Charles Clyburn (Execution of)

Charles Clyburn was a white man hanged at Prescott (Nevada County) on August 5, 1898, after being convicted of first-degree murder. He was one of two men executed in Arkansas on that day, the other being Coleman “Fluke” Fleming, who was hanged at Dumas (Desha County).

In March 1897, the T. M. East & Son store in Okolona (Clark County) was burglarized. Suspicion soon fell on Charles Clyburn, who had escaped from jail in Camden (Ouachita County) and had been seen at his parents’ home near Okolona. A newspaper noted that “Clyburn is one of the most notorious characters in south Arkansas and bears a hard reputation in Ouachita county.”

On March 27, 1898, Clyburn and his younger brother took a wagon to the railroad station at Beirne (Clark County), and Clyburn shipped some of the purloined goods to Texarkana (Miller County), where they were later recovered. They were near Rome (Clark County) when they encountered deputies Sol W. Rollins of Clear Spring (Clark County) and Joe Dickinson of Antoine (Pike County), who had been searching for the suspected thief.

Dickinson later testified that the lawmen passed the wagon, and “Rollins shouted, ‘Hands up!’ and then the shooting commenced. It is my impression that Clyburn shot first.” Rollins fell dead, and Dickinson’s horse threw him before he could return fire. Clyburn fled into the woods, later jumping a train that took him to St. Louis, Missouri, where he got a job. Clark County sheriff James H. Abrahams tracked him to Catfish Island about seven miles above St. Charles, Missouri, in the Missouri River, where he arrested him on April 26, 1897, bringing him back to Arkadelphia (Clark County) the next day.

Winning a change of venue to Nevada County, Clyburn, who claimed he shot Rollins in self-defense, was convicted of first-degree murder after a trial lasting several days, the jury delivering the verdict after deliberating for “about an hour” on January 20, 1898.

He was sentenced to hang on March 31, 1898, but received a stay on March 19 after his attorney appealed the case to the Arkansas Supreme Court. With “undisputed evidence show[ing]…that he had repeatedly stated that he would kill the first person who attempted to arrest him,” Justice Simon P. Hughes affirmed the conviction on June 11, 1898; he upheld Fleming’s death sentence on the same day.

Governor Daniel Jones set August 5, 1898, for both Clyburn and Fleming to die. The governor refused entreaties for him to commute the death sentence to life in prison, and Clyburn invited him to his execution, writing, “If I have to hang I would like to have two hours on the scaffold and would be thankful to see our honorable governor near me at my last minute.” Jones declined to attend.

Clyburn was transported from Clark County to Prescott on the morning of August 5, arriving at 6:00 a.m. He walked to the Nevada County Courthouse after having breakfast at the Parker house. He met with his spiritual guide at 9:30 a.m., affirming that he was ready to die. Clyburn asked if he could inspect the gallows, “which he did in a thorough and business-like manner, getting on the trap and testing it and examining the rope and noose without a tremor.”

At 12:30 p.m. he gave a talk from the courthouse balcony to the 2,500 people who had gathered to watch him hang, advising them to “avoid bad company and whisky”; he also “admitted being bad and wicked, but [said] that he had been greatly misrepresented.” Heading to the gallows at 1:35 p.m., Clyburn “ascended the steps firmly and permitted the adjustment of the noose apparently with little concern.” The trap door opened at 1:45 p.m., and the Arkansas Democrat reported that “his neck was broken by the fall….He retained his nerve to the last.”

Clyburn’s was the second legal execution in Nevada County—the first was that of wife-killer Albert Trammell in 1877.

For additional information:
“Clyburn Captured.” Southern Standard, April 30, 1897, p. 3.

“Clyburn Is Doomed.” Arkansas Democrat, June 11, 1898, pp. 1, 5.

“Clyburn Life Extended.” Arkansas Gazette, March 20, 1891, p. 1.

“Clyburn Must Hang.” Arkansas Gazette, January 21, 1898, p. 2.

“Clyburn to Hang.” Southern Standard, June 17, 1898, p. 1.

“Killed His Deputy.” Arkansas Gazette, March 30, 1897, p. 1.

“Neck Broken.” Arkansas Gazette, August 6, 1898, p. 3.

“They’re on His Trail.” Arkansas Gazette, April 2, 1897, p. 5.

“To a Hanging.” Arkansas Gazette, July 28, 1898, p. 2.

“To Hang on August 5.” Arkansas Gazette, July 3, 1898, p. 4.

“Two Hanged To-Day.” Arkansas Democrat, August 5, 1898, p. 4.

Mark K. Christ
Central Arkansas Library System