I must enter on one of the dark chapters of the history of Marion County. But perhaps not more so than in the case even in the state of my birth, Kentucky. Grand and chivalrous old state of brave men and beautiful and lovely women, with all thy faults I love the still. A very intelligent man, if I may be called a judge, who was stationed at Pine Bluff, at that time I do not know whether he lived there or not. He was an educated preacher, belonging to the Episcopal church, who wrote a history (or at least a part) of Arkansas, who called on me to write a history of the Tutt and Everett War for his forth coming history of Arkansas. I complied with his request and said then I never intended to do so again. "I saw several chapters of the proposed history published in the papers which I considered well done. He proposed to the legislature, which was in session, to loan him the money to publish the history, as he was unable to do so himself, and take pay in the sale of the books. The legislature decided they had no authority to go into the publication of books. This was, if I recollect correctly, in the year 1845, and is the last account I have of the man or the book, which I regret very much, for from what I saw published in the papers of the chapters written. I concluded that it would be a long time before its equal would ever be written.

In the year 1893 William F. Pope, of Little Rock, who was anephew of Gov. John Pope, also the governor's private secretary, wrote me he was writing a history of the early days in Arkansas, and to give him a sketch of the Tutt and Everett War. I wrote him that I had done so once before and that I had forgotten many of the incidents of that unfortunate, not to say disgraceful occurrence, and had said I did not intend to ever do so again, but was willing to try to recollect some of the most prominent transactions of that bloody feud. When I first came to the state the county of Searcy, created by territory cut off of Izard County, had been divided and the northern part of the county named Marion. Benjamin Tutt was sheriff of Searcy county at the time of the division, and Davis K. Tutt was his deputy, but was cut off into Marion county, both brothers of Hansford Tutt, who was acting as sheriff of Marion county, if in fact we had any sheriff. Hansford Tutt moved to Marion county, from Tennessee after I came to the county. He was a pert, active business man, and seemed a pretty fair judge of men. He soon went into the business of selling fighting whisky to the citizens of the county and as he was the only man engaged in that business in the county, it proved to be a lucrative business.

An election was to be held for county officers, R. B. Tutt is said by the report of the secretary of state, R. B. Chism, to be sheriff. I think that a mistake, his brother Davis K. Tutt, his deputy was acting. R. B. Tutt lived in Searcy county. As I before stated R. B. Tutt was sheriff of Searcy county and Davis K. Tutt was his deputy and was cut off into Marion county when Searcy Co., was divided, he could not have been sheriff of both counties. I positively know that Marion county was formed prior to 1838 and not as stated in ___ William's report for 1890, that it was formed in 1838. I had been living in Marion County, two years before that date, but let that pass. Scarcely need to say that the Tutt and Everett families were two of the most prominent families of Marion County, and here we have them dis arrayed against each other the office of sheriff. I do not think they cared for any other. I do not think politics cut any figure in the race. Tutt was always opposed to an Everett man, and the Everett's always against a Tutt man, be he who he might.

During an election the mountain dew was handled about at the speakings by the bucketfull occasionally, and always plenty on the ground, but they generally disposed of all that was available before they got up to the fighting point, but wait until they met at the county site, where there was plenty of the beverage furnished by Hamp Tutt, as he was called, for your dimes. Whisky was cheap in those days, a man could afford to get drunk two or three times to where he can only once in these (shall I call them degenerate days?)

The Everetts was most all of them stout stalwart Kentuckians from 1836 to 1848 T. E. Everett, called Ewell Everett, the eldest one of the family was county judge. Again in 1840 to 1842 and I. B. Everett or Bart Everett, was sheriff. So the Everetts had the county judge and sheriff to 1844. He was the youngest one of the brothers. In 1838 J. N. Everett had been elected county surveyor. So fierce was the struggle urged by both parties for any man to occupy a neutral position without perhaps being suspected by both parties. Before this date, there had moved into the county Simmons Everett from Lawrence Co., where we had been living for sometime. The Achilles of the whole Everett family; none of the others came near being his equal in an encounter, except perhaps Jess, his brother, a tall, raw boned, long armed, fearless Kentuckian, that reminded me of the famous back woods man, Davy Crockett, that I have seen and laughed at his anecdotes when making one of his electioneering speeches. There it is, left Everett and gone off to Davy Crockett. He had moved to Texas.

The first general fight or skirmish took place at Hamp Tutt's dwelling. Tutt was not present during the fight. It came up suddenly and altogether unexpected. It was led on by Sim Everett, as he was called. He was a very civil man when sober, but when he had imbibed something like the major part of quart of whisky he seemed to court a fisticuff with anyone when desired to engage in that kind of sport, it was called by the attorneys (who happened to be at Tutt's house during the fight, and probably saved the life of one or more by hiding the guns that had been deposited in the house before hostilities commenced.) the June fight in 1844. Sim Everett went through the crowd laying them out right and left, until some one smote him on the head with a weeding hoe. He fell to the ground, and for sometime was thought to be killed, but rallied again. But for the time this stopped the fighting. To explain things at this time there was neither hotel nor boarding house in Yellville. The lawyers generally went and put up at Hamp Tutt's.

When the fight began in the yard, a few had left their guns at Tutt's house and the lawyers hid the guns, and before the conclusion of the fight, several ran into the house for their guns. Had they got them, one or more would perhaps never engage in another drunken fight. By referring to Pope's early days in Arkansas, you will find a short sketch of the Tutt and Everett war written by request of Mr. Pope for his book. I am there credited as the author of the sketch furnished Mr. Pope. The introduction to the sketch referred to states that in the administration of Gov. John Selden Roane, there occurred in Marion County a serious armed encounter between the Tutt and Everett families, and their respective followers, which is known as the Marion County War. The Tutt's and the Everett's were the leading families of the county, and the strife grew out of disputes as to who should control the offices of the county. The Tutt's were Whigs and the Everett's were Democrats.

Soon after Marion County was formed in 1835, Bart Everett became sheriff of the county, and his brother Ewell Everett county judge. About this time Hamp Tutt got up a grocery and sold the natives white lighting in the county where whisky could be obtained, and Tutt, who was a shrewd business man, soon became very popular among the whisky drinkers. At every election for county officers after that time, there was a warm contest between the Everett's and Tutt's as to who should have the offices. The Tutt's never offered for office themselves but selected some of their prominent friends. The contest became so hot that not infrequently there was a fight between some of the parties.

The first serious difficulty was humorously called by the attorneys, when the parties were on trial in the circuit court afterwards, 'the June fight of 1844'. In this fight, rocks, sticks, as well as fists were freely used. Simmon Everett a powerful man over six feet in height, was knocked down with a hoe, and for a while it was thought that he would die from his injuries. This riot was quelled by the bystands. But almost every time the Tutt's and Everett's met afterwards there was trouble. Sim Everett was a hard drinker, and he was generally the starter of the trouble. He always sought a fight when drinking, and no man in the county could withstand the ponderous blows of this stalwart six foot, long armed Kentuckian. The Tutt's were Tennesseeans. The Tutt's had no man who was a match for him in a fisticuff encounter, and so they armed themselves with knives, rocks, and etc., and afterwards with pistols, which caused the Everett's to do likewise.

Later there came to this county a large man of commanding appearance by the name of Jesse Mooney, who eventually allied himself with the Everetts. There also moved to the county a man by the name of William King who had several sons and two of them was drinking fighting men (Jack King and Lomas King). The others with old Uncle Billy King, as the father was called, seemed to be genteel sober men, except the youngest boy, William he would occasionally drink to excess. This family took sides with the Tutts. Mooney afterwards ran for Sheriff, supported by the Everetts and was elected. He gave general satisfaction during his first term. He was elected for a second term. I must here digress a little. I have never known a sheriff in Marion county, who served as long as two terms, if he was a sober man when first elected, but what he became, by the end of his second term, a whisky drinker and quite a different character from what he was when first elected.

Difficulties became so common between the Tutt and Everett factions that their animosity against each other was worked up to fever heat all the time, and soon the male population of the county was classed as being the friends of either one or the other of the parties. Finally there was a gathering at Yellville, the county site, the Everetts and their friends making serious threats against their enemies. They came to the village, many of them armed with rifles and others with knives and pistols. The Everetts: Jesse Everett was still in Texas, Ewell Everett was not in the crowd, but his boys were there, neither was Hayne Everett. The company was led by Sim Everett. Bart Everett and their friends formed in the street in front of Hamp Tutt's grocery, in regular order of battle. Hamp Tutt and his friends stood outside of the grocery, but not in regular order. Angry words were passed between some of both parties. There was an open space between the parties of about 20 or 30 feet.

The bystanders were looking for an engagement every moment. I was present among the bystanders, and noticed that some of the Tutt party who were only armed with pistols and large knives, were occasionally, while the wordy war was going on, cautiously stealing closer and closer to the Everett line of battle, evidently to make the fight a hand to had engagement, as they had no rifles. When, strange to say, a dry whirlwind seemed to drop down and come directly between the belligerents, raising a blinding dust which scattered the parties for the time being, and things seemed to quiet down. I, and several of the crowd mounted our horses and started home. After I had traveled several miles, I heard some shooting, but did not think an engagement had taken place between the parties. (I must now depend for my information upon disinterested parties who were present.) Finally the Everetts and most of their friends mounted their horses and started house, but one of their friends, Bob Adams, did not get ready to go as soon as the others, and while he was untying his horse, where he was hitched in the bushes, Charles D. Wood, of the Tutt party, who was called Durrel Wood, and known to be one of the most quarrelsome men in the county, went to where Adams was standing, they were brothers in law, and commenced to abuse him and the Everetts in a loud, boisterous manner. By this time the Everetts were out of sight behind a dense thicket of bushes, which at the time covered most of the town site. Hearing the angry words, they wheeled their horses and came galloping back and alighting, began shooting. The Tutt party, when they saw their adversaries coming, secreted themselves behind trees and bushes as well as they could, and returned the fire with their pistols. Then commenced a hand to hand fight with pistols, knives, and etc. Sim Everett and his brother Bart, were killed with pistol shots, and one of the Tutt party, Jack King, was wounded with a rifle ball and died the day following. James King, who afterwards lived (until his recent death) in Lonoke County, Arkansas, where he was a respected citizen, and was a Baptist preacher, was slightly wounded with a pistol shot, and one Watkins, of the Tutt party, was shot on the top part of his head, cutting a furrow through the hair on the top of his cranium, he fell to the ground and for sometime was thought to be killed, but finally rose up, probably a wiser man than he was before the fight began. Another of the Tutt party had his arm broken by a thrust from a rifle gun after it was discharged.

Albert G. Robertson, a Kentuckian, who had not been living in the county only a few years, a man of some ability, but a gambler and a drunkard, was one of the men who was generally put forward by the Tutt party as their leader, to oppose the Everetts, but he was not present the day of the bloody encounter. He was afterwards elected representative to the legislature.

Lumas King, a man from Searcy county, named Sinclair, were styled the leading fighters of the Tutt party. Sinclair was considered a very bad man. He was the man who killed Sim Everett in the fight, and it was said that Lumus King killed Bart Everett. A short time after the fight a posse in Searcy County, was raised to hunt Sinclair, as they ascertained he was in the county. They found him early one morning asleep in a treetop close to where one of his friends lived. He awoke and endeavored to escape to his friends house, but the posse fired at him as he ran, and one ball struck him near the heart and he fell and died in a few minutes. Writs were gotten out for the arrest of the Kings, and put in the hands of Jesse Mooney, the Sheriff, who was a particular friend of the Everetts. Before this, Jesse Everett, who had moved to Texas some two years before came back and brought with him one man by the name of Stratton, a desperate character. They came to the county of their particular friends. Their object was to kill Ham Tutt. They waylaid the public road between Yellville and Lebanon, then the county site of Searcy County, that is Jess Everett and Stratton did, as they had ascertained from some of their spies that Tutt had gone to Lebanon on business. On his return home, about ten miles from Yellville, he was fired on from ambush by one or both of them; but they missed him. The Everetts took the sheriff Jesse Mooney, and went after the Kings as they had heard by this time where they were. They also got the sheriff of Van Buren County to go with them. They found the Kings and arrested them, the whole family, as well as a brother to old uncle Billy King, named Hosea King, who had not been engaged in the difficulty between the parties. Lumus King was very sick with fever and had to be hauled in a wagon. They brought them to Searcy County, giving them up to the sheriff. The Everetts all the time acting as a posse to guard the Kings. When they got to the Marion county line, the Kings were delivered up to Sheriff Mooney, still guarded by the Everetts. Late in the evening when they were some ten miles from Yellville sheriff Mooney said he was compelled to go home, and left the Kings in the hands of the Everetts as guards. There were five of the Kings. They had become satisfied from what was transpiring from first to last that it was the intention of the Everetts to kill them, and that sheriff Mooney was to give them a fair opportunity to do so. As soon as Mooney left the Everetts with the prisoners, they left the road and soon commenced shooting the Kings. Three of them, old man Willman King, and his two sons, Lumus and Bill, were killed, James King and Hosea King, his uncle, escaped the Everetts shooting at them as they fled on horseback. The Everetts and their friends banded together with sheriff Mooney who went to them after the killing of the Kings. A posse was summoned by George Adams, a constable to arrest the Everetts, and went to where they had congregated, but found they were not able to do so, as they were too numerous to be taken with the forces the constable had and in fact, the constable was one of their friends.

A demand was made on Gov. John S. Roane to order out the militia, which he did, and appointed Gen. Allen Wood to take command. He was a soldier of the Mexican War, and a member of the House of Representatives from Madison County, in 1854. When Wood arrived with his Militia the Everett and many of their friends retreated to Searcy County, where they had some friends and a number of relatives. A camp meeting was going on in Wiley's Cove by the Methodist. Wood ascertained that the Everett's were at the meeting, and swooped down on them by night and captured them. There being at that time no jail in Marion County, they were taken to Smithville, at that time the county site of Lawrence County, for safe keeping. They remained there only a short time until their friends from Marion County went to Smithville, and with crow bars broke open the jail door and let the prisoners out. They came back to Marion County and laid concealed in the woods, and at their friends' houses, making every effort they could to kill Hamp Tutt. They waylaid his house at night, and waited for him to get up in the morning so they could shoot him. At last they prevailed on a young Dutchman who had not been in the country very long, a nephew of Daniel Wickersham who used to run the water mill near Yellville, to waylay Tutt and kill him.

I was surveying some land, laying off town lots in Yellville, as I now remember, when I heard a gun fire. Soon news came that Hamp Tutt was shot. The road ran near the bluff of Crooked Creek, and we found two or three different places where bushes had been cut and blinds made to hide behind. Tutt was walking by the side of a man who had just come from Tennessee, who intended to locate near Yellville, but he turned his wagon around and went back the course he came. The person who shot Tutt waited until they passed where he was concealed, some fifteen or twenty yards, so he could hit Tutt without injuring the man who was walking by his side. Tutt died of the wound in a few days. The Everetts started back to Texas in a short time. Jesse Everett took the cholera on his way back and died. The county then had a long resting spell. Both of the leading parties had left the country. The Dutchman who was accused of the murder had a preliminary hearing before a Justice of the Peace, and was acquitted. The Dutchman shortly after his acquittal left the country.

by Hon. W. B. Flippin