Welcome to Kansas!
The following stanza was written on a placard attached to a Prairie Schooner as it traveled into Kansas:
Goodbye to the desolate plains alway,
Dakota, Nebraska, adieu;
We may emigrate to hell some day,
But never again to you.
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Prairie Tales Podcast
The Prairie Tales podcast is coming in May! Listen to true tales from the prairie on your favorite podcast app, and coming soon to YouTube. Check back here soon for the official launch date and to be a part of the Party on the Prairie launch festivities!
The podcast will begin with real life stories of what would become Harvey County, from March of 1871 through to the end of the year. This period comprises the heyday of Newton’s beginning and her cowboy days. 150 years ago this year, blood flowed through the streets of Newton, then known as “the wickedest city on earth.” You want to miss these prairie tales!
As episodes develop, we will explore fascinating tales from other counties and communities on the lonesome prairie! You won’t want to miss a single story. From murder to depravation, from jubilation to routine daily life, ride along the dusty trail with our Action News reporters of the day to get on-the-scene reports of what life was really like during the early days of our Pioneer ancestors!
Unknown Man
Case # 1855-KM02
March 24, 1855
JOHNSON COUNTY – An unidentified African American was killed by Pro-Slavery men. The Kansas State Historical Society.
Marshal Sawyer – Case # 1873-HV11
NEWTON – Last Friday afternoon, just as the afternoon exercises of the circus had closed, Claud Wilson, a young man who had been residing with J. Kelly, in Emma township, while under the influence of liquor drove a team over a little son of D. R. Swan, of this city, seriously bruising him. A special policeman who was near by at the time arrested Wilson and started with him and the injured boy to Dr. Coleman’s office.
On the way they met city Marshal Sawyer, and Wilson was turned over to him. After the condition of the boy was learned, and observing that Wilson was still under the influence of liquor, Sawyer told him that he would have to take him to jail for the present, whereupon Wilson struck at him with a large knife which he had concealed in his coat sleeve, and had he not dodged the same would have either cut his throat or injured him seriously. For which Wilson will reside at hotel d’ Wafer until next term of court, unless some person goes his $500 bail. The Newton Kansan, Newton, Kansas. Thursday, August 10, 1882. Page 3.
Kansas Murder
Be sure to visit the Trading Post “Book Table” page for information on Murder & Mayhem On The Kansas Prairie: 1854-1869. This is Volume 1 of the Deadly Encounters series, and is ready for purchase now! Volume 2 (1870-1885 – The Cowboy Days) is currently being written and should be done within the next 6 months.
When you purchase a book (Thank You!), please leave a review on Amazon.com and if possible, on Goodreads (this helps get the word out).
Murder & Mayhem in Harvey County 1871-1899 and 1900-1920 are completed and are ready for purchase, as is Sudden Endings and Roadside Crosses. The book, “Lost Hopes” is currently in my “to do” pile.
Eulogy For A Cow
Wrong Place, Wrong Time
It was a normal Thursday morning, a routine summer day in 1891. The good folk of Walton were just sitting down to enjoy their lunch, when without warning the dishes began to tremble. Soon everyone in town had gathered down by the train tracks to see the cause of all the commotion.
One cow lay dead. It wasn’t her fault; she was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. Her ride from Texas in the 9th car behind the engine hadn’t been enjoyable, but it had been safe enough for her and her companions – until she got to Walton, Kansas.
The 5th car of the east-bound Santa Fe freight train suddenly jumped the track at the switch, for no reason that was ever determined. It and the 3 cars following, all filled with wheat, were reduced to splinters within seconds. Bessie’s car, the one following the 4 wheat cars, was run off the track and then partly turned over on its side. That action pinned Bessie at the bottom of the pile, and there she met her demise.
The rest of the afternoon, Santa Fe Superintendent Turner and a crew came up from Newton and finally succeeded in getting the cattle car back on the track. The freight was again on its way, minus the wheat and one cow.
One of the wheat cars had struck a west-bound freight train that was waiting to take the track, which broke off the pilot and bruised it up a bit. “It was a very narrow escape for the west-bound engineer but fortunately no one was hurt,” one witness remarked. No one, except for poor old Bessie.
No mention was ever made as to her final disposition. It is not believed, however, that any of her Texas companions ever returned to visit Walton again. †DMc
Real Stories From The Central Plains
Nebraska, Kansas, and Oklahoma. The pioneers came to this area – and the States around us – facing
with courage and determination the many new challenges which confronted them. This site is dedicated to honoring their memories, and telling many of their stories.
Like the first settlers who started from – well, nothing – to build their first sod dugout on the prairie, so this website is building up slowly from the ground up. So drop on by as often as you can, and see how we’re doing. Grab a Sarsaparilla and set on the porch a spell… once we actually get a porch built, that is…
Darren
Welcome To The Prairie
Us old drovers don’t move as fast as we used to. But you will begin seeing this site re-build itself, something like watching the flowers begin to grow again after a grass fire darkens the landscape. Website hackers should be tarred and feathered… or, worse. Horse thieves were hung for such treachery.
The book many are waiting for, Murder In Harvey County, may actually become 2 books – one for the 1800’s and one for the 1900’s – but regardless, the plan is that these will be printed this year (2017).
Darren
Murder In Kansas 1854-1869 is here!
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