The Killing of James Coleman, 1866, Springfield, Greene County, Missouri >From "History of Greene County, Missouri," St. Louis: Western Historical Company, 1883. ********************************************************************** On the 25th of January one James Coleman, a young man living in the country, was shot and killed in Springfield by a policeman named John Orr. The circumstances were that James Coleman, his brother Samuel, and another man named Bingham, rode into town that day and got on a spree. As they were riding out on South street Bingham, who was very drunk, began whooping and yelling. A policeman arrested him. Sam Coleman followed and seemed to be trying to effect Bingham's release. James Coleman, who had been left with the horses, came up, a scuffle ensued, and he was killed. The notorious "Wild Bill" (J. B. Hickok), was an eye witness of the affair, and detailed the circumstances under oath as follows: (Wild Bill's Testimony): When I got where the fuss was, the police took a man off a horse. After they had got him off the horse Chas. Moss came and took hold of him; he did not appear to want to come with the police; kept talking, and when they got opposite Jacob's store he commenced scrambling, and they threw him down the second time; then they took him along to where Ladd keeps grocery, and by that time one of his comrades came up; those they stopped; Samuel Coleman commenced talking, and the one who was killed had tied up the horses at the blacksmith shop and came up and joined them at Ladd's, or near Ladd's grocery; the two Colemans wanted to stop the police and have a talk with the police; from that they got to jarring worse and worse until they commenced shooting; the first I saw of the shooting I saw John Orr jerk his pistol and put it up against the man and shot; did not see whether James Coleman had a pistol or not; his back was to me, and Samuel Coleman grabbed a stick and struck, but I do not know whether he struck James Orr or Charles Moss, and as soon as the first shoorting was done Orr turned and shot Samuel Coleman; the crowd scat- tered around, and some person, or persons, grabbed the first man arrested and ran off down town this way; he pulled the man up on the platform and intended taking him into Ladd's, but he was locked up, and he was then carried to the drug store of N. P. Murphy & Co. The affray commenced first opposite the Lyons House and closed opposite Ladd's grocery, on South stree, Springfield, Missouri.) There was much excit- ment over the killing of Coleman, and a great deal of ill-feeling on the part of the country people toward the Springfield police, who, it was alleged, arrested country people for trivial offences, and allowed the town gentry to go unmolested for grave ones. The excitement cul- minated in a public meeting, which was held on the Monday following. The meeting was presided over by Capt. See, Col. Marcus Boyd, and other prominent citizens. A resolution calling on the city authorities to discharge the police was unanimously adopted, and then the meeting ad- journed, the country people being apparently satisfied. Orr was then arrested, but managed to be released on bail. He fled the country, and was never afterward brought to trial. It is said that on one occasion this same Orr, in Springfield, made Wild Bill "take water," and put up with a gross insult. ==================================================================== USGENWEB NOTICE: In keeping with our policy of providing free information on the Internet, data may be used by non-commercial entities, as long as this message remains on all copied material. These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or for presentation by other persons or organizations. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material for purposes other than stated above must obtain the written consent of the file contributor. This file was contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by: Joe Miller Penny Harrell ====================================================================