Topics in Kansas History:
Old West

Essay

Possibly no time in American history and folklore has been portrayed as more adventurous and romantic than the Old West. In reality, life was hard in towns, on the trail, and at the ranch. People had little time or opportunity to live the glamorous, exciting life portrayed in western movies.

Cowboys

Each spring from 1866 - 1885, Texas longhorns were driven to railheads in Kansas or farther north to stock the open ranges. It took about a dozen cowboys to trail 2,000 head of cattle. Herd size ranged from around 1,000 head in the early years to 3,000 - 4,000 later on. For their labors, cowboys earned between $25 and $40 a month, plus their food.

Most cowboys were young men, in their late teens or early twenties, and single. One 19th-century definition of a "cowboy" was "anybody with guts and a horse." They needed to be strong to survive the harsh conditions of trail life.

Cattle stampedes, hazardous trail conditions, and long hours in the saddle in all types of weather resulted in accidents and illness among cowhands. Some did not recover. The common remedy for all ailments: liquor or a patent medicine, most of which had a very high alcohol content.

After completing the grueling 300 - 350 mile trip from Texas, members of the crew were free to take advantage of town activities. Saloonkeepers, gamblers, and "sporting women" were always waiting at the end of the trail to take their hard-earned money.

Although the long cattle drives came to an end in the mid-1880s, there was still plenty of work for the cowboy. Ranching activities in Kansas actually increased. By the 1890s, Kansas was ranked third in the nation in cattle production and would retain this position for many decades.

To identify ownership of the cattle, every rancher had his own unique brand. A branding iron was heated in a fire and the owner's mark was burned into the hide of the animal.

On the trail, every cowboy would have from five to 10 horses. Sometimes owned by the ranch, his string of horses was ridden on a rotating basis to allow the others to rest and eat grass along the way.

Bedrolls were carried in the chuck wagon and not on the back of the saddle as depicted in television westerns. Bedrolls consisted of a tarp about 17 feet long by 6 feet wide and a quilt or blanket. In this bundle the cowboy stored his money, gun, clothing, and any other personal items.

The cook was a very important member of the trail or round-up crew. His salary reflected his status as he was the second highest paid member of the outfit. A good cook would attract the best cowboys. The cook not only prepared meals, but also dispensed medicine and carried the bedrolls. His standard menu of beans and rice was supplemented with canned goods in later years.

The legend of the cowboy often omits the many African Americans, Mexican Americans, and immigrants who worked the trails and ranches of the West.

The Dodge City Cowboy Band was organized in the early 1880s and capitalized on the image of the town. In addition to performing locally, the band played in St. Louis, Chicago, Denver, and at the inauguration of President Benjamin Harrison in Washington.

In the 1880s, the sport of rodeo developed from the skills cowboys needed in their daily routine. Informal demonstrations of bronc riding, calf roping, and steer wrestling held after the semi-annual round-up grew into popular and public contests held nationwide.

Cowtowns

After the Civil War, there was an acute shortage of beef in the northern states. Texas ranchers were burdened with five million head of cattle and no railroads on which to ship them to market. Realizing the immense profit to be made, Texas cattlemen looked for the nearest railheads. Thus began the era of the long cattle drive and the Kansas cowtowns.

From 1866 - 1885, hundreds of thousands of Texas Longhorns were driven annually to shipping points in Kansas. Abilene, Ellsworth, Wichita, Dodge City, and Caldwell received the major portion of the booming cattle trade. Baxter Springs, Newton, Hunnewell, Great Bend, Hays, and Junction City achieved periods of brief success.

The Chisholm Trail served as the major trail to many of the Kansas cowtowns. After years of use, it was described as being 200 - 400 yards wide and as bare as a city street. As quarantine laws and homesteaders' fences closed off more and more towns to Texas drovers, Dodge City emerged as the principal Kansas cowtown. From 1875 - 1885, Texas cattle followed the cutoff on the Chisholm Trail or the Western Trail to the "Cowboy Capital."

Texas cattle drives had actually begun before the Civil War but were done on a much smaller scale. All drives stopped during the war. The 1866 season brought large herds and the cowboy crowd to Baxter Springs in the southeastern corner of the state. Low profits resulted in fewer herds starting north the following year. In 1867, Joseph G. McCoy, a young cattle dealer from Illinois, decided Abilene would make a good railhead. Under his leadership, the town reigned as the primary market for Texas cattle for four years.

When McCoy arrived in Abilene in the spring of 1867, the town consisted of only a few log cabins. The Union Pacific, Eastern Division Railroad, known as the Kansas Pacific from 1869 - 1880, reached Abilene that summer. McCoy had sent agents to Texas to attract business to his new venture. By September, when the herds started to arrive, his Drovers Cottage was also ready for business.

Although many people profited from the cattle business, not all Kansans approved of it. The Longhorns carried a tick that spread Texas fever among local cattle. Farmers lobbied the Kansas legislature to enact quarantine laws to keep the Texas cattle out of their area. By choosing Abilene, McCoy had actually violated the 1867 quarantine law which only permitted Texas cattle in the area south and west of present McPherson. The town was so sparsely populated, however, and the potential profits so great that no one objected.

By 1870, Abilene had grown to the point that a marshal was needed to keep order. Thomas J. Smith, an experienced lawman, was known for using his fists rather than his gun to end disputes. He lost his life to an assailant's bullet and then was nearly decapitated.

"Wild Bill" Hickok was hired as Abilene's town marshal in 1871. He had a reputation for being a quick draw and for spending most of his time playing cards in the saloon. Although dressed in buckskins for this photograph, he often wore the finer clothes of a dandy.

In 1871, the last big year for Abilene, more than 40,000 head of cattle were shipped out by rail. Increased settlement and community disapproval of the cowtown lifestyle forced the cattle market to move west to Newton and Ellsworth.

In 1871, Newton experienced its only major cattle season. It was described that year as probably the roughest town in the West with 27 saloons, eight gambling halls, and a boot hill.

The businessmen of Ellsworth anticipated the shift in the cattle trade from Abilene to their town. In 1872, the Drovers Cottage, once owned by Joseph McCoy, was moved to Ellsworth. It could accommodate 175 guests and stable 50 carriages and 100 horses. Ellsworth would dominate the market from 1871 - 1875, while receiving stiff competition from Wichita.

Ellsworth quickly attracted those businesses associated with the cattle trade such as drover's stores and boot shops. John Mueller did a brisk business with his "Big Boot" company. In the first months of the 1874 cattle season, he reported sales of more than 100 pairs of boots to the cattlemen.

Most drovers arrived in town in June and completed shipping by early fall. In the 1873 season, more than 150,000 cattle were trailed to Ellsworth. Over 30,000 were shipped out by rail while most of the others were sold to stock western ranges.

As the era of the cattle drives passed, Ellsworth, like other cowtowns, became a solid business and farming community.

In 1872, the Wichita and South Western Rail Road line reached Wichita. It provided the necessary link with the Santa Fe Railroad trunk line, which would carry cattle to eastern markets. The following year 66,000 head of cattle were shipped out of Wichita, twice as many as from Ellsworth.

Every cowtown had its rough part of town and Wichita was no exception. The "Delano" district was the hub of gambling and drinking activities in Wichita. Among its cast of characters was dance hall proprietor "Rowdy Joe" Lowe who shot and killed his business rival, "Red Beard."

Every cowtown also acquired a police force. Some lawmen served several different towns during their careers. Wyatt Earp served on the Wichita police force in 1875 and 1876 before moving on to Dodge City. An experienced "gun toter," Earp ironically almost ended his own life in a freak shooting accident. On Sunday, January 9, 1876, while sitting in the back room of the Custom House saloon, his gun slipped from his holster. He had committed the serious error of leaving the hammer resting on a loaded chamber. When the gun struck his chair, it discharged sending a .45 caliber slug through his coat. Contemporary accounts noted that the gunshot "got up a lively stampede from the room."

Brothers Mike and John Meagher served on the Wichita police force in the 1870s. Mike's service as marshal involved everything from rounding up hogs (done more in the early years before the cattle boom) to disarming rowdies and arresting robbers, horse thieves, and murderers. Although not working as a law officer at the time of his death, in 1881 Mike was shot down while assisting the Caldwell city marshal with an arrest.

Junction City, located on the Kansas Pacific Railroad line, was a secondary shipping point for the cattle trade.

Hays, like Junction City and Great Bend, was never a major cattle market. It did receive some business, however, because of its location on the Kansas Pacific Railroad line and the ready market at Fort Hays. The combination of railroad workers, freighters, buffalo hunters, and soldiers, plus occasional cowboys, made it a very rough town for a number of years.

Dodge City’s mostly male population found needed supplies such as: whiskey, guns and ammunition, clothing and billiards at local stores. Founded in 1872 shortly before the Santa Fe Railroad line reached Ford County, Dodge City served primarily as a civilian community to nearby Fort Dodge. Business also centered on the sale of buffalo hides and bones before the cattle trade era began in 1875.

When quarantine laws closed Wichita to the cattle trade, Dodge City emerged as the "Queen of the Cowtowns." From 1875 - 1885, more than 75,000 head of cattle were shipped annually. Many thousands more were driven through Dodge to stock northern ranges or to be shipped from other railheads.

Firearms were prohibited in Dodge City, however, in 1875, it is estimated that as many as 25 people died of gunshot wounds.

Down the street from the Dodge House stood John Mueller's new boot shop. When the cattle business failed in Ellsworth, Mueller promptly followed it to Dodge City. He finally sold his business in 1880 to devote his full attention to raising livestock.

Dance halls and saloons were a fixture of all Kansas cattle towns and Dodge City had some of the finest. Sometimes the saloon owner sponsored the gaming. Individual gamblers also worked the taverns looking for an opportunity to ply their trade. Favorite card games were poker, monte, and faro. Dice games and keno, a game similar to bingo, were also popular gambling activities.

Prostitution has traditionally appeared where there is a high percentage of men and a low percentage of women. This was the case in the cattle towns of Kansas. Brothels were established but many women worked for the dance halls where they earned money from dancing, as well as prostitution. Dodge boasted of three dance halls for a brief time but for most of its ten years as a cattle town, there were only two. The city also earned an income from these activities by levying taxes on liquor, gambling, and prostitution.

Dodge City had the most impressive list of gunmen and lawmen of any town in the West. Wyatt Earp, the Masterson brothers, Bill Tilghman, Clay Allison, Luke Short, Dave Mather, and "Doc" Holliday all resided in Dodge at some time in their careers.

These noted gunfighters convened in Dodge City to assist their friend, Luke Short, in an episode that became known as the “Dodge City War.” Co-owner of the Long Branch Saloon, Short had violated a new city policy banning prostitutes from saloons. Short and his partner, prominent banker and cattleman, William Harris, felt that the law had been unequally enforced since mayor and rival A. B. Webster had not faced similar prosecution. Short was arrested, then forced to leave town. He appealed justifiably to the governor that he had been denied due process. A compromise was attempted but Short chose instead to convene his pals to ensure his permanent return. The state's adjutant general was finally able to mediate a settlement before any violence erupted with Short being permitted to stay in town.

In the early 1880s, the existence of gambling drinking, prostitution, and dance halls in town, often in open violation of the law, began to heat up as an issue. The "Dodge City War" in the spring of 1883 was followed by pressure from the Santa Fe Railroad to clean up "their" town. The reform-minded and status quo factions were still feuding when David Mather came to town the following year. A gambler who went by the nickname "Mysterious Dave," he served as assistant marshal in 1883 and 1884 and was co-owner of the Opera House Saloon on Front Street. Because of its prominent downtown location, the city council objected to his decision to turn it into a dance hall. They passed an ordinance banning all dance houses but took no action against the one owned by Mather's successor as assistant city marshal, Thomas Nixon, allegedly because of its remote location. For several months, Nixon and Mather battled to put each other out of business. The feud escalated when Nixon fired some shots at Mather. Three days later, Mather ended the rivalry by shooting and killing his competitor.

Pat Sughrue worked as a blacksmith in Dodge when not serving as a peace officer. Elected sheriff of Ford County in 1884, he was in office during the final days of the cattle era. An epidemic of splenic fever among the Texas longhorns sent local cattle growers and eastern buyers into a panic. Under orders from the governor, Sughrue had the unsavory task of turning back trail-hardened drovers from the Kansas border. This situation coupled with low beef prices and decreasing availability of empty rangeland, led to the passing of the cattle drive era after 1885.

Mike Sughrue served as deputy sheriff of Ford County under his twin brother Pat. For his heroic efforts in capturing a murderer, the citizens of Ashland, Clark County, elected him their town marshal in 1885.

Caldwell challenged Dodge City for the cattle market in the 1880s. Although it was within the quarantined area, it was so near the border that it was able to conduct business without any problems. Known as "the Border Queen," nearly 100,000 head of Texas longhorns were shipped out on the Santa Fe line in 1882 and 1883.

The rowdy behavior witnessed in other cattle towns was characteristic of life in Caldwell during its cowtown period, 1880 - 1885.

On April 30, 1884, the citizens of Caldwell were shocked to learn that their marshal and his assistant were bank robbers and murderers. Early that morning, Brown, Wheeler, and two cowboys rode to Medicine Lodge to rob the bank. While attempting to defend his property, the bank president was fatally wounded by Brown. Wheeler immediately killed the cashier. Realizing their plans had failed, the four robbers fled.

Within hours, this posse captured the four bank robbers in a canyon outside of town. The citizens of Medicine Lodge were ready for a lynching but the sheriff managed to secure his prisoners in the town's jail.

During the evening of April 30, 1884, a mob overpowered the sheriff. The prisoners attempted to escape when the doors to the jail were opened. Shots were fired and Brown lay dead. The three remaining prisoners were taken to an elm tree east of town and hanged.

In the 1880s, Hunnewell flourished briefly as a shipping point for Texas cattle. Located on the Kansas-Oklahoma border in Sumner County, the Leavenworth, Lawrence and Galveston Railroad provided quick access to the Kansas City stockyards. Typical of cowtowns, the business district of Hunnewell reportedly consisted of one hotel, two stores, one barbershop, a couple of dance halls, and eight or nine saloons.

Violence of all kinds was not uncommon to Hunnewell. As one railroad worker recollected years later, "There was no Bat Masterson to control the casual use of firearms, and there was more shooting than I ever saw in Dodge City."

By the mid-1880s, many events came together to end the cattle drive era in Kansas. Rail lines had reached directly into Texas, there was a growing demand for better bred stock, quarantine laws were continually closing off more and more of the open range and what was left was being filled up by homesteaders. Although the trail drives were over by 1885, the cattle business in Kansas did not end. By 1890, the state ranked third in the nation in cattle production.

Lawmen

Kansas cowtowns quickly established a reputation for violence and for attracting the seedier elements of society. Saloons, dance houses, and brothels appeared in numbers unmatched by other Kansas frontier communities. It was the peace officers' job to keep order in these towns. Although many were honorable and heroic individuals, some found themselves on both sides of the law at different times in their lives.

Thomas J. "Bear River" Smith

Thomas Smith, an experienced lawman, was hired as Abilene's first city marshal in 1870. His salary of $150 per month was supplemented by a $2 bonus awarded when persons he arrested were convicted. In his brief tenure as marshal, Smith gained the reputation for subduing assailants with his fists rather than his gun. On November 2, 1870, Smith's career and life came to an end. Smith was attempting to arrest an accused murderer, Andrew McConnell, when McConnell shot him. Although fatally wounded, Smith was able to wound his assailant. McConnell's co-conspirator in the original crime, Miles, then struck Smith with his gun, grabbed an axe and nearly chopped Smith's head from his body. McConnell was sentenced to twelve years in the state penitentiary and Miles received a 16-year sentence for their gruesome crime.

James B. "Wild Bill" Hickok

The legendary "Wild Bill" Hickok began his career as a Kansas lawman in 1858 at the age of 20. For the next ten years, he was in and out of Kansas working as a wagon master, special policeman, government scout and guide, and deputy U.S. marshal. His exploits in the West were published in an 1867 issue of Harper's New Monthly Magazine that brought him national recognition. In 1869 he was elected marshal of Hays, serving until 1870. During his tenure, Hays was a rough frontier town whose population consisted primarily of buffalo hunters, soldiers, and railroad workers. Of the four-recorded deaths that occurred between June 1, 1869, and June 1, 1870, three were the result of gunshot wounds. Two of those fatalities were possibly the work of Marshal Hickok.

In 1871, Hickok was hired as Abilene's town marshal during its last big year as a cattle town. He earned a reputation for being a quick draw and for spending most of his time playing cards in the saloon. After a shooting spree in the Alamo saloon in which two men were killed, the local newspaper reported: "We hope no further disturbances will take place. There is no use in trying to override Wild Bill, the Marshal. His arrangements for policing the city are complete, and attempts to kill police officers or in any way create disturbance, must result in loss of life on the part of violators of the law." Ironically, it was during this disturbance that Hickok accidentally shot and killed a city policeman who stepped between him and his intended victim.

William L. "Billy" Brooks

"Billy" Brooks had only a brief career as a lawman before turning to a life of crime. It is believed that he killed two men in Dodge at the end of 1872 and was later arrested with a gang of mule thieves in the summer of 1874. Before justice could be carried out, Sumner County residents took matters into their own hands. Brooks and two other men were taken from the jail by an angry mob and hanged.

Mike and John Meagher

Brothers Mike and John Meagher served on the Wichita police force in the 1870s. Mike's service as marshal involved everything from rounding up hogs (done more in the early years before the cattle boom) to disarming rowdies and arresting robbers, horse thieves, and murderers. He later moved to Caldwell were he served as the town's third mayor. Although not working as a lawman at the time of his death in 1881, Mike was shot down while assisting the city marshal with an arrest.

Wyatt Earp

Wyatt Earp, like Hickok and Mike Meagher, served more than one Kansas cowtown during his career. Earp was employed as a policeman in Wichita in 1875 – 1876 before moving on to Dodge City. An experienced gunman, Earp served as assistant marshal from 1876 - 1877 and 1878 - 1879. The Ford County Globe, commenting on his performance, stated: "Wyatt Earp [was] one of the most efficient officers Dodge ever had. . ." A gambler, gunman, speculator, and saloon owner, Earp may best be remembered for his role in the battle of the O.K. Corral in Tombstone, Arizona. Although experiencing many close calls in his lifetime, Earp died quietly at the age of 80 in 1929.

William B. "Bat" Masterson

Dodge City had the most impressive list of lawmen of any town in the West. One of the most notable was William "Bat" Masterson who first arrived in Dodge around 1872. During his years as a lawman in Dodge City, 1877 - 1880 and 1885 - 1886, Masterson was kept busy arresting confidence men, horse thieves, and other individuals of both sexes, who were involved in illegal activities. An incident that occurred in July 1878 illustrates that Masterson was quick-witted as well as quick on the draw. "Sheriff Masterson captured a fugitive from justice from Ft. Lyon this week after the most approved styles. He received a telegram from the authorities asking him to look out for a man named Davis on the eastward bound train. Masterson went down to the train, and among the crowd of passengers singled out a suspicious looking man, and approaching him said: 'Hello, Davis; how do you do?' The stranger was completely off his guard, and answered to the name at once, thinking he had met an old friend. The Sheriff immediately gave him lodging in jail until he could be sent back to Lyon, where he had been sentenced to the penitentiary for three years." The Dodge City Times

Edward J. Masterson

The brother of Bat Masterson, Ed was the oldest of the seven Masterson children. He and his other brother, Jim, both served as marshals of Dodge City in the late 1870s. While performing his official duties on the evening of April 9, 1878, Ed was shot and killed by two drunken cowboys from Hays. Before he collapsed, he fatally shot one of his attackers and seriously wounded the other.

William M. Tilghman

Tilghman was described as an efficient lawman who served Dodge City as marshal from 1884 - 1886. Before joining the police force, he was a buffalo hunter and later co-owner of the Crystal Palace saloon in Dodge City.

David "Mysterious Dave" Mather

A gambler who went by the nickname "Mysterious Dave," Mather served as the deputy sheriff of Dodge from 1883 to 1884. While serving in this capacity, he also became co-owner of the Opera House saloon on Front Street. A newly elected city government in 1884 replaced Mather with Thomas Nixon, a rival saloon operator. The feud that had been brewing for several months came to a head when Nixon took some shots at Mather. Mather ended the rivalry by shooting and killing his competitor. He was heard to say after the incident, "I ought to have killed him six months ago."

Patrick F. Sughrue

Pat Sughrue worked as a blacksmith in Dodge when not serving as a peace officer. Elected sheriff of Ford County in 1884, he was in office during the final days of the cattle era. An epidemic of splenic fever among the Texas longhorns sent local cattle growers and eastern buyers into a panic. Under orders from the governor, Sughrue had the unsavory task of turning back trail-hardened drovers from the Kansas border.

Michael Sughrue

Mike Sughrue served as deputy sheriff of Ford County under his twin brother Pat. For his heroic efforts in capturing a murderer, the citizens of Ashland elected him town marshal in 1884.

Marshal Henry Brown

Henry Brown served as assistant marshal of Caldwell in 1882 before being appointed marshal at the end of that year. On New Year's Day 1883, the citizens of Caldwell in appreciation for his “valuable services” presented Marshal Brown with a beautifully engraved Winchester rifle. Just 13 months later Brown used the same rifle in an attempt to hold up the bank at Medicine Lodge.

During the attempted robbery, Marshal Brown fatally shot the bank president, and Assistant Marshal Wheeler killed the cashier. A posse was summoned and the four robbers were quickly apprehended. The outraged citizens of Medicine Lodge formed a vigilante group that evening. Marshal Brown was shot and killed as he attempted to break from the crowd; his companions in crime were taken to an elm tree east of town and hanged.

Outlaws

While television westerns have romanticized and exaggerated the violence in the Wild West, criminal activities were a reality, especially in the Kansas cowtowns. Abilene, Ellsworth, Wichita, Dodge City, and Caldwell attracted their share of gamblers, confidence men, robbers, and even murderers. One such character was "Rowdy Joe" Lowe. He and his wife, "Rowdy Kate," operated a saloon/dance hall/house of prostitution in Ellsworth then Newton and finally Wichita. They followed the transient cattle trade. In 1873, Lowe's career ended in Wichita when he shot and killed rival dance hall operator "Red" Beard. Although acquitted of murder, he fled town to avoid facing other charges stemming from the incident. The Wichita Eagle commented cheerily on his departure, "Wichita is fast getting rid of that element which has proved such a curse to her prosperity. . . "

Before they were killed at Coffeyville, the Dalton gang had a well-established reputation for robbing banks and trains. Just months before, the Missouri, Kansas, and Texas Railroad had posted a $40,000 reward for their capture.

On October 5, 1892, the three Dalton brothers, Bob, Grat, and Emmett, with Tim Evans and Dick Broadwell rode into Coffeyville. They robbed the town's two banks of nearly $25,000 before being ambushed by angry town citizens. Warned of the Dalton gang's plans, townspeople opened fire on the gang, killing four members and wounding Emmett. Four Coffeyville citizens also lost their lives in the gun battle.

Emmett Dalton was sentenced to life imprisonment for his part in this crime. He was pardoned after serving 14 years.

One of the more gruesome crimes perpetrated on Kansas soil involved the Bender family. John Bender, his wife, son, and daughter, Kate, operated an inn outside of Parsons from 1871 to 1873. To rob their unsuspecting guests, the victims were seated at a table with their backs to a canvas wall. Their skulls were crushed from a blow delivered through the wall. When guests started disappearing, townspeople went to investigate. A total of eleven bodies were exhumed from the property, but the Benders had already fled, never to be heard from again.

Not all the violence was committed at the hands of desperados. Townspeople, reacting to a particularly violent crime, would occasionally dispense justice at the end of a rope. When a tree was not available, rafters in a lumber shed, a telegraph pole, or, in this case, a trestle bridge would do.

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