James Bishop Morray was born in Kentucky in 1821. Due to the early deaths of his mother and father, he was raised by an uncle, William Bishop, in Pope County, Illinois. While still a young man he returned to his home state of Kentucky to work for William Wyatt, eventually marrying his daughter, Izzarilda Wyatt in 1842.
In 1844, the Morray and Wyatt families moved to Illinois, purchasing several parcels of land in Creal Springs and Stonefort Townships. During the 1860’s and 1870’s James became the largest landowner in Johnson County, eventually owning thousands of acres in Johnson and Williamson Counties.
James enlisted in Company E, Illinois First Regiment during the Mexican War around 1846 and when the Civil War broke out in 1861, James called a meeting of eligible men and enlisted 86 locals, forming Company B, Sixth Illinois Calvary. James was elected Captain and the regiment served faithfully through the war.
Morray was honorably discharged in February 1864 and returned to live in Johnson County. He eventually settled down as a lawyer in Vienna before being elected to the Illinois State Legislature from the 4th District. He served one term in Springfield and returned to Southern Illinois in early 1873 to resume his law practice.
The following year, while overseeing his land holdings north of Creal Springs, he got into a dispute with the Justice of the Peace, Leander Ferrell, over the seizure of personal property to satisfy a disputed tax bill. The dispute festered into a feud of several months duration, during which there were at least two violent confrontations.
On May 17, 1875, James and his son Robert Morray rode into Marion to the courthouse, which was at the time located in the southeast corner of the public square. They were there to file a patent application for a new type of grave vault and marker that James had invented.
As they came out the front door about noon on that day, James spotted his nemesis, Leander Ferrell, sitting on a box in front of the Westbrook and Howell store at the corner of South Market Street and the square. As Morray moved in that direction, Ferrell drew his revolver and fired. Morray grabbed his weapon and several shots reverberated around the square as both men blazed away at each other. As Morray reached the end of the sidewalk at S. Market Street, he staggered and fell. He was carried to the Goodall Hotel where he was examined and treated by Dr. Samuel H. Bundy, father of William H. Bundy. He died about 1 a.m. the following morning, May 18, 1875.
Leander Ferrell was arrested by Sheriff Norris, assisted by deputies Pulley and Swindle. He was later charged with manslaughter, but was acquitted in a trial the following year. Ferrell resigned his office and lived out the remainder of his life near Stonefort, then known as Bolton. Robert Morray lived just east of Creal Springs, ran a hardware store there and served as postmaster until his death in 1916. His father, James B. Morray, was buried in Zion Cemetery, east of Ozark, Illinois.
The shooting incident was published in two local newspapers, The Marion Monitor of May 20, 1875 and The Egyptian Press of May 21, 1875. This was the first issue of the Egyptian Press; one of its owners was Levi Ferrell, brother of Leander Ferrell. The Egyptian Press office was located on the square in the second floor, between the courthouse and the Westbrook & Howell Store, where the shooting occurred.
As an historic footnote to the story, on Sunday May 30, 1875, less than two weeks later, a fire started in the home of Dr. T.D. Ferguson just around the corner on the east side of S. Market Street. It was reported by Mrs. Harriet Jennings, a neighbor, and the alarm was quickly spread by several church bells ringing.
The fire, fanned by a southwesterly wind, quickly consumed the home and Dr. Ferguson’s office just north of the residence. It then spread on north to the Westbrook and Howell warehouse and store, then east along the south side of the square. The fire eventually consumed the entire block where the shooting had occurred, including the Egyptian Press office and the courthouse.
(Extracted from an article written by Robert D. Garrett and published in “Footprints”, a publication of the Williamson County Historical Society, Volume 2, #2, 1999)