them to the mill pond of William C. McNeil where an execution by firing squad was prepared at the direction of John Taylor, a wealthy planter, former member of the Home Guard, and a known racist. Strong managed to work himself free of the rope tying him and ran into Bear Swamp. The guardsmen then shot Sanderson and dumped his body in the mill race. Strong subsequently joined the Lowry Gang, while word spread among the Indian community that Taylor had ordered Sanderson's death. A justice of the peace indicted Taylor for murder, but he was released on bond. Fearing his life was in danger, he offered Sanderson's family money as compensation for the death. After they indicated their lack of interest, he made preparations to leave Robeson County, but remained to oversee the selling of his property. Meanwhile, the Lowry Gang grew suspicious of John Saunders. Saunders had established contact with Henry Berry Lowry and told him he would help the gang escape westward, reportedly with the secret intention of having them arrested in South Carolina or Georgia, far away from their homeland. The gang surveilled Saunders and realized he had made connections with the family of William C. McNeil, in which John Taylor had married. Fearing that he was a spy, they elected to not show up at a rendezvous he planned at a camp near Moss Neck on November 19 for their "migration" out of the state. With their failure to appear, Saunders requested that some of the McNeil sons meet him at the camp. The gang kept watch on the camp and captured the McNeils and Saunders. They released the former and took Saunders to their own camp in Back Swamp. Once there they debated his fate, though Henry and Steve Lowry were in favor of killing him and eventually won their argument. The gang allowed Saunders to pen a letter to his wife before Steve shot him. Andrew Strong buried him and mailed his letter. In early November county authorities searched the farm belonging to the mother of Zachariah T. McLauchlin and found some property believed to have been stolen by the Lowry Gang. As a result, he was declared an outlaw and a $400 bounty was offered for his capture, dead or alive. On December 16 McLauchlin spent the evening drinking in the company of another young white man, Henry Biggs. Over the course