Hay Meadow Massacre
Encyclopedia
Stevens County, Kansas
Stevens County is a county located in the U.S. state of Kansas. As of the 2010 census, the county population was 5,724. Its county seat is Hugoton...
, county seat fight
County seat war
A county seat war is a phenomenon that occurred in the American West as it was being settled, although incidences elsewhere, such as in West Virginia, have been also been recorded. As new towns sprang up and county lines were drawn, there was intense competition for the status and tax benefits...
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In July 1888, Sam Robinson, the marshal of Hugoton
Hugoton, Kansas
Hugoton is a city in and the county seat of Stevens County, Kansas, United States. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 3,904.-History:...
and a group of men supporting Hugoton for the county seat planned an outing in No Man's Land just south of the county. Ed Short, the marshal of Woodsdale
Woodsdale, Kansas
Woodsdale is a ghost town in Stevens County, Kansas, United States. It was involved in a county seat war with Hugoton.-History:Samuel Newitt Wood and I. C. Price developed the town and it was named for Col. Wood. Its post office was established November 11, 1886, and the town incorporated April...
and Woodsdale supporter, learned of the outing and gathered some men of the opposing faction. They caught up with Robinson, but he escaped. Short, feeling they needed more help, sent for reinforcements. Sheriff John M. Cross, also a Woodsdale booster, and four others headed out to search for the Hugoton party. Not finding them, they camped for the night on a hay meadow at Wild Horse Lake
Wild Horse Lake (Oklahoma)
Wild Horse Lake is a playa lake located in Texas County, Oklahoma. The lake was the location of the infamous Hay Meadow Massacre in which one faction in the county seat fight in Stevens County, Kansas, killed four members of the opposing faction. Since the killings took place in what was then No...
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Meanwhile, Robinson's friends had organized a group of Hugoton supporters with the intentions of rescuing him. They met Robinson and returned to the strip. Locating the Woodsdale camp at the hay meadow, they surrounded the Sheriff's party and killed four of them and injured the fifth. The Hugoton party, believing they had killed all of Woodsdale group, returned, saying that they had killed the party in a shootout. However, the surviving member and a group of haymakers that witnessed the event stated that the Woodsdale party had been captured, disarmed, and then executed.
The state militia was called out and the Hugoton men arrested, but it was soon determined that no court had jurisdiction in No Man's Land. Eventually the case was tried before the United States Court for the Eastern District of Texas, at Paris (United States v. C. E. Cook. Orin Cook, Capt. C. E. Frease, Johnnie Jackson, Ed Boudin, John Colbert, et al.). Seven men were convicted of murder and sentenced to death. On appeal, however, the Supreme Court held that the Paris court had no jurisdiction and no sentence was carried out.
Sources
- Butler, Ken. Kansas Blood Spilled Into Oklahoma. Blue Skyways (retrieved August 19, 2006)
- Mason, Henry F. "County Seat Controversies in Southwestern Kansas" The Kansas Historical Quarterly 2:1 (February 1933) 45-65. (retrieved from The Kansas Collection August 19, 2006)
- Williams, Robert L. "Judge Jesse James Dunn 1867-1926", Chronicles of Oklahoma 18:1 (March 1940) 3-11 (retrieved August 19, 2006)