“Vernon Fuller had not been to Jasper, Missouri, for more than twenty years,” writes Haywood. “He had been driven away from the area under the gunpoint of three men and given a warning never to return. He was now the owner of a small ranch about five days ride from Jasper. He had an assistant foreman named Leon Elliott that he trusted 100 percent.
“Before the warning, Vernon had been working as a cowhand on one of the large ranches in the area, the Circle M. The ranch was owned by a man named Samuel McKnight. Samuel McKnight had…