On May 30, 1885, a young man named Lincoln Sprole murdered Ben Clark and his eighteen-year-old son, Alex. The murderer and his victims worked as renters on the Sam Paul farm in Paul's Valley, Chickasaw Nation. Ben Clark had had a disagreement with Sprole about the watering of livestock on the property. On the day of the murders, the Clarks were returning from a trading excursion at White Bead Hill. Sproule hid in a thicket near the road. As the wagon approached, he shot Ben, the father, in the chest. He then pursued the fleeing son. Although he pled for his life, Sprole also shot him in the chest. Ben was dead within hours. His son survived for seventeen days. Deputy U.S. marshal John Williams eventually tracked down and arrested the suspect and brought him to Fort Smith. When the evidence was presented at trial, one newspaper commented: "It is only to be regretted that he has not two necks to break instead of one."[1] Judge Parker issued two death sentences to Sprole. He was hanged, just once, at Fort Smith on July 23, 1886.[2]
Notes
[1] Glenn Shirley, Law West of Fort Smith: A History of Frontier Justice in the Indian Territory, 1834-1896 (New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1957), 219.
[2] Indian Chieftain (Vinita, I.T.), May 6, 1886, 3; "Hangman Helped to Pave Statehoods [sic] Way," Oklahoma State Capital, April 12, 1908, 13.
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