Cassville History, Part Three: The Last Judicial Hanging in Barry County
September 9, 2020
Edward Clum was hung from makeshift gallows erected on the D.B. Pharis Property, in Cassville, on April 15th, 1887
Sheila Harris
I ran across the above photo of the hanging of Edward Clum in a 1967 issue of The Barry County Advertiser, after reading of the 1887 incident in Senator Emory Melton’s book, The First 150 Years in Cassville. To me, this photo is chilling, not only because somebody saw fit to record the deed in a photo, but also because throngs of people showed up to witness it. It goes to show we’re a blood-thirsty lot. I doubt we’ve changed.
- SH
Edward Clum (spelled a variety of ways in historical accounts) was the only person legally hung in Barry County, a result of murdering 47-year-old John J. White and his 17-year-old girl friend, Ellen Bowe, as they sat overlooking Capps Creek. A double-barrelled shotgun was used for the purpose.
According to history, White, Clum and Bowe were not strangers to each other, but had known each other in New York State prior to moving to southwest Missouri in 1885. At the time, Clum’s wife was still alive.
When Clum made a return trip to New York, his wife (name unknown) began keeping company with White, going so far as to pose as his wife. Clum came back to Missouri to retrieve her, with only partial success. She returned with him as far as Lebanon, where she remained with Clum’s sister while Clum went on to New York. After he left, his wife returned to Capp’s Creek and moved in with White.
However, before Clum could return to Missouri, she died from an illness, at the hands (Clum suspected) of White, who had given her a white powdery substance.
When Clum arrived in Missouri, he began keeping company with Ellen Bowe, who was also seeing John White. According to historical accounts, Clum avenged his wife’s death by killing both White and Bowe. He then wrapped their bodies in blankets and buried them.
After confessing to the murder, Clum requested his body be buried in the same manner after his own expected execution.
Clum had the dubious honor of being the first and last victim of a legal hanging in Barry County. He was also the first prisoner in the new jail added as a third floor in 1885 to the 1858 brick courthouse.
Thirty-nine-year-old Newton L. Hailey had been appointed sheriff only four months prior to the hanging and was left to make arrangements for the carriage of justice.
D.B. Pharis, a Cassville landowner, had property just southwest of the city limits which was appropriated for the placement of the gallows.
According to Goodspeed’s 1888 History of Barry County, the site was located 200 yards southwest of the courthouse. Senator Melton’s account places it in the alley which extends south from High Street, between Third and Second Streets. Another account indicated the site was located on the lot behind Kenneth Johnston’s house on W. First Street. Since I’m not sure of where the Johnston home was, it’s possible both Senator Melton’s and the latter descriptions are both of the same location.
Whereever the precise location of the hanging took place, it’s said that throngs of people showed up to witness it, as many as 10,000, some reporters indicated. Half of spectators, it was estimated, were women and children. Families brought horses and wagons into town and young men found perches in tree tops in order to watch the proceedings unfold.
It was noted by one Barry County spectator that vendors hawked peanuts which were eagerly purchased and eaten by onlookers.
Clum, it is said, showed no fear, but openly acknowledged his deed and the fact that justice was being served.
After his death, his body was wrapped in a blanket, per his request, and interred in Oak Hill Cemetery in an unmarked grave, next to the body of George Moore, who died at the hands of a lynch mob, after the murder of Jack and Cordelia Carney, young storekeepers in Shell Knob, in 1869.
I ran across the above photo of the hanging of Edward Clum in a 1967 issue of The Barry County Advertiser, after reading of the 1887 incident in Senator Emory Melton’s book, The First 150 Years in Cassville. To me, this photo is chilling, not only because somebody saw fit to record the deed in a photo, but also because throngs of people showed up to witness it. It goes to show we’re a blood-thirsty lot. I doubt we’ve changed.
- SH
Edward Clum (spelled a variety of ways in historical accounts) was the only person legally hung in Barry County, a result of murdering 47-year-old John J. White and his 17-year-old girl friend, Ellen Bowe, as they sat overlooking Capps Creek. A double-barrelled shotgun was used for the purpose.
According to history, White, Clum and Bowe were not strangers to each other, but had known each other in New York State prior to moving to southwest Missouri in 1885. At the time, Clum’s wife was still alive.
When Clum made a return trip to New York, his wife (name unknown) began keeping company with White, going so far as to pose as his wife. Clum came back to Missouri to retrieve her, with only partial success. She returned with him as far as Lebanon, where she remained with Clum’s sister while Clum went on to New York. After he left, his wife returned to Capp’s Creek and moved in with White.
However, before Clum could return to Missouri, she died from an illness, at the hands (Clum suspected) of White, who had given her a white powdery substance.
When Clum arrived in Missouri, he began keeping company with Ellen Bowe, who was also seeing John White. According to historical accounts, Clum avenged his wife’s death by killing both White and Bowe. He then wrapped their bodies in blankets and buried them.
After confessing to the murder, Clum requested his body be buried in the same manner after his own expected execution.
Clum had the dubious honor of being the first and last victim of a legal hanging in Barry County. He was also the first prisoner in the new jail added as a third floor in 1885 to the 1858 brick courthouse.
Thirty-nine-year-old Newton L. Hailey had been appointed sheriff only four months prior to the hanging and was left to make arrangements for the carriage of justice.
D.B. Pharis, a Cassville landowner, had property just southwest of the city limits which was appropriated for the placement of the gallows.
According to Goodspeed’s 1888 History of Barry County, the site was located 200 yards southwest of the courthouse. Senator Melton’s account places it in the alley which extends south from High Street, between Third and Second Streets. Another account indicated the site was located on the lot behind Kenneth Johnston’s house on W. First Street. Since I’m not sure of where the Johnston home was, it’s possible both Senator Melton’s and the latter descriptions are both of the same location.
Whereever the precise location of the hanging took place, it’s said that throngs of people showed up to witness it, as many as 10,000, some reporters indicated. Half of spectators, it was estimated, were women and children. Families brought horses and wagons into town and young men found perches in tree tops in order to watch the proceedings unfold.
It was noted by one Barry County spectator that vendors hawked peanuts which were eagerly purchased and eaten by onlookers.
Clum, it is said, showed no fear, but openly acknowledged his deed and the fact that justice was being served.
After his death, his body was wrapped in a blanket, per his request, and interred in Oak Hill Cemetery in an unmarked grave, next to the body of George Moore, who died at the hands of a lynch mob, after the murder of Jack and Cordelia Carney, young storekeepers in Shell Knob, in 1869.
The Cassville alley, shown above, was the approximate site where Clum was hung.
