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Populating Boot
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Such a case was the shooting of
Dora Hand, a celebrated actress. The
killing of Dora Hand was an accident; still, it was intended for a
cold-blooded murder, so was accidental only in the victim that suffered.
It seems that Mayor James Kelly and a very rich cattleman's son, who had
marketed many thousand head of cattle in
Dodge, during the summer, had a drunken altercation. It did not amount
to much, at the time, but, to do the subject justice, they say that Kelly
did treat Kennedy badly. Anyhow, Kennedy got the worst of it. This aroused
his half-breed nature. He quietly went to Kansas City, bought him the best
horse that money could secure, and brought him back to
Dodge. In the meantime, Mr. Kelly had left his place of abode, on
account of sickness, and Miss
Dora Hand was occupying his residence and
bed.
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Dodge City in
the late 1800's
This
image available for photographic prints
HERE! |
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Kennedy, of course, was not aware of this. During the night of his return,
or about four o'clock next morning, he ordered his horse and went to
Kelly's residence and fired two shots through the door, without
dismounting, and rode away. The ball struck Miss Hand in the right side
under the arm, killing her instantly. She never woke up.
Kennedy took a direction
just opposite to his ranch.
The
officers had reason to believe who did the killing, but did not start in
pursuit until the afternoon. The officers in pursuit were
Sheriff Masterson,
Wyatt Earp,
Charles Bassett, Duffy, and
William Tilghman, as intrepid a posse
as ever pulled a trigger. They went as far as Meade City, where they knew
their quarry had to pass and went into camp in a very careless manner. In
fact, they arranged so as to completely throw Kennedy off his guard, and
he rode right into them, when he was ordered three times to throw up his
hands. Instead of doing so, he struck his horse with his quirt, when
several shots were fired by the officers, one shot taking effect in his
left shoulder, making a dangerous wound. Three shots struck the horse,
killing him instantly. The horse fell partly on Kennedy, and
Sheriff Masterson said, in
pulling him out, he had hold of the wounded arm and could hear the bones
crunch. Not a groan did Kennedy let out of him, although the pain must
have been fearful. And all he said was, "You sons of b----, I will get
even with you for this." Under the skillful operation of Drs. McCarty and
Tremaine, Kennedy recovered, after a long sickness. They took four inches
of the bone out, near the elbow. Of course, the arm was useless, but he
used the other well enough to kill several people afterwards, but finally
met his death by some one a little quicker on the trigger than himself.
Miss Dora Hand was a celebrated actress and would have made her mark
should she have lived.
One Sunday night in October, 1883, there was a fatal encounter between two
negroes, Henry Hilton and Nigger Bill, two as brave and desperate
characters as ever belonged to the colored race. Some said they were both
struck on the same girl and this was the cause.
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Henry was under bonds for
murder, of which the following is the circumstances. Negro Henry was the
owner of a ranch and a little bunch of cattle. Coming in with a lot of
white
cowboys, they began joshing Henry, and one of them attempted to throw
a rope over him.
Henry warned them he would not stand any such rough treatment, if he was a
nigger. He did this in a dignified and determined manner. When one rode up
and lassoed him, almost jerking him from his horse, Henry pulled his gun
and killed him. About half of the
cowboys said he was justifiable in killing his man; it was self
defense, for if he had not killed him, he would have jerked him from his
horse and probably killed Henry.
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Negro Bill Smith was equally brave, and had
been tried more than once. They were both found, locked in each other's
arms (you might say), the next morning, lying on the floor in front of the
bar, their empty six-shooters lying by the side of each one. The affair
must 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 Mather, known as "Mysterious
Dave", on the evening 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
Mather, the shot taking no effect.
On
the following Monday evening Mather
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."
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Dave Allen Mather.
This
image available for photographic prints
HERE!
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Continued Next
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From the Rocky Mountain General Store
Kansas Postcards -
If you're like we are and can't get enough of
Kansas,
take a virtual tour through our many
Kansas Postcards.
Each one of these is unique and, in many cases, we have only one
available, so don't wait. To see them all, click
HERE!
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