The Springfield Leader
March 11, 1892 Vol. X #295 pg. 3
BULLET THROUGH HER HEART,
Wife of John Wesley Bright of Taney County Shot
The Lifeless Body of the Woman Found at the Spring-
Husband the Supposed Murderer
A number of persons from
Taney County were in the city last night and rumors of
the murder of Mrs. John Wesley Bright, who lived on Roark
Creek, about 15 miles northwest of Forsyth, was the
subject of much comment, though no exact details of the
alleged crime could be learned as these teamsters had
left home early in the week.
It was not definitely
known that the woman had been killed, the lifeless body
being found at the spring last Sunday morning pierced
through the heart with a bullet.
Roark, one of the small mountain tributaries of White
River flows through the rugged section of the western
border of Taney Co. The Bear Creek road running from
Highlandville through to Harrison crosses the table land
west of the Roark rivulet on which the Bright family
resided. This section of Taney Co. is remote from
railroads and daily mails and news from its pine woods
reaches the outside world slowly.
When the woman was found dead suspicion at once rested on
the husband of the deceased as the probable murderer.
Just what circumstances led to this belief could not be
learned from fragmentary rumor of the tragedy. It was
reported, however, that Bright had been arrested on the
charge of murder and lodged in the new Forsyth jail, a
substantial stone building from which no criminal has yet
escaped.
The Brights are a numerous family living in the southern
part of Christian and the northern and western sections
of Taney counties. The father of John Wesley Bright was a
well to do farmer of Bull Creek a few years ago till
trouble among his boys involved the old man in heavy
losses incurred in their defense in courts.
Andy Bright, a brother of the alleged (uxorcide), was a
conspicuous witness in the trial of the Peyton boys for
the murder of the infant child of Bub Mathis several
years ago, a crime so well remembered by all the people
of Christian and Taney counties.
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The Springfield Leader
March 12,1892 Vol. X #296 pg. 1
THE TANEY COUNTY MURDER
More Details About the Killing of Mrs. Bright
Later reports from the Taney county murder confirm the
first rumor that John Wesley Bright has been caught and
lodged in the Forsyth Jail on the charge of killing his
wife. The alleged murderer was hunted down by a party of
about sixty armed men. Mrs. Bright's maiden name was
Gideon, a relative of the family so well known in
Christian and Greene counties.
When Mrs. Bright started to the spring just before her
death, Bright took his gun and left the house. Soon the
children heard a shot in the direction of the spring.
Bright came back to the house in a few minutes and told
the children that he had been shot at by someone at the
spring. He warned the children not to go near the spring
as they might get hurt. The man then filled his pockets
with eggs, took his gun and left the house.
After a while, the children went to the spring and found
their mother dead. They gave the alarm and the neighbors
gathered in and began the search for the suspected
murderer.
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The Springfield Leader
March 14, 1892 Vol. X #298 pg.1
TWO MURDERS!
Lynchers Hang John Bright, the Taney County Murderer.
Deputy Sheriff Williams Shot Down While Resisting the
Mob. The Preliminary Trial Was Going on When the Mob Came
After the Man.
Mob law, once the terror of the White River region, has
again resumed sway in Taney county and John Wesley
Bright, the alleged wife murderer, is now beyond the
jurisdiction of all human courts. The work was done
quickly and thoroughly as such things are always executed
at Forsyth. But the mob did more than hang Bright and
avenge the death of his wife who was shot in the lonely
pine forests of the Roark wilderness. Between the doomed
prisoner and the vengeful agents of Judge Lynch stood a
brave and conscientious officer, Deputy Sheriff Geo. T.
Williams He would not yield to the demands of the mob and
sought to protect Bright from the fury of the vigilance
committee. But the mob would not be cheated of their
victim.
The heroic deputy was shot down and over his bleeding
corpse the terror stricken prisoner was dragged to the
rude gallows from which his lifeless body soon hung.
PRELIMINARY TRIAL
It was last Saturday that the people of Taney assembled
at Forsyth to attend the preliminary trial of John Wesley
Bright charged with murdering his wife about a week ago.
The crime was revolting, the circumstances pointing to
the guilt of the prisoner convincing. On Sunday morning,
March 6 the report of a gun vibrated through the pine
hills of Roark, a small tributary of White river that
flows along the northwestern border of Taney county. This
shot was fired near John Wesley Bright's spring. But a
few minutes before Mrs. Bright had gone to the spring
after a bucket of water. The woman's husband left the
house with his gun a short time after the woman's
departure. A number of small children constituting the
rest of the family at the house. They heard the report of
the gun in the direction of the spring. Soon the father
came back to the house and told the children that some
one had shot at him down at the spring. "Don't go
near the spring children, you might get hurt," were
the strange words of the man as he hastily prepared to
leave the house. The children watched their father as he
went about the house filling his pockets with eggs and
other articles of food. He had his gun and ammunition
still and the little ones wondered what strange mission
could call their father from home so suddenly on a Sunday
morning. The report of the gun, the prolonged absence of
their mother and the mysterious words, "Don't go
near the spring" filled the minds of the children
with shuddering terror. What could all strange events
mean? Why did not mother return from the spring? Without
explaining his strange conduct the man left the house and
the children looked at one another first in mute alarm.
Then they began to seek an explanation of the horrid
mystery. They thought of the warning given them by their
father, " Don't go near the spring", but
thither the little ones soon ran and the awful tragedy
was revealed. There lay the lifeless body of their
mother, her heart pierced with a bullet. Then the report
of the gun, the father's "Don't go near the
spring," his hasty departure from the house, all the
strange events of the morning began to assume in the
minds of three motherless children the coherence of an
awful story. Father had murdered mother and left the
little ones to discover the terrible crime.
The children gave the cry of alarm to their neighbors.
The farmers and their wives hurried to the scene of the
tragedy. The gathering crowd saw the body of the murdered
woman and heard the story of the children. Quickly a
party of pursuers took the trail of the fugitive
uxorcide. At each mountain pass the party of hunters
received new recruits. Soon the woods were full of armed
men on horse back and on foot armed with Winchester
rifles, shot guns and revolvers, bent on capturing the
murderer at whatever cost. The pursuit was swift and
sure. The country was alive with enraged men. Every
ravine and cliff where the fleeing criminal might hide
was searched. No terror stricken fugitive from justice
could escape that army of men who pressed so resolutely
on the heels of John Wesley Bright. Nemesis guided the
eye and sped the foot of each member of the pursuing
party. The murderer was run down and captured, taken to
Forsyth and lodged in jail.
The news of the crime spread all over the county. On
Saturday a crowd of unusual size gathered at Forsyth to
hear the preliminary trial of Bright. The expression of
vengeance was clearly written on the faces of many of the
citizens of the county who remained in town all day.
Deputy Sheriff George T. Williams had the prisoner in
charge. Mr. Williams was a brave young man from
Louisville, Kentucky, who had been in Taney county only a
few years. He had been deputy sheriff since the election
of J.L. Cook, the second term. At dusk the town became
quiet, and some persons hoped the storm cloud of
vengeance had vanished and the law would be allowed to
deal out justice to the alleged murder. But this feeling
of security was soon to be rudely displaced by the
presence of a relentless mob.
THE MOB
At nine o'clock armed men disguised beyond recognition
appeared in all parts of town. They moved quickly toward
the jail under the direction of conspicuous leaders and
demanded possession of the prisoner, John Bright, the
alleged wife murderer. Deputy Sheriff Williams refused to
surrender the prisoner to the mob. The crowd surged
around the officer and sought to compel him to yield to
their demands. Williams was firm in his adherence to the
line of duty and withstood bravely the mob. While the
deputy was thus defending so nobly the life of his
prisoner, the mob shot him down and dragged Bright away
to the old grave yard near the town. Here the doomed man
was quickly hanged to a tree. When life was extinct in
the body of the suspended victim, a pistol shot from the
leader of the mob gave the signal to disperse and the
crowd disappeared. No one in the mob was recognized.
OTHER LYNCHINGS
John Bright is the third man executed by Judge Lynch in
Taney county, while Forsyth has never witnessed a legal
hanging. In the Spring of 1886 George and Tubal Taylor,
two brothers were lynched by the Bald Knobbers for
shooting Mr. T.J. Dickison and wife, merchants of Taney
City. The shooting resulted from the refusal of Dickison
to sell the boys a pair of boots on credit. The merchant
and his wife were not dangerously hurt by the shots
received, but the young outlaws failed to get the benefit
of their erring aim, and met the terrible vengeance of
the Bald Knobber legions then just organized. This was
the first work of the secret brotherhood that afterwards
gave the White River country such a name of terror.
Beginning with the Taylor boys three lynchings and eight
or nine other homicides have occurred in Taney county up
to the present hour.
WHO WILLIAMS IS
Dr. S.A. Johnson, of this city, is well acquainted with
the family of Deputy Sheriff Geo. T. Williams, who so
gallantly met his death in defense of the laws of
Missouri. Dr. Johnson said to a Leader reporter this
morning "I was raised with Deputy Sheriff Williams
in Louisville and know his family well. He was a sober,
industrious young man and very courageous. He could
always be relied upon to do his duty. He was well
educated and of a literary turn. He has hosts of friends
wherever known who will be greatly grieved at his
sorrowful end."
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The Springfield Leader
March 15,1892 #298 pg.1
TANEY COUNTY MURDER
Gov. Francis will send militia there if necessary.
St. Louis March 15- Gov. Francis has taken official
notice of the Taney county Missouri outlawry and has
ordered the sheriff to summon a posse sufficient to
arrest and hold all concerned in the murder of Deputy
Sheriff Williams and the lynching of Bright Saturday
last. The governor says if the sheriff is unable to get a
posse, he will send State aid. There is much excitement
in Southwest Missouri and more blood shed will
undoubtedly follow.
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Springfield Daily Democrat March 11,1892 Vol.2 #183 pg. 1
MURDERED HIS WIFE John Bright of Taney County Takes His
Wife's Life in a Cowardly Manner (By telegraph to the
Democrat)
Ozark, Mo. March 10- News reached here today that John
Bright living in Taney county shot and killed his wife
early this week. Bright sent his wife to the spring after
water, then got his revolver and followed her. Coming
upon her, he shot her through the head, killing her.
Bright fled. A posse is after him. Judge Lynch will
preside if the murderer is caught.
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Springfield Daily Democrat March 15.1892 Vol. 2 # 186 pg.
5
JOHN BRIGHT, THE TANEY COUNTY UXORCIDE, HUNG BY A MOB.
Deputy Sheriff Williams Shot Down for Offering
Resistence. Various Theories of the Composition of the
Mob- Great Indignation.
A lynching and a murder are added to the list of Taney
county's crimes. Reports of the lynching of John Wesley
Bright at Forsyth last Saturday and the murder of Deputy
Sheriff Geo. T. Williams, by the same mob, were confirmed
yesterday. Bright, it will be remembered, murdered his
wife Sunday March 6th under peculiar circumstances.
Monday the searchers who had turned out to hunt him by
the hundreds after the revolting crime, found him in the
woods near his home and he was taken to the Forsyth jail.
Threats of lynching had been heard through the week but
few regarded them as serious. Saturday, it was noticed
that an unusual number of drunken men were in the streets
of Taney's county seat and hints of lynching were more
frequent. Deputy Sheriff Williams had said in
conversation that he would resist any such attempt with
his life and this remark is the only explanation of his
uncalled for murder.
Last evening a reporter from the Democrat received the
following story of the crime from a traveling man who had
just arrived from Forsyth: At. 9 o'clock Saturday night a
small body of men suddenly appeared at the jail door and
demanded admittance. Some claim the crowd numbered twelve
and some there were fourteen of them. Williams was
outside the jail at the time, and planting himself on the
doorstep, fearlessly replied, "You can only get
Bright by crossing over my dead body." The accounts
at hand, say no one spoke a word in answer, but a single
shot was fired and the next moment the brave officer was
lying a dead man, shot through the heart.
The mob was supplied with hammers and crowbars and
speedily broke through bolts and bars until the victim
they sought was reached.
Bright was brutally seized, hustled to a tree near by and
hung without ceremony. Sheriff Cook and others are said
to have been near by when Williams was shot, but taking
warning from his fate offered no resistance. The mob
disappeared from whence they came with no effort made to
intercept them.
Who composed the lynching gang is a mystery. One report
is that they came from Christian county, another is that
they were close neighbors of the Brights who came to
avenge the horrible crime of the uxorcide. Some say that
the masked men were Bald Knobbers who took this
opportunity to kill Bright, who was an anti-knobber. In
support of this theory it is said that a former Bright
was killed by the hands of Knobbers.
The shooting of Williams seems to have been entirely
unnecessary. An examination of his person after his
death, it is said, proved that he carried no weapons. Why
the mob did not first attempt to seize him and put him
aside with their superior force is hard to explain,
unless the heads of the mob were turned by liquor or they
were evening up with him for some unknown reason.
Williams was a comparatively young man who came
originally from Louisville, Kentucky. He was president of
the Farmer's and Laborer's Union of Taney county and all
accounts of him say he was a man of superior intelligence
and courage.
The Coroner's inquest held yesterday developed no
explanation of the affair besides the customary "by
parties unknown." There is said to be just
indignation at the rash shot which killed Williams, and
if the participants are ferreted out they may meet a like
fate.
After the above was
written the following account which corrects the former
in several particulars came from a correspondent
of the Democrat :
ANOTHER ACCOUNT
Forsyth, Taney county, Mo. March 12- Tonight about 10
o'clock John W. Bright, a man who murdered his wife in
this county on Sunday, the 6th inst., on Roark Creek in
the west part of this county, was taken from the county
jail here by a mob from that region and hanged to a tree
about one half mile north of town.
Last Sunday morning
Bright's wife started from her house to the spring to get
a pail of water and on her return from the spring was
shot and killed by her husband. The preliminary trial
commenced here today before Esquire W.R.Cox, but the
defense took a change of venue, causing a delay of
several hours, when the case was changed to Esquire
W.H.Jones. Two witnesses were examined this afternoon on
behalf of the State and gave very damaging testimony
against the defendant, which pointed closely to his
guilt. George Gideon, brother of the murdered woman, was
in town all day and was frequently seen conversing with
small squads of men on the public square until a
suspicion was aroused among the inhabitants of the town
long before night that Judge Lynch would likely terminate
the case before Monday morning, the time to which the
case was adjourned by Judge Jones.
About 10 o'clock some thirty or forty persons on
horseback rode into town from the north and surrounded
the jail. Deputy Sheriff George T. Williams rushed out to
the jail and stationed himself in front and asserted that
he recognized the leader of the mob and demanded that
they disperse. At the same time he fired one shot into
the crowd, but fortunately no one was hurt.
Immediately after the shot
was fired by Williams some in the crowd retaliated by
firing two shots back in rapid succession, the first of
which shots took effect just under the left arm of
Williams and ranged upward, passing through the heart and
causing death almost instantly. Williams was heard to
make the remark just a few minutes previous to the
arrival of the mob that it was a scheme of McConley and
Taylor, attorneys, to take Bright out of jail and hang
him and that he intended to bluff them in their
undertaking if they attempted to carry out their plans.
But some one of the crowd was too quick for him and
tonight there is a double corpse lying in the town
awaiting a coroner's inquest.
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