Immediately after the defeat of the "outlaw amnesty bill," as it was called, the brigands planned the execution of new and direful schemes, one of which involved the assassination of a respectable citizen of Clay county.  
The James Boys concluded, for reasons known only to themselves, that Mr. Daniel Askew was a member of the posse which made the attack on the Samuels residence, and this belief was justification sufficient, in their estimation, for murdering that gentleman; but the plan of its execution was equally as dastardly as the casting of the hand-grenade blindly and savagely among the several members of Dr. Samuels' family. The circumstances of the assassination were as follows: Mr. Askew was an unpretentious farmer, living about five miles from Liberty, in a neat frame house, but with no neighbors nearer than one mile. He had returned home from Liberty, late in the afternoon of April 12th, 1875, and after eating supper took a bucket and went to the spring, which was fifty yards from the house, after water. This was about eight o'clock in the evening, but the moon was shining brightly and objects were plainly discernible. He returned from the spring with the water and sat the bucket upon a shelf on the porch, after which he proceeded to take a drink, but as he was in the act of lifting the cup to his mouth, three[Pg 8............