THE WICKED MURDER OF F. F. EDDY
This is a
story I found in my files I have on Papinville history. I have no idea of what
book it came out of, but I thought it was interesting as to how wicked some people
were during the war.
F.F. Eddy was born and raised in Massachusetts
in the Boston area. He first had a store in Harmony Mission and later moved his
store to Papinville when Papinville became the county seat. At this time
Papinville was a booming town, steamboats were bringing supplies and it was the
most important town in the area. He also had the first house of entertainment.
He had a
store in Papinville for sixteen years and closed his business and moved his
family to a better place, so they were not in the line of fire of the Civil
War. He was a most estimable man and his
wife was a beautiful and accomplished woman. Eddy was known to be a firm friend
of the South, and that was enough. Plummer, a fellow of low origin, but who
Eddy had often favored, but who had run off to Kansas. Now he returned with a
few fit associates. They went to his house and called Eddy out of his house.
After making himself known Plummer deliberately shot Eddy a number of times
killing him instantly. He was left lying in the yard for the wife and children
to fine.
This was the
hate that people were having during the Civil War. At times you didn’t know who
your friends were. As one settler said, “It seemed like a great black cloud was
hanging over the entire area and everyone was waiting breathless for the
breaking out of the storm. Every man began to suspect everyone else. It became
neighbor against neighbor, brother against brother and in some cases even
father against son. No one trusted anyone and no one knew who his friends or
enemies were”.
This was so
true about Mr. Eddy. Three sons of F.F Eddy’s were buried out at the Papinville
Cemetery. I did not find any record of where Eddy was buried. Next story will
be about the only house that didn’ get burnt in “Order 11” The house was
originally built by Freeman Barrows, first county clerk of Bates County. The
house is still standing and is owned by the Klinksick family. This will be the
last story in the series of the Civil War around Papinville area. Until next
week for another story. Hope you have enjoyed the series.
Submitted by
Phyllis Stewart
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