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Three black soldiers lynched more than 100 years agoEDITOR’S NOTE: 1869 was one of the most exciting and tumultuous years In frontier Hays City. It was also the town's most violent year. The events that occurred In and around Hays during those 12 months forever placed It in the forefront of Kansas'most notorious Old West towns.By JAMES D. DREESThe following are some of the highlights and extraordinary events that occurred in Hays City during May 1869.• May 3. The 38th U.S. Infantry received orders to transfer from the Department of the Missouri (which included Kansas) to New Mexico. Accordingly Company E, then garrisoning Fort Hays, left that post on April 23 and went into camp nearby to shake down for the overland march to the southwest.The black soldiers of the 38th Infantry and10th U.S. Cavalry stationed at or near Fort Hays experienced prejudice from many of Hays City’s residents in the 20 months since the town’s founding — none more so than the soldiers of Company E of the 38th — three men of this company having been lynched by the Hays City vigilantes in January. Several of the members of this company wanted to give the town a going-away present as a token of their regard. Accordingly they were in Hays on May 3 openly boasting of their intention.to bum the place down while drinking in the town’s many saloons. At around 5:15 p.m. open warfare between blacks and whites broke out, with sharp and continuous firing for about a half-hour. It was estimated later that as many as 500 shots were fired.The first man shot was a trooper of Company M, 7th U.S. Cavaliy, who was severely wounded by bullets to the head and arm. Deputy U.S. Marshal Joseph N. Weiss was shot in the thigh.Bullets hit James Curry in the cheek and arm. Three other citizens received various gunshot wounds. The number of the African-American soldiers shot in the gunbattle is unknown, but an article in the Leavenworth Daily Commercial of May 7,1869, reported that several of the ‘mokes' bit the dust and many more are badly wounded.The Adjutant General of Kansas, William S. Moorhouse, happened to be in Hays on this day. Moorhouse appealed to Fort Hays commander Col. (brevet Maj. Gen.) Nelson A. Miles for help. Miles ordered Capt. J.W. Clous, commanding Company E, 38th Infantry, to withdraw all parties from his company to their camp on the northeast side of Big Creek at once and to keep them there until further orders. Miles also ordered Capt. Samuel Ovenshine to take his Company G, 5th U.S. Infantry, into Hays City and preserve order.An article in the Topeka Kansas Daily(Commonwealth of May 6,1869, reported a grisly conclusion to the tragic day: Hays City has added another laurel to its garland of infamy. The other night, after the affray ... was ended, and the soldiers had been withdrawn, a party of roughs deliberately hunted down and murdered two peaceable and unoffending colored barbers, who were citizens of the town, and as quiet and harmless men as it afforded. Honest and decent men will want for language to express their indignation at this brutal and cowardly outrage.Local legend in Hays for years afterward maintained that Jim Curry murdered a black man named Snow on this day — and that the bodies of several of the soldiers killed in the shootout were dropped into a well near the corner of 10th and Fort streets.• Hays / See page D4
Newspaper Details
The Hays Daily News
Hays, Kansas, US
Sun, May 23, 1999
Page 58
Full Page
Clipped by
Anonymous
AU 05 May 2019
Other Publications Near Hays, Kansas
The Hays Free Press
The Hays Daily News
