Sam Barlow Convicted Of Manslaughter

   Samuel Kimbrough Barlow, as everyone knows, was the man who blazed a trail around Mount Hood in 1845 and later built the road that became an integral part of the Oregon Trail.

He is so well known that roads, streets, schools, restaurants, pubs, and veterinary services are named after him. But few have heard of his life before he crossed the plains to settle in Oregon Country.

Barlow was the son of William Henry Harrison Barlow and Sarah Kimbrough, born in Nicholas County, Kentucky. He trained as a tailor, and in 1818 moved to Bloomington, Indiana, where he married and started a family, perhaps in 1822. He and his wife, Susannah Lee, had at least four children: Jane, Ellen, James, John, and William.

Barlow was convicted of manslaughter in August 1827, for killing George Matlock with an ax on October 16, 1826. Matlock, Barlow’s neighbor, had abandoned his wife and children, but after a length of time had returned and announced that he was moving back in.

His wife said if he did, she and the children were leaving. “You wont get past the next holler,” he said, threatening to kill her if she left. She ran next door and begged for help from Barlow, who went after Matlock with an ax, striking him in the back of the thigh.

Matlock died nine days later. Barlow was tried for manslaughter and sentenced to one year of hard labor. Scores of people, including the victim's brother, pleaded for Barlows pardon and quashing of his sentence, since he did it to prevent harm to Matlock’s wife and children. Indiana Governor James B. Ray pardoned him on December 6, 1827.