Bald Knobbers and Outlaws

The post-civil war Ozarks was a place far removed from the region we now know. Most think of the Ozarks today in terms of natural beauty, country music, fishing, summer traffic, Christmas lights.

But not long ago, the place was a battlefield. It is humbling to realize that the Ozarks of the late nineteenth century more closely resembled a war-torn third world nation than a civilized country.

And perhaps there's some inspiration therein.

End of the Bald Knobbers

From Chick Allen

The end of the Baldknobber was in Christian County, around Ozark, Missouri, and was a gruesome a story as history has to tell:

On March 11, 1888, a farm family in Christian County was aroused by screams and gunfire from the home of their nearest neighbor. The elderly man ran to the home with a pounding heart and through the open door in the light from the fireplace, saw bodies over the floor, bleeding and moaning.

There had been eight of the family and relatives staying all night in this 16-foot cabin.

The farmer’s son was dead and also the eldest man of the family lay with his skull split with a bloody axe laying nearby.

Before being injured, his daughter tore the mask from the marauder and clutched it in her hand — the mask bore ugly horns and weird markings. It was evident that the culprits were the Baldknobbers. As possible, the sheriff and prosecuting attorney arrived with the coroner from Ozark, the county seat of Christian County.

The sheriff picked up the shotgun that was left on the floor and examined it, finding a crack in the shape of an “S” on the stock.

One man had been able to shoot a Baldknobber in the leg before he was hit with an axe. The daughter was questioned about the man who wore the mask she had grabbed, and she said she did not know him but he was young and had no beard or mustache.

The sheriff could not find any reason for this terrible and cowardly atack. The Knobbers had tried to cover up the incident by hanging two young men who were suspicioned of having a part in this killing.

They knew this terrible murder must be solved.

The sheriff and prosecuting attorney knew the man who wore the mask was young and had a bullet wound in his leg — and they had the shotgun found on the floor. They knew this terrible murder must be solved so they decided to go to Sparta and try to locate a man with a wounded leg. They continued questioning people there and talked to an old man who repaired watches, sewing machines and guns.

The sheriff showed the gun to the old man and asked him if he had ever seen it before. “Wal, I can't be sure,” he said, “seems to me I ought to know it. Yeah, I recollect it now — a young fellow brought that gun in two or three months ago and wanted to swap it for a rifle that I had. Yeah, I remember the crack in the stock — shaped like an ‘S,’ but I did not swap with him because he wouldn't give enough.”

When the sheriff and prosecuting attorney left the shop they knew that the description fit a man the sheriff knew and that if they could find him — and if he had a wounded leg — they would have their man. They left their horses and cut throught the woods to the cabin of the man who had brought the gun into the repairman’s shop.

When they got in sight of the cabin, they saw a young man come out and start to saddle his horse; they saw how feverish he was with excitement. When the horse was saddled, he went back into the cabin and got a package and started to mount.

The sheriff told him to halt and edged in between him and the horse, asking him what he had in the package. "Nothing," said the young man and the sheriff stepped forward and grabbed the package from him.

He ripped off the covering and found a black Baldknobber mask. The man said it was not his, that he found it and did not have anything to do with the killings. The sheriff stated that he would have to go to jail anyway. He handcuffed him and told him he would change his mind about his story when the hill folks started to tear down the jail and threaten to hang him.

After he was in jail, they talked of a way of scaring him into talking, and decided the threat of hanging by the people scared him most and they would find a group of men they could trust and have them come to the jail on the pretense of hanging him.

When the men were outside the jail, the young man heard the words "Hang him," and he beceame more fearful and agreed to a confession if the sheriff would protect him.

He admitted that he was a Knobber and he named the band of Knobbers, one of them a deacon.

He said that they met on a bald near Chadwick the night before the killing. “We initiated a new member and then they were talking about how the farmer and his family had been shooting off their mouths about the Knobbers and that the old farmer had killed a dog and said he had killed a Knobber. And that is the reason they went to the farm house to teach them a lesson.”

He named about 25 men but said only a few went into the cabin. He named a young man named Bill who had been shot in the leg and who had his mask jerked off by the daughter of the old farmer.

Continued above right...