American history began in earnest in the 1...
