Eminence, Mo. ? At the time, reaction to the shooting of six wild horses in the Ozarks was swift and emotional.

Locals demanded accountability for the animals found dead in 2000. A horse advocacy group offered thousands of dollars for information in the killings. Even a Missouri senator took a sharp interest in the case and requested frequent updates on its status.

Now, things have quieted down. The shooters have been convicted, and the rough-looking horses continue to roam freely through the tangle of forest and fast-moving rivers in the Ozark National Scenic Riverways in southern Missouri.

“There were times when I questioned whether things would ever get back to normal,” said Elmo Thompson, president of the Wild Horse League in Eminence.

To Shannon County residents, the 35 horses — thought to be the only wild ones in the Midwest — represent freedom and natural beauty, Thompson said.

The horses roam in four different herds. They are something of a tourist attraction, drawing people from hundreds of miles away to the rugged river country hoping to catch a glimpse of the seemingly mystical animals.

“A lot of people will see them while they’re out canoeing and not know exactly what they are,” said Rodger Smith, owner of Windys Canoe Rental in Eminence. “When we tell them they’re wild horses, they’re surprised and intrigued.”

Federal fight

Wild horses have been spotted in the Ozarks for more than 100 years, though most are probably descendents of livestock abandoned by farmers and ranchers during the Depression, Thompson said.

“I was 12 years old the first time I saw some in a meadow,” said Thompson, now 84. “I didn’t get too close because I was scared they would knock me down or something. I couldn’t take my eyes off of them, though.”

A herd of wild horses crosses the Current River near Eminence, Mo. The wild horses, believed to be the only herd in the Midwest, roam the Ozark National Scenic Riverways in southern Missouri.

In the late 1960s, Shannon County closed open ranges and began to require fences for livestock. The wild horses never were rounded up.

In the early 1990s, the National Park Service decided to relocate the horses because they damaged the land.

Thompson and others who wanted the horses to remain fought the decision. About 1,000 of the county’s 7,600 residents signed a petition objecting to the move.

The battle went all the way to the Supreme Court, which declined to intervene on behalf of the residents. But Sen. Kit Bond and the late U.S. Rep. Bill Emerson, both Missouri Republicans, got legislation passed in 1996 to protect the horses and keep them in the Ozark National Scenic Riverways.

While the horses roaming the some 100,000 acres of federal land are wild, Shannon Countians consider them their own and are fiercely protective of them.

Wild horse league

Residents came to the horses’ defense again during deer hunting season in 2000. A mare and a stallion from the Cornfield Herd were found shot to death Nov. 16 below the juncture of the Current and Jack’s Fork rivers in the national park. Two days later, the mare’s foal was shot in the head as it lingered around its mother’s corpse.

On Dec. 5, 2000, three more slain mares were found about 400 yards from the herd. Two members of the herd remain unaccounted for.

“It was a horrible, horrible crime,” said Shannon County Sheriff Clinton “Butter” Reeves, also a horse league member. “No one could believe anyone would shoot such beautiful animals.”

The shootings drew national attention. Bond again came to the horses’ aid. He wrote to the Riverways supervisor, asking to be kept informed of the investigation.

Bond and U.S. Rep. Jo Ann Emerson, R-Mo., who holds her late husband’s seat, also helped Thompson’s group establish the Wild Horse Bounty and Survival Fund. They raised $10,000 for information leading to an arrest in the case.

“These horses have always had a special place in my heart because they represent a part of Missouri that is free and should always be protected,” Bond said.

An extensive investigation by local, state and federal authorities led to Harold C. “Pogo” Williams of Ellington. The case was sealed when Reeves linked a few blue paint chips found in the woods to the 1970s Chevy pickup Williams owned.

Williams, an avid hunter, had faced a maximum of five years in jail and a $5,000 fine.

In May 2001, Williams pleaded guilty to animal abuse in the deaths. He told the judge he fired two high-powered rifles into a herd of horses because they were interfering with his hunting.

Williams was sentenced to one year in jail and ordered to pay $2,500 in restitution to the horse league. The punishment was later amended to allow Williams to serve weekends only in jail through June 2004.

A juvenile son of Williams’ girlfriend was charged in the death of the sixth horse. The case was handled by juvenile authorities and no details were ever released.

Thompson and other horse league members are still angered by the outcome.

“It was a ruthless killing. I would have liked to see him get at least 10 years,” Thompson said. “It wasn’t left up to me, though.”

Because law enforcement solved the case, the bounty was given to the horse league.

It will be used to manage the herd, check the horses for disease, provide salt licks and occasionally adopt out stallions to keep the herd count below the allowed limit of 50 head.