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Posted on Mon, May. 18, 2009

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Town marshal had law-breaking past

The Wichita Eagle

This is one in a series of vignettes celebrating Kansas history. The series' name comes from the state motto, Ad astra per aspera: "To the stars through difficulties."

BY BECCY TANNER

There was plenty about Henry Brown's past that could be considered unsavory:

He had ridden with Billy the Kid, stolen horses and fled New Mexico to avoid murder charges.

But Brown didn't disclose his past to residents of Caldwell. They were looking for a lawman in June 1882 and were most impressed with the way he handled a gun.

He was known throughout the Southwest as one of the quickest men on the trigger.

And those were credentials enough for a rowdy Kansas cowtown that had seen four of its lawmen murdered shortly before his arrival.

He was hired as an assistant marshal, then promoted to marshal. Town residents gave him a Winchester rifle on New Year's Day 1883.

It was inlaid with gold and silver and inscribed: "Presented to City Marshall [sic] H.N. Brown for valuable services rendered in behalf of the Citizens of Caldwell, Kas."

That was a stark contrast to his background.

He was born in 1857 in Rolla, Mo., and raised by relatives after being orphaned. At age 17, he began drifting West.

By the mid-1870s, he was in Lincoln County, N.M., where he met rancher John Tunstall and Billy the Kid and joined the Lincoln County War between ranchers and merchants accused of price gouging. The battle over local politics and economics escalated into cattle rustling, gunfights and court battles.

Brown was one of the Regulators who fought on behalf of the ranchers against Lawrence Murphy and James Dolan, owners of Murphy & Dolan Mercantile and Banking -- the only store in the county.

When Tunstall was killed, Brown and other Regulators tracked down the man they believed killed him, Buckshot Roberts. They chased him into an outhouse and riddled it with gunfire, killing Roberts.

When the county war ended in 1878, Brown, Billy the Kid and other Regulators drifted into the Panhandle of Texas, where they stole horses together.

Eventually Billy the Kid went back to New Mexico. Brown stayed in Texas, where he landed a job as a deputy sheriff in Oldham County. He was fired after bullying and picking fights with drunks.

He worked on ranches in Oklahoma before arriving in Caldwell in 1882.

Caldwell residents considered him the ideal lawman -- quiet and calm. He settled down, married and bought a house.

The Caldwell Commercial newspaper reported that Brown was "free from... vices." He did not drink, smoke or chew.

But in late April 1884, Brown left Caldwell with his assistant marshal and two cowboys, telling townsfolk he was headed to Oklahoma.

He instead rode to Medicine Lodge. On April 30, 1884, he and his gang stormed into the Medicine Valley Bank and demanded cash.

Bank president E.W. Payne, at his desk, reached for his revolver. Brown shot him.

Cashier George Geppert also was shot. Before dying, he triggered the vault's combination lock, keeping the money safe from the robbers.

An alarm on the outside of the bank was triggered, and townspeople formed a posse to pursue Brown and his men.

They surrendered two hours later after being surrounded in a box canyon.

They were taken to the Medicine Lodge jail, where a vigilante group wanted to hang them.

Brown wrote a letter to his wife, telling her he loved her and to sell the property but keep the gun.

When the mob broke into the jail, Brown made a dash for freedom. He was shot and killed.

The rest of his gang was hung from a nearby elm tree.

Brown's widow gave the gun to a friend. In 1977, it was donated to the Kansas Museum of History, where it is on display.