By Elizabeth E. Freeman

John Skaggs arrived in the Arizona Territory about 1887, where he bought a ranch on Beaver Creek c.1892. His ranch was located next to that of Riley Casner, who had settled there in 1879. Louise Casner, a daughter oB Riley, was just five-years-old when Skaggs settled nearby. Some twelve years later, she would charge Skaggs with murder.

On July 4, 1903, in Flagstaff, twenty-two year old George Clark married sixteen-year-old Louise Casner, with the permission of her parents. On January 3, 1904, Skaggs's wife of 14 years died, leaving him alone in their two-room house. George and Louise Clark moved into the front room of the Skaggs's house that August, 2004. Mr. Skaggs slept in the kitchen. Skaggs rented part of his place to the Clarks for half of the profits of any crops raised. When Skaggs and Clark gathered the crops in the fall of 1905, Skaggs offered to purchase Clark's share for $11.00. Clark refused the offer. One afternoon, Skaggs told Mrs. Clark he would blow the head off her husband if he did not sell the crop at the price offered. Mrs. Clark paid no attention to the threat. 

Some days later, Clark and his wife were missing some money and believed Skaggs had taken it from their room. Clark asked Skaggs if he had taken the money, which Skaggs denied. Clark then threatened to kill Skaggs if he did not return the money. 

The next day, Sunday, after breakfast, Mrs. Clark went to visit her sister, Mrs. Hutcheson. Mr. Skaggs arrived at the Hutcheson house about an hour and a-half after Mrs. Clark. The two women were on the porch and, after the usual greetings, Mrs. Clark stepped inside the house, leaving her sister, Mrs. Hutcheson, and Mr. Skaggs on the porch. According to Mrs. Hutcheson, Skaggs made an improper proposal for $3.00 for her to accompany him to the cornfield, which she indignantly refused. According to Skaggs, the conversation about a $3.00 transaction was for the corn. A few minutes later Mrs. Clark came out of the house and suggested to her sister that she would accompany her to the cornfield to gather the corn. Skaggs offered to accompany them. Mrs. Hutcheson informed Skaggs she would use a club on him if he dared to cross the fence into the cornfield. When he crossed the fence, Mrs. Hutcheson hit him over the head with a club, and a stormy scene ensued in which Skaggs threatened to cut George Clark in two with his shotgun. Skaggs then left. 

After the difficulty, Skaggs made his way home, stopping by the homes of two neighbors on the way. He arrived at his ranch about four in the afternoon, having become soaked in a heavy rainstorm. After putting his horse in the corral, he looked for the key to the front door of the house. He needed the key to get into the room occupied by the Clarks in order to get dry clothes, which were in a closet he and the Clarks shared. 

Not finding a key, Mr. Skaggs then entered the home through the kitchen, and then heard a footstep on the porch. Looking through the screen door, he saw Mr.Clark about twelve feet away. Skaggs asked Clark for the key to the front room, to which Clark replied, "I've got the key in my pocket and you can't get it." Clark pulled his six-shooter and fired. The bullet entered the door casing close to Skaggs. Skaggs picked up a nearby shotgun and fired through the screen door, striking Clark. Clark turned, dropped the six-shooter on the porch and ran away from the house. 

Skaggs set his shotgun behind the kitchen door, broke open the door of the front room, secured dry clothing, saddled his horse and started out for Camp Verde, stopping at the home of a neighbor, Ben Taylor, to tell him of the shooting. Skaggs asked Taylor to get his shotgun, which was behind the kitchen door, and stated he would find a six-shooter on the porch. Skaggs told Taylor he was going to give himself up and left for Camp Verde. 

Mrs. Clark returned to her home in the early evening where she found the screen on the door broken and a revolver, belonging to her husband, on the front porch, with one empty chamber. She stayed alone at the house that night. Early the next morning, she went to the home of her father, Riley Casner, some miles away. Ben Taylor arrived at the Casner ranch shortly after Mrs. Clark. He relayed the conversation of the previous evening with Skaggs about the shooting. Another neighbor, William Dickinson, arrived at the Casner ranch and offered to help in the search for Mr. Clark. Riley Casner, Louise Clark, Ben Taylor, and William Dickinson returned to the Clark home. 

The body of George Clark was found about 600 yards from the house, lying face down in a creek bed near a cluster of trees. A search of the premises discovered a bloodstained handkerchief belonging to Mr. Clark under the house. A bloodstained sheet, belonging to the Clarks, was found concealed in a tree about a hundred yards from the body. Some speculated Skaggs stuffed the handkerchief under the house and had fired Clark's gun into the door to support his premise of self-defense; and later wrapped the body in the sheet, only to deposit the body in the creek, and then hid the sheet in the tree. 

Skaggs turned himself in to the authorities at Camp Verde. After the coroner's inquest, Skaggs was bound over for the grand jury. Unable to make the $5,000 bail, he was placed in jail at Prescott. 

By the end of September, Louise Clark filed a complaint against Skaggs for the murder of her husband. A Grand Jury convened on November 13, 1905, and indicted Skaggs with murder. By late November, the case was called before a jury. There were no witnesses to the shooting. Skaggs claimed he had been attacked by Clark, and the shooting was in self defense. He was placed on the stand and told his story of "self defense". Testimony of nineteen individuals failed to bring out anything detrimental to Skaggs or to contradict his "self defense" statements. No explanation was given as to how the handkerchief came to be under the house or how the sheet came to be hidden in the tree. The jury deliberated only two hours on the evening of the second day of the trial and came to the conclusion that Skaggs was 'not guilty.' After the trial, Clark's revolver was returned to Mrs. Clark. 

Rumor was that Skaggs had said on several occasions in the past that he intended to kill Clark. Some say Louise Clark was to blame and that the attention of sixty-two year old Skaggs to George's young wife led up to the shooting. Others said it was over the possession of the house. Either way, Louise's husband lost his life. Twenty-four old George Clark was laid to rest in the Casner Family Cemetery on Beaver Creek Ranch, owned by his father-in-law, Riley Casner. 

Skaggs disposed of his ranch and left Beaver Creek. He was not found on the 1910 or 1920 census in Yavapai County. Riley Casner died November 27, 1909. The sister to Louise Clark, Mrs. Hutcheson, lived her entire life in Yavapai County and died November 19, 1959. 

Only seventeen at the time of her husband's death, Louise Clark mourned, but not for long. On October 16, 1906, she married William 'Bill' Goswick. She lived the remainder of her life in the Yavapai County area and died December 12, 1972. She was laid to rest in the Middle Verde Cemetery where several other family members were buried. 


Sharlot Hall Museum Photograph Call Number:(Freeman/Clark) Reuse only by permission.
The home of Riley Casner, located on Beaver Creek Ranch and to which Louise Casner Clark went after the murder of her husband, George Clark. 


Sharlot Hall Museum Photograph Call Number:(Freeman 3) Reuse only by permission.
Louise Casner was one of twelve children of Riley and Rebecca Casner, of which ten survived to adulthood. Of the ten, seven were daughters. C.1910. 


Sharlot Hall Museum Photograph Call Number:(Freeman 1) Reuse only by permission.
Louise Casner and second husband, William Goswick, on their wedding day, October 16, 1906.