the tutt and everett war in marion county

The Tutt and Everett War in Marion CountyAuthor(s): W. B. FlippinSource: The Arkansas Historical Quarterly, Vol. 17, No. 2 (Summer, 1958), pp. 155-163Published by: Arkansas Historical AssociationStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/40038014 .

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THE TUTT AND EVERETT WAR IN MARION COUNTY

By W. B. Flippin

The truth of History requires that I should mention at least some of the circumstances that culminated in what is widely known in the North part of the State as the "Tutt and Everett War/'1 This dark and bloody chapter of con- tention and crime I would fain bury in the pool of forget- fulness did not a record of truth demand it. In order to understand the causes of the fatal and bloody feud it will be necessary for me to go back to the early settlement of the county. There was when the county of Marion was formed in 1836 living in it a family of Everetts. Ewell Ever- ett and John, I. B., commonly called Bart, Simmons,2 Hayne, and Jesse N. Everett, six in number from the state of Kentucky. Originally all of them were tall and powerful men. Simmons or Sim Everett, as he was called, when sober was a peaceful quiet citizen, but when drinking, which was frequently the case when he was in the village, seemed rather to court a knock down than to avoid it ; and woe be the un- lucky wight that happened to incur his displeasure and come in conflict with his ponderous fists under such circumstances. He was thought to be the most powerful man in a straight knockdown or fisticuff that lived in the county. Ewell Ever- ett was the second county Judge, the successor of William Wood the 1st Judge, and shortly after Bart was elected Sheriff, which he held for several years. Jesse N. Everett was elected Colonel of the Militia. There was also living in the county an old man by the name of Benj. Tutt who had 3 sons - Ben, Hansford3 and David K.4 They were keen, ac-

1In 1876 W. B. Flipoen wrote this account of the Tutt-Everett War in re- sponse to Robert W. Trimble of Pine Bluff, who was assembling material for a history of Arkansas. FKopin's original manuscript is in the Trimble Collection at the Arkansas History Commission. W. B. Flippin, for whom the town of Flippin, Arkansas, was named, was born in Monroe County, Kentucky, September 4, 1817, and came with his father, Thomas H. Flippin, to Marion County, Arkansas in 1837. Flippin therefore had first-hand knowledge of the feud, and as he says in the narrative, knew all its principals. These notes were added by Ted R. Worley.

2Simmons Everett was in Lawrence County, Arkansas, as early as 1830. Thomas E. and John S. Everett are found in the 1836 tax list of Searcy County.

3Hansford Tutt, Thomas H. Flippin, and William Goodall advertised lots for sale in the new town of Yellville in the Batesville (Ark.) News, May 6, 1841.

*David K. Tutt was killed in Springfield, Missouri, July 20, 1865, by "Wild Bill" Hickok and was buried in Springfield.



I56 ARKANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

tive, resolute, and untiring. The old man, a gambler with cards and a horse racer, fond of drinking and fighting. Hans- ford (called Hamp Tutt) came to the county some years after the others, I think they hailed from east Tennessee. Hamp was a business, money making, man, had the only public House in the village, bought a few goods and a few barrels of whisky and soon became widely known in the county and was with many very popular particularly the whisky lovers, also many others, for he was in many respects quite a genteel man for his day. Living where he wished the county site to be permanently located, he soon began to take a lively interest in the politics of the county. The Everetts held most of the offices5 and their friends the rest, which soon brought the Tutts and Everetts in opposition to each other. The Tutts, being small or medium sized men, were no matches for the stalwart Everetts in physical force; so the long headed and wily Hamp Tutt made friends of the fighing bullies of the county in order to use them as allies in cases of emergency. Many were the fights and feuds between the parties from

year to year. The Everetts generally being worsted. The Tutts nearly always doubling teams on them or using clubs or stones.

Well, to continue my story, matters stood in this condition. Sometimes one group carried an election and sometimes the other, until the county became pretty much divided into what was called the Tutt and Everett parties. At that time there was about 300 voters in he county, till the year 1844 came the Presidential Election. A public speaking was announced, William F. Denton of Batesville in favor of Har- rison and Jonas M. Tibbitts of Fayetteville for Van Buren. A large crowd was assembled at the village and after the speaking was over and most of the crowd was gone home (the speaking was at Tutts' house) a fight commenced between the Tutts and Everetts which was long after known as the "June fights of 1844". When the fight commenced, Den- ton and Tibbetts hid their guns which were in the house under the bed. Several rushed in to get them but not finding them went out and joined in the general melee. Fists and

6In the years 1836-1840, T. E. Everett served two terms as sheriff and one term as sheriff of Marion County. I. N. Evertt was the first Marion County surveyor. R. B. Tutt was sheriff 1836-1838.



THE TUTT AND EVERETT WAR 1 57

rocks were freely used. Old Sim Everett, like an uncaged lion, was laying flat all that came in reach of him when one of the Tutt pary named Alfred Burns caught a weeding hoe and ran up behind Everett and struck him a powerful blow on the back of his head which felled him, and he lay for some time as if dead. Burns, thinking him dead, hastily made a re- treat. All hands ceased fighting as they supposed Everett was killed. A bloody scene, blood was flowing freely from heads and noses where deep cuts were made from flying stone. Then came lawsuits for many years. Every court the lawyers had something to say of the "June fights of 1844". Both parties from this time forward generally went armed with large knives, pistols, guns, etc. There came to the county a large resolute man by the name of Jesse Mooney, who* ran for the office of Sheriff. The Everetts supported him and for some years he became the principal object of hatred to the Tutts. Mooney was twice elected Sheriff. Many were the fights and brawls during the contests ; in one of them, a kind of free fight in which as usual many participated, Mooney and Hamp Tutt met in a hand to hand conflict, Mooney with a large loaded walking stick and Tutt with a flat rock in his hand. Mooney struck with his walking stick but Tutt kept so close to him, striking him on the head repeatedly, that Mooney could not use his stick effectively. Mooney fell almost senseless on the ground from the effects of Tutts' blows. One of Tutts' nephews, B. W. Farrall, ran up and attempted to shoot Mooney in the head with a pistol, but just as the pistol fired John Hurst, usually called Uncle Jack Hurst, a good man attempting to quell the riot and prevent murder, sprang in to assist Mooney and received the contents of the pistol in his thigh just above the knee in the back part ranging down into the calf of his leg, which disabled him for many years. The fight ceased when the pistol fired. Mooney was .removed to his house almost in a senseless condition. Jesse N. Everett and one of the Everett party by the name of Jacob Stratton moved to Texas, Denton County.

Matters now assumed the worst form, neighbor against neighbor, as they happened to express their feelings in favor or against either party. Good citizens and thinking men saw that matters could not long continue in this con-



I58 ARKANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

dition unless finally culminating in some bloody catastrophe or finale. The principal actors from this time forward went armed with knives and pistols, some with guns, until the 4th of July 1849, when many gathered to celebrate the day at the county Site. The Everetts came with their friends armed with rifles and pistols and from their movements keeping together showed they meant business if molested and from appearance it would take but little to bring on the conflict. The others, seeing them so well prepared and moving about in a body were careful to give no cause of of- fense. The Everetts and their friends at last formed in line in the street opposite the grocery where the Tutts and their friends were collected and bantered them for a fight, stating they were prepared for it in any way the Tutts chose. The parties commenced bandying epithets back and forth and it seemed every moment the contest would commence. A whirl- wind came between the belligerents when they were only a few paces apart, covering them with dust and blowing their hats off and completely scattering the formidable array (the older heads thought it providential as it was a clear bright day). For a time war like demonstrations ceased; the people began to scattered and to return to their homes. After most of the crowd had gone, the Everetts went to where their horses were tied in a clump of trees with bunches of low cedar bushes. Most of them had mounted and started home and were out of sight among the trees when one of the members named Bob Adams had not yet mounted his horse. One of the Tutt party, Derrel Wood, went out to him and a violent quarrel commenced between them. The Everetts hearing it wheeled their horses and came back in a gallop. The Tutt party, hearing the advance of the Everetts, advanced to meet them in the clump of trees before mentioned and the fight commenced. The Everetts used their rifles and the Tutt party pistols; it was a hand to hand fight among the thick cedar bushes. Old Sim and Bart Everett fell dead on the ground and a man by the name of Watkins was supposed also to be killed. He was shot on the top of his head and the greater part of his scalp carried away but he rose up in the course of an hour and finally recovered. Of the Tutt party Jack King was mortally wounded and died next day;



THE TUTT AND EVERETT WAR 159

two or three others were wounded but not mortally.6 This caused a general scattering of those engaged in the fight for fear of prosecutions. Much to the relief of the citizens of the county, apparent quiet and peace was general in the county for a time, but the end was not yet.

In order that my story may be understood I must give a sketch of the Kings, for they figure conspicuously from this time. There came into the county during the muss a family of Kings, or rather 3 families or 3 brothers, more properly - William, Hosea and James. Old Billy, as he was called, had 9 grown sons, Jack, Lumas and Dick. Jack and Lumas were whisky drinkers. Dick was steady and did not imbibe very freely. Jack was a great drinker and very quarrelsome and resolute (killed in the fight I have already related). Lumas was called as brave and fearless a man as there was in the county. Dick was cool and fearless and it was said, and perhaps was true, that they were the men that did the principal part of the damage in the fight mentioned except the killing of Sim Everett which was credited to Dave Sinclair, a desperate character living in Searcy County, who was an inti- mate friend of the Tutts. Hosea King had two sons - Bill, called Young Bill, and Little Tom - one of those fices among men, a great drunkard, and it was said of him that a fight could not take place in 300 yds. of him, if he could see or hear it, but that he would be there before it ended and throw a stone at one or the other of the combatants before it ended whether he ever saw either of them or not before. He seemed to glory in a fight as much as a f ice does among big dogs and many a fight he has brought on that otherwise would have

eFlippin apparently confused events of 1848 and 1849. The Washington (Ark.) Telegraph, Oct. 25, 1848, carried the following account of a fight of Oct. 9: "On Monday they all met at Yellville. Hampton Tutt had a store there, and was prudent enough to keep out of the way. He knew that a row would be raised, and that they would if possible kill him. Jesse Turner, Esq. spoke there that day, and after the speaking the two parties, armed to the teeth, had some words and drew up in battle array - but the matter was quieted, and no outbreak took place. Toward evening when the people pretty generally had left for home, the fight commenced. A man by the name of Watkins, of the Everett party, shot down Jack King. At the same time Sim Everett fired at Sinclair and missed him. Sinclair returned the shot mortally wounding Everett. King's brother was shot by Bart- lett Everett, the ball grazing his shoulder; he in turn shot Bart Everett dead in his tracks. After Sim Everett was shot he gathered a rock and pursued Sin- clair, but finding King, who had been shot in the beginning of the fight, he turned on him and mashed his skull in a shocking manner, and expired while in t he act. King lived until morning. Watkins was badly beaten." The 1848 fight is also described by William Monks in A History of Southern Missouri and Northern Arkansas (West Plains, Mo., 1907), 24.



l6o ARKANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

been avoided had Little Tom been absent. James King had no grown children. I do not now, remember whether he was married; he was a young man in the prime of life quite sober and steady and never engaging in fights or brawls (he is or was living in Lonoke Co. in 1875 and was the sheriff of the county, and, I understand, a Baptist Preacher). He was Captain of a Company at the Battle of Oak Hill and wounded severely in the arm. How do I know? I was there and saw him myself.

Dave Sinclair went to Searcy county after the fight at the county Site, and a posse killed him in attempting to arrest him. Dick and Lumas King went to Van Buren or White County, I do not now remember which, but I think Van Bu- ren Co. Some of the Everetts and several of their party went to Texas. When Jesse N. Everett in Texas heard of the death of his brothers, he made preparations to come to Ark. and avenge their death. Tutt had heard of his threat and knowing the desperate character of the man was on the look out. In the summer of 1848 Hamp Tutt went to Lebanon, Searcy Co., and on his return about ten miles before reaching Yellville he was fired on from an ambush, but the shots did not take effect. He made his escape and came to Yellville and said he was certain Everett was in the county and had attempted to kill him. This again threw the county into great confusion, and several unsuccessful attempts were made by Everett and a man he brought with him by the name of Jacob Stratton, who had formerly lived in the county, a great hunter and a bold daring desperate man, who kept concealed, only being seen by some few of their friends. But Hamp Tutt kept on the alert. Finally Everett got the Sheriff Jesse Mooney and went in search of Dick and Lumas King to Van Buren Co. where they were found and arrested. I think by the sheriff of Van Buren Co. Everett, Stratton, and a number of Everett's friends were along and formed the guard after the arrest. Lumas King was sick and they brought him in a wagon. Old Billy King their father, Hosea King, James King and young Bill King came with them. When they got to Lebanon, Searcy Co., those in charge, perhaps the sheriff of Van Buren county, wished Sheriff Mooney to take charge of the prisoners which he refused to do until in his own county. They went on in charge of the Everetts as guards until



THE TUTT AND EVERETT WAR l6l

near the Marion county line Mooney left them - as it was growing late, directing the guard to bring them to Yellville in the morning. A short distance from where Mooney left them they left the road about half mile and just in the county of Marion. The Everett crowd commenced an indiscriminate attack on the Kings, killing Old Billy, Young Billy, Lumas and Dick King - Hosea and Jim King making their escape by rapid flight. Mooney was accused of knowing of the intended massacre by Tutt and his friends and left home and went to where the Everetts had their headquarters for safe- ty. A constable gathered a considerable posse and went to where the Everetts and their friends were said to be, for they now no longer attempted to keep concealed but openly defied arrest. Perhaps one half the posse was friends to Everett, at least I will say one third, besides the company he had with him. Of course (after coming in sight of them they showing a determination to fight) no arrests was made and the posse returned to Yellville and was mostly dis- charged or took leave themselves. The wildest excitement pre- vailed throughout the county, the citizens being nearly equ- ally divided pro and con. A .reign of terror lasted for somfc time. The Gov. was called on to order out the Militia. Gen. Allen Wood of Mexican War memory was ordered to go to the scene and arrest the parties. He raised two companies in Carroll County, one commanded by Capt. W. C. Mitchell, the other by Capt. Tilford Denton, and came to Yellville. The Everetts scattered or concealed themselves. For some time we had open war in all its pomp. Finally the General hearing that Everett and Stratton were in Searcy Co. attend- ing a Camp Meeting, where they had many friends, made a forced march and surrounded the camp ground a little before day, which created considerable confusion among the worshipers and no little terror among the females. A demand was made of Everett and Stratton which was very promptly complied with by the campers. They were brought to Yellville. Mooney and some others were also arrested, gave bail and were released. Everett and Stratton were sent to Smithville, Lawrence Co. jail. The militia returned home, In a few nights after their incarceration the friends of Everett prized open the door of the Smithville jail and re-



1 62 ARKANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

leased Everett and Stratton and again matters stood about as they were before the Militia came. Everett and Stratton came back still determined to kill Tutt before they left or die. After considerable hiding on the part of Tutt, sometimes shifting his quarters from one place to another suddenly, mostly through fortified in his own house, Everett all the time trying to waylay him and dispatch him, Everett chang- ed his tactics and gave out that he was gone. Still Tutt was on the alert, seldom ever, if at all, leaving the village, till one day going from his grocery to his dwelling he was shot from the bushes and mortally wounded. It was after- wards found to have been done by a man by the name of Wickersham, who was said to have been hired to do the deed by Everett. Wickersham was not suspected by Tutt and was in the village frequently and knew of Tutt's movements when he generally went to his store or grocery and when he returned. Wickersham went to Indiana from whence he had lately come. Everett and Stratton with some of their friends left one night shortly after in canoes down White River and taking steam boat down the Mississippi and up Red River to Shreveport where Everett took the cholera, which was raging there at the time, and died suddenly. Thus ended the Tutt and Everett War which retarded the settlement and prosperty of the county for years. It began in ambition and ended in crime, bloodshed and murder. Its history has never before been written and perhaps ought never to have been. I was well acquainted with all the principal actors in it, lived in the county during its con- tinuance and have tried to give a truthful statement of the principal occurrences.

I have given you our darkest side. I have not at this writing time to merely say that we also had a bright side. We had many pious, charitable, honest, upright, God-fear- ing men and women. An account of the acts of many it would give me pleasure to chronicle. I have not written this account expecting you to incorporate it in your history but that you may, if you think fit, give a synopsis of the Tutt and Everett War in a dozen lines, or let it pass altogether and be banished from the memory of man, but few now living that know much of it only from heresay, and those few



THE TUTT AND EVERETT WAR 163

will soon cross the dark river when its history will be lost forever. I am still willing to give any information in my possession if desired but suppose by the time you read this you will be disgusted and thoroughly satisfied.



the tutt and everett war in marion county

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