Sheriff Bell suffered a fatal heart attack while struggling to subdue
a prisoner. Sheriff Bell and the Undersheriff were escorting the prisoner, one on either side, to the Saline County
District Courtroom to face a trial for murdering his wife. While being walked to the courtroom the man threw back
his elbows, striking both men in the face. Sheriff Bell suffered the heart attack during the attack.
FRANK BLIZZARD
SHERIFF KILLED BY BLAST
Frank Blizzard of Howard, Kas., May Have Been Victim
of Plot
Was Washing His Motor Car When Dynamite Explosion
Occurred - May Have Been Suicide, but Affairs in Good Shape
Coffeyville, Kas., Dec. 30 - Frank Blizzard sheriff
of Elk County was killed this afternoon by a charge of dynamite on a road near Pawpaw Creek, a mile north of Howard,
the county seat. Blizzard was washing his motor car at the time of the explosion and it is believed he either was
a victim of a plot or committed suicide. He was alone at the time and the full details are not available.
Sheriff Blizzard drove his car into the creek,
evidently to wash it, when a terrific explosion was heard by a man working on an oil pipe line nearby. He found
the car demolished and the body, badly mangled, some distance away. A coroner's inquest will be held tomorrow.
Friends of Blizzard say he had no known enemies. They also say his affairs are in good shape. Blizzard owns a farm
near Howard, which he had intended to occupy March 1. A number of sticks of dynamite were found near the scene
of the tragedy. The fact that dynamite will not explode easily has led many to believe that Blizzard either killed
himself or was killed in revenge. He had served two terms in the office of sheriff and his successor would have
taken office in ten days. The theory that a small quantity of nitroglycerine may have been ignited to set off the
dynamite is being investigated by the authorities at Howard. No evidence so far as is known here was found to indicate
that the explosion was of nitroglycerine.
Sheriff Blizzard was 50 years old and is survived
by his wife and three children. Miss Elizabeth Blizzard, employed by an oil company at Bartlesville, Ok., John
and Dorothy, both of Howard. A daughter, Vada, 10 years old, was drowned while wading in a creek near Howard with
a number of playmates three years ago. (Kansas City Star, December 31, 1920, page 2)
MARTIN MOORE
State into Sheriff's Death
Assistant Attorney General of Kansas to Take Charge
of Probe
Topeka, July 24 - J. P. Coleman assistant attorney
general, went to Morton County today to take charge of the investigation into the murder of Martin Moore, sheriff,
and the alleged derelictions of other officials in failing to arrest all of those implicated in the murder. Coleman
went to Rolla at the request of Governor Capper, who received a telegram from George J. Downer, judge of the district
court, asking for help. The citizens of Morton County filed a long petition with the district judge, saying that
some county officials were not prosecuting the investigation into the murder.
Dodge City, Kas., July 24 - Four more men are held
as a result of the slaying of Sheriff Martin Moore at Rolla in Morton County Saturday night. Lewis Perkins, S.
Y., McCarty, Joe and Walter Elttell are charged with helping Don Vanwormer to escape from the sheriff a moment
before he seized a revolver and shot the officer. Vanwormer is held at Liberal, being taken there from Hugoton,
the Stevens County seat, where he was first taken because of fear of mob violence. (Kansas City Star, July 24,
1916, page 4)
WALTER DAVIS
Kansas Slayer Pleads Guilty
A Life Sentence for Homer Cullor Who Killed Walter
Davis
Emporia, Kas., Oct. 12 - Homer M. Cullor, held
on the charge of having killed Walter Davis, ex-sheriff of Lyon County, pleaded guilty in the district court today
and was sentenced to life imprisonment. Cullor shot Davis while resisting arrest and wounded four members of a
posse before he was captured. (Kansas City Star, October 12, 1916, page 1)
Hold a Sheriff's Slayer Here
Homer M. Cullor will be taken to Emporia for trial.
Homer M. Cullor, for whom a nation wide search
was made before he was arrested at Keokuk, Ia., as the slayer of Walter Davis, sheriff of Lyon County, Kansas was
in a cell at police headquarters today for safekeeping before being taken to Emporia, Kas., for trial. He is in
charge of Wallace Jones, Davis's successor.
Cullor killed Davis, August 16 and wounded four
other men in escaping arrest on a charge of highway robbery. Police departments everywhere were notified, circulars
were sent out and rewards totaling $1,000 were offered. (Kansas City Star, August 29, 1916, page 12)
HELD FOR POLICEMAN'S DEATH
Kansan Arrested Following Killing of Tom Carson
at Salina
Salina, Kas., Nov. 29 - A man giving his name as
Art Williams and his residence near Grinnell, Kas., is being held today in connection with the killing of Tom Carson,
policeman, at the union station last night. According to the officers, Williams says he was put off the first section
of Union Pacific train No. 119 at Junction City last night, but that he came in on the "blind" of the
second section to Salina.
It was while the first section was here, that Carson
was killed. A Union Pacific detective admits he put the man off the train at Junction City. The officer's theory
is that Williams managed to get on the train again. They declare positively that no man came in on the blind of
the second section. (Kansas City Star, November 29, 1920, page 2)
DESPERATE BANDITS
BROUGHT TO EARTH
Santa Fe Railroad Detective is Murdered
Traveling Men Robbed
Then the posse gets busy and goes after the highwaymen
- short, but decisive, battle and the chapter is closed forever
Winfield, Kan. July 12 - C. S. Calhoun of Kansas
City, an Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe railroad detective, was shot and instantly killed today by two outlaws,
who were shot later by a posse of citizens at Hewins, seven miles from Cedarville, close to the Oklahoma state
line. One of the outlaws, Ed Madigan of Ponca City, Okla., was instantly killed by the posse. The other, William
Chadburn of this city was fatally wounded.
Madigan and Chadburn held up and robbed six traveling men at the Britton hotel at Winfield on Sunday night last
and escaped. At Cedarville last night Detective Calhoun encountered both of the outlaws on the street. Not being
positive of their identity, Calhoun secured the city marshal and one of the traveling men who were robbed and the
three started in a carriage in search of the two men. Early they drove past the men in a side street today. The
traveling man identified them and the trio in the carriage were just in the act of making a stand when either Madigan
or Chadburn opened fire. Calhoun was shot through the heart and the outlaws made their escape temporarily. The
town was aroused and the outlaws stole two horses and started for Hewins.
Close - in Firing
While a posse was gathering at Cedarville word
was wired ahead to Hewins where the deputy sheriff quickly gathered a score of armed men about him. Within two
hours the outlaws rode up to a hardware store at Hewins, secured a rifle and revolver and started out of town on
a gallop. Just as Madigan and Chadburn were leaving the main street the posse opened fire from the protection of
a store. The robbers returned the fire and a livery fusillade ensued. Finally Madigan fell. Another bullet soon
brought Chadburn to the ground, shot through the bowels. During the exchange of shots J. M. Pope, a member of the
posse received a slight wound in the foot and a Mrs. Malone who had been attracted to the scene by the firing,
was shot in the leg. Her wound is not serious. Madigan's body was taken to Cedarville and Chadburn was placed in
the hospital where it is said he cannot live. Madigan and Chadburn were each under 20 years of age. Chadburn had
served time in the Kansas penitentiary for robbery. Nothing is known of Madigan. Calhoun was 40 years old. (Anaconda
Standard, July 13, 1905, page 2)
MURDER AND BURGLARY
Post Office Thieves Slay A City Marshal
Kansas City, Mo., Jan. 21 - Yesterday morning at
3 o'clock burglars effected an entrance to the postoffice at Osawatomie, Kan., by cutting a pane of glass out of
the rear door. The safe was then blown open by an explosive. City Marshal James H. Helms, hearing the detonation,
started to investigate but when he reached the back door of the postoffice the robbers fired three shots at him,
one entering his breast, two inches above the right nipple killing him almost instantly. An alarm was raised immediately
but up to this hour no clue to the murderers have been secured. The murdered city marshal leaves a wife and several
children. (Jersey Journal, January 21, 1895, page 3)
