In 1875, Samuel Helms was convicted of murder and sentenced to be hanged. His appeal to the Arkansas Supreme Court failed. On December 7, ten days before the execution, Helms made a desperate bid for freedom. According to the Arkansas Gazette, Helms was locked in one of the jail's cells with a chain fastened to his leg. Somehow he managed to break the chain and when Starr opened the cell door to give him breakfast, he hit him on the head with a bottle, then ran. Starr fired a shot, missed,then chased Helms outside and fired again, hitting him in the left thigh. He collapsed and was recaptured. The execution proceeded as scheduled on December 17. Before he went to the gallows, Helms was ministered to by Rev. E.F. Pitchett, a Presbyterian minister. The Gazette claims he was baptized, and when asked if he felt any bitterness towards the jury, he said "if their consciences were clear, it was not for him to judge them, but he thought, in consideration of his age and the fact it was his first crime, they might have given him the penitentiary."
Source:
Arkansas Gazette, 12-17-1875
