Marshall Anderson (Execution of)

Marshall Anderson was a Black man hanged at Malvern (Hot Spring County) on April 24, 1896, for killing his brother-in-law, which he claimed was done in self-defense.

Marshall Anderson was born in 1871 in Ouachita County’s Lafayette Township to the farming family of John and Lucinda Anderson. By 1895, Anderson was married and living in Hot Spring County.

The Arkansas Gazette described Anderson as “a tough man” who “made a practice of whipping his wife.” On September 8, 1895, he “was administering a severe beating to her…when the woman’s brother came upon the scene.” The newspaper reported that Anderson pulled a pistol and shot the brother, John Henson, twice, fatally wounding him, before going to Malvern and turning himself in. The Gazette later reported that Anderson had little reason to shoot Henson and that “most persons regard the crime as a singularly atrocious one.”

According to the 1880 federal census, John Henson was probably the son of farmer John M. and Maria Henson, who lived in Hot Spring County’s Fenter Township with sons George (ten), Zacharia (eight), and infant John, as well as daughters Lishia (twelve), Lula (six), and Maria (two), one of whom was likely Anderson’s wife in 1895.

Anderson and another inmate escaped from the Malvern jail in the fall of 1895, but he was captured in early October. He was tried in February 1896, and while no account of the trial appears to exist, the jury retired for one hour and fifteen minutes before convicting him of first-degree murder. He was sentenced to hang on April 24, 1896.

On the morning of his execution, Anderson “ate a hearty breakfast…showing the greatest coolness throughout.” At 8:00 a.m., he was taken to the front gallery of the Malvern jail, where, after a prayer with his spiritual advisor, he was “permitted to talk.” The condemned man claimed that he shot Henson in self-defense and said his “conviction was brought about largely through prejudice and false swearing on the part of his enemies.”

He was escorted to the gallows at 8:10 a.m., and a newspaper reported that “not a tremor or muscle did he move, but aided the Sheriff with a smile in adjusting the noose and cap.” The trap door opened at 8:15, and he was declared dead eleven minutes later. The Gazette reported that “he met death bravely.”

For additional information:
“Escaped Prisoners Recaptured.” Southern Standard, October 4, 1895, p. 1.

“Hanged for Murder.” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, April 24, 1896, p. 1.

“Marshall Anderson Convicted.” St. Louis Globe-Democrat, February 12, 1896, p. 3.

“Murder in Hot Spring County.” Arkansas Gazette, September 10, 1895, p. 6.

“Murderer Hanged.” Arkansas Gazette, April 25, 1896, p. 1.

Mark K. Christ
Little Rock, Arkansas