Constable of Rector, Clay County, AR, who was convicted of first-degree murder for killing William Lovejoy in the Woodland Heights Cemetery in Rector on August 12, 1903. Vowell claimed that Lovejoy was seeking revenge because Vowell had once arrested him, and the two had exchanged gunfire on previous occasions. On August 12, 1903, Vowell shot Lovejoy twice with a shotgun, and then once in the head with a pistol. After unsuccessful attempts were made to persuade Governor Jeff Davis to intervene, Vowell was hanged on the grounds of the Greene County Courthouse. His was the last hanging to take place in Greene County. He refused to wear a mask over his head, and he gave a 20 minute oration before the trap door on the gallows was flung open. He is buried in the same cemetery where he shot and killed Lovejoy, and his grave is located within 150 feet of Lovejoy's. The inscription on his tombstone reads, "To live in the hearts we leave behind is not to die. Erected by his friends and neighbors who did what they could for him". ∼Martin Van Buren was born to Joseph Jehu Harrison Vowell and Harriett Green Duke Vowell.
He was the brother of Robert W., Francis M., William R., Nancy E, Araminta, Littleton Melton, Hidie Catherine, Mathew Jackson, David Madison and Huston L.
He married his first wife, Mary Maggie Lillard, on the 24th of JAN 1865 in Weakley Co, Tennessee.
They had seven children:
James Marshall b: BET. 1866 - 1867
Mary Ella b: BET. 1869 - 1879
Alonzo Jefferson b: 13 NOV 1874
Martin Vanburen "Barley" b: 2 JAN 1877 in Texas
Essie Lee b: 1880
William W. b: 1883 and
Annie Lou
Mart married his second wife, Georgia Anna Jones Keller, on the 1st of NOV 1890 in Corning, Arkansas.
She had two sons from her first marriage with unknown Keller.
Mart and Georgia had four children:
Edward b: OCT 1890 in Arkansas
Daniel W. b: JUN 1892 in Arkansas
Abner Bismark "Red" Vowell b: 19 AUG 1894 in Arkansas and
Charlotte C. b: JUN 1898 in Arkansas
Mart Vowell was an ordained minister, and the retired sheriff of Paragould. While sheriff he had several run ins with Lovejoy. Lovejoy was a trouble maker. Lovejoy would ride his horse on the walkways in town, fight, and bully people. Lovejoy had killed people, unsure how many. Lovejoy had a trick that he used to kill people. When engaged in a gunfight he would pretend to be hit, roll over onto his stomach, while hiding his gun underneath him. When the person would turn him over to see if he was dead he would shoot them. This also provided him with a self defense.
After Mart retired as sheriff, Lovejoy would stalk him, take shots at him from a distance, and threaten to kill him. One afternoon Mart was returning home from a church function with several children in his wagon. Lovejoy took a shot at him. Mart fired back and Lovejoy fell out pretending to be dead. Mart knew of his trick from when he had been sheriff. Instead of turning Lovejoy over he shot him twice in the back as he lay on the ground. Because Lovejoy had been shot in the back Mart could not claim self defense. Mart was tried by a jury made up of Lovejoy relatives and friends. The Lovejoy family was very influential. A group of about 20 people were on the way to Paragould from Little Rock to speak in Mart's defense, but it was too late. He was hung for first degree murder.
Inscription on his tombstone reads: "To live in the hearts we leave behind is not to die."
He was the brother of Robert W., Francis M., William R., Nancy E, Araminta, Littleton Melton, Hidie Catherine, Mathew Jackson, David Madison and Huston L.
He married his first wife, Mary Maggie Lillard, on the 24th of JAN 1865 in Weakley Co, Tennessee.
They had seven children:
James Marshall b: BET. 1866 - 1867
Mary Ella b: BET. 1869 - 1879
Alonzo Jefferson b: 13 NOV 1874
Martin Vanburen "Barley" b: 2 JAN 1877 in Texas
Essie Lee b: 1880
William W. b: 1883 and
Annie Lou
Mart married his second wife, Georgia Anna Jones Keller, on the 1st of NOV 1890 in Corning, Arkansas.
She had two sons from her first marriage with unknown Keller.
Mart and Georgia had four children:
Edward b: OCT 1890 in Arkansas
Daniel W. b: JUN 1892 in Arkansas
Abner Bismark "Red" Vowell b: 19 AUG 1894 in Arkansas and
Charlotte C. b: JUN 1898 in Arkansas
Mart Vowell was an ordained minister, and the retired sheriff of Paragould. While sheriff he had several run ins with Lovejoy. Lovejoy was a trouble maker. Lovejoy would ride his horse on the walkways in town, fight, and bully people. Lovejoy had killed people, unsure how many. Lovejoy had a trick that he used to kill people. When engaged in a gunfight he would pretend to be hit, roll over onto his stomach, while hiding his gun underneath him. When the person would turn him over to see if he was dead he would shoot them. This also provided him with a self defense.
After Mart retired as sheriff, Lovejoy would stalk him, take shots at him from a distance, and threaten to kill him. One afternoon Mart was returning home from a church function with several children in his wagon. Lovejoy took a shot at him. Mart fired back and Lovejoy fell out pretending to be dead. Mart knew of his trick from when he had been sheriff. Instead of turning Lovejoy over he shot him twice in the back as he lay on the ground. Because Lovejoy had been shot in the back Mart could not claim self defense. Mart was tried by a jury made up of Lovejoy relatives and friends. The Lovejoy family was very influential. A group of about 20 people were on the way to Paragould from Little Rock to speak in Mart's defense, but it was too late. He was hung for first degree murder.
Inscription on his tombstone reads: "To live in the hearts we leave behind is not to die."
Constable of Rector, Clay County, AR, who was convicted of first-degree murder for killing William Lovejoy in the Woodland Heights Cemetery in Rector on August 12, 1903. Vowell claimed that Lovejoy was seeking revenge because Vowell had once arrested him, and the two had exchanged gunfire on previous occasions. On August 12, 1903, Vowell shot Lovejoy twice with a shotgun, and then once in the head with a pistol. After unsuccessful attempts were made to persuade Governor Jeff Davis to intervene, Vowell was hanged on the grounds of the Greene County Courthouse. His was the last hanging to take place in Greene County. He refused to wear a mask over his head, and he gave a 20 minute oration before the trap door on the gallows was flung open. He is buried in the same cemetery where he shot and killed Lovejoy, and his grave is located within 150 feet of Lovejoy's. The inscription on his tombstone reads, "To live in the hearts we leave behind is not to die. Erected by his friends and neighbors who did what they could for him". ∼Martin Van Buren was born to Joseph Jehu Harrison Vowell and Harriett Green Duke Vowell.
He was the brother of Robert W., Francis M., William R., Nancy E, Araminta, Littleton Melton, Hidie Catherine, Mathew Jackson, David Madison and Huston L.
He married his first wife, Mary Maggie Lillard, on the 24th of JAN 1865 in Weakley Co, Tennessee.
They had seven children:
James Marshall b: BET. 1866 - 1867
Mary Ella b: BET. 1869 - 1879
Alonzo Jefferson b: 13 NOV 1874
Martin Vanburen "Barley" b: 2 JAN 1877 in Texas
Essie Lee b: 1880
William W. b: 1883 and
Annie Lou
Mart married his second wife, Georgia Anna Jones Keller, on the 1st of NOV 1890 in Corning, Arkansas.
She had two sons from her first marriage with unknown Keller.
Mart and Georgia had four children:
Edward b: OCT 1890 in Arkansas
Daniel W. b: JUN 1892 in Arkansas
Abner Bismark "Red" Vowell b: 19 AUG 1894 in Arkansas and
Charlotte C. b: JUN 1898 in Arkansas
Mart Vowell was an ordained minister, and the retired sheriff of Paragould. While sheriff he had several run ins with Lovejoy. Lovejoy was a trouble maker. Lovejoy would ride his horse on the walkways in town, fight, and bully people. Lovejoy had killed people, unsure how many. Lovejoy had a trick that he used to kill people. When engaged in a gunfight he would pretend to be hit, roll over onto his stomach, while hiding his gun underneath him. When the person would turn him over to see if he was dead he would shoot them. This also provided him with a self defense.
After Mart retired as sheriff, Lovejoy would stalk him, take shots at him from a distance, and threaten to kill him. One afternoon Mart was returning home from a church function with several children in his wagon. Lovejoy took a shot at him. Mart fired back and Lovejoy fell out pretending to be dead. Mart knew of his trick from when he had been sheriff. Instead of turning Lovejoy over he shot him twice in the back as he lay on the ground. Because Lovejoy had been shot in the back Mart could not claim self defense. Mart was tried by a jury made up of Lovejoy relatives and friends. The Lovejoy family was very influential. A group of about 20 people were on the way to Paragould from Little Rock to speak in Mart's defense, but it was too late. He was hung for first degree murder.
Inscription on his tombstone reads: "To live in the hearts we leave behind is not to die."
He was the brother of Robert W., Francis M., William R., Nancy E, Araminta, Littleton Melton, Hidie Catherine, Mathew Jackson, David Madison and Huston L.
He married his first wife, Mary Maggie Lillard, on the 24th of JAN 1865 in Weakley Co, Tennessee.
They had seven children:
James Marshall b: BET. 1866 - 1867
Mary Ella b: BET. 1869 - 1879
Alonzo Jefferson b: 13 NOV 1874
Martin Vanburen "Barley" b: 2 JAN 1877 in Texas
Essie Lee b: 1880
William W. b: 1883 and
Annie Lou
Mart married his second wife, Georgia Anna Jones Keller, on the 1st of NOV 1890 in Corning, Arkansas.
She had two sons from her first marriage with unknown Keller.
Mart and Georgia had four children:
Edward b: OCT 1890 in Arkansas
Daniel W. b: JUN 1892 in Arkansas
Abner Bismark "Red" Vowell b: 19 AUG 1894 in Arkansas and
Charlotte C. b: JUN 1898 in Arkansas
Mart Vowell was an ordained minister, and the retired sheriff of Paragould. While sheriff he had several run ins with Lovejoy. Lovejoy was a trouble maker. Lovejoy would ride his horse on the walkways in town, fight, and bully people. Lovejoy had killed people, unsure how many. Lovejoy had a trick that he used to kill people. When engaged in a gunfight he would pretend to be hit, roll over onto his stomach, while hiding his gun underneath him. When the person would turn him over to see if he was dead he would shoot them. This also provided him with a self defense.
After Mart retired as sheriff, Lovejoy would stalk him, take shots at him from a distance, and threaten to kill him. One afternoon Mart was returning home from a church function with several children in his wagon. Lovejoy took a shot at him. Mart fired back and Lovejoy fell out pretending to be dead. Mart knew of his trick from when he had been sheriff. Instead of turning Lovejoy over he shot him twice in the back as he lay on the ground. Because Lovejoy had been shot in the back Mart could not claim self defense. Mart was tried by a jury made up of Lovejoy relatives and friends. The Lovejoy family was very influential. A group of about 20 people were on the way to Paragould from Little Rock to speak in Mart's defense, but it was too late. He was hung for first degree murder.
Inscription on his tombstone reads: "To live in the hearts we leave behind is not to die."
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