Stone Gardens: Obsession and misdirected emotions lead to 1913 murder of Washington County teacher

Two cemeteries, one a spacious public memorial garden on the eastern side of Fayetteville and the other an unkempt family plot less than five-and a-half miles away, contain the mortal remains up two individuals brought together by fate and separated by a horrible tragedy in the early part of the last century.

A tale of unrequited love, involving a 26-year-old schoolteacher and her 18-year-old former student, ended in the death of both those individuals. The schoolteacher died of a gunshot wound delivered by the former student. The former student met his fate at the end of a rope at the next-to-last legally sanctioned hanging in the state of Arkansas. 

The date was February 2, 1913. Miss Nellie Moneyhun, had ten days previously announced her engagement to Sam Claypool, a young man residing in the vicinity of Stony Point, southwest of Springdale.

The planned marriage of the couple had been highlighted in the Springdale News the week before.

At least one person, 18-year-old Omer Davis who lived on the White River with his parents, didn't harbor the news very well. Although eight years younger than Miss Moneyhun and having been among her students during one of her contracted terms as a schoolteacher at Head's Ford community, Davis had become smitten with the young educator.

For obvious reasons, Nellie did not return his affections. One was the age difference, and the other was the fact that any such relationship would have been frowned upon and reflected on the professional nature of Nellie's career.  Nellie had reportedly taken a compassionate interest in the strapping young boy's education, and he apparently mistook that interest as something more.

The son of James Monroe and Mary Jane Davis, Omer was the apple of his mother's eye and the bane of his father's existence. On the night of the murder, Davis had come to the Moneyhun farm stating his wish to say goodbye to Nellie since he was having difficulty with his father and others and had decided to move to California. 

On the Sunday evening in question, Omer had arrived at the residence and asked to speak to Nellie at front gate of the Moneyhun home in Spring Valley.. At first he yelled for her from the gate, but Nellie told him he would have to come into the house because she hadn't been feeling well. After engaging in general conversation with the family for several minutes he arose to go. 

Omer bid Mr. and Mrs. Moneyhun farewell and ask to speak with Nellie alone "as she would never see him again". She accompanied him to the front vestibule, and her parents overheard the conversation.  Davis asked Nellie to not marry her intended but to run off with him to California. Nellie deflected the suggestion and told Davis to be a good boy and keep out of bad company.  Seconds later the jilted teenager withdrew a 38 caliber Colt double action revolver and fired striking his former teacher in the head just above the right eye. 

She fell back into the room into the arms of her father and died immediately. Davis then turn the revolver on himself and fired one shot at his forehead but the angle of the gun was incorrect and only caused a flesh wound. While Davis was stunned Mr. Moneyhun was able to grab the weapon and wrestle it away. He also secured his own shotgun and fired a shot into the air.  

Washington County Sheriff Samuel W. Caudle

Bare headed, with no overcoat and a wearing a lowcut, thin pair of shoes and breeding profusely from his wound, Davis managed to escape into the nearby countryside. Officers, led by Washington County Sheriff Samuel W. Caudle, were able to track his path through the snow and he was captured the next morning at the home of Tom Horne just east of the White River.

He offered no resistance to the officers and was brought to Springdale where his wound was dressed before he was taken to the county jail in Fayetteville. 

The day after his arrest, Davis told a reporter with the Springdale news that the shooting had been accidental. He said that when he shot Nellie and realized the wound was probably fatal that he attempted to take his own life. But the reporter also stated in his article that young Davis showed absolutely no sign of remorse. 

Two days after the shooting an inquest was held, and a coroner's jury called. A number of witnesses were examined, and it was determined the Davis had been drinking during the day but there was no evidence that he had ever made any threats against Nellie prior to the shooting. 

Contemporary newspaper reports at the time stated Davis was a "dull minded creature".

At the April term of the Circuit Court the grand jury returned an indictment against Davis charging him with first degree murder. His parents refused to employ counsel and the court appointed John Mayes, Alan Wilson, and R.M. Godfrey to conduct the defense. Washington County prosecuting attorney C.A. Fuller and his deputy prosecutors handled the prosecution. 

Thirty-eight members of the jury pool were examined before the jury was seated. Insanity was run up the flagpole as a defense before testimony and the trial was concluded at 2:00 p.m. After sending a note to the judge for further instructions, the jury was reconvened the following morning and a verdict of guilty was read by the jury foreman at just after 10:30 a.m. on the Sabbath. 

On Thursday May 15th, Davis was sentenced to death by hanging in the Fayetteville courtroom. 

The judge sentenced Davis to hang on August 14, 1913. After the standardized appeals and Davis's mother conducting an unsuccessful county wide petition effort on foot to have her son's sentence commuted to life in prison, Omer was marched to the gallows September 11, 1913.

Omer turned 19 in jail while awaiting his execution. He was tried, convicted, sentenced to death and hanged within 166 days after the killing of Nellie.

Having "never shown any remorse" for his crime, Davis paid for his murderous obsession at the end of a 6-ft drop shortly after sunrise on that Wednesday morning.  His only words to the witnesses were that he intended to "see them all again in Heaven someday".

His mother, who was a block away in front of her hotel, fainted at the sound of the trapdoor being opened. 

Davis Family Cemetary

After recovering, she and her daughters made arrangements at the funeral parlor and the next morning James Davis arrived from the family farm with a wagon. The body was transported to the Davis family graveyard on the White River. A charitable committee made up of "stalwart mothers in the community", presented the family a memorial wreath and flower arraignment after the hanging.

To this day the area where the family lived adjacent to the White River is known as Davis Ford. 

Nellie was buried in the Friendship Cemetery in Fayetteville. Her mother, Lydia, outlived her for approximately six years.

Her father, John, lived to the ripe-old-age of 78 before his passing in 1941.

Both parents, as well as all three of her sisters, are buried in the family plot in the stone garden.

Billy's epitah on her headstone reads:

"Her happy soul has winged its way,

To appear, bright eternal day.

No pain, no grief, no anxious fear,

Can reach the peaceful sleeper here".