Seward County KS Archives News.....Preliminary Examination Of Court In The Murder of Sheriff DUNN January 15, 1892 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/ks/ksfiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Jim Laird jlaird@bellsouth.net October 10, 2007, 12:31 pm The Liberal Lyre January 15, 1892 Seward County Friday January 15, 1892 Preliminary Examination. Court convened yesterday morning at 10 o'clock before W.T. GIBSON, Justice of the Peace, the case being the State of Kansas against Rowen CHASE, B.M. ORNER, Lee ESTES, C.S. ANDERSON, J.J. LEACH. Chas. ORNER, Sam MINTON, Bob HUTCHINSON and Hiram HANKER, the alleged murderers of Sheriff DUNN at Big Canon, on Tuesday, Jan. 5. The afternoon session of the court convened at 2 o'clock and was occupied in the examination of witnesses for the State. The first witness on the stand was W.H. CUSTER, one of the 6 deputies who accompanied Sheriff Dunn in his fatal exploration of the canon on the morning of the murder. In his evidence he identified 4 of the prisoners. He gave evidence of seeing two companies of the opposing party, one on foot and one on horseback, the latter being the one which pursued them after leaving the canon. He stated that the mob was first discovered by himself and Sid NIXON, who had left the rest of the party and had gone toward the head of the canon, and the first sight of them they were coming toward them and their party who were only a short distance back, and that when he and his companion were seen by the mob that they stopped for a moment and hesitated, while they truned and ran back to the rest of the party who discovered them about this time. The entire party then turned down the canon and were soon headed off by the mob who were then above them on cliff. He also states that the first shots were fired by these men, soon after which his party retreated toward Springfield, and were followed nearly half the distance by the mob who were firing at them contantly. After reaching Springfield they saw four covered wagons and several horsemen come up from the canon and go west, which was the last seen of the mob. He estimates the number at near 50. The next witness, G.S. STEIN, corroborated this testimony. Court adjourned until 9 o'clock this morning. Court convened this morning at 9 o'clock. The first witness on the stand was E.R. RAGLAND, who was the first person notified of the killing. He testified that he has lived in Springfield for seven years, that he was county treasurer and had known Sheriff Dunn for 2 years and had been personally acquainted with all the defendants for at least 3 years. He stated that when he was first aroused on Tuesday morning by Sid NIXON, it was 7:30 o'clock R.R. time, and 6:30 standard or mountain time. In a few moments after Mr. Nixon and party arrived at his house he looked toward the canon and saw 4 wagons, 3 covered and one light, coming up from the canon, west, until they reached the Springfield and Fargo road, turn north until within a short distance south of town, then go northwest until they reached the Springfield and Woodsdale roads, where they turned west and finally disappeared in that direction. When the wagons first came up out of the canon he noticed several men separate from the others and go to the northeast, making a circuit of the north and east part of town until they came to a certain empty building where they stopped for a few minutes and then came on toward the public square. He testified to having followed these men and kept them in sight nearly all the time not more than 10 steps from them. He identified Chase at 3 blocks, Oner and Minton at a half block, an dLeach at 30 steps. These are all that he would swear to the identity of. He testified to seeing signs of where the horses were fed but seen no evidence of fire. He was with the party who found GUYMON. H.P. LARRABEE, who was the next witness, gave testimony corroborating that of the other deputies who were with Sheriff DUNN. At the afternoon session of court the first witness was Roy GUYMON, one of the deputies who was with DUNN at the killing. His testimony was similar to that of the other deputies in most particulars. He swears to having identified W.B. ORNER and Sam MINTON. He also identified Lee ESTES and C.S. ANDERSON by their voices but did not see their faces. After having fallen in the grass he heard the mob pass him and heard one say, "Don't let any get away, kill all of them," also heard another say We got 2 men and 2 guns." He testified to being perfectly conscious at the time. He described the wagons as the others had done and says he heard a horn blown twice in one of the wagons just before they started off. The men as well as he could see were all armed. The next witness was M.J. FRISBY, who drove into Springfield soon after the murder. He testified to having spent the night at Sam JONES' where he slept with Chas. ORNER, one of the defendants, and says that ORNER was still at JONES' when he left there about 8 o'clock. After this witness was discharged, BEAUCHAMP prosecuting attorney, asked Judge ELLIS to bring in his testimony and allow the State time to get a new witness just heard of in tomorrow morning. Judge Ellis declined to get his testimony before the State had closed its evidence, so court was adjourned until 9 a.m. tomorrow morning, where State's evidence will be continued. ==== KS-FOOTSTEPS Mailing List ==== File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/ks/seward/newspapers/prelimin237nw.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.poppet.org/ksfiles/ File size: 5.7 Kb