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shoot the boy painted up as Quantrell.

Miss Margaret Anderson [photo] afterwards became the wife of James [Capt. Jim] Clark, and her chum, Miss Bell Gordon, afterwards became Mrs. Bell Morrison. These two young ladies, being famous musicians and knowing the power of music, ran to the piano when this disturbance came up and began to play "Run, Nigger, Run". The musical influence and the wit produced at the crisis quelled the riot in a few minutes. It is remarkable that these two young ladies had presence of mind sufficient to think of this plan. Based upon this unusual happening, the students of the school composed the following poem, entitled "Scooter's Retreat", which was sung in Clarksville for a number of years to the tune of "Run, Nigger, Run":

Come, Comrades, come and listen to my song,
You may judge who is right, you may judge who is wrong,
'Tis of a brave boy, one of Arkansas's sons.*
At a concert in Clarksvile [sic] the gauntlets he run,
He thought to be black an impression he'd make,
And all the bouquets and laurels he'd take.
A shake of the head, a curl of the nose,
A quiver of the bones and the first verse to a close;
Jim Anderson arose with pistol in hand.

He intended to stop it or the concert to close.
"Come down, come down", he loudly did call.
And at that moment the eyes were on the wall.
It's needless to say the ladies were scared;
Some very much feared that murder would be.
Some laughed, some cried, some trembled with rage,

__________
*Bill Taft, of Rocky Comfort, Arkansas.


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The History of Clarksville and Old Red River County
Pat B. Clark   1937