Van Buren, Arkansas, is the pivotal stop in the account of Parley P. Pratt’s pursuit and death: he was arrested and jailed there, but a magistrate quietly released him rather than leave him vulnerable to vigilantes. The reprieve did not end the pursuit; Pratt was found and killed twelve miles outside town.

Pratt’s Arrest and Release

In 1856, while Pratt was doing missionary work in St. Louis, Eleanor McLean returned to New Orleans and took her three children. Her husband, Hector McLean, blamed Pratt for the collapse of his marriage and pursued him. After intercepting a letter describing Pratt’s plan to meet Eleanor near the Arkansas River, Hector enlisted a federal marshal who opposed the Mormons. Together, they had Pratt arrested and jailed in Van Buren.

The magistrate who heard the case quickly concluded that the charges against Pratt lacked merit. Concerned that vigilantes might lynch him if he remained in custody, the magistrate arranged his release in secret. Jailhouse spies promptly informed Hector, so leaving the jail did not mean Pratt had escaped those pursuing him.

The Pursuit Beyond Town

Hector and two accomplices tracked Pratt to a place twelve miles outside Van Buren. There they killed him and left him beside the road. Hector was never arrested or charged; the account says he later boasted of the killing and was celebrated as a hero in western Arkansas.

Van Buren thus marks a brief reversal in the pursuit: a local magistrate found the case against Pratt baseless and tried to protect him, but the release could not stop Hector from finding him. The contrast between the magistrate’s intervention and the failure to hold the attackers accountable frames the town as the last point in the narrative where legal process offered Pratt protection.