Murdered Flowers

I finally found the name of the man that Peter McQueen murdered in Choctaw County, Mississippi!  Well, the last name of the man, anyway. 

In the April 10, 1899 issue of the Times-Picayune (New Orleans, LA) was an article that had been reproduced from an issue of the Walthall Warden (Walthall, MS).  The article, from what I understand, was originally written by S. Newton Berryhill, the man that penned “Backwoods Poems”.  After listing several murders in early Choctaw County, Berryhill wrote:

I do not include the three Grays who killed Judge Edwards and Luther Edwards, during the war, and were killed in jail by citizens; nor old man McQueen, who killed Flowers in 1865, and, having fled, was pursued by a company of the U.L.A., who got ahead of him this side of Houston, and shot him from the roadside.  In these cases the killing of the man-slayers was the direct and immediate consequence of their crimes – the penalty which the law itself would or should have inflicted.

I am hoping that I can figure out who the man was he shot.  Perhaps a descendent of the Flowers family knows the story!

Other instances mentioned:

First – Clerk, a lawyer, who once lived at Greensboro removed to Carrollton, where he killed a man whose name I do not recollect.  He was himself killed the same year by J. Lancaster, at one time editor of the state Advocate, the first newspaper ever published in Choctaw county.

Second – Gibson Clark, who lived for many years near the site of Walthall, killed a lawyer named Lindsey at Greensboro.  Several years afterward Clark shot himself through the brain by his own rifle, pulling the trigger by means of a string tied to his toe.

Third – James C. Powers, who had killed a man in Pickens county, Ala., was killed at Greensboro by Dr. T.J. New.

Fourth – Thornton, who had served a term in the penitentiary for manslaughter, was killed at ‘Bucksnort,’ a suburb of Greensboro, by the same Dr. New.

Fifth – Seth Platner, known as ‘Young Seth,’ killed Criswell Snow at Greensboro.  He afterwards killed a Mexican woman in Texas, and was pursued by a party of Mexicans, who riddled him with bullets.

Sixth – George Davis killed an old man whose horse he had just levied upon.  Davis was afterwards killed in Texas.

Seventh – Dr. E.F.H. Johnson, better known as ‘Old Jaybird,’ killed a man at Snowville some thirty-five years ago.  He was convicted of manslaughter, and sentenced to one month’s imprisonment.  About six years ago he was shot and killed at night in Greensboro by parties unknown.

Eighth – Robert Medley killed a lawyer named Nowlin at Greensboro, and was in jail at the beginning of the war.  He volunteered, and was released from jail; rose to the rank of captain in the renowned Fifteenth Mississippi Regiment, and was wounded at Shiloh, a ball piercing his forehead.  He became a gambler, and was killed by another gambler in Hinds county.

Ninth – Thomas Johnson killed David McKey at Greensboro a few years after the war.  Johnson was killed by Thomas Holland at Walthall eight or nine years ago.

Tenth – Arnold Brantly, who grew up to manhood in Greensboro, I think, killed two men.  He was shot dead in Winona fifteen years ago.  Will and Henry Ringer, who were born and raised in the western part of Choctaw county, it is believed, killed him.  It is also believed that it was they who killed General Wm. Brantly a few weeks afterwards.  They fled from the county.

Eleventh – Henry Ringer, the younger of them, was shot and killed at night at his home in Florida a few years ago.

Twelfth – Story killed William Dunn at Greensboro about twelve years ago.  A few years afterwards he was killed in Arkansas by Jones, another Choctaw boy.

Thirteen – Alonzo Nolen, who was born and raised in Greensboro, was killed by Jones about the same time.

Fourteen – Jones, the slayer of the two men, was shot and killed in Sunflower county a few years ago by a person unknown.

Comments

[Joy Chichester]

I am a Flowers descendant, and was asked the question yesterday, about the possible ID of the murdered man in 1865. I checked all the death dates in the Flowers Cemetery near Kilmichael, MS, and no one died in 1865. I have many Flowers names in my research, but lack death dates for most of them. I'll keep looking. Contact me at joychichester [@] gmail [dot] com.