Murder at the Indian dance.  At the time of this story my great grandpa Starbuck was living in Missouri. His older son James Albert, who went by the name Al, was pretty wild young man. Maybe it was because his father was a preacher and he wanted to rebel as some preachers sons do. It happened that there was an Indian dance for young native people, but Al and some of his friends decided to crash the party. Later the party got rowdy and a fight broke out. In the mêlée that followed an Indian boy was killed. Al and his friends were charged with murder an went to trial. The Indian was killed by a rock. The defense for Al ask one of the Indian young men if he had thrown any rocks and he said that he had and hoped to God that it hit Al Starbuck in the head. This gave the opening for the defense to argue that if everyone was throwing rocks, there was no way to say that Al’s rock was the one who killed the boy. So Al was acquitted.

            Since the trail cost money great grandpa Starbuck had to sell his farm to come up with the money for paying for his son’s defense. Also, great grandpa being a preacher, and because of the notoriety of the event great grandpa thought it best to leave the area. The moved to Arkansas make it possible for my mother to meet my father. It is interesting how God takes tragedy and turns it into something for his glory.

            As a side note, one of Al’s friends told Al after the fight that that Indian would not have covered Al so fast if he could have got the rock out of his pocket faster. So it appears that Al’s friend may have been the one that killed the Indian. The fact that it was an Indian and not a white boy killed may mean that justice was not served.