USA > Kansas > Ford County > Dodge City > Dodge City, the cowboy capital, and the great Southwest in the days of the wild Indian, the buffalo, the cowboy, dance halls, gambling halls and bad men > Part 14
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have occurred some time after midnight, but no one was on hand to see the fight, and they died without a witness.
T. C. Nixon, assistant city marshal, was murdered by Dave Mathers, known as "Mysterious Dave", on the eve- ning of July 21st, 1884. The cause of the shooting was on account of a shooting altercation between the two on the Friday evening previous. In this instance, it is alleged, Nixon had fired on Mathers, the shot taking no effect. On the following Monday evening Mathers called to Nixon, and fired the fatal shot. This circumstance is mentioned as one of the cold-blooded deeds, frequently taking place in frontier days. And, as usual, to use the French proverb for the cause, "Search the woman."
A wild tale of the plains is an account of a horrible crime committed in Nebraska, and the story seems almost incredible. A young Englishman, violating the confidence of his friend, a ranchman, is found in bed with the latter's wife. This continues for some months until, in the latter part of May, 1884, one of the cowboys, who had a griev- ance against Burbank, surprised him and Mrs. Wilson in a compromising situation and reported it to the woman's husband, whose jealousy had already been aroused. At night, Burbank was captured while asleep in bed, by Wilson and three of his men, and bound before he had any show to make resistance. After mutilating him in a shocking manner, Burbank had been stripped of every bit of clothing and bound on the back of a wild broncho, which was started off by a vigorous lashing. Before morn- ing, Burbank became unconscious, and was, therefore, unable to tell anything about his terrible trip. He thinks the outrage was committed on the night of May 27th, and he was rescued on the morning of June 3rd, which would make seven days that he had been traveling about the plains on the horse's back, without food or drink, and exposed to the sun and wind. Wilson's ranch is two hundred miles from the spot where Burbank was found, but it is hardly probable that the broncho took a direct
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PEACE COMMISSION W. H. HARRIS, LUKE SHORT, BAT MASTERSON, CHAS. E. BASSETT, WYATT ERBB, MCCLAIN, NEIL BROWN
course, and, therefore must have covered many more miles in his wild journey. When fully restored to health, Bur- bank proposed to make a visit of retaliation on Wilson, but it is unknown what took place.
The young man was unconscious when found, and his recovery was slow. The details, in full, of the story, would lend credence to the tale; but this modern Mazep- pa suffered a greater ordeal than the orthodox Mazeppa. This story is vouched for as true, and it is printed in these pages as an example of plains' civilization.
"Odd characters" would hardly express the meaning of the term, "bad men"-the gun shooters of the frontier days; and many of these men had a habitation in Dodge City. There was Wild Bill, who was gentle in manner; Buffalo Bill, who was a typical plains gentleman; Cher- okee Bill, with too many Indian characteristics to be des- ignated otherwise; Prairie Dog Dave, uncompromising and turbulent; Mysterious Dave, who stealthily employed his time; Fat Jack, a jolly fellow and wore good clothes; Cock-Eyed Frank, credited with drowning a man at Dodge City; Dutch Henry, a man of passive nature, but a slick one in horses and murders; and many others too numerous to mention; and many of them, no doubt, have paid the penalty of their crimes.
Several times, in these pages, the "dead line" is men- tioned. The term had two meanings, in early Dodge phraseology. One was used in connection with the cattle trade; the other referred to the deeds of violence which were so frequent in the border town, and was an imagin- ary line, running east and west, south of the railroad track in Dodge City, having particular reference to the danger of passing this line after nine o'clock of an eve- ning, owing to the vicious character of certain citizens who haunted the south side. If a tenderfoot crossed this "dead" line after the hour named, he was likely to be- come a "creature of circumstances"; and yet, there were
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men who did not heed the warning, and took their lives in their own hands.
"Wicked Dodge" was frequently done up in prose and verse, and its deeds atoned for in extenuating circum- stances; but in every phase of betterment the well being was given newspaper mention, for it is stated: "Dodge City is not the town it used to be. That is, it is not so bad a place in the eyes of the people who do not sanction outlawry and lewdness." But Dodge City progressed in morality and goodness until it became a city of excellent character.
Even the memory of the wild, wicked days will soon be effaced, but, as yet, when one recounts their wild stories and looks upon the scenes of that wildness and wickedness, one can almost fancy the shades of defunct bad men still walking up and down their old haunts and glaring savagely at the insipidity of their present civilized aspect. The "Denver Republican" expresses a similar thought in a certain short poem, thus:
THE TWO-GUN MAN
The Two-Gun Man walked through the town, And found the sidewalk clear; He looked around, with ugly frown, But not a soul was near. The streets were silent. Loud and shrill, No cowboy raised a shout; Like panther bent upon the kill, The Two-Gun Man walked out.
The Two-Gun Man was small and quick; His eyes were narrow slits; He didn't hail from Bitter Creek, Nor shoot the town to bits; He drank, alone, deep draughts of sin, Then pushed away his glass
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And silenced was each dance hall's din, When by the door he'd pass.
One day, rode forth this man of wrath, Upon the distant plain, And ne'er did he retrace his path, Nor was he seen again; The cow town fell into decay; No spurred heels pressed its walks; But, through its grass-grown ways, they say, The Two-Gun Man still stalks.
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CHAPTER IX.
The Administration of Justice on the Frontier
THE story of Justice Joyce, in a previous chapter, suffi- ciently proves that the interpretation of law and the proceedings of courts of justice, were, to say the least, irregular, in their infant days on the Kansas plains. That Joyce was not alone in his peculiar legal practices, is verified by authentic accounts of similar practices in other places, not the least of which was Dodge City.
A cattleman by the name of Peppard was one whom the officers disliked to see come to Dodge. Invariably rows began then, and he was in all of them. While driv- ing up a bunch of beeves to Dodge, so the story goes, Peppard's boss killed the negro cook. It has been said that the boss and Peppard were great friends and chums, and the boss killed the cook because Peppard wanted him killed. Anyway, a short time after they arrived at Dodge, Peppard and his boss fell out. The next morning Peppard saw him behind a bar in one of the saloons, and straight- way procured a shotgun loaded with buck, and turned it loose at the boss, who dodged behind the ice chest, which was riddled. A very narrow escape for the boss it was. Peppard then took a man and dug up the dead negro, chopped off his head with an ax, brought it in a sack to within thirty miles of Dodge, when nightful overtook them and they had to lay out. The negro had been dead two weeks, and it was very warm weather. Wolves were attracted by the scent, and made a most terrible racket around the camp fire, and it was decidedly unpleasant for the two men. Peppard's man weakened first and said they must remove the head or the camp. Inasmuch as the head was the easier to remove, they took it a mile or two away. Then the wolves took it and the sack several miles further, and they had much difficulty
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in finding it. At last it was produced in court with the bullet-hole in the skull, and the perplexing question was sprung on the court as to its jurisdiction to hold an in- quest when only a fractional part of the remains was pro- duced in court. The case was ably argued, pro and con. Those in favor of holding the inquest maintained that the production of the head in court included the other nec- essary parts of the anatomy, and was the best evidence on earth of his demise, and that the bullet-hole was a silent witness of his taking-off. The opposition argued that if the court had jurisdiction to hold an inquest on the head, there was no reason why the courts of Com- anche county and other localities could not do the same on any other fractional part of the anatomy which might be found scattered over their bailiwick. The court, after mature deliberation, decided to give continuance until such time as the rest of the remains could be produced in court. Peppard left the town disgusted with the deci- sion, and, for all I know to the contrary, the case is still docketed for continuance.
Here is an early day account of a proceeding in the Dodge City Police Court:
""The marshal will preserve strict order,' said the judge. 'Any person caught throwing turnips, cigar stumps, beets, or old quids of tobacco, at this court, will be immediately arraigned before this bar of justice." Then Joe looked savagely at the mob in attendance, itched his ivory handle a little to the left, and adjusted his mustache. 'Trot out the wicked and unfortunate, and let the cotillion commence,' said the judge.
" 'City vs. James Martin'-but just then, a complaint not on file had to be attended to, and 'Reverent' John Walsh, of Las Animas, took the throne of justice, while the judge stepped over to Hoover's, for a drink of old rye to brace him up for the ordeal to come.
"You are here for horse stealing," says Walsh. “I can clean out the d-d court," says Martin, and the city
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attorney was banged into a pigeon-hole in the desk, the table upset, the windows kicked out, and the railing broke down. When order was restored, Joe's thumb was 'some chawed,' Assistant Marshal Masterson's nose sliced a trifle, and the rantankerous originator of all this trouble, James Martin, Esquire, was bleeding from a half dozen cuts on the head, inflicted by Masterson's revolver. Then Walsh was deposed and Judge Frost took his seat, chew- ing burnt coffee for his complexion.
"The evidence was brief and to the point. 'Again,' said the judge, as he rested his alabaster brow on his left paw, 'do you appear within this sacred realm, of which I, and I only, am high muck-i-muck. You have disturbed the quiet of our lovely village. Why, instead of letting the demon of passion fever your brain into this fray, did you not shake hands and call it all a mistake. Then the lion and the lamb would have lain down together, and white-robed Peace would have fanned you with her silvery wings, and elevated your thoughts to the good and pure by her smiles of approbation. But, no! You went to chawing and clawing and pulling hair. It's ten dol- lars and costs, Mr. Martin.'
"'Make way for the witnesses,' says Joe, as he winks at the two coons that come to the front, and plants one on each side of Mr. Morphy who appears for the defendant. 'A thorn between two roses.'
"It was the City vs. Monroe Henderson, all being 'niggas' except the city attorney and Mr. Morphy. The prosecuting witness, Miss Carrie, looked 'the last rose of summer all faded and gone.' Her best heart's blood (pumped from her nose) was freely bespattering the light folds which but feebly hid her palpitating bosom. Her star-board eye was closed, and a lump like a burnt biscuit ornamented her forehead. The evidence showed that the idol of her affections, a certain moke named Harris, had first busted her eye, lossened her ribs, and kicked the stuffing generally out of Miss Carrie. Carrie then got
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on the warpath, procured a hollow-ground razor, flung tin cans at the defendant, and used such naughty language as made the judge breathe a silent prayer, and caused Walsh to take to the open air in horror. But the fact still remained that the defendant had 'pasted' her one on the nose. The city attorney dwelt upon the heinous- ness of a strong giant man smiting a frail woman. Mr. Morphy, for the defendant, told two or three good stories, bragged on the court, winked at the witnesses, and thought he had a good case; but the marble jaws of justice snapped with firmness, and it was five dollars and costs, and the court stood adjourned.
Joe Waters tells a humorous story which is a fair specimen of the rough verbal joking, common to early day conservation. It was issued in 1881, is entitled, "The Attorney for Jesus," and runs as follows, the loca- tion being the Ford county court at Dodge City, of course; and Waters the prosecuting attorney. The case appeared on the docket entitled, "The State of Kansas vs. Jesus Perea," was solemnly called by the judge, and the pro- ceedings are in this wise, by Waters:
" "The State vs. Jesus Perea,' the court now calls;
'I appear for Jesus,' Gryden bawls;
'His last name you will please to state,
Or, Harry, I will fine you, sure as fate.'
" 'Perea,' says Gryden, so low the court could hardly hear,
'He is the man for whom I appear;'
Says the court, sotto voce, 'When the savior employs such as him,
Our chances for heaven are getting quite slim."'
The wit or humor of attorney and court was not con- fined to bench and bar, but the following is a terse argu- ment by a lay woman:
"A good story is told of a Dodge City divorce suit. The jury refused to grant the lady a divorce, and, when
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the court inquired if she would like to 'poll the jury,' she said: 'That is just what I would delight to do if your honor will give me a pole;' and the glance she gave the jury made the cold chills run up and down their spinal columns."
Dodge City had some unique characters in the judicial harness. Bill Nye, the humorist of the Laramie, Wyom- ing, "Boomerang," has a story about "McIntosh on Fees," a justice of the peace named McIntosh furnishing the humorist with his droll account. On one occasion, in a case before Justice McIntosh, the jury rendered a ver- dict for the plaintiff who was unable to pay the fees; so the justice promptly reversed the judgment in favor of the defendant who made good. The plaintiff appealed the case, but was killed one morning before breakfast, prior to the session of the circuit court which was to dispose of the case.
"McIntosh on Fees" didn't know the difference between quo warranto and the erysipelas, but he had more dignity than the chief justice of the supreme court of the United States. Once, however, his dignity was seriously ruffled, when old Spangler brought to him the exhumed head of a deceased darkey in a gunny-sack, for the in- quest mentioned at the beginning of this chapter. The gruesome find, with an aperature on the side of the head, so mortified the dignity of the justice that he re- signed his office and left the country.
The subject of the administration of justice on the frontier would hardly be duly considered without some reference to lynchings. But, in speaking of lynching, in the early days of Dodge City, there was not much of this kind of work carried on. When certain party or parties got too obnozious to the decent part of the com- munity, they would be notified to leave town, and, if they did not go, the vigilants or respectable citizens would raise up in their might and shoot them to death. There were only two lynchings or hangings. One occurred in
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the west part of town, for horse stealing. One night, long after sundown, a small party of men rode into town, stopped at the store, bought a piece of rope, and quietly mounted and rode away. The next day, report reached Dodge that three men were hanging to a big cottonwood tree-a large lone tree, in the center of a nice little bot- tom near the crossing of Saw Log Creek, about twelve miles northeast of Dodge.
One of the three was a young man, about twenty-one, Calahan by name, who had been brought up in the right way. His father was a good Christian gentleman, and a minister of the gospel, and it nearly broke his heart, as well as the mother's. His uncle, Dr. Calahan, was the leading dentist of Topeka, and stood at the head of his profession throughout the state. Of course, they took his remains to Topeka for decent burial. The young man had no idea what he was getting into when he came to Dodge a stranger, looking for work, and hired out to herd horses for a noted horse thief, Owens by name, residing in Dodge. But Calahan gradually drifted in with them, and, I suppose, found the employment so fascinating and exciting that he became one of them. But this broke up the Owens gang here, and Owens emigrated north, where his business was more flourishing, and soon after, his son was hung for the same crime.
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CHAPTER X.
The Passing of the Buffalo
From the nature and habits of the buffalo hunters as already described, and from the fact of his having figured so extensively in all these stories of frontier life, it will readily be seen that the buffalo hunter was closely identi- fied with every phase of existence, of that period and locality. Indeed, for many years, the great herds of buffalo was the pivot around which swung the greater part of the thrilling activities of the plains in early days. When the railroad appeared the shipping of buffalo hides and meat had much to do with the immense trade that immediately sprang up in frontier towns like Dodge City. With the removal of the buffaloes from the range, room was made for the cattleman who immediately followed with his wide-stretching and important industry. And, again, the passing of the buffalo herds, at the hands of the white men, was one of the prime causes of Indian hostility, and the keynote of their principal grievance against the whites, and its resulting atrocities and blood- shed.
In a former chapter, I endeavored to give an idea of the size of the buffalo herds of early days. I here give a clipping from the Dodge City Times, of August 18th, 1877, in support of my estimate of the great number of buffaloes on the plains at that time:
TERRIBLE SLAUGHTER OF BUFFALO
"Dickinson County has a buffalo hunter by the name of Mr. Warnock, who has killed as high as 658 in one winter .- Edwards County Leader.
"O, dear, what a mighty hunter! Ford County has twenty men who each have killed five times that many in one winter. The best on record, however, is that of Tom
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Nickson, who killed 120 at one stand in forty minutes, and who, from the 15th of September to the 20th of Octo- ber, killed 2,173 buffaloes. Come on with some more big hunters if you have any."
This slaughter, of course was resented by the Indians and the conflicts between them and the hunters were fierce and frequent. In fact, the hunters were among the most intrepid and determined of Indian fighters, and were known as such. In John R. Cook's remarkable book, "The Border and the Buffalo," remarkable not only for its wonderful stories of Indian fights and terrible suffer- ing from thirst, but remarkable also for its honest truth- fulness, he says: "That noble band of buffalo hunters who stood shoulder to shoulder and fought Kiowas, Comanches, and Staked Plains Apaches, during the sum- mer of 1877, on the Llano Estacado, or the Staked Plains of Texas."
This refers to a body of men, largely from Dodge City, and Charles Rath and myself among the latter, who previously located in that country. On our arrival, we camped on a surface lake whose waters were from a June waterspout or cloud-burst, and now covered a surface of about five acres of ground, Lieutenant Coop- er's measurement. In the center of the basin it showed a depth of thirty-three inches. Here we witnessed a remarkable sight. At one time, during the day, could be seen horses, mules, buffaloes, antelope, coyotes, wolves, a sand hill crane, negro soldiers, white men, our part Cherokee Indian guide, and the Mexican guide, all drink- ing and bathing, at one and the same time, from this lake. Nearly all these men were from Dodge City; that is why I mention them, and you will hear of their heroic deeds of bravery and suffering further along.
Outside of a tented circus, that mentioned was one of the greatest aggregations of the animal kingdom, on so small a space of land and water. One can imagine what kind of water this must have been when taking into
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account that nearly a month previous it had suddenly fallen from the clouds, upon a dry, sun parched soil with a hard-pan bottom, being exposed to a broiling hot sun about sixteen hours of every twenty-four, while the ther- mometer was far above one hundred degrees Fahrenheit, and an occasional herd of buffaloes standing or wallow- ing in it, not to mention the ever coming and going antelope, wild horse, wolves, the snipe, curlew, cranes and other wild fowl and animals, all of which frequented this place for many miles around. And yet, we mixed bread, made coffee, and filled our canteens as well as our bellies with it. And yet again, there were men in our party who, in six more days would, like Esau, have sold their birthright for the privilege of drinking and bathing in this same decoction. This was on the Staked Plains- Llano Estacado.
The spring of 1877, the Indians had got very bold. They raided the Texas frontier for hundreds of miles, not only stealing their stock but burning the settlers' homes and killing the women and children, or carrying them into captivity which was worse than death. Cap- tain Lee, of the Tenth cavalry, a gallant, brave officer and Indian fighter, had rendered a splendid service by breaking up and literally destroying a band of Staked Plains Indians, bringing into Fort Griffin all the women and children and a number of curiosities. As these In- dians got all their supplies through half-breed Mexicans, strange to say, all these supplies came from way down on the Gulf of California, hundreds of miles overland. And I will interpolate here, that these Indian women and children never saw a white man before they were cap- tured.
Captain Lee, at one time, commanded Fort Dodge, and was stationed there a long time. While he was a brave and daring officer and did great service, it resulted in stirring up these Indians, making them more revenge- ful, villainous, and bloodthirsty than ever. They now
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began to depredate on the hunters, killing several of the best and most influential of them, and running off their stock. This the hunters could not stand, so they got together at Charles Rath's store (a place they named "Rath," and, as I said before, most of these hunters had followed Rath down from Dodge City), and organized. There were not more than fifty of them, but my, what men! Each was a host within himself. They feared noth- ing and would go anywhere, against anything wearing a breech-clout, no matter how great the number. I do not give the names of these brave men because I remem- ber but a few of their names and, therefore, mention them collectively.
This little band of brave men were treated liberally by the stock men, those who had lost horses by the Indian raids. They were given mounts, and these stock men also gave the hunters bills of sale to any horses of their brand they might capture. They knew to encourage these men and lend them assistance was protecting their frontier.
The hunters chose Mr. Jim Harvey, I think, for their captain, and they chose wisely and well. They organized thoroughly and then started for the Indians. They had a few skirmishes and lost a few men, and also went through great hardships on account of hunger, thirst, cold and exposure, but they kept steadily on the trail. You see, these hardy men had all the endurance of the Indian, could stand as much punishment in the way of hunger, thirst, and cold, were good riders, good shots, and superior in every way to the Indians.
Finally, they discovered about where the main camp of the Indians was, about the middle of March, 1877. The trail got warm, and they knew they were in close prox- imity to the main camp at some water holes on the Staked Plains. This country was new to the hunters and they knew they were up against a big band of Indians. Never- theless, they were determined to fight them, no matter at what odds.
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In the afternoon they discovered an Indian scout. Of course, they had to kill him; if he escaped he would warn the camp. Now then, after this happened, the hunters were obliged to use due diligence in attacking the camp because when the Indian scout did not turn up in a certain time, the Indians' suspicions would be arous- ed. The hunters expected to discover the camp and attack just before day, but they had difficulty in finding the camp in the night. Long after midnight, however, the hunters' scouts got on to it, but by the time the scouts got back to the boys and reported, nothwithstanding they made great haste, it was after sunrise before the hunters got to it. This frustrated all their plans, but the hunters attacked them gallantly and rode into sure range and opened fire. Unfortunately, nearly the first volley from the Indians one of the hunters was shot from his horse and another had his horse killed under him and in falling broke his wrist, while their main guide, Hosea, was shot through the shoulder. Thus handicapped with three badly wounded men from their little band, one having to be carried back on a stretcher which required three or four men, all under a murderous fire, no wonder they had to retreat back to the hills, but fighting every step of the way. And, if I remember rightly, the Indians afterwards acknowledged to Captain Lee, that they lost over thirty men killed outright, and a much larger number wound- ed, and they abandoned everything to get away with their women and children. They abandoned, on their trail, several hundred head of horses.
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