There was a man by the name of W. H. McCowen, who had been a Confederate colonel, living in West Plains. He was known to be a very dangerous man when drinking and was an uncompromising rebel. The writer then resided in the house south of the town spring, known as the West Plains House, and the street ran within a few feet of the gate, which opened into a hall between the house and kitchen. There was a saloon about forty yards west of the house, on the same street, run by a man by the name of Jackson, another uncompromising rebel. This saloon appeared to be headquarters for these would-be assassins. I had just brought my horse from the stable and tied him by the gate, with the intention of going to my farm. Mrs. Lasater, who still resides in West Plains, had just come over to my house and was there at the time of the shooting. Mrs. McCowen, the wife of Col. McCowen, came to my house that morning, came in the back way, and appeared to be very much excited, and informed me that certain men were going to assassinate me that morning; that to her knowledge they had been plotting for three days. They had been using every inducement, making her husband drunk and trying to work him into it. She had shut him up and locked the doors to keep them away from her husband, but they would raise the windows and come in. She had done all she could to keep her husband out of it, and she thought it was her duty to come and let me know that they had agreed to shoot me that morning. I thanked her for the information and said to her that I would ever be grateful to her. I further said to her that I did not want to hurt the colonel or any other person, but they must not come to my house on that kind of business if they didn't want to get hurt. In a few moments she returned home, going around the back way.
I at once sent to S. P. Woodworth, a merchant who resided in West Plains and a strong Union man, for his double-barrelled shotgun. I had two good navy pistols. He sent me his gun and said it was well loaded with buckshot and was sure to fire. I advised the women, if they came, to keep cool and go into the back room so they would be out of danger. I raised the two front windows of the sitting-room about two or three inches, so I could shoot under them, keeping a close watch on the saloon. In about thirty minutes after Mrs. McCowen left, I saw two of the men leave the saloon and come in the direction of my house. They came to the gate, opened it and stepped onto the porch. My wife went to the door and begged them to leave. One of the men said that he wanted to see the colonel. He was armed with two first-class pistols, one of the pistols belonging to Col. McCowen. I cocked both barrels of my shotgun and stepped out on the porch with my gun presented and ordered him to turn around and leave my premises in one minute. Just at that moment my youngest daughter, now the wife of Mr. Green, sprang forward and caught my gun. I said to her; "For God's sake keep away from me." But she stood by my side. During this time he had passed outside of the gate and had gotten behind a tree; had his pistol cocked and presented at me and in a moment I had him covered with my shotgun. He would attempt to get sight on me and would dodge his head back behind the tree. Not knowing where the other man was, I watched his head and when he attempted to take sight I fired at his head; at the crack of the gun he fell. Then six or seven men commenced jumping out at the door of the saloon. The first thing I thought of was, "They will pretend to arrest me and give the mob a chance to shoot me after I am disarmed." I sprang on my horse and rode east and in a few moments five or six men came to my door and asked my wife who shot first. She ordered them to leave the house. They soon found that one of the would-be assassins was shot. On an examination it was found that one of the shot had struck him in the right side of the forehead, the right side of the brim of his hat was torn into fragments and the tree had caught a part of the load. The tree is still standing in the yard. Immediately afterward I sent them word that they had again opened the ball and I was ready to fight it out. I never saw men begin to plead for peace as hard in my life. The sheriff and others would come to me and say: "Colonel, why didn't you shoot some of those fellows long ago? That is just what they needed." I asked them why they hadn't arrested some of the assassins long ago.
When the Union men learned that an attempt had been made by these would-be assassins to assassinate me about two hundred and fifty of them headed by such men as J. F. Reiley, Esau Fox, Andrew V. Tabor, David B. Nicholass, John B. Nicholass, Josiah Carico, Chas. Long, J. Youngblood, and Geo. Youngblood rode into town well armed and publicly notified these assassins and those who were aiding and abetting them, that if another attempt was made to assassinate Colonel Monks, or if they did assassinate him it would take ten of their leaders to pay the debt and they knew just who they were. On an investigation, it was proven that on the night before they attempted the assassination about ten or twelve of these would-be assassins met together in the town of West Plains, and one of their leaders set out among other causes why Colonel Monks would have to be killed; that they had tried to scare him away from the country but found they couldn't scare him and the only way to keep the republican party from going into power again in this county was to kill Colonel Monks. Some of the men that were present were hired to do the shooting next morning and paid the money. They drank a health to each other on the death of Colonel Monks next morning. The man who advised and instructed them and paid them a part of the money is still living in Howell county. This failure in their attempt to assassinate me and the action taken by the loyal men appeared to put a quietus on their idea of assassination; if they ever made any further effort the writer never learned about it. They had been defeated in every attempt made either to slander or murder me.
I want to say here that I shall ever hold sacred the memory of Mrs. McCowen, for I owe to her the preservation of my life, and may God's blessing ever follow her and rest upon her.
The bushwhackers and the Kuklux element were not yet satisfied and had but one way to vent their spleen against me. That was to get right down to hard lying. Having failed to prove a single one of their charges against me in the courts they were bent on injuring me and damaging my character. With no regard for the truth they would go around secretly and tell strangers who knew nothing about me that I was a murderer and a thief. The better element among those who had been Confederates declared openly that these statements were false from beginning to end. Many of them have said that I was an honest man, and that if any one wished to employ an honest lawyer Monks was the man to go to, for no one could buy him.
Sometimes I would be informed that a late Confederate would say: "I believe Col. Monks was a good man and an honest one. But I dislike him because he fought us so hard during the war." I would reply: "Tell him that I couldn't please them in any way at the commencement of the war; I didn't want to take up arms. I was an unconditional Union man, and they, the rebels, came to my home and arrested me, took me into their command and swore that I should fight; that they would make me fight and attempted to force me into the Confederate lines, and when I found that nothing else would do them but to fight, and I went to fighting, then they turn about and curse me for fighting."
Again I would be informed that some of those persons, who had no regard for the truth, would secretly charge me with being a murderer. In reply I would inform them that every part of the country where I had performed military service was now in the control of the Democratic party and there was no limitation to the crime of murder.