The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1900-03-02
The Eeis and 1ptellieepcer
BEL AIR, MD. MARCH 2 1900
SIX DIED IN ONE DAY.
AND ALL OF ITEM FACED DEATH IN
THEIR BOOTS.


men dead, and all died with their boots
on?" The speaker was an old cattleman
who knew the range from the days when
Abilene was the cattle market of the
great west down to the present time.
"When | first went west, in $780," he
said, 81 had no experience with the
range, and there were many new things
for me to learn. | bought bunch Of cat.
tie on the Panhandle and trailed them
through to Barber county. l and my
cowboys squattcd on some vacant quar-
tiers of land in the brakes west Of the
Medicine river. We were in the rough
country several miles west of Medicine
Lodge.
"AIedicine Lodge is an old town as
towns go in Kansas. Away back in ear
ly days the Indians gave the stream that
runs through the town the name of Medl-
cine river. 1t has peculiar properties and
really served them as medicine. The
Lodge got its name because it was
camping place for sick Indians, and they
would come two days ride on their po-
MES across the ranges to get the water.
Later the government made some treaties
at the Lodge that made it headquarters,
and Il trading post spranS up. by the
time | located in the brakes to the west
the Lodge was right smart of place.
1t had q faro bank and dance hall and
plenty of saloons and bank of deposit
for the cattlemen. The town is just east
of a country of peculiar formation. The
prairie is cut up with great canyons,
some of them 100 feet deep. Part of
them are great sinks, with sloping banks,
but most of them have banks with very
steep sides. They just break square off,
and n bunch of cattle that gets stamped
ed will tumble into these canyons and
break their necks.
"But I'm on the wrong trail. You
wanted to know about that promiscuous
funeral affair. 1t was the first day Of
May, 1884. and we had had big doings in
town the day before. | told you we had
bank there then. The saloons had de-
generated into joints under prohibition,
and the town was getting mighty civil
lized by that time.
wiley Payne was president of the
hank, and young fellow named Gebhart
was cashier. Gebhart had been down
east and had just got back that morning.
He and Payne came down early and
opened the bank little earlier than
usual / was on the way to the bank
myself and was about a block away
when ! saw four men ride up and tie
their horses. Three went into the bank.
There was an old woman crossing the
street, and all of sudden she yelled,
Bank robbcrsp at the top of her voice
and began to run. With that the shoot
ing began in the bank. Both the presi-
dent and cashier were shot to death by
the robbers. Every man in town who
had gun, and we all carried EN-. got
ready to shoot. There was lot Of cow
boys at the hotel and in the joints. They
had rode their horses into town and left
'em in the livery stable with saddles on.
When the shooting began to get hot, the
robbers ran for their horses, climbed on
and started up Medicine creek. The
cowboys were right behind 'em, riding
and shooting. They couldn't get in range,
so it would be convenient to drop,
so they quit shooting and made the bron-
chos climb. They never once lost sight
of them robbers. don't know whether
they'd have caught EN- very soon if the
robbers hadn't made Il blunder
Harry Brown, the city marshal of
Caldwcll, and Ben Wheeler, his deputy,
were the head robbers. Ben was n big
fellow, mere than six feet high, and
weighed 30. lie was too heavy for his
horse, and tho horse was losing his wind.
So what does they do but turns up into
one of the deep canyons, thinking they
could hide somewhere, | reckon. Any
how, they started up the canyon. with
the COW boys after 'cm. 1t was a deep
one, without any outlet at the upper end.
First thing they knew we had 'em pen
1, Al 1, % he
on three sides and the cowboys on the
other. 1t was n tight place, want to
tell you, and it did not take 'em long to
agree to surrender and go back to Jail.
| guess we did promise 'em protection;
leastwise we said if they would go back
with us we wouldn't hang 'em on the
way to Jail. But we declined to be re-
sponsible for accidents. That's natural
enough. How could we help it if some
thing did happen to 'cm after they got
back to Jail?
Course something did happen. They
knew and we knew that it was going to.
They had been caught in the act of kill
ing respectable citizens, and they had
nothing else to expect. We put 'em in
Jail safe enough and put handouts on
EN-. Along toward evening the boys be-
They had heard about the killing, and
after mature deliberation it was decided
that the Jail was no safe place nohow
and the state had expenses enough of its
own. So, for the good of the community.
it was thought best TO make q short, sure
job of 'em and relieve ourselves from fur
Their anxiety.
"Along in the evening some of the
al, .,I 1, .
prisoners was. AS told you. they was
all in irons when we left 'em in the morn
ing, but when we went up there that
night they had got the irons off. How
they done it | never did know, and they
didn't have time to explain. When the
door was opened. they broke for to get
away. Brown got such q start that it
was necessary to perforate him then and
there. He died without kick. He was
a pretty game fellow and was town mar.
shall of Caldwell at that time, as have
already remarked Els deputy, Ben
Wheeler, the big fellow, had to be wing
I'd. They shot him so he couldn't run
and held him for the final ceremonies.
The other two robbers, Billy Smith and
John Wesley. was cowboys; but. being
poor runners and having been previously
relieved Of their Winchesters and side
arms, they were easy to handle. Besides,
the boys knew 'em and did not want to
disfigure 'em. They rounded up the pris-
oners and took 'em TO a lone tree handy
to town and near the river.
"Then the three was strung up on the
Dne tree. or course. as Brown had al
ready departed this life. they want no
need of stringing him up II was big
funeral we had the next day-six men
lead. and all died with their boots on.
II was the biggest day we ever had in
Medicine Lodge" Kansas City Star.