John Andrews Murrell was an American bandit and criminal operating in the United States, along the Mississippi River, in the 19th century.
Background
Apart from a few court records and dates from documentary sources there is little contemporary information about Murrell himself (whose name is also spelled Murrel and Murel), except the narrative written by his captor, Virgil A. Stewart, who wormed his way into the desperado's confidence, took the oath of allegiance to the clan, and thus secured the leader's story. According to Murrell's statement, as retailed by Stewart (post), he was born in 1806 in Lunenburg County, Virginia, United States.
Career
Murrell's name first appears in the court records of Williamson County in 1823 when he was fined for "riot. " In 1825 he was before the court for gaming, and in 1826 he was twice tried for horse stealing, being sentenced the second time to twelve months in prison. As he told Stewart, he "began to see the value of having friends in this business, " and with an older hand, Daniel Crenshaw (whom tradition sometimes makes the real leader of the clan), he set off on a round of highway robberies which took him from Georgia to New Orleans and back to Tennessee. Valuable connections were made with local groups of bandits and the framework of his organization was created. Channels of exchange were organized whereby the spoils - money, horses, or negroes - were traded from one part of the country to another to be disposed of.
African Americans- stealing became Murrell's specialty. By promises of freedom he would entice an African American from his owner, sell him several counties distant, steal him again, and repeat the process until the African American became so well known by the posting of repeated rewards that he could no longer be sold. He was then murdered and his body disposed of so that no tales were told.
Captured by Stewart in 1834 after a reign of some eight years, Murrell was brought to trial before the circuit court in Jackson, Tennessee, in July of that year. He was convicted of African American-stealing and sentenced to a ten-year term in the state penitentiary. The most sensational part of Stewart's testimony against him, however, was the assertion that for some time Murrell and his agents had been planning a great African American rebellion in the Southwest. So strongly did this allegation affect the imaginations of the people that when in the summer of 1835 several outbreaks did occur and some of the instigators confessed to belonging to Murrell's gang, more than a score were hanged before the excitement was allayed.
Murrell was discharged from the Nashville penitentiary April 3, 1844, and lived but a few years longer, dying of pulmonary consumption at Pikesville, Tennessee, on November 21, 1844.
Achievements
John Andrews Murrell, a thief and counterfeiter, spent much of his short life in prison and was a notorious outlaw in antebellum Middle Tennessee.
Connections
John Murrell was married to Elizabeth Mangham, the couple had two children.
