immediately after the defeat of the "outlaw amnesty bill," as it was called, the brigands planned the execution of new and direful schemes, one of which involved the assassination of a respectable citizen of clay county.
the james boys concluded, for reasons known only to themselves, that mr. daniel askew was a member of the posse which made the attack on the samuels residence, and this belief was justification sufficient, in their estimation, for murdering that gentleman; but the plan of its execution was equally as dastardly as the casting of the hand-grenade blindly and savagely among the several members of dr. samuels' family. the circumstances of the assassination were as follows: mr. askew was an unpretentious farmer, living about five miles from liberty, in a neat frame house, but with no neighbors nearer than one mile. he had returned home from liberty, late in the afternoon of april 12th, 1875, and after eating supper took a bucket and went to the spring, which was fifty yards from the house, after water. this was about eight o'clock in the evening, but the moon was shining brightly and objects were plainly discernible. he returned from the spring with the water and sat the bucket upon a shelf on the porch, after which he proceeded to take a drink, but as he was in the act of lifting the cup to his mouth, three[pg 80] sharp shots rang out upon the still air and mr. askew plunged forward on his face dead, the three bullets having taken fatal effect upon his person, one entering the brain and the two others reaching vital spots in his body.
at the sound of the shots and the heavy fall on the porch, mr. askew's wife and daughter rushed out of the house just in time to see three men steal out from behind the cover of a large woodpile in front of the porch, and regain their horses and ride swiftly away. the three assassins were undoubtedly jesse and frank james and clell miller, for within an hour after the murder these three met a gentleman upon the highway and informed him of mr. askew's fate, and told him the murder was in consequence of the acts of pinkerton's detectives.
this cowardly act, by which a peaceable citizen had been made to surrender up his life for the sake of a savage revenge, destroyed again every spark of sympathy for the desperadoes, and the determination for their capture was renewed. armed posses of clay county citizens set out in search of the assassins, but the pursuit was in vain, and after a week of earnest effort, finding no trace of the brigands, the party returned to their homes, each one recking how soon his turn might come to add to the gory record of the remorseless freebooters.
