The Outlaws of Cave-in-Rock / Historical Accounts of the Famous Highwaymen and River Pirates

by Otto A. Rothert

Ford was suspected to be the leader, adviser, and protector of the so-called Ford’s Ferry band, but whether or not he was actually all these was never positively proved. Had his wife lived a little longer, she in all probability, would have carried out his suggestion to erect a monument over his grave. If so, the inscription would have followed, more or less, the lines prepared by him as his son William’s epitaph. There would have been some truth in words to the effect that James Ford had not only rendered much assistance to widows and orphans, but also to the poor and destitute, and that his “firmness caused his enemies to tremble.” As to how he was “appresst while living” it is impossible to determine now. That he was “much slandered since dead” is true, judging from some of the tales told about him even to this day.

One of these improbable stories is that Ford punished a slave by placing the man’s head in a vise and while it was thus fastened cut off the negro’s ears and pulled out his teeth.

Another is to the effect that after the Ford’s Ferry men had murdered and robbed a flatboatman they learned from papers in his pocket that his name was Simmons. They buried their victim on the hill near the Ferry. Soon thereafter it was noticed that many persimmon sprouts began to shoot up out of the grave and the ground near by. Although grubbed out a number of times they reappeared each succeeding spring. Ford, seeing that the matter was viewed as an evil omen and working on the superstition of some of his men, ordered the remains taken up and ceremoniously lowered into the river below Cave-in-Rock, “where,” as one man expressed it, “Simmons couldn’t sprout any more.” But the sprouts continued to sprout on the hill overlooking Ford’s Ferry and today “the old ‘simmons thicket” helps perpetuate this old tale.[37]

There is an absurd but widespread tradition that James Ford had acquired, through his “frolics at the ferry,” a vast fortune consisting of “dozens of farms, hundreds of slaves, and barrels of money” and that in his will he not only named every man connected with the robber band, but gave each a slave or mule. This story, like many of the others, is absolutely without foundation. His will, recorded August 5, 1833, indicates that he was not a man of more than ordinary wealth. It was written in his own hand. It contains many errors in composition and spelling and, like many other early documents, is sparsely punctuated. It is nevertheless evidence that his practical education was far above most of his contemporaries, though his scholastic training was slight. His penmanship was good, as can be seen by his signature here reproduced.[38]

Jas. Ford

Tradition has it that Ford had been buried only a few days when the report reached Ford’s Ferry that Shouse, Mulligan, and Stevenson, who were accused of having killed Simpson, had been overtaken. The three had started for Texas, but were arrested in Arkansas. Shortly after the guards and their charges started on their return the captives tried to escape. Each prisoner was then placed astride a horse and his feet tied under the animal. In due time they were landed in the jail at Equality, Illinois, then the county seat of Gallatin County.[39]

The court records show that the Gallatin County grand jury at its September term, 1833, indicted Shouse for the murder of Simpson, with Mulligan and Stevenson named as accessories to the crime. The original indictment is still preserved. The greater part of the document is a repetition of old and verbose legal phraseology, reciting what is summed up in the following extracts:

“That ... not having the fear of God before their eyes, but being moved and seduced by the instigations of the Devil on the thirtieth day of June ... with force and arms ... in and upon one Vincent B. Simpson, in (violation of) the peace of God and of the people of the said State, feloniously, wilfully, and of their malice aforethought, did make an assault, and that the said Henry C. Shouse, with a certain gun called a rifle, of the value of ten dollars, then and there charged with gun powder and a leaden bullet ... did shoot off and discharging said rifle gun, so loaded ... did wound the said Vincent in and upon the left side of the back bone near the shoulder blade, inflicting a mortal wound in and through the body ... of which said mortal wound said Vincent did languish and languishing did live until the first day of July ... and of said mortal wound did die.... And that the said James Mulligan and the said William H. J. Stevenson, then and there, feloniously, wilfully, and of their malice aforethought, were present, aiding, helping, abetting, comforting, assisting, and maintaining the said Henry C. Shouse, the felony murder aforesaid to do and commit.”

A careful perusal of the court records and documents leads to the discovery of these facts: The case was called for trial a few days after the indictment had been found. Fifteen witnesses had been summoned; all were ready to give testimony for the state, but none for the defense. After considerable discussion by the attorneys, a change of venue to Pope County was granted, and the case was docketed for trial at Golconda in November. Beginning November 21, 1833, and continuing six days, Shouse’s attorneys, Fowler and Gatewood, made every effort to secure a postponement, claiming technical errors committed by the court. Failing in this, they presented the fact that Mulligan had died in jail and Stevenson had escaped, and on that ground succeeded in deferring the trial until the May term following. There is nothing to indicate the circumstances of the death of the one, nor the escape and disappearance of the other.