Bald Knobbers Exposed:
Taney Countian shares for the first time her family's experiences with Bald Knobber treachery and murder
The devastating bombing in Oklahoma City this April [1995] has launched into the national spotlight the phenomenon of local and regional militias which have quietly grown for years. Troubled by the direction the federal government is takings, or so say the organizations' members, these militias are on a mission to return government to the hands of its people.
To those who know anything about Taney County's history, today's militia rhetoric is eerily reminiscient of the mission that drove the ominous hoofbeats of horses ridden at night by the Bald Knobbers--late 19th century vigilantees who controlled Taney County durings its most violent and still controversial period of time. They, or so they said, worried about the government's ability to control the "lawless element" and formed a massive organization of men who at one time grew to number nearly one thousand.
Historians are now beginning to admit, however, that perhaps their motives were not and never were pure. And, now to give unmatched validity to this theory rises a quavering 92-year old voice to offer her family's version for the first time ever recorded. Although 110 years have past, the terror remains and it was with much fear and anxiety that this voice agreed to be recorded. "Some families still live here," she explained.
Ila Miles DeClue tells of two major shootings involving her father, Emanuel Miles, and his brothers. These incidents resulted in the deaths of the Bald Knobber leader, "Captain" Nathaniel N. Kinney, in August 1888, and Ed Funk and Sheriff Galba E. Branson on July 4, 1889. The deaths of these men put an effective end to the violence of the Bald Knobber era.
Ila Miles DeClue doesn't exactly remember the first time her father told her the stories, but they were told many times. "I guess I was about 17," she said. "Dad plowed corn all day and he'd come in. We didn't have a bathroom out in the country, so I'd say, 'I'll wash your feet and legs if you'll tell me about the Bald Knobbers.' " There, bent at her father's feet, she learned the awful story and how the Miles family were impressive players in it.
The Bald Knobbers' reign of terror began in late 1884 and reached into 1889. This four-year period of time is till shrouded in mystery although the march of time has begun to uncover, layer after layer, the secrets hidden by this oathbound society and whispered fearfully among the anti-Bald Knobbers--those who wouldn't join.
"Uncle Bill Miles was my granddad. He and Grandmother Katy came to Taney County from Washington County, VA, in 1870. Their boys, Bill, Jr., was three and Emanuel was only one," recounts Ila. After settling in Taney County, sons Jim, Elisha, and John were born, also two years apart. Three girls, Diane, Sarah Jane, and Frankie, were born later.
The county was growing and filling with homesteaders. According to Elmo Ingenthron and Mary Hartman's book, Bald Knobbers: Vigalantes on the Ozarks Frontier, the county government was in disarray and several murders and thefts had not been solved.
About that time, a newcomer from Springfield, MO, moved near Kirbyville. Ila describes him: "Captain Kinney was a big, old, burly, red-headed man with heavy eyebrows, just a tough-looking man. Mean. Had to have been mean to kill innocent men, take them out and hang them!"
In the winter of 1884-85, Nathaniel Kinney, a former saloon keeper and Civil War soldier (who actually never advanced beyond the rank of private), along with twelve other businessmen and professionals, formed a secret oathbound society. Known as the original thirteen Bald Knobbers, this group of men was to bring the lawless element under control and return the corrupted county government to the people. Within months they numbered one hundred. Several members quietly coerced others into joining.
"Many wouldn't join this group until they hung the first men by the name of Frank and Tubal Taylor. They took everything these men had from their families, even the food out of their houses. From then on, they didn't have any trouble getting men and boys to join them--until they called on Uncle Bill Miles, as he was known to the Taney County people," Ila declared proudly.
"Uncle Bill" William Miles, Sr., and his sons steadfastly refused to join the Bald Knobbers. Miles' friend, Sampson Barker, who was the Taney County school superintendent, also resisted. Sampson Barker was Ila's great grandfather.
"Captain Kinney sent word to my grand-daddy that he wanted him and his three oldest sons to join." William Miles' reply was a vehement refusal. "We ain't angels but we ain't devils neither," he told the messenger. "We will never join you!"
Ila said the trouble then began in earnest. "They killed Granddad's stock at night and made trouble for the three boys everywhere they went."
Since the identity of many of the Bald Knobbers was only rumored or unknown, neighbors hardly knew whom to trust. Families kept to themselves. Some families disappeared and were never heard from again. Later, a suspected Bald Knobber would show title to the missing family's property and stock.
The court house was torched by arsonists Dec. 19, 1885. Most county records, including land records, were destroyed except for one land title volume rescued by Charles H. Groom, then Taney County Treasurer and one of the original Bald Knobbers.
Ingenthron and Hartman wrote, "At first few ignored the Bald Knobbers' veiled threats. Then resistence grew, and the night riders began to waylay and capture those who ignored the bundle of switches. Occasional shooting matches broke out, with casualties on both sides, especially when several victims banded together for self-defense. Ultimately, however, the Bald Knobbers captured their man and took him into the woods. They stripped him, tied him to a tree, and applied a black snake whip or a hickory gad (a spear or wand). The stubborn victims suffered as many as two hundred lashes. Some were left unconscious and covered with blood.
"Gossipers claimed that the Bald Knobbers flogged several men to death, then buried their bodies in the woods. Harvey Castleman interviewed old-timers who swore on a stack of Bibles that they never say nor heard from certain men again after the vigilantes took them out to the woods. Castleman also alleged that a number of Bald Knobbers disappeared, shot to death by their intended victims."
Ila's voice sharpened. "The anti-Bald Knobbers didn't believe in killing innocent men, taking their wives out, and taking their hogs and pigs out and selling them and keeping the money. That's the Bald Knobbers for you! Dad said they did it!"
In 1886, Governor Marmaduke ordered the Bald Knobbers and the anti-Bald Knobbers, who had loosely formed, to disband. By then, several original Bald Knobbers had left the band and some had even left the county.
The Bald Knobbers increased the pressure on the Miles family to join. "One day Granddad got word, "We're a coming for your wife and girls.' Granddad said, 'Come on, the string to the latch hangs on the outside.' but, he left Grandma and the girls with guns at the house. He and the boys laid down the road a ways and when they came, the Miles shot 'em out of their saddles."
The word came to them again--join! Ila said, "Granddad told Billy, 'keep the gun a shining and if you ever have to shoot, don't let the Captain get his gun first." Kinney persisted and demanded that Miles' three oldest sons come and see him. Billy was twenty, Emanuel was eighteen, and Jim was only sixteen. "Billy got to the store where Captain Kinney was and he said, 'I'm Billy Miles. You sent for me?' Captain said, 'I sure did. Did you come to join?'
"Billy said, 'I'll die first!' " recalls Ila. "Captain reached for his guns and Billy shot him several times. They heard him hollering all over Forsyth."
Billy gave himself up to Sheriff McHaffie, another of the original thirteen Bald Knobbers who was disenchanted. Acording to Ila, "Billy said, 'I just kipped Captain Kinney in self-defense.' " Jim was outside "around the back" but Ila doesn't know whether her father went to town that day.
Billy was tried in Springfield on a change of venue and acquitted by the jury. His attorney ironically was J.J. Brown, one of the thirteen original Bald Knobbers. The prosecuting attorney was James DeLong, another original Bald Knobber and Kinney's stepson.
Ila said that none of her family members ever told a story about Billy winning a card or dice game in a macabre attempt by anti-Bald Knobbers to decide who should kill Kinney, as reported by Ingenthron and Hartman. The "hit man" theory then becomes suspect. "Billy came to the Captain because he was sent for," Ila contends.
The Captain was dead and the Bald Knobber conflict quieted somewhat.
On July 4, 1889, nearly one year after the shooting, the annual Kirbyville picnic attracted many Taney Countians. "Just before sundown, Rufus Barker, who was a friend of the Miles' boys, heard the Bald Knobbers had a stranger there to kill Billy. Taney County people kept coming up to Billy, warning, 'Stranger in town, stranger in town!' So they talked it over and decided to leave the picnic before dark, as Billy didn't want to be ambushed," said Ila.
Billy, Emanuel, Jim and Elisha, along with Rufus Barker, got their horses and left the picnic grounds. They stopped at the spring for a drink (the whiskey seemed to be kept there), and while Billy dipped cold water out for some women and children, a man called, "Are you Billy Miles?"
Billy responded, "It sure is." The stranger went for his gun but Billy and Jim shot first. As the stranger fell, his gun discharged and the bullet hit 16-year-old Jim in the leg.
Meanwhile, Sheriff Galba E. Branson, a known Bald Knobber and one of the original thirteen members, pulled his gun and aimed at Billy. "Dad said never was heard such a mournful sound as he heard from Branson when he shot him. He jumped into the air and fell dead. Dad got one of Branson's shots in the coattail," said Ila.
It was later told by Branson's widow that the stranger, Ed Funk, hailed from Eureka Springs, AR, and was introduced to her as a U.S. Marshall. Funk in reality was a gunman hired by Kinney's widow to kill Billy Miles. "Branson's widow later told how she tried to keep her husband and Funk from going to the picnic," said Ila. The widow reported that her husband told her to bury them on "that knoll over yonder if the Miles Boys gets us first." Ila takes much satisfaction in remembering that two lonesome graves still lie atop that knoll with Branson's and Funk's names on them.
The Miles, along with Rufus Barker, escaped on horseback, helping the wounded Jim between them. Elisha was sent home. Rufus was sent for the family doctor. The boys hid at the home of a friend. Rufus returned, reporting that the doctor was too afraid to come. "Dad said, 'I'll go after him and he'll come.' He did, but was too afraid to doctor Jim so the women of the house did their best," said Ila.
Angry Bald Knobbers swept the dense countryside, looking for the boys. Emanuel and Billy stood guard all night. "The next day, Granddad came down with some other men and helped take Jim home," said Ila. William Miles, Sr., sent word that Jim and the other boys were at his home if any of the Bald Knobbers cared to come for them.
There were no takers, and when Jim recovered enough to travel, the three walked the sixty miles to Springfield to the home of Rufus Barker's brother. "The boys decided to go down to Virginia to their mother's people," Ila said. However, authorities found Billy and Jim and jailed them in Springfield. Emanuel managed to escape by borrowing his girl cousin's clothes. He escaped to Virginia, where he stayed several years.
Later, Jim and Billy were both acquitted. Billy moved to Texas, saying mournfully,"I never shall return to my home in Taney County." Ila said, "He married a Texas girl and that's one Miles I never did see. He never came back." Jim married a Texas girl, too, and had five children. He lived from time to time in Taney County. Ila knew him well and thought he was the most handsome of the brothers, although he had a notorious reputation in Taney County. In 1912, he killed a clerk in the meat market in Branson and spent four years in the state penitentiary. He later moved back to Texas, where he died in 1954 at the age of 83.
Emanuel returned to Taney County, where he and his brother Elisha stayed and farmed for most of their lives. Emanuel married Rufus Barker's daughter, Nellie, his second cousin. And in 1902, Ila was born. She lives near Branson today.
Photographs and article courtesy of Gaye Lisby, Branson Living Magazine
