That he was one of the most courageous and fearless of men no one can deny. Fear was utterly unknown to him. Two days previous to the execution, the writer of this spent some three or four hours with him in his cell, talking over his past live, and the wild adventures in which he had been engaged. His deportment was so easy and unconcerned, and the near approach of death apparently having so little effect upon his mind, that we ventured the question as to whether he thought he could meet death as lightly as he then seemed to regard it. His reply was, "I do not say it as a boast, but I have never known what fear meant. I want you to come and see me hung, and you will then know whether I tell you the truth or not." His bearing in the last hour more than sustained his assertion. And so passes away another of those wild, restless spirits, that were fully developed in all their evil power by the relentless border war. SKETCH OF HIS LIFE. He was born in Ross county, Ohio, in 1842, and was consequently twenty-five years of age at the time of his execution. His father removed to Knox county, Illinois, when Scott was quite small, lived there twelve years, and in 1858 removed again to Bates county, Mo. After residing there four months they came to Linn county, Kansas, where his mother is living at the present time, his father having died some years since. He has four sisters living with his mother in Linn county, and one brother, who is married, and also two brothers in the Cherokee Nation. Another brother, it will be remembered, was shot and killed from the brush, near the Trading Post, two or three months since. On the breaking out of the war, being filled with a love of adventure, he enlisted in company D of the 6th Kansas cavalry, under Capt. Goss, the present sheriff of Linn county, and the one who arrested and brought him to trial. As a soldier he was highly spoken of for bravery and daring, though rather undisciplined and averse to restraint. His excellent horsemanship, skill in the use of weapons, and fearlessness, admirably adapted him for a scout, and he was assigned to that duty the greater portion of his time of service. He soon became known as a rather desperate character, and extremely vindictive, and if insulted by any one, nothing but the life of the person would satisfy him. He regarded human life of no more value than that of a brute, and would kill without compunction any one who was so unfortunate as to gain his ill-will. From some cause he became offended with Col. Campbell, the Lieutenant Colonel of the regiment, and on two occasions attempted to murder him, but fortunately without success. He slipped into the Colonel's tent one night with a bowie knife, intending to stab him in bed, but luckily the bed was empty, the Colonel having left it and gone out a few minutes before. At another time he fired at him while sitting in his tent, the ball striking the back of the chair splitting it in pieces. He also attempted the life of Col. Adams, of the 12th by shooting him one night as he was retiring to bed, the ball passing through the bed clothes. He afterwards stated that if Adams had not blown out the light at the same instant, he could have killed him without fail. He informed the writer that since the commencement of the war, he had, to his own personal knowledge killed sixteen persons, claiming, however, that they were all rebels. There is but little doubt as to the number, though some of the were undoubtedly sacrificed for the sake of plunder, or on account of personal enmity. On one occasion, while the command was in Southern Missouri or Northern Arkansas, he took a horse from a citizen living near the camp. The man came in and entered a complaint, and the horse was restored to him. Holderman followed him on his return, shot him out of revenge and threw the body in a creek. The man was in all probability a rebel, but still it was an unjustifiable act, for which he would have been punished had the proof been sufficient at the time. He deserted once and came home, was absent a considerable length of time, and only escaped the penalty by the personal efforts of Capt. Goss in his behalf. |
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