Betrayal, Treachery and Murder: The Conclusion of the Clark’s Creek Gang

Continued from “A Deplorable State of Outlawry” published February 5, 2025, available online at marshfieldmail.com.

Note: Researching this and getting any sense of finality has been a real booger. A large set of newspapers from Wright County, previously unknown to me, will in all probability clear up the many loose ends of this tale. So the conclusion, printed below, is offered “as is.” Again, these are not wholly my words but more or less a summary of a lengthy article dated March 24, 1898 in the Springfield Leader and Press, Page 3, among others. -CCH.

After nearly six years of outlawry, a destroyed courthouse, rampant jury and witness tampering the good citizens of Wright County had enough. They demanded swift action to remove this constant pestilence from their midst. Up to this point the success of the Clark’s Creek Gang rested primarily on their skills as burglars and an oath of absolute secrecy, leading some to question, “Who do you indict?” Soon though, Sheriff John Prior got a lucky break which led to the gang’s destruction.

The first members prosecuted may have had more to do with the gang itself than the court system. Alex and Pat Fletcher were younger and not-so-hardened criminals who had joined the gang and participated in several lowkey burglaries. Alex Fletcher was induced to rob one of the country stores in Wright County where he was placed in the hands of local officers. Gang members even furnished sufficient testimony for a conviction and he was sentenced to three years in the penitentiary. It remains unclear whether this was a means of silencing him or as a sacrificial offering to satisfy the authorities. Irrespective of motivation this strategy spectacularly backfired. In the days leading up to his trip to the penitentiary, Alex Fletcher confessed to Sheriff Prior the existence of the Clark’s Creek Gang, its membership and organization. He also informed the Sheriff the gang was planning on robbing the meat warehouse of Sterling Bray and where it was to be hidden. A few nights later Mr. Bray was indeed robbed and a large portion of the meat found exactly where Fletcher had said. His younger brother Pat who was being held on another matter, agreed to turn state’s evidence as well, implicating various gang members including their leader “Captain” Henry Turner. The grand jury moved swiftly in indicting Henry Turner, Joseph Turner, Jerry Carter, William Stacey, Albert Edwards, Waldo Scott, Ish Cottengem, Elias Hayes and William Shackleford. Having evidence, testimony and returning the indictments were one thing, trying the outlaws in Hartville -an entirely different matter. Fearing reprisal, Prosecutor S. T. Pope stood alone as no other local attorney would assist him, until Perry T. Allen, a young lawyer from Springfield agreed to take up the cause. With some effort a solid jury was empaneled, - out of reach from the desperado’s friends and relatives.

Judge Neville opened the circuit court of Wright County for the March term 1898, with quite an undertaking at hand. “Captain” Turner, the first to be tried, was charged with the burglary of T. J. Spillman’s store on Clark’s Creek. Pat Fletcher testified that he, Turner and six or eight members of the gang met at Turner’s house and planned the robbery which occurred February 1, 1896. He also testified how he, William Stacey and Turner gained entry via a false key. They silently emptied the store of a great quantity of coffee, domestic sugar, shoes, prints and other merchandise amounting to one of the gang’s largest hauls. Such was the plunder that it took the better part of the night to stash it all away under the bluffs of Clarks Creek. Fletcher's testimony was easily corroborated by testimony from the Sheriff and others. The trial lasted a few days, resulting in Turner’s conviction and sentencing, landing him five years in the penitentiary. He was returned to jail where his two young sons were allowed to spend nights with him until he was carted off, hopefully with a string of others, to Jefferson City.

Hartville was rife with wild rumors of Turner’s jail delivery, and threats being made at county officials. Sheriff Prior had his hands full and deputized several more men to assist with court and guard the jail. Amid this tense atmosphere and in front of a packed courtroom a notorious character named Greene Barnes started yelling threats and carrying on a general commotion, disrupting the proceedings. With the hustle and bustle of court to manage, such a nuisance was best handled by simply locking him up and sorting out the matter later.

The Wright County Jail was neither defensible or impregnable but simply a single room wooden structure consisting of a large freestanding cell with two bunks and a large wood stove in the center. For several days the sheriff had allowed Turner’s two small sons to spend nights with him in his cell, perhaps as a deterrent to jailbreaking. Here the three Turners now joined by Barnes all slept. There is some debate about Barnes, most believe he was a member of the gang, some thought him insane and dangerous. Much of this would be confirmed, for that night as Henry Turner and his two boys lay sleeping, Barnes grabbed a heavy stick of wood and bludgeoned the bandit captain to death. Deputy Cantrell, alerted by the screaming of Turner’s sons, got to the cell and found Turner profusely bleeding, with his head so bashed in as to be unrecognizable, breathing his last a few moments later. When asked why he’d done it, Barnes' only reply was, “He wouldn't let me sleep near the stove.” This was doubtful, as Turner's head was covered with a blanket when the attack occurred.

If Hartville was a hot bed of coals, then Turner’s murder was a bucket of kerosene. Fearing both mob action and gang reprisal Barnes was hastily indicted and taken to Marshfield for safekeeping. To many, he feigned insanity or drunkenness and caused a ruckus deliberately; -in order to get locked up with Turner. It seems a few years before, Barnes was accused though never charged, with trying to drug and rob one Rodney Ramey, an older farmer. Caught in the act of rifling the old man’s pockets, Barnes was severely beaten by Ramey’s nephew who happened to stop by. A few weeks later Ramey mysteriously died, leading many to believe he was poisoned at the hands of Greene Barnes. He was accused but never prosecuted out of fear of his association with the Clark’s Creek Gang. It is theorized, Barnes probably murdered Turner so he wouldn't turn witness against him as the Fletcher Brothers had done.

While being held in both the Webster and Wright County jails Barnes' sanity was under constant question. At one point he escaped from the Webster County Jail in order to “go visitin,” he was picked up a few weeks later at his house in Wood township. In an attempted suicide, he sought relief from the “lizards that were after him” subsequently drinking an ounce of undiluted carbolic acid. A local doctor produced an antidote which they had to force down him to save his life.

Eventually, Barnes was tried for first degree murder at Hartville which resulted in a hung jury. He ultimately pleaded guilty to second degree murder and was sentenced to ten years in the penitentiary, being released in early 1907 and returning to his family in Wright County. However, in a matter hitherto undiscovered, Barnes was found to be insane in early May of 1910 and was remanded to Lunatic Asylum #3 in Nevada, Missouri where he resided for more than twenty years before dying February 1932. The End-For Now.

Know something about this story? Care to fill in some blanks? We would love to hear from you! Champ Herren can be reached news@marshfieldmail.com.