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.
