Pruitt Turner (Execution of)

Pruitt Turner was a Black man executed on February 28, 1896, at Van Buren (Crawford County) for murdering a white man, a killing Turner claimed was in self-defense.

Pruitt Turner was working on a railroad construction crew in Argenta (what is now North Little Rock in Pulaski County) when he was laid off. Turner made his way to Mulberry (Crawford County), where, on February 17, 1895, he presented the brother of Robert Hawkins a letter purportedly from Hawkins recommending Turner for a job as a porter at the Missouri Pacific Railroad depot (Hawkins’s brother was an agent for the railroad). However, Hawkins showed up and pronounced the letter a forgery, and “hot words ensued.” A newspaper reported that “threatening vengeance, Turner went home, loaded an old musket, and waylaid and shot Hawkins” as he was going to church: “The load was small shot, but fired so close it hit a vital spot.” Hawkins died of his wounds the next day.

In reporting the incident, the Van Buren Press noted that it was “rumored on the street” that Hawkins and a group of men had confronted Turner and “ordered him to leave the country, threatening to kill him,” which may have made the shooting justifiable.

Turner fled and apparently was captured in Missouri the following month and returned to Arkansas to await the action of a grand jury. A newspaper noted that “Turner claims justifiable shooting, and throws an altogether different light on the killing.”

Charged with first-degree murder, Turner was tried in Crawford County Circuit Court during the last week of June 1895. Jurors gathered on July 1 and “after being out but one hour they returned a verdict of murder in the first degree; the punishment of which is death by hanging.” Turner was to hang on August 30, but Chief Justice Henry Bunn granted him an appeal to the Arkansas Supreme Court on August 21, 1895.

Turner’s conviction was affirmed, and Governor James Clarke set December 31, 1895, as the date for Turner—and also George Ward, a young Cherokee man also convicted of first-degree murder in Crawford County—to hang. Clarke later respited both to be executed on January 24, 1896, but, on January 23, he delayed Turner’s hanging until February 28. Though “considerable effort” was made to convince the governor to commute Turner’s sentence to life in prison, Clarke declined to do so.

The Van Buren Press reported that “Turner slept well the night before the execution and was perfectly composed.” As he left the jail, “he lifted his hat to the crowd.” At the gallows, he joined a preacher in singing a song and “then read from the testament and made a short talk, in which the only coherent part was that he was ready to go, and that he had been unjustly convicted.” The newspaper reported that he “bore up remarkably well under the trying ordeal until the cap was adjusted, when he weakened.”

Turner was “launched into eternity” at 11:43 a.m. on February 28, 1896. His body was cut down at 12:05 p.m. and turned over to relatives for burial.

For additional information:
“Assassinated by a Negro.” Southern Standard, February 22, 1895, p. 1.

“Bloodhounds on Trail.” St. Louis Globe-Democrat, February 18, 1895, p. 2.

“Circuit Court.” Van Buren Press, July 6, 1895, p. 3.

“City News.” Arkansas Gazette, February 28, 1896, p. 3.

“Claims Justifiable Shooting.” Forrest City Times, March 29, 1895, p. 5.

“Foul Murder at Mulberry.” Van Buren Press, February 23, 1895, p. 3.

“Pruitt Turner Hanged at Van Buren.” Southern Standard, March 6, 1896, p. 1.

“Respited by Governor.” Arkansas Gazette, January 24, 1896, p. 2.

“Turner Hangs.” Van Buren Press, February 29, 1896, p. 3.

“Turner Takes an Appeal.” St. Louis Globe-Democrat, August 22, 1895, p. 3.

“Two to Hang in Van Buren.” Fayetteville Weekly Democrat, January 9, 1896, p. 1.

Mark K. Christ
Little Rock, Arkansas