Taney County, located in southern Missouri on the Arkansas state line was rough country with rolling limestone hills and ridges. It was covered with trees, underbrush and rife with steep rocky cavernous ravines. Cool clear springs and creeks flowed out of these ravines and valleys and into the White River. During the Civil War and for many years after, outlaws took refuge there. The county government was in disarray, and nearly all crimes committed were totally ignored. After the Civil War, there was a land rush as the federal government expanded the Homestead Act. Families moved here from...