Showing Bald Knobbers: Vigilantes on the Ozarks Frontier by Mary Hartman

In the 1880s, the Ozark hills around Taney
County, Missouri, echoed with the sound of Winchester rifles. Men were lynched
from tree limbs by masked night riders. Bundles of switches were tossed on the
porches of "loose" men and women as a grim warning to reform or leave
the area.
In this action-filled saga of the notorious eight-year career of the
vigilantes, journalist Mary Hartman and historian Elmo Ingenthron have produced
the most comprehensive account of the Bald Knobber era. They trace the roots of
the group in the region's border struggles during the Civil War, and examine
the organization of anti-Bald Knobbers which sprang up to oppose them.
Giant Nat Kinney founded the Bald Knobbers, and led them in their violent
campaign for law and order. Andrew Coggburn wrote satirical songs to infuriate
Kinney and the other vigilantes. Seventeen-year-old Billy Walker murdered an
innocent family and was hanged by the beleaguered authorities. Five opponents
of the Bald Knobbers vowed to kill Nat Kinney, and played cards to decide who
would do the deed.
Elmo Ingenthron was an Ozarks historian, and collected Bald Knobbers lore
for more than thirty-five years. Mary Hartman is a veteran journalist and
freelance writer.