Editing Plumerville, Arkansas (section)

==History==
Plumerville began as Plummer's Station, a stage station on the [[Fort Smith, Arkansas|Fort Smith]] to [[Memphis, Tennessee|Memphis]] branch of the [[Butterfield Overland Mail]].

The old downtown area of Plumerville was completely destroyed by fire in 1987. The old town jail or "calaboose" (built circa 1880) still stands intact on Springfield Street near the new city hall.
                                                                                                                                   [[File:Town Jail of Plumerville, Arkansas. Built around 1880.jpg|thumb|The town Jail of Plumerville, Arkansas. Built around 1880]]

===Assassination===
[[John M. Clayton (Arkansas politician)|John Middleton Clayton]] (October 13, 1840 – January 29, 1889) was a Republican [[carpetbagger]] to Arkansas, originally from [[Pennsylvania]]. He was also the younger brother of [[Powell Clayton]], a [[Governor of Arkansas]].

In 1871, John Clayton was elected to the [[Arkansas House of Representatives]], representing [[Jefferson County, Arkansas|Jefferson County]], and in 1873 he served in the [[Arkansas Senate]] representing Jefferson, Bradley, Grant and Lincoln counties, also serving as Speaker of the Senate ''[[pro tempore]]'' for part of his term.

He is best remembered today from his mysterious assassination in 1889. In 1888, he ran for the office of [[Arkansas's 2nd congressional district]] in the [[United States House of Representatives]], going up against incumbent [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democrat]] [[Clifton R. Breckinridge]]. The election became one of the most fraudulent in Arkansas' history. Clayton lost the election by a margin of 846 votes of over 34,000 votes cast. However, in one case in Conway County, four masked, armed white men stormed into a predominantly black voting precinct and, at gunpoint, stole the ballot box that contained a large majority of votes for Clayton. Losing under such circumstances, Clayton decided to contest the election and went to Plumerville to start an investigation on the matter. On the evening of January 29, 1889, an unknown assailant shot through the window to the room he was staying in at a local boarding house (still standing at 101 N. Springfield Street) and killed him instantly. He was later declared the winner of the election and Breckinridge was unseated and the seat declared vacant. Clayton's assassin was never found. Breckinridge was not found guilty in any wrongdoing in the rigged election or in Clayton's assassination and was elected to fill the vacant seat in 1890.<ref>Kenneth C. Barnes. ''Who Killed John Clayton? Political Violence and the Emergence of the New South, 1861-1893''. Durham, N.C. and London: Duke University Press, 1998.</ref>