THE LEGEND OF PETER K.

BEAM PART I
The murder of Peter K. Beam of Civil War times is a legend on Cedar Creek and throughout Scott County. I was a teenager there in the 30s when I first heard the story. Old and young gathered round when the subject arose, to listen, spellbound, all over again, how Peter K. Beam was shot while he worked in his garden, on that 27th day of July 1876, in the presence of his daughter Sarah Elmina Beam. The older children, William Beam, Rosie Beam, Lizzie Beam and John Beam were elsewhere at the time of the shooting. Retha Beam Krippen, grandniece of Peter K. Beam, relates the story this way. A man sent word to Peter K. that he would kill him the next time he saw him. Later this man was shot from ambush while driving his team and wagon across a stream. The mans wife was with him and claimed she saw Peter K. hiding in the bushes on the stream bank. Large boot tracks were found where the widow indicated but Peter K. wore small boots. It is not likely that he would have borrowed large boots to commit the crime; perhaps she was mistaken in her identity or for some other reason pointed the finger of guilt at him. At any rate she hired a man to kill Peter K. who was shot in the back in the presence of his young daughter while working in his garden. The child ran up to the killer as he sat on the hillside changing his shoes or boots and asked him why he killed her father. The man denied the deed and the child was not put on the witness stand at the request of her grandparents who explained that there had been enough killings. I believe the man went free. Mrs. Krippen relates another story about Peter K.: Peter K. kept losing his corn from his corn crib. He suspected his neighbor who pretended to be his friend. In order to confirm his suspicions he asked the neighbors help in setting a trap for the thief at one of two holes in the corncrib. This was done but later Peter K. switched the trap to the other hole in the corncrib. Early the next morning cries from the man caught in the trap revealed his friendly neighbor as the culprit. Peter K. was a man of few words. He listened silently to the mans claim of hunger then insisted the man share his breakfast. The man protested that he was no longer hungry but to no avail. Later Peter K. took him to the barn, filled a sack full of corn and gave it to him with the warning that if he ever caught him back there in his corncrib he would kill him. I feel sure if he had asked in the first place the corn would have been given to him. No more raids were made on the corn crib. A 3rd story Mrs. Krippen relates: When Peter K. as a Peace Officer had to deliver a prisoner to Fort Smith authorities for trial, he received a tip that an ambush had been set at a certain point where his prisoner was to be taken from him. Upon nearing that point Peter K. gave his prisoner a gun with which to help defend himself but warned the man to remember that he was his prisoner and was to return the gun when requested. No doubt, seeing that the element of surprise was missing, the gang did not attack; the prisoner returned the gun to Peter K. who delivered his prisoner to authorities at his destination.

These stories, said Mrs. Krippen, were told to my father during the twenties by Mr. Pettit of Black Fork and Mr. T. A. Castleberry of Fort Smith. I feel that Peter K. must have been a just man, full of courage, loyal to his friends, but not the kind of man you would want to anger. I am sure, says Mrs. Krippen, he must have made a great many enemies in trying to uphold the law. The murder of Peter K. Beam was not the only killing that occurred in Scott County in those times; more than 30 murders took place in the time san known as the WALDRON WAR. Part of the unrest stemmed from the appointment of Nat A. Floyd as sheriff under the Hadley Administration. Floyds unpopularity, as a Northerner, became a point of contention and the violence which ensued resulted in his leaving the county. A plot to kill Floyd was revealed by Peter K., who before a grand jury refused to divulge his source of information, an action which may have led to his death. A man by the name of Jeff Jones(wanted poster says Jack Jones), brother of John Jackson was pin-pointed as the murderer of Peter K., but was never convicted, and could not be found locally. When involvement of Jones with many of the murders became accepted fact, and Jones finally was located near Ft. Smith, he refused to testify because protection from the governor was not forthcoming. Some Scott County officials and even physicians were among the suspects in the murder. Peter K. blamed the death of his daughter Mattie A. Beam in 1868 on faulty medical practice of a physician who was active politically. The instrument of her death may well have been the hypodermic needle which was first made its appearance on a large scale during the Civil War. The invention of the hollow needle in 1844 was followed by the invention of the syringe with which to operate it in 1855. These medical innovations placed the needle in the hands of physicians ill-trained to use it. The work of Louis Pasteur and his germ theory were not accepted fact until 1874. Unwise use of the needle in inexperienced hands can cause death today air bubble forced into the bloodstream, unrefrigerated serum, dirty needles. Malpractice suits in those years were unheard of, medical service so valued, so that public murmuring, if any, were hushed up and forgotten. Whatever the case, Peter K. blamed the physician publicly for his daughters death in 1868. The aforesaid physicians political zeal led him to ally himself with the bushwhacker and in later life commented on deeds committed in their escapades. On one occasion, he related, he and his fellow-patriots cornered a victim, tied a rope around his neck and another around his feet; then having secured the ropes to the saddle horns, they rode off in different directions and pulled the man apart. Such were the atrocities of the times. Peter K. Beam, his first wife Martha J. Beam (1840), and daughter Martha A. Beam (1861) are buried in Sanders Cemetery Cedar Creek. As was the case in many of the 30 murders of that era, this one was never solved. More than a century later there is no headstone for Peter K. Beam.

PETER K. BEAM PART II

Peter K. Beam is listed twice in Scott County census reports 1860 in Tomlinson Township and again in 1870 in Parks Township with some differences. TOMLINSON TOWNSHIP (1860) Peter K. Beam 29 Carpenter SC Martha Beam (F) 15 AL W. M. Beam (M) 1 ARK HICKMAN TOWNSHIP (1860): W. A. Beam is listed in HICKMAN Township in the household of J. C. and Sarah S. Head of Georgia. W. A. Beam is shown as age 22, Carpenter, Ala. The relationship to the Head family is unknown. PARKS TOWNSHIP (1870): Household #17 Note Spelling Peter K. Beem age 31 ALA Frances E. Beem 25 TN Beem 13 ARK Rosia Beem 7 Eliz E. Beem 3 John H. (K) Beem 2/12 (2 of 12 months) Gravestones in the Sanders Cemetery, Cedar Creek, indicate Peter K. moved from Tomlinson shortly after 1860 census. The two grave markers, worn but still legible are of interest: Martha J. Beam, Wife of Peter K. Beam Died Oct.13, 1865, aged 25 y; 10m, 17 da Martha A. Beam, dau/o P.K. Beam, and M.J. Beam Died Oct. 4, 1868, aged 7 y; 6m; 15 da And Frances Beam had other children: Sarah Elmina Beam; and Baty Beam. His 2nd wife is said to have died soon after the murder of Peter K. and too is buried at Cedar Creek in the Sanders Cemetery; however, no gravestone for her is found. These graves are said to be the beginning of Sanders Cemetery. After Peter K. and Frances were dead, the children were taken by the Dutch Creek Millards and others, relatives of Frances E. Taylor Beam whose mother, Eliz. Millard (1825) md Henry Taylor (NC) of the Dooley settlement, but Elizabeth was deceased at the time of the murder so there was no mother in his household to deal with the needs of the grandchildren. 1. M. Beam, the eldest, was about 19 at his fathers death.

2. Rosia J. Beam was placed in home of John Millard and when 19 md. J.R. Taylor in 1882. 3. Elizabeth E. (Lizzie) Beam lived with Uncle Billy Millard and burned to death, age unknown. She is buried at Egypt Cemetery. 4. John Beam lived for years at Talihina; in preparation for a Beam Reunion he died of a strangulated hernia caused by heavy lifting in preparation for the reunion. 5. Sarah Elmina Beam (1872-1962) became the 2nd wife of Wiseman I. Hunt (1869-1936); he first md. C.C. Brothers 13 Dec. 1888 and had a daughter Angie Hunt. Wiseman Hunt was called WISE Hunt and since there were 2 Sarah Hunts, Sarah Elmina became known as Sarah Wise Hunt, or in short conversation SARAH WISE. ISSUE: by Wiseman Hunt: ISSUE OF: Wiseman I. Hunt by Sarah Elmina Beam a. James Agbert Hunt (12 July 1892) md. Tenny James, a daughter of Wm. Preston James and Elizabeth Hamm (1866) b. Dewey A. Hunt (d. young) c. Emma Hunt (d. young) d. Noma Hunt (1902) md. Victor Owens (1902-1969), son of Will Sanford Owens and Emma Wilson dau/o Jehu Wilson and Susan Jones Wilson of Dutch Creek. e. Willie Hunt (1900-1954) md. Ethel James dau/o George James and Sarah James f. Ira Pat Hunt (1906-1970) md. Mittie Morgan dau/o Frank Morgan and Sallie Hunt Morgan g. Alva Hunt md. James Lewis Millard (Jim), son of James Lewis Millard, Sr. 6. Baty Beam, youngest of Peter K. Beams children, was placed with Dr. Blakeney til grown; he then went to OK, then to MO where he worked for a well-to-do man. He d. in Springfield, MO.

Typed as written from the book: Scott County Arkansas, Gateway to the West, by O. Alden Smith.