When a few weeks later it was
reported in the papers that Wilcox had been shot at from an
ambuscade, it was an open secret that McMurdo was still at work
upon his unfinished job.
Such were the methods of the Society of Freemen, and such were
the deeds of the Scowrers by which they spread their rule of fear
over the great and rich district which was for so long a period
haunted by their terrible presence. Why should these pages be
stained by further crimes? Have I not said enough to show the
men and their methods?
These deeds are written in history, and there are records wherein
one may read the details of them. There one may learn of the
shooting of Policemen Hunt and Evans because they had ventured to
arrest two members of the society--a double outrage planned at
the Vermissa lodge and carried out in cold blood upon two
helpless and disarmed men. There also one may read of the
shooting of Mrs. Larbey when she was nursing her husband, who had
been beaten almost to death by orders of Boss McGinty. The
killing of the elder Jenkins, shortly followed by that of his
brother, the mutilation of James Murdoch, the blowing up of the
Staphouse family, and the murder of the Stendals all followed
hard upon one another in the same terrible winter.
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