Mart Vowell (Execution of)

Mart Vowell was a former Rector (Clay County) city marshal who was hanged at Paragould (Greene County) on June 9, 1904, for murder in a case that received widespread publicity.

Mart Vowell, age sixty-one, shot William Lovejoy, “a well known character,” on August 12, 1903, blasting him twice with a shotgun and once with a pistol in a killing in which newspapers said the victim had no chance. The Arkansas Gazette noted that “it is said that several years ago Vowell shot and wounded Lovejoy, who has frequently been cut and shot.”

Vowell was free on $2,000 bail, but Circuit Judge Allen Hughes revoked it and had him jailed. A Clay County grand jury was convened and came back three times with an indictment for second-degree murder, after which Hughes dismissed the jurors and ordered the sheriff to assemble another jury. This jury returned a first-degree murder indictment within thirty minutes.

Vowell received a change of venue to Greene County and was tried at Paragould. His lawyers contended that “Lovejoy had threatened to kill Vowell, hence the latter was justified in killing him, and acted in self defense” and that one of the seated jurors “had expressed the opinion that Vowell ought to hang.” The jury retired for deliberations at noon on September 9, 1903, and returned with a guilty verdict at 1:00 a.m. the next day. Vowell was sentenced to hang on November 13.

The execution was postponed while Vowell appealed his conviction to the Arkansas Supreme Court, and the defendant was transferred to the state prison in Little Rock (Pulaski County) “for safe keeping.” Chief Justice Burrill Bunn Battle affirmed the conviction in January 1904. The Arkansas Democrat wrote that “this is Vowell’s last hope as far as the courts are concerned. His only chance for life now is for the governor to interfere.”

As Vowell sought intervention from Governor Jeff Davis, petitions seeking mercy for the condemned man were distributed in Clay and Greene counties, and the Democrat wrote that “some of the best men in both counties will lend their influence to have the sentence commuted” while expecting “a strong protest” against commutation. More than 1,200 people signed petitions in favor of commutation, while some 1,500 signed petitions against it.

Vowell filed for a rehearing by the Arkansas Supreme Court on February 20, 1904, which was denied on April 23.

Davis “sat as a court” late in April when a “large party” from Clay and Greene counties came to Little Rock, with the governor examining three witnesses. On May 7, 1904, Davis announced that he would not commute Vowell’s sentence and set a June 9 execution date, signing “the first death warrant against a white man since he became governor.”

Despite Davis’s decision, continued pressure was exerted on him. In early June, “a delegation of Lonoke county ex-Confederates waited on him and urged him to extend clemency” on Vowell, who had served under Nathan Bedford Forrest in the Civil War. On June 7, though, the governor said that “the case was closed, and…further efforts to alter his decision would be useless.” Vowell was transported to Paragould on the same day.

Those efforts did continue, however. Former governors Thomas Churchill and Daniel Webster Jones, both officers in the state United Confederate Veterans (UCV) organization, telegraphed UCV chapters around the state asking them to send telegrams to Davis seeking mercy for Vowell. The governor received hundreds of telegrams, and “most of them were read and cast into his capacious waste basket.”

A reporter noted that, on the day before the scheduled hanging, Vowell “appears to cling to the hope that clemency will be extended, even yet.” The sheriff held off on the execution until after 5:00 p.m. on June 9, finally concluding that there would be no last-minute clemency announcements from Little Rock.

Around 2,000 people came to Paragould on the day of the hanging, and around fifty deputies surrounded the enclosure where the execution would be conducted. Mounting the scaffold, Vowell gave a short speech, concluding: “I hope my execution will benefit all who are leading wild lives. Farewell to this earth, and good-bye to all.” The trap door was opened at 5:40 p.m., and he was declared dead eighteen minutes later. He is buried in Rector’s Woodland Heights Cemetery, not far from William Lovejoy’s grave; his gravestone reads Martin V. Vowel [sic] 1843–1904.

Mart Vowell was one of two men hanged in Greene County in 1904. Murderer Nathan Brewer was executed one month after Vowell.

For additional information:
“Bill Lovejoy Killed.” Arkansas Gazette, August 13, 1903, p. 2.

“Death Penalty for Mart Vowell.” Arkansas Gazette, September 11, 1903, p. 1.

“Gallows Shadow Over M. Vowell.” Arkansas Democrat, September 24, 1903, p. 6.

“Judge Hughes is Right.” Arkansas Gazette, August 25, 1903, p. 4.

“Little Hope for Mart Vowell Now.” Arkansas Gazette, June 8, 1904, p. 1.

“Mart Vowell Case Delayed.” Newport Daily Independent, March 3, 1904, p. 1.

“Mart Vowell Died Game.” Monticellonian, June 16, 1904, p. 1.

“Mart Vowell Hung.” Pine Bluff Daily Graphic, June 10, 1904, p. 1.

“Mart Vowell Met Death on Gallows.” Arkansas Gazette, June 10, 1904, p. 1, 2.

“Mart Vowell to Hang June 9.” Arkansas Gazette, May 8, 1904, p. 1, 15.

“Martin VanBuren ‘Mart’ Vowell.” Find a Grave. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/8910151/martin-vanburen-vowell (accessed March 20, 2025).

“May Reopen Vowell Case.” Arkansas Democrat, June 3, 1904, p. 2.

“Proceedings in Supreme Court.” Arkansas Gazette, April 24, 1904, p. 5.

“State News.” Arkansas Democrat, January 28, 1904, p. 2.

“To Ask for Commutation,” Arkansas Democrat, January 30, 1904, p. 6.

“The Vowell Case is On.” Arkansas Democrat, April 30, 1904, p. 4.

“Vowell Must Pay Penalty for Killing Wm. Lovejoy.” Arkansas Democrat, June 9, 1904, p. 1.

“Vowell Still Hopeful.” Arkansas Gazette, June 9, 1904, p. 2.

“Vowell’s Fate to be Determined.” Newport Daily Independent, April 27, 1904, p. 1.

Mark K. Christ
Little Rock, Arkansas