"Have you heard the rumors about Dr. Marberry and Mrs. Forehand? Apparently, Mr. Foremand did!"

Linker Mountain Road- Rural Pope County

Approximately two and a half miles southwest of Dover in Pope County, down a short road that leads past two stock ponds before dead ending, the Forehand Cemetery contains the earthly remains of 96 individuals.

Dating back to the burial of an infant named Talley in 1878, the cemetery holds many intriguing and interesting subjects of stories from many of the pioneering families in the area. 

Two of the graves in this stone garden are those of a husband-and-wife duo who were central figures in one of the most sensational murder trials held in the 19th century in Pope County. 

Charles West Forehand, who was born in Woodruff County, Arkansas on August 4, 1859 and his wife, Mary Ellen Faucette Forehand, was a native of Panola County, Mississippi, owned a small farm not far from where the Forehand Cemetery stands today. 

The circumstances of how they met and eventually married remain somewhat of a mystery.

 Mary Ellen was the daughter of Colonel James Beard Faucette, who migrated from Henderson County Tennessee to Mississippi by the age of 26.

Charles Forehand. was born in Arkansas and. seemingly, never lived out of state during his entire life. 

Despite their geographic differences, the couple married prior to 1883 at the approximate age of 23 and 20 respectively. All seven of their children were born in Pope County, the first daughter, named Macy Estelle, was born in late 1883.

One of the Forehands' neighbors in this rough and rural area was a doctor by the name of William C. Marberrry who by the age of 30 had relocated to Arkansas from Tennessee with his wife.

The couple had one son who died at the age of four approximately after the death of his mother on January 8, 1884.

Thirty-years- old, alone with a sickly child, Dr Marberry was overwhelmed. Acquainted with the Forehands because Charles Forehand owned part of a pharmacy in Dover, Dr Marberry was grateful when Mary Ellen Forehand took a role in caring for the sick son, who had struggled with health issues since his birth in 1880. 

The bond between Dr Marberry and Mrs Forehand was unmistakable. Because they spent so much time together fretting over the baby boy, they grew closer and closer, finally reaching a point where they became involved in a scandalous affair.

Charles Forehand confronted his wife several times about the affair. She always denied it and always said that she and the doctor were just good friends who were both concerned about the health of the child. 

But after the toddler passed away, the affair became evident and was a subject of general discourse during the "hen parties" held by other women in the community.

Despite Mrs Forehand's denial of the illicit bond, Charles Forehand became more and more convinced that his wife and the good doctor were "having intercourse" as reported in the Russellville Democrat. Letters were passed, and intercepted, between the star-crossed lovers and Forehand had approached Marberry on numerous occasions and told him to stay away from his comely wife. 

Things came to a head on March 25, 1889. Charles Forehand sent a local boy to the pharmacy where Marberry had an office to ask the pharmacist for a $10 loan so he could go to Fort Smith. The pharmacist sent back word that he didn't have the money at the moment but might be able to provide it the next day to forehand so he could make the trip to Sebastian County. 

The next day, four hand secured the money he needed to make the trip and was very vocal in the fact that he was going to Fort Smith and would be gone for a day or two. After making those exclamations in front of several witnesses, including the pharmacist that rented the office to the Dr Marberry, he took a circuitous route back to his home on Linker Mountain and stationed himself in a clump of bushes not far from the driveway. 

About noon of the day in question, Forehand saw Dr Marberry "slipping up to his house" and without a word fired several shots, striking the doctor. Marberry fled into the nearby woods severely wounded.  He then tracked down the doctor with the use of a dog and put several more bullets into the philandering physician, at least one fired into the back of his head.

Forehand later testified at his trial that he was married in 1881 to Mary Ellen and Dr Marberry and his wife lived close by. Forehand had bought out a partner in a pharmacy but in 1886, in the midst of the rumors about his wife's affair with Dr. Marberry, he uprooted his the family and moved to hope. 

Evidence at the trial showed that Mrs Forehand continued to write letters to Marberry back in Pope County. The letters from Mrs for hand was encouraging Dr marbury to move to Hope and start a practice there. 

In 1886, Forehand uprooted his family once again and moved back to Dover to start farming. He fell ill almost immediately, and despite his misgivings about doctor Marberry , was a patient of the man who was a rival for his wife's affections. 

Forehand testified that it was at this time the intimacy between Maberry and his wife had commenced. Rumor mongers and tongue wagers in the area said the affair had commenced before the couple ever moved away. 

Part of that may have been delusion on the part of Forehand, who told the newspapers that he felt like his wife was fully devoted to him at the time. Part of his reasoning was at one point he had rented out part of a home in Johnson County and was going to separate from his wife, and she begged him not to go.

The trial was a sensation in Pope County. Almost two dozen witnesses were called in the case, including a number of females who were acquainted with Mrs. Forehand. Most of those females testified that her "reputation  was not in good standing" among the church-going women in the community. 

There was also some nasty testimony about a potential plot to poison Charles Forehand with arsenic. Mrs Forehand provided the court with the "empty vial" that had contained the deadly poison.

On April 18 1889, approximately three weeks after the deadly shooting, a jury found Forehand guilty of second-degree murder. He was given a sentence of five years in the state penitentiary for his deed. 

That sentence must have been shortened or commuted in soe some nmanner in fashion. In 1892, the third child was born to Charles and Mary Ellen forehand and five more children were born to the couple by 1901. 

In fact the youngest child born to the couple lived until 1978.

They lived out their lives in Dover, and were buried next to each other in the traditional fashion upon their deaths.

Marberry was buried, apparently in an unmarked grave, in the Old Lake Cemetery in Dover approximately four and a half miles northeast of the old Forehead homestead.