From the July 18, 1890 Brooklyn Daily Eagle:

“Jackson, Mo.–Ralph Abernatty, a well to do farmer residing near town, has been terrorizing the community for the last three days. Monday, at the instigation of his wife, he was examined as to his sanity by the courts here and discharged by the jury. Immediately after leaving the court room he had his head shaved and the scalp and his hands painted red. Arming himself with a double barreled shotgun, a revolver and a couple of knives, he proceeded to inaugurate a reign of terror. Yesterday a posse of fifty men was organized for Abernatty’s arrest. He was found in an open field and finally captured, but not without a desperate struggle.”