It apparently came as no surprise to the editor of the Springfield (MO) Leader when George "Pea Ridge" Hayes killed Deputy Frank Keller on July 9, 1895, because the Leader headline the next day read, "Murder At Last." Not only had Hayes previously threatened Deputy Keller, he'd long had a reputation as a "malicious, dull fellow" who was considered insane by many but also very dangerous.
Hayes was born in Arkansas about 1868 and grew up in Benton County, Arkansas, near Pea Ridge. When he was still just a kid, he struck out on his own, traveling from town to town in northwest Arkansas and Southwest Missouri. Somewhere along the line, he picked up the nickname "Pea Ridge" because of the town in Arkansas where he was from.
In April 1888, a man named George Hayes (presumably Pea Ridge) was run out of Springfield as a vagrant. In early 1891, Hayes was convicted of assault with intent to kill in Lawrence County and sent to the state penitentiary for a two-year term. Pardoned by the governor after only nine months, Pea Ridge returned to southwest Missouri and resumed his "worthless, thieving" ways. In July of 1893, he was sent back to Jefferson City, this time on a grand larceny conviction in Jasper County. At some point in the early 1890s, he also spent time in the Aurora City Jail on a minor offense. During his incarceration, he set fire to the jail "but unfortunately was not roasted alive," according to the Leader. In addition, during the same time period, Hayes picked up a chair in a Springfield courtroom and attempted to assault a judge with it after the judge sentenced him to a short term in jail for a minor offense. He was prevented from carrying out the attack by the constables guarding him, however. According to the Leader, Springfield city officers had made numerous attempts to get Hayes to leave town, including arranging a bogus jailbreak for him, which he took advantage of, but instead of leaving town, he hung around and had to be re-arrested.
Pea Ridge was discharged from his second term in the state prison in November of 1894 after serving three-fourths of his sentence. Returning to the Springfield area, he promptly got into trouble again. In the spring of 1895, he was arrested for stealing a lawnmower and sentenced to 90 days in jail. Sometime in June, while on a work detail, he tried to escape by darting into a saloon, but Frank Keller, the deputy sheriff guarding him, rushed in after him. Hayes picked up a chair and attempted to assault the officer, but Keller subdued the prisoner by hitting him with his billy club. After being recaptured, Pea Ridge swore to kill Keller.
He got his chance on July 9, 1895, when he and a number of other prisoners were out working on a chain gang at a stone quarry on North Grant Street. When Keller leaned down to inspect some work the men were doing, Pea Ridge, who was carrying a pick, hit him on the head with the tool, knocking the officer unconscious and severely wounding him. Another guard, with the aid of one or more of the prisoners, was able to overpower the assailant before he could do additional damage.
Keller died just a few hours after being attacked, and Pea Ridge was charged with first-degree murder and thrown in the dungeon at the Springfield City Jail. When word of Hayes's murder of Keller spread throughout the Ozarks, stories of Pea Ridge's notoriety began filtering back to Springfield from other towns. A report from Eureka Springs, for instance, said that the chief of police at that place had once run Hayes out of town by whipping him with a cowhide.
At his trial later in 1895, Hayes's attorneys put up an insanity defense. Although most people agreed that Pea Ridge was crazy, most felt he still knew right from wrong and should be held accountable for his actions. The jury accordingly convicted him of second-degree murder, and he was sentenced to 99 years in prison. Hayes was received at the Jeff City prison in October 1895. He was transferred to the insane asylum at Fulton in 1901, and in 1904, the governor once again intervened on his behalf, granting him a pardon after he'd served less than nine years of his assessed 99-year sentence.
Recollecting Hayes in 1929, a Springfield Leader columnist recalled that Pea Ridge went back to Arkansas after being discharged from his third prison sentence and "all trace of him was long since lost." The columnist remembered Hayes as a "criminally inclined" nut who was "often in jail." According to the columnist, Hayes was saved from the gallows only because it was shown at his trial that he came from "a family of nuts" who had intermarried and were "all kin to each other." One story said his paternal grandparents were first cousins to each other and his maternal grandparents were also first cousins to each other. A variation on the story claimed all four grandparents were first cousins to each other. In any case, insanity was said to run in the family, although George was admittedly the worst of the lot.
The reason the name of Pea Ridge Hayes was called to the columnist's mind was the recent fame of Pea Ridge Day, a well-known baseball player of the time, who was known as much for his comical antics as for his playing ability. His nickname, like that of Hayes, came from his hometown in Arkansas.
2 comments:
I find your articles in general very interesting doubly so when they are about an event or location I'm familiar with. Since I live close to what would be N Grant if it was inside the city limits, I found the part about an quarry both interesting and perplexing. There is no current evidence of a quarry and, has far as I tell there as never been a quarry all that close to N Grant. Looking at a period map Grant stopped a block North of Kearney. With everything south platted into lots. However, there is an old quarry about 7 blocks east of Grant at the end of N Benton. Its just to the east of Doling park. Currently it is owned by a salvage yard and they are filling it in. Strange that if in fact that it is the quarry meant they didn't use Benton or even N Campbell as it is closer. It could be that what they are calling a quarry was actually a place to dig out creek gravel on the South Dry Sac which even now is a few miles outside the city limits. As late as the early 80's gravel was regularly removed from the creek.
Speaking of the Dry Sac a story about Valley Water mill, the creek, Fulbright Springs and Springfield City Water Company is an interesting story. Anyway thanks for all you do.
Glad to hear you enjoy my articles. I do not know about the exact location of the quarry, but the newspaper definitely indicates they were at work in a stone quarry on the Grant Street Road "about a mile north of the zoo park." Yes, the story of the Valley Water Mill, etc. sounds interesting. I might have to check into it.
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