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- Well our family history contains stories about a Benjamin Franklin Clark, Jr. commiting a murder when he was a very young teen ager. Through years of research and piecing together parts of history provided by various family members, here is what has been determined:
This Benjamin Franklin Clark, Jr. had a sister named Ann/Anne Clark. The story goes that she had married a man named Edwards and they had a baby. Further, Benjamin Franklin was visiting his sister and brother- in-law, and got into an argument with the brother-in-law. The argument developed into a full blown fight and Benjamin killed this Edwards brother-in-law with a knife. Stan's relatives describe the fight in quite vivid details saying that "his guts spilled out into the baby's crib." This murder is believed to have taken place shortly after 1890.
The prison records of Benjamin F. Clark, Jr.after he was convicted of manslaughter in Coryell Co., Texas. My friend at the State Archives graciously did a lookup and provided the information from the fragile records.
It is quite strange that young Benjamin was sent to the Prison Facility in Rusk, Cherokee Co., Texas, where his cousin Isom Taylor Anderson was also serving time for stealing a horse and buggy in Coryell Co. about the same time. This Isom Taylor Anderson was the son of Martha Jane (Clark) Williams-Anderson-Bourland. In looking at the Index for the 1900 census of Cherokee Co., Isom Taylor Anderson is not listed. In reviewing the inmates of the Prison Facility there in Cherokee Co., he is listed on page 93, line 60 of that census. I can find no reason as to why he is not listed on the index.
Here is an analysis of the events that took place after Benjamin Franklin Clark, Jr. was found guilty of manslaughter.
Young Benjamin F. Clark, Jr., was transferred to the State of Texas Prison facility in Rusk, Texas, in Cherokee County, where he was confined. This is in deep east Texas , a short distance from the
Louisiana and Arkansas border. The records of the State of Texas indicate that he was received in that facility on August 20, 1894. He was given the identification as inmate #11187. In the records that record his admission, it is indicated that he is 17 years old, dark complexion, gray eyes, dark hair and wears a No. 8 shoe. These records further reflect that he is not married, does not use tobacco,
temperate in habits, fair education, two years of school, able to read, able to write, born in 1876 in Texas, had a small mole on right side of face, his father born in Missouri, his mother born in Tennessee, occupation of laborer, convicted of Manslaughter on August 9, and was sentenced to 5 years confinement. His residence was listed as Patton, Coryell Co., Texas. (This is somewhat different from the records presented in the trial that indicate that his father, Benjamin F. Clark, Sr., lived in McLennan County. His residence of Patton in Coryell Co. could only be true if he did not live with his parents in McLennan Co. at the time the murder took place.) These records further indicate that the expiration of his sentence was to be August 9, 1899. Young Benjamin did not serve his full five-year term because he was discharged on December 11, 1898. This was about nine months before the full 5-year term would have required. In looking at the records of all other prisoners on the same page as young Benjamin, it indicates that all of these men were released before their full term of confinement was met. Most of them were released about six to ten months early.
There is no indication as to why he was released from the facility early, but it could have been based on the amount of time he spent in the Coryell Co. jail during and preceding his trial, (approximately 14 months). The records do indicate that on two different occasions he was assigned to work details outside the prison facility building railroads in the east Texas area. These work details were for the T. & S. E. Railroad. The records further indicate that he was punished on one occasion for misconduct in line on January 18, 1895. His punishment was "One Night - D. C." I do not know what this "One Night - D. C." stands for.
I would suspect that young Benjamin decided to begin using the name Frank J. Clark after he was released from prison. Someone in our family research group has stated that his Death Certificate issued in California gives his name as Frank J. Clark and also gives his father's name as Frank J. Clark. Certainly, these names are incorrect.
on the trial of Benjamin Franklin Clark, Jr. Not much luck. I have looked at available newspaper microfilm from Belton, Temple, Killeen, Hamilton, Georgetown, Lampasas, Burnet, Dallas, Austin and even in Galveston. During the late 1890's there was a newspaper in Galveston, the Galveston Daily News, that re-printed many stories from other newspapers in the state. During all of this research I found only three mentions of the event concerning Clark/Edwards. Two of those items were in the Dallas Morning News on June 14, 1983. Both items were printed on the same day. One was announcing the arrest of Henry Clark in Coryell Co. and the other was announcing the arrest of Frank Clark in Burnet Co. No mention at all of Martha "Matt" Clark. Those articles were as follows:
Coryell Tragedy
Fight between Brothers-in-Law Results in the Death of One
Gatesville, Coryell Co., Tex., June 14 --
Henry and Frank Clark, charged with shooting and killing George Edwards, near Pidcoke, in the western portion of this county on last Saturday evening, are now in prison. The former was arrested and jailed here last Monday night. Sheriff Hammack received a telegram this morning from the sheriff of Burnet county announcing the capture of Frank Clark, who is now in jail at Burnet. Sheriff Hammack leaves for Burnet this evening to receive the prisoner. The particulars were not learned further than the trouble arose out of some family affair. The parties were related as brothers-in-law. (This article included the word "shooting". I would bet that this word is wrong.)
Charged with Killing
Burnet, Burnet Co., Tex., June 14 --
Frank Clark, who is charged with killing his brother-in-law, Dick Edwards, at Pidcock [sic] ranch in Coryell county last Saturday was arrested by the sheriff of this county at the house of another brother-in-law near Taylor in this county and lodged in jail here last evening.
The third article that I found was in the Galveston Daily News in August of 1894. That article was very short and stated that Frank Clark had been convicted of manslaughter and was sentenced to five years in the Penitentiary. Nothing more. That does bring about a question. The original indictment was murder and not manslaughter. We still do not know if the original indictment was changed sometime during the legal process or the jury thought it was manslaughter rather than murder. We probably will never know. There is still one additional thing that I will continue to research. Remember that Martha "Matt" Clark was actually arrested two separate times. She was first arrested in July, 1893, but was released August 12, 1893. She was arrested again on January 22, 1894 and was released on January 27, 1894. The reason for her release was given as "Acquitted". From the use of that particular word, I feel that a trial was conducted. I plan to find out. Will let you know.
I am at the point where I am going to give it a rest for a while then will probably do addition research. During the research done in the last few months, I have found some startling facts and relationships. Bear with me while I try to explain some of this.
First, I found the Death Certificate of young Benjamin Franklin Clark, Jr.. He died in Alameda, California on August 21, 1950. The name on that Death Certificate was Frank Jackson Clark. The name of his father was also given as Frank Jackson Clark. I guess he did informally change his name and also changed his father's name.
While recently doing other research on my Greer family from Burnet Co., I made contact with a lady in Tennessee who was related to the Perry family from Burnet/Williamson Co., Texas. During the course of our e-mail exchanges, she learned about this Clark/Edwards event. I sent her a copy of the write-up and about three days later I got a call from another lady in Florida who descended through German Edwards, the brother of our George Edwards. She was so excited she could hardly speak. This lady had never heard of this event.
One thing lead to another and more research. Here is more information I found about the families.
During the very early 1850's, this whole area of central Texas was receiving settlers by the hundreds. This section of Williamson/Burnet/Bell/Coryell counties was the early home of the Clark, Edwards, Stewart, Copeland, Greer, Perry and Stephens families. All of these families arrived in the area about 1850, or very shortly thereafter, and each family had a large number of children. As would be expected, there were marriages between these family members for the next forty years. Here is what I have found.
In the legal papers related to the murder, Thel Stephens was listed as a witness to the murder. His real name was Serious O'Thell Stephens. He was a nephew of George Edwards and was only visiting the home that day of the murder. George Edwards' older sister named Ann Elizabeth Edwards had married Quinton Stephens and Thel was their son. Thel and his wife Dixie are buried in the Toliver Cemetery, Lamkin, Texas, on the Hamilton and Comanche County Line. (Remember I lived and went to school at Hamilton.) Ann Elizabeth and Quinton Stephens lived in Hamilton for many years and are buried in the Gentry's Mill Cemetery in Hamilton Co. It is a beautiful old cemetery. One of my sisters is buried there.
Another daughter of Quinton Stephens and Ann Elizabeth Edwards was named Pernie Stephens. Pernie married John Thomas Donahoo and they were the grand parents of a young man named Billy Charles Donahoo. I went to high school with Billy Charles in Hamilton during the late 1940's & early 1950's. Never knew anything about the family. Pernie and John Thomas Donahoo are both buried at Gentry's Mill also.
In the legal papers related to the trial, it was stated that Thel Stephens had gone to the home of Boling Perry, in Burnet Co., shortly after the murder and told Boling Perry and Boling Americus Perry, his son, that George Edwards was the aggressor in the fight. Now here it is, George Edwards' mother was named Mary Frances (Perry) Edwards. She was actually Boling Perry's sister and he was going to testify against her son. (Another family tie in.) Here is more. Boling Perry's wife was named Sarah Melissa Stewart. The Stewart and the Clark families had several marriages between family members as well as the Perry, Copeland and Greer families. Another tie in. Isom Ann Clark's sister named Margaret Lenora Clark was married to William Kimbrough Perry, another son of Boling and Sarah (Stewart) Perry. William K. Perry was to also testify against his cousin, George Edwards.
My great grandfather named Isom Jackson Clark had married Margaret Greer. Margaret was the daughter of James Greer and Amanda Stewart. Amanda was the daughter of John Gilbert Stewart and Margaret Copeland. Isom Jackson Clark was going to testify on behalf of his nephew, Benjamin Franklin Clark, Jr.
A bit of new information on the Trial of B. F. Clark, Jr. :
Henry Clark, Ms. "Matt" Clark and Benjamin Jr. were all originally arrested and charged with murder. Ms. Matt Clark was released from jail early and was arrested again in January of 1894. On January 25, 1894, her trial was conducted and Matt was found "Not Guilty". She was released from jail for a second time. Her case was over.
On July 25, 1894, the District Attorney dropped all charges against Henry Clark and he was "Discharged". I believe that he had been arrested for a second time and was in jail at that time.
That left only young Benjamin to stand trial for the murder of George Edwards. When he was found guilty of manslaughter and not murder, he was sentenced to five years of confinement.
First, remember that the District Attorney of Coryell Co. wanted to hold a trial immediately after Frank, "Matt" and Henry were arrested. There was a delay in jury selection and also the defense attorneys wanted to hold separate trials for each of the defendants. After much wrangling by the attorneys for both sides, an agreement was reached to separate the trials and that "Ms. Matt" Clark should be triad first, Henry Clark was to be tried second and Frank Clark was to be tried third.
I will be posting a copy of a document that I have titled
Matt-1.jpg. That document is the approval of the Court to separate Matt's trial from the other two cases. Remember that this agreement was reached by the attorneys during the latter part of 1893 but was never approved by the court. This document spells out that agreement previously reached and is approved by the Court on January 22, 1894.
Next I will post a copy of Court order bringing this case to trial on January 25, 1894, three days after the Court approved the separation of her case. That document is titled Matt-2.jpg. That document contains her "Not Guilty" plea, identifies the Foreman of the Jury as R. J. Glass, but does not identify the other eleven jurors. The latter part of that document states:
"We the Jury find the defendant not guilty"
R. J. Glass
Foreman
The document further states:-----"Ms. Matt Clark be immediately discharged from all further liabilities upon the charge-------and that she go hence without delay." It seems quite strange but, she was acquitted on January 25th, but was not released from Jail until January 27, 1894
Next, lets talk about Henry Clark. Henry was free from the Coryell Co. Jail on $1,000 Bond. The documents that I have do not state who put up that bond, but someone had to do so for him to be released. He spent about a month in jail before he was released on bond. He was next to be tried. In researching the documents related to him, he had two witnesses that were going to testify that he had nothing to do with the conflict that resulted in the death of George Edwards. Strange as it may seem, those two witnesses were from Milam County and Williamson Co. and were not related to anyone in this case. I would very strongly suspect that their percieved testimony resulted in the District Attorney withdrawing the charges against Henry. I will be posting a document titled Henry-1.jpg, which is dated July 25, 1894. This is some seven months after Matt was found not guilty. The records do not give any reason for this delay. That document states "------District Attorney and moves the Court to dismiss this criminal action against the defendant, Henry Clark.-----"
In reading this document, I feel that there was a mistake in the preparation and writing. In reading the last line of the dismissal, it states "-----same is hereby dismissed as to the defendant Frank Clark and that he be discharged." In writing that last line, I believe the name of Frank Clark was mistakenly written instead of the name Henry Clark. Frank Clark was never released from anything in the case.
Finally, we get to the case against Frank. As we all know, he was found guilty of Manslaughter rather than murder as originally charged. I do not know if anyone realizes it or not, but during those days in Texas, a person over seventeen years old convicted of murder in the first degree was sentenced to either death or life in prison. Just those two, no other option. That is why the legal team presented variable proof by multiple witnesses that Frank was less than 17 years old in the event he was convicted of murder. This last posting is titled Frank-1.jpg. It is an actual copy of the Jury Verdict signed by C. McGinley, Foreman of the Jury.
Some time within the next several days I will make another posting related to this trial. It is a transcription of the Charge to the Jury made by the presiding judge after the witnesses had been heard and both sides rested their case. There are some items in that charge that mekes me think that Thel Stephens may have been involved in the incident as a participant rather than just a witness. Also it mentions Anna Edwards, Georges wife.
You may recall that I got copies of this case many months ago. For several months I have been trying to transcribe those charges given by the Judge. I have not mentioned it before because I was not sure I could ever read the document. It is the worst case of handwriting I have ever seen. Finally, I think I have completed that task. While the charges are short in nature, it has taken me more time than any other transcription I have done.
I have been looking for some more information on B. F. Clark, Jr. after he was released. I have been looking in the North Eastern Counties of Texas. I found him living in or near Delta County on December 18, 1910. On that date he married Minnie Jones in Delta County. That marriage was recorded in Book 6, pp. 284. Minnie was the daughter of James B. Jones. The census of 1910 lists James Jones and all of his family. That census lists the entire family as living on the poor farm. Minnie was listed as being born in Virginia in 1893. From the birth years of the children, it would appear that the family came to Texas in 1902-1905.
The 1920 census of San Saba County has a listing for a Frank J. Clark. (Remember that on his Death Certificate, Benjamin is listed as Frank Jackson Clark, Jr. (His father is also listed as Frank Jackson Clark, Sr., on that Death Certificate). The age of this Frank J. Clark in San Saba is about right for him and the age for Minnie, or Annie is very close to right if I am reading them correctly. The place of birth of their parents is certainly not correct. That is if we can believe other census records. Anyway, the spelling of this Minnie is somewhat illegible but you can read "?nnie". It could possibly be Annie. The couple had a son named James. Does anyone know if B. F, Jr. had a son named James when he went to California? he more I look at these records, the more I think this is probably another Clark couple.
I did more research in Delta County and then found where Minnie Clark married H. H. Baker on March 8, 1925. That marriage is recorded in Book 9, pp 97. It looks like B. F. and Minnie got a divorce. (The quickest way to a Divorce is by requesting a Marriage License!) On the 1930 census of Hopkins Co., Texas, just a short distance from Delta Co., we find H. H. Baker and his family. His wife is listed as (it looks like a Dia). Her age is exactly right for Minnie that had married Benjamin back in1910. H. H. is quite a bit older than Minnie. He is 53 and she is 37. The record reflects that he had been married for 30 years and she had been married for 16 years. This means that he had been married before he married Minnie. Her total of 16 years of marriage would have been 5 years married to H.H., (1925 to 1930), and 11 years to Benjamin, (1910 through 1921). This was her 16 years of marriage. From these numbers, we can deduce that Benjamin and Minnie got divorced sometime in 1921. Probably in Delta County. This is about all of the additional information I found on B. F. Jr., or as he called himself, Frank Jackson Clark, Jr. I am still looking. -Keith
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1876 - 1950 (74 years)
