William Tell Johnson

"There assembled in St. Louis, Missouri, a "Constitutional Convention" composed of individuals, most of whom were unknown outside of the localities in which they claimed to reside. They had been chosen by a fraction of the voters, as people of voting age were generally in either the Confederate or Federal Army, or in the guerilla companies then abounding, or were fugitives from their homes, in order to save their lives. The "Constitution" made by this convention was put in force on July, 1865, no one being allowed to vote on it unless he first took the test oath it provided. A reign of terror, accompanied by arson, robbery, and murder, in many parts of the state followed."