was formally dissolved but was replaced by a similar institution, the Police Guard. An investigation into the executions of Allen and William was later conducted in 1867 at the impetus of Freedmen's Bureau agent William Birnie, but no charges were brought against the Home Guard. Arrest of Henry Berry Lowry On December 7, 1865 Henry Berry Lowry married his cousin, Rhoda Strong. During the wedding reception, a company of the Police Guard under Lieutenant A. J. McNair arrived and arrested Lowry. The following day a warrant was crafted accusing him of murdering James Barnes. He was initially held in the Lumberton jail but, since it had been damaged by Union troops, the authorities decided to move him to the Columbus County jail, approximately away in Whiteville. Lowry later escaped from the Whiteville jail, the first person to ever do so. How he achieved this is not clear, though Lumbee oral tradition maintains that he cut his way through prison bars with a file smuggled in by his wife in a cake. He then returned to Scuffletown and reunited with his wife. Period of outlawry The Lowry Gang Following the jailbreak, the Robeson County Court issued at least 35 capias warrants against Lowry for sheriffs in the North Carolina-South Carolina border region. North Carolina Governor Jonathan Worth also offered a $300 reward for Lowry's capture. He avoided the authorities by hiding in swamps with a group of associates which became known as the Lowry Gang or Lowry Band. Although a somewhat fluid band at times numbering 20–30 men, the gang usually operated with six to eight men. Its most consistent members included Henry Berry; Steve and Tom Lowry, his two older brothers; two of his cousins, Calvin and Henderson Oxendine; two of his brothers-in-law, Andrew and Boss Strong; and two other Indians, John Dial (son of George Dial) and William Chavis. There were also two black men, George Applewhite and Eli Ewin (sometimes called Shoemaker John), and a white man, Zachariah T. McLauchlin. They joined at different times for various reasons, but all bore resentment against the local authorities. They usually stayed in improvised shelters in Back Swamp, a ten-mile long stretch of sparsely-traveled land near Allen Lowry's homestead. Throughout 1866 and 1867 the gang conducted raids "in retaliation" for previous wrongs inflicted upon them, but no people were killed. In response to their activities, the General Assembly amended the state