True West Magazine
Kicking Bird (Tene-angpote), a Kiowa chief and grandson of a Crow captive
Kicking Bird was one of the greatest leaders of the Kiowa nation in the 1860s and 1870s. He was an outstanding warrior and a master tactician. But mostly, Kicking Bird was a peacemaker, trying to settle differences between the Kiowa and the whites. He understood that the tribes could not win a military conflict.
That position wasn’t popular with all of the Indians and it probably led to his death. On May 3, 1875, Kicking Bird died after drinking a cup of coffee. Some suspected poison. Others said a rival put a hex on him.
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Leadville, Colorado by Boston & Ziegler c1880
For Doc Holliday, 1884-1885 was a booming period. In August 1884, he and Billy Allen got sideways over a $5 debt that Doc failed to repay. Doc took a couple of shots at Allen in a Leadville, Colorado saloon. One missed; the other hit Allen in the arm. Doc was charged with assault with intent to kill. Strangely, considering the charges, in November he served as a member of the mounted brigade of special police formed to guarantee order at the polls during the gubernatorial election.
Doc was quickly acquitted in the Allen shooting the next March.
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In 1871, Wyatt Earp faced five years in prison for stealing horses in Indian Territory. In preparation for trial, he and others were held at the jail in Van Buren. Temporarily. On May 3, Earp was among 10 men who escaped through a low attic crawl space and lowering themselves out a window.
Most of the fugitives were never recaptured. Wyatt Earp, of course, became a Kansas lawman about four years later before making his name in Tombstone. There are some theories that the Indian Territory theft charges were trumped up, but that’s not been proven. Post Views: 39
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Medicine Lodge
In 1873, Arthur McCluskie was seeking revenge for the death of his brother two years earlier. He tracked down the killer, Hugh Anderson, in Medicine Lodge, Kansas, and challenged him to a fight. The date: July 4. The weapons: pistols. The combatants met in the main street and opened fire; both were wounded before they ran out of bullets. But they weren’t done. McCluskie and Anderson pulled knives and went at it. Both died from their wounds. Post Views: 89
True West Magazine
Newton KS
August 19, 1871. Several Texas cowboys were seeking revenge for the death of a friend eight days before. They tracked the killer, Mike McCluskie, to Tuttle’s Dance Hall in Newton, Kansas. Cowboy Hugh Anderson opened fire, putting several bullets in McCluskie. At that, the shooting became general. A young cowpoke named Jim Riley did much of the firing. He hit seven men, four of whom died.
Riley reportedly was dying of tuberculosis. He simply walked out of the saloon and was never seen again. The shootout became known as the Newton Massacre or Gunfight at Hyde Park.