“Doc” Driver was hanged at Walnut Ridge on January 31, 1913, for murdering a the Walnut Ridge Town Marshal in October 1912.
“Doc” Driver, who was born on March 6, 1876, in Missouri, lived in Walnut Ridge with wife Laura and a stepson.
Driver was one of nine Lawrence County men who were arrested on April 29, 1912, for nightriding and attacking the homes of local African American families in what was called the Walnut Ridge Race War.
Driver and his wife were separated in October 1912, when Laura Driver was working at a street carnival in Walnut Ridge.
“Doc”Driver “ was reportedly intoxicated and had been annoying her, so she went to the mayor and asked that her estranged husband be arrested.
When the Walnut Ridge Town Marshal John P. Biggers approached him, “Doc” Driver pulled a pistol and shot him three times; one bullet also “passed through the hand of a small boy.” Marshal John P. Biggers died of his wounds.
Driver was arrested and transported to Newport for safekeeping after officers seized his pistol, which reportedly already had four notches cut into it, indicating that he had already claimed to have killed four people.
A special term of the Lawrence County Circuit Court was called for by a judge on December 9, 1912. Driver was indicted on first-degree murder charges after the grand jury heard from twenty-seven witnesses to the shooting of Marshal Biggers. Judge Jeffrey set a court date two days later to hear Driver’s response, but that was delayed until December 17 after the defense lawyers did not show up for the hearing.
“Doc” Driver’s defense introduced no witnesses in his behalf, and plead that he acted in self defense. The jury deliberated only sixteen minutes before returning a guilty verdict.
On December 21, 1912, Judge Jeffrey sentenced Driver to hang on January 31, 1913, Driver showed no emotion when the sentence was imposed.
As gallows were being built in the attic of the Lawrence County Courthouse, “Doc” Driver’s lawyers reached out to Governor Robinson who refused to commute Driver’s sentence.
“Doc” Driver reportedly attempted to take his own life on January 30th 1913 but the attempt was unsuccessful.
On January 31st 1913, Driver issued a statement in which he said, “I have in the heat of passion done wrong and feel that I am ready to answer the sentence meted to me by 12 good men and will die without malice in my heart toward anyone.”
At 12:35 pm on January 31st, Driver climbed the scaffold and made no speech before a black cap was placed over his head, his only words were “May the Lord be with you all”
“Doc” Driver was declared dead after hanging for twelve minutes, his body was placed in a casket in a courthouse hallway for public viewing. Estimates say more than a thousand people viewed the body. Driver was reported to have been buried in Mammoth Springs Arkansas.
This is said to be the last legal hanging in Lawrence County Arkansas.