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Name: Zachariah Thatch
Age: 11
Birth Year: abt 1849
Gender: Male
Birth Place: Tennessee
Home in 1860: District 4, Bradley, Tennessee
Post Office: Red Clay
Family Number: 611
Value of real estate: View image
Household Members:
Name Age
Sarah Thatch 67
James Thatch 38
Leya Thatch 35
Nancy Thatch 18
Sarah J Thatch 15
Wm Thatch 13
Zachariah Thatch 11
Mary Thatch 6
Susan Thatch 3
Dugan Thatch 1
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Source Citation
Year: 1860; Census Place: District 4, Bradley, Tennessee; Roll: M653_1241; Page: 188; Image: 382; Family History Library Film: 805241
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The Springdale News
June 7, 1895

A few weeks ago Z.W. Thatch, who lived a short distance East of Springdale, disposed of most of his effects at public sale and left overland for Oklahoma Territory with the intention of making his future home in that section. Last Saturday Lee Sanders, cashier of the Farmers and Merchants Bank received a letter saying that Mr. Thatch had been murdered. The letter was from U.S. Commissioner J.B. George of Keokuk Falls, O.T. under date of May 29 and the particulars of the death as stated in the letter are as follows: On Sunday, May 26 the dead body of a man was found six miles northeast of Keokuk with the head crushed in such a manner as to be almost beyond recognition and as near as could be ascertained the deed was probably committed about May 15. Geo. W. Wilson, who was known to have been a companion of the dead, was arrested and in his possession was found a wagon, horses and other property which, from the description, certainly belonged to Mr. Thatch. Wilson had his preliminary examination and was sent to jail at Ft. Smith to await the action of the Federal court. On the person of the dead man was found a certificate from the Farmers and Merchants Bank of this city, stating that Mr. Thatch could draw on them for $125. This gave the U.S. Commissioner a clue to the identity of the murdered man and he wrote here as stated above. The Commissioner says in his letter that it was as cold blooded a murder as was ever committed. Wm. Thatch, a brother of the deceased, living five miles East of Fayetteville, left Sunday for Oklahoma to look after the matter. Zach(sic) W. Thatch was about fifty years of age and unmarried. He had lived in this community for a long time and was esteemed and respected by all who knew him. The News tenders sympathy to his relatives.
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The Springdale News from The Fayetteville News, 26th inst.
August 30, 1895

Deputy U.S. Marshal Todhunter left this morning for Fort Smith, having come up from that place yesterday evening to subpoena Mr. Wm. Thatch, who lives northeast of town, as a witness in the murder trial of one Wilson, who is accused of murdering Thatch's brother some time ago in the nation. The trial was commenced this morning in Judge Parker's court.
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The Springdale News
January 3, 1896

In sentencing George Wilson to death at Fort Smith Judge Parker said to him: "The evidence shows that you started with Mr. Zachariah W. Thatch from a point a few miles from Springdale in the County of Washington, this State. You traveled with him to the place of the murder in the Creek county and there in the darkness of night, no doubt while he was asleep, you, in a brutal, wicked and wanton way, took his life. You endeavored to conceal the crime by placing the body beneath the waters of Rock Creek and putting logs on it but nature revolted at such wickedness and threw up the body so it was found. You tried to conceal the blood at the place of the killing by building a fire over it but the earth was parched and cracked open; the blood ran into the cracked earth and thus escaped and came here as a terrible witness against you. You committed this murder for five head of horses, a colt, a wagon and some other property of but little value. Your guilt is established by such a quantity of reliable circumstances as to make it as certain as that the stars looked down on this wicked crime the night you sent the soul of Zachariah W. Thatch without preparation to his God. The wickedness of the act shows that you are a moral pervert. Your moral nature was such that all restraint of reason was gone. You robbed an unoffending man of his life and you must answer to the laws of your God. The law affixes to this weekend crime of murder the penalty of death. From the evidence no one can doubt the certainty of your guilt and the wickedness of your crime. The jury in convicting you have done exactly right."
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