print kicker: Sangamon Link
A drunken shootout in a Springfield saloon in 1905 left three men dead and two brothers charged with murder.
The cause was a previous fistfight, followed by a series of telephoned challenges.
Those killed were all from the Berlin area: horse trader Samuel Douglas, farmer John Lawrence, and Charles Casson, a farmhand. James and William Hinman, livestock dealers from Springfield, were found not guilty of killing Casson, after which charges were dropped in connection with the other two deaths.
The dead men were among eight to 10 Berlin men who came to Springfield to confront the Hinmans over the fistfight.