You'll find that Captain/Major Dennis C. McKay has multiple entries. One of them specifically states that he was the Asst. Provost Marshall, 1st subdistrict, northern Missouri. He asked for a clerk. Dec 6. Probably 1864.
McKay was also involved with the case of Marion Erwin...bushwhacker. March 1865. Records state that Marion Erwin was also known as Robert St Claire. If you search in keywords for Erwin, you'll discover that he is referred to as "Captain Erwin" and he is part of the David and Mary Turner rebel sympathizer case. From Jan. 1865. The Inside Guerilla book by Fellman has 19-year old Marion Erwin taken away to St. Louis....but..maybe...it's a different Marion Erwin.
I tried searching on hung, execution, execute. Suggest you try guilty, bushwhacker. I found one reference in the provost marshall database that Abraham Lincoln stayed the execution of James P Holland, John H Utz, Henry H Highsmith for 20 days. I checked further and Lincoln commuted their sentences to imprisonment (wonder why?). They were in Macon County in Nov 1864-Jan 1865. John Utz's prison letters are online. He might mention the hanging in Macon since he was there at the time. Per the Collection, Utz was with Price at the start of the war, took the oath, and then tried to rejoin Price in fall 1864 when he was captured with the others. http://www.ozarkscivilwar.org/archives/672
This info about Utz also suggests that whoever might have been hung in fall 1864 may have also been en route to meet up with Sterling.
Or you could follow the bushwhacker trail of Captain Marion Erwin. It's not quite the right time period--just a few months later. Who was he running with?
I dug around for William G. Waite, publisher of the True Democrat. A man of the same name worked as a printer before and after the war at the St Louis Republic. This makes me think the True Democrat was short-lived war-time publication reflecting the politics of the publisher. As such, any supporter of the Confederate cause who was involved in fighting might have been referred to as a member of the Confederate Army, even if the man was a guerilla fighter. I wonder whether the hanging of a guerilla "officer" would be as politically touchy as a CSA officer.
On what page is the account in the History of Randolph and Macon County? It's not coming up in my search of the document. Maybe there are more clues in the exact wording.
--Jean Dresden
--Jean Dresden