Jacob 'Jake' Killian
10 April 1839 - 28 March 1878
***
Larry Wood
Neosho Daily News
Posted: Oct 28, 2015
LARRY WOOD: Scoundrel Killian buried in Granby
When people in this region think of the Old West, we usually think of places like Dodge City, Kan.; Tombstone, Ariz.; and Virginia City, Nev. Places well west of Missouri, in other words.
At least that’s true, I believe, of people of a certain age, who remember the old western movies and western TV shows like “Gunsmoke,” “Wyatt Earp” and “Bonanza.“
In the years immediately after the Civil War, Southwest Missouri was very much a part of the Wild West. Places like Granby were just as rough and tumble as Old West towns like Dodge City that we often associate with gunplay and other rowdiness.
In fact, during the years right after the Civil War, the raucous mining town of Granby probably produced more desperate characters than any other town its size in the entire country. One such scoundrel was Jake Killian.
If you visit the old Granby cemetery, Jacob Killian’s headstone will tell you that he was born April 10, 1839 and was “murdered” March 28, 1878. Those dates are only bookends to his remarkable story.
The Killian family moved from Arkansas to Granby during the mid-1850s, when the place already was a rip-roaring, lead-mining town. Setting the violent tone for the rest of the family, the father, Cy Killian, got into an argument with a drinking buddy on the streets of Granby in the late 1850s and got beat to death with a whiffle tree.
[Note: A whippletree, or whiffletree, is a mechanism to distribute force evenly through linkages. The mechanism may also be referred to as an equalizer, leader bar, or double tree. It consists of a bar pivoted at or near the centre, with force applied from one direction to the pivot and from the other direction to the tips.]
In fact, all of Cy’s sons turned out to be a bunch of hard cases.
During the Civil War, an older brother of Jake named Mart was taken from a jail in Carthage and strung up to a tree near Spring River by bushwhackers who rode from Barton County to avenge an outrage allegedly committed a week earlier by Mart and a fellow Union soldier on a Lamar saloonkeeper’s wife.
Jake was shot and blinded in one eye during the war while wrestling for a gun with a fellow Union soldier named William Norton after they got into a dispute over a card game somewhere in Arkansas.
After the war, Killian returned to Granby, where he killed the owner of a traveling circus in the summer of 1869. William Lake’s Hippo-Olympiad and Mammoth Circus was performing.
Killian attended on the night of Aug. 21. After the main show, while ushers were clearing out the big top, they found Killian hiding under a seat in an attempt to avoid paying for the minstrel show to follow. He refused to leave and got into a heated argument with the circus owner, who finally had the troublemaker put out.
Killian returned a few minutes later with a pistol and shot Lake dead.
The dead man’s widow, Agnes (who later married Wild Bill Hickok) offered a $1,000 reward for Killian’s capture. He was caught shortly afterward, finally convicted of second-degree murder after numerous delays and sentenced to just four years in prison.
In 1873, another of Killian’s older brothers, Ben, got into a row at another traveling show in Granby. An innocent bystander was killed during the ensuing gunplay.
Although the evidence pointed to Ben, he was acquitted for his part in the crime. Two years later, Jake’s younger brother, Thomas, and two other men killed one of the citizens who served on the grand jury that indicted Ben for murder. Tom Killian was convicted for his part in the murder and sentenced to 99 years in prison.
Paroled in 1877, Jake Killian returned to the Southwest Missouri area and reportedly started stalking Norton and vowing revenge for the Civil War shooting incident that left him partially blind.
In late March 1878, he went to Empire City, Kan. (now part of Galena), where Norton was working and let it be known he planned to kill Norton on sight. Instead, Norton gunned down Killian first and promptly was acquitted of murder when he was brought to trial.
Obviously dissatisfied with the verdict, Killian’s family let it be known ad infinitum when they buried Jake that he had been “murdered.” So much for the killin’ Killian family.
Larry Wood is a freelance writer specializing in the history of Missouri and the Ozarks. His latest book is “A Concise Encyclopedia of the Ozarks.”
http://www.neoshodailynews.com/article/20151028/opinion/151028790
Neosho Daily News
Posted: Oct 28, 2015
Thanks to Orlena Find A Grave Volunteer #466275660 for sharing the above newspaper article.
***~~***~~***
His marker reads, "MURDERED"
10 April 1839 - 28 March 1878
***
Larry Wood
Neosho Daily News
Posted: Oct 28, 2015
LARRY WOOD: Scoundrel Killian buried in Granby
When people in this region think of the Old West, we usually think of places like Dodge City, Kan.; Tombstone, Ariz.; and Virginia City, Nev. Places well west of Missouri, in other words.
At least that’s true, I believe, of people of a certain age, who remember the old western movies and western TV shows like “Gunsmoke,” “Wyatt Earp” and “Bonanza.“
In the years immediately after the Civil War, Southwest Missouri was very much a part of the Wild West. Places like Granby were just as rough and tumble as Old West towns like Dodge City that we often associate with gunplay and other rowdiness.
In fact, during the years right after the Civil War, the raucous mining town of Granby probably produced more desperate characters than any other town its size in the entire country. One such scoundrel was Jake Killian.
If you visit the old Granby cemetery, Jacob Killian’s headstone will tell you that he was born April 10, 1839 and was “murdered” March 28, 1878. Those dates are only bookends to his remarkable story.
The Killian family moved from Arkansas to Granby during the mid-1850s, when the place already was a rip-roaring, lead-mining town. Setting the violent tone for the rest of the family, the father, Cy Killian, got into an argument with a drinking buddy on the streets of Granby in the late 1850s and got beat to death with a whiffle tree.
[Note: A whippletree, or whiffletree, is a mechanism to distribute force evenly through linkages. The mechanism may also be referred to as an equalizer, leader bar, or double tree. It consists of a bar pivoted at or near the centre, with force applied from one direction to the pivot and from the other direction to the tips.]
In fact, all of Cy’s sons turned out to be a bunch of hard cases.
During the Civil War, an older brother of Jake named Mart was taken from a jail in Carthage and strung up to a tree near Spring River by bushwhackers who rode from Barton County to avenge an outrage allegedly committed a week earlier by Mart and a fellow Union soldier on a Lamar saloonkeeper’s wife.
Jake was shot and blinded in one eye during the war while wrestling for a gun with a fellow Union soldier named William Norton after they got into a dispute over a card game somewhere in Arkansas.
After the war, Killian returned to Granby, where he killed the owner of a traveling circus in the summer of 1869. William Lake’s Hippo-Olympiad and Mammoth Circus was performing.
Killian attended on the night of Aug. 21. After the main show, while ushers were clearing out the big top, they found Killian hiding under a seat in an attempt to avoid paying for the minstrel show to follow. He refused to leave and got into a heated argument with the circus owner, who finally had the troublemaker put out.
Killian returned a few minutes later with a pistol and shot Lake dead.
The dead man’s widow, Agnes (who later married Wild Bill Hickok) offered a $1,000 reward for Killian’s capture. He was caught shortly afterward, finally convicted of second-degree murder after numerous delays and sentenced to just four years in prison.
In 1873, another of Killian’s older brothers, Ben, got into a row at another traveling show in Granby. An innocent bystander was killed during the ensuing gunplay.
Although the evidence pointed to Ben, he was acquitted for his part in the crime. Two years later, Jake’s younger brother, Thomas, and two other men killed one of the citizens who served on the grand jury that indicted Ben for murder. Tom Killian was convicted for his part in the murder and sentenced to 99 years in prison.
Paroled in 1877, Jake Killian returned to the Southwest Missouri area and reportedly started stalking Norton and vowing revenge for the Civil War shooting incident that left him partially blind.
In late March 1878, he went to Empire City, Kan. (now part of Galena), where Norton was working and let it be known he planned to kill Norton on sight. Instead, Norton gunned down Killian first and promptly was acquitted of murder when he was brought to trial.
Obviously dissatisfied with the verdict, Killian’s family let it be known ad infinitum when they buried Jake that he had been “murdered.” So much for the killin’ Killian family.
Larry Wood is a freelance writer specializing in the history of Missouri and the Ozarks. His latest book is “A Concise Encyclopedia of the Ozarks.”
http://www.neoshodailynews.com/article/20151028/opinion/151028790
Neosho Daily News
Posted: Oct 28, 2015
Thanks to Orlena Find A Grave Volunteer #466275660 for sharing the above newspaper article.
***~~***~~***
His marker reads, "MURDERED"
Jacob 'Jake' Killian
10 April 1839 - 28 March 1878
***
Larry Wood
Neosho Daily News
Posted: Oct 28, 2015
LARRY WOOD: Scoundrel Killian buried in Granby
When people in this region think of the Old West, we usually think of places like Dodge City, Kan.; Tombstone, Ariz.; and Virginia City, Nev. Places well west of Missouri, in other words.
At least that’s true, I believe, of people of a certain age, who remember the old western movies and western TV shows like “Gunsmoke,” “Wyatt Earp” and “Bonanza.“
In the years immediately after the Civil War, Southwest Missouri was very much a part of the Wild West. Places like Granby were just as rough and tumble as Old West towns like Dodge City that we often associate with gunplay and other rowdiness.
In fact, during the years right after the Civil War, the raucous mining town of Granby probably produced more desperate characters than any other town its size in the entire country. One such scoundrel was Jake Killian.
If you visit the old Granby cemetery, Jacob Killian’s headstone will tell you that he was born April 10, 1839 and was “murdered” March 28, 1878. Those dates are only bookends to his remarkable story.
The Killian family moved from Arkansas to Granby during the mid-1850s, when the place already was a rip-roaring, lead-mining town. Setting the violent tone for the rest of the family, the father, Cy Killian, got into an argument with a drinking buddy on the streets of Granby in the late 1850s and got beat to death with a whiffle tree.
[Note: A whippletree, or whiffletree, is a mechanism to distribute force evenly through linkages. The mechanism may also be referred to as an equalizer, leader bar, or double tree. It consists of a bar pivoted at or near the centre, with force applied from one direction to the pivot and from the other direction to the tips.]
In fact, all of Cy’s sons turned out to be a bunch of hard cases.
During the Civil War, an older brother of Jake named Mart was taken from a jail in Carthage and strung up to a tree near Spring River by bushwhackers who rode from Barton County to avenge an outrage allegedly committed a week earlier by Mart and a fellow Union soldier on a Lamar saloonkeeper’s wife.
Jake was shot and blinded in one eye during the war while wrestling for a gun with a fellow Union soldier named William Norton after they got into a dispute over a card game somewhere in Arkansas.
After the war, Killian returned to Granby, where he killed the owner of a traveling circus in the summer of 1869. William Lake’s Hippo-Olympiad and Mammoth Circus was performing.
Killian attended on the night of Aug. 21. After the main show, while ushers were clearing out the big top, they found Killian hiding under a seat in an attempt to avoid paying for the minstrel show to follow. He refused to leave and got into a heated argument with the circus owner, who finally had the troublemaker put out.
Killian returned a few minutes later with a pistol and shot Lake dead.
The dead man’s widow, Agnes (who later married Wild Bill Hickok) offered a $1,000 reward for Killian’s capture. He was caught shortly afterward, finally convicted of second-degree murder after numerous delays and sentenced to just four years in prison.
In 1873, another of Killian’s older brothers, Ben, got into a row at another traveling show in Granby. An innocent bystander was killed during the ensuing gunplay.
Although the evidence pointed to Ben, he was acquitted for his part in the crime. Two years later, Jake’s younger brother, Thomas, and two other men killed one of the citizens who served on the grand jury that indicted Ben for murder. Tom Killian was convicted for his part in the murder and sentenced to 99 years in prison.
Paroled in 1877, Jake Killian returned to the Southwest Missouri area and reportedly started stalking Norton and vowing revenge for the Civil War shooting incident that left him partially blind.
In late March 1878, he went to Empire City, Kan. (now part of Galena), where Norton was working and let it be known he planned to kill Norton on sight. Instead, Norton gunned down Killian first and promptly was acquitted of murder when he was brought to trial.
Obviously dissatisfied with the verdict, Killian’s family let it be known ad infinitum when they buried Jake that he had been “murdered.” So much for the killin’ Killian family.
Larry Wood is a freelance writer specializing in the history of Missouri and the Ozarks. His latest book is “A Concise Encyclopedia of the Ozarks.”
http://www.neoshodailynews.com/article/20151028/opinion/151028790
Neosho Daily News
Posted: Oct 28, 2015
Thanks to Orlena Find A Grave Volunteer #466275660 for sharing the above newspaper article.
***~~***~~***
His marker reads, "MURDERED"
10 April 1839 - 28 March 1878
***
Larry Wood
Neosho Daily News
Posted: Oct 28, 2015
LARRY WOOD: Scoundrel Killian buried in Granby
When people in this region think of the Old West, we usually think of places like Dodge City, Kan.; Tombstone, Ariz.; and Virginia City, Nev. Places well west of Missouri, in other words.
At least that’s true, I believe, of people of a certain age, who remember the old western movies and western TV shows like “Gunsmoke,” “Wyatt Earp” and “Bonanza.“
In the years immediately after the Civil War, Southwest Missouri was very much a part of the Wild West. Places like Granby were just as rough and tumble as Old West towns like Dodge City that we often associate with gunplay and other rowdiness.
In fact, during the years right after the Civil War, the raucous mining town of Granby probably produced more desperate characters than any other town its size in the entire country. One such scoundrel was Jake Killian.
If you visit the old Granby cemetery, Jacob Killian’s headstone will tell you that he was born April 10, 1839 and was “murdered” March 28, 1878. Those dates are only bookends to his remarkable story.
The Killian family moved from Arkansas to Granby during the mid-1850s, when the place already was a rip-roaring, lead-mining town. Setting the violent tone for the rest of the family, the father, Cy Killian, got into an argument with a drinking buddy on the streets of Granby in the late 1850s and got beat to death with a whiffle tree.
[Note: A whippletree, or whiffletree, is a mechanism to distribute force evenly through linkages. The mechanism may also be referred to as an equalizer, leader bar, or double tree. It consists of a bar pivoted at or near the centre, with force applied from one direction to the pivot and from the other direction to the tips.]
In fact, all of Cy’s sons turned out to be a bunch of hard cases.
During the Civil War, an older brother of Jake named Mart was taken from a jail in Carthage and strung up to a tree near Spring River by bushwhackers who rode from Barton County to avenge an outrage allegedly committed a week earlier by Mart and a fellow Union soldier on a Lamar saloonkeeper’s wife.
Jake was shot and blinded in one eye during the war while wrestling for a gun with a fellow Union soldier named William Norton after they got into a dispute over a card game somewhere in Arkansas.
After the war, Killian returned to Granby, where he killed the owner of a traveling circus in the summer of 1869. William Lake’s Hippo-Olympiad and Mammoth Circus was performing.
Killian attended on the night of Aug. 21. After the main show, while ushers were clearing out the big top, they found Killian hiding under a seat in an attempt to avoid paying for the minstrel show to follow. He refused to leave and got into a heated argument with the circus owner, who finally had the troublemaker put out.
Killian returned a few minutes later with a pistol and shot Lake dead.
The dead man’s widow, Agnes (who later married Wild Bill Hickok) offered a $1,000 reward for Killian’s capture. He was caught shortly afterward, finally convicted of second-degree murder after numerous delays and sentenced to just four years in prison.
In 1873, another of Killian’s older brothers, Ben, got into a row at another traveling show in Granby. An innocent bystander was killed during the ensuing gunplay.
Although the evidence pointed to Ben, he was acquitted for his part in the crime. Two years later, Jake’s younger brother, Thomas, and two other men killed one of the citizens who served on the grand jury that indicted Ben for murder. Tom Killian was convicted for his part in the murder and sentenced to 99 years in prison.
Paroled in 1877, Jake Killian returned to the Southwest Missouri area and reportedly started stalking Norton and vowing revenge for the Civil War shooting incident that left him partially blind.
In late March 1878, he went to Empire City, Kan. (now part of Galena), where Norton was working and let it be known he planned to kill Norton on sight. Instead, Norton gunned down Killian first and promptly was acquitted of murder when he was brought to trial.
Obviously dissatisfied with the verdict, Killian’s family let it be known ad infinitum when they buried Jake that he had been “murdered.” So much for the killin’ Killian family.
Larry Wood is a freelance writer specializing in the history of Missouri and the Ozarks. His latest book is “A Concise Encyclopedia of the Ozarks.”
http://www.neoshodailynews.com/article/20151028/opinion/151028790
Neosho Daily News
Posted: Oct 28, 2015
Thanks to Orlena Find A Grave Volunteer #466275660 for sharing the above newspaper article.
***~~***~~***
His marker reads, "MURDERED"
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