"Noted McDonald County Desperado" Bill Matney

   In 1929, the Neosho Times remembered William "Bill" Matney as a "noted McDonald County desperado." A reminiscent account in the Springfield Press in 1930 recalled Matney, who'd been killed in 1919, as a "bad man" and "one of the notorious gunmen of McDonald County." But what do we really know about the man. Not much, as it turns out.
   Matney first drew widespread attention in the fall of 1888 when he was about 27 years old. On Saturday night, November 24, he was carousing in Southwest City when he got into a dispute with a man named Lee Loudermilk, a resident of nearby Indian Territory. Apparently a grudge had existed between the two for several months, and it came to a head that evening in Southwest City. During the affray, Matney drew his revolver and shot Loudermilk in the forehead. Luckily for Loudermilk, the ball ranged upward and came out at the top of his head, causing only a severe scalp wound. After the shooting, Matney immediately left town and was not heard from again for some time. However, according to the Pineville News, Matney acted "wholly in self-defense." If this was true, he probably was not charged with a crime.
   At any rate, he soon reappeared on the scene in McDonald County, where he quickly earned a reputation as a tyrant and a bully. According to the Springfield newspaper's 1930 account, when Matney "decided to 'take the town,' he met with little opposition.....Quick on the draw and absolutely fearless," Matney terrorized the residents of southwest McDonald County for some years, according to the Press.
   But Matney finally bullied one too many men. The Press told the story of his demise eleven years after the fact:

        One day, he met two men on Butler Creek near the present site of Noel. Matney drew his gun and ordered one of the men to crawl across the creek on his hands and knees, the stream being shallow at    that point. When the man reached the center of the stream, Matney ordered him to stop.
   "Now lap water like a dog," ordered the gun-flinger.... Matney then turned to the second man, who was standing on the bank of the stream, and ordered him to follow his companion into the water. The second man, who had been standing by watching the proceedings without a word, quickly drew his revolver and fired. Matney fell mortally wounded, and another bad man of the Ozarks hill country died with his boots on.

   That's the legend. The story of what really happened is less colorful, and the facts are sketchy. The only contemporaneous account I've found thus far of Matney's death appeared in the August 28, 1919 edition of the Neosho Times: "Bill Matney was shot and killed at Noel last week by Howard Smith and Horace Halbert. He was drunk and tried to make one of them wade in the river and dance."
   A bad man in truth, Bill Matney was even badder in legend.