Russell County Kansas Newspaper Articles

RUSSELL COUNTY, KANSAS

NEWS ARTICLES

THREATS TO KANSAS FARMER

Anonymous Notes to Russell Man Demand $1,000 - Wheat Harmed

Salina, Kas., Nov. 3 - Threats of violence against Isaac Zeller if he did not leave $1,000 at a designated place and the burning of his wheat stacks because he paid no attention to the threats have caused the sheriff and county attorney of Russell County to make an investigation.

Zeller received the note Saturday, but believed it a Halloween Joke. At midnight Monday night his wheat stacks and other crops were burned, and as he left the house to fight the fire he found a second and similar note setting November 4 as a date to leave the money. Bloodhounds took the trail and followed it but the officers do not believe it is right. No warrant has been issued. Zeller is a farmer near Russell. (Kansas City Star, November 4, 1915, page 1)

SLAIN IN MOVER'S WAGON

Russell County, Kansas, has a Murder Mystery

After Horses and vehicle had been deserted for two days, investigation showed blood stains and part of a body

Salina, Kan., - Nov. 6 - A team of gray horses hitched to a mover's wagon, neglected for two days, the wagon saturated with blood, a blood stained hatchet, blood stained clothing and what is supposed to be part of a human body, buried in a bucket, from what the officers believed to be a murder mystery at Wilson, in Russell County.

Wednesday, October 25, R. M. Bushong, left Junction City for Garden City with his wife and two children and Roy Fuller in the wagon. Bushong and Fuller have disappeared and Mrs. Bushong and the children were seen to take a Union Pacific train for the East last Wednesday.

Presumably then went to Manhattan.

Peter Bushong, the father of R. M. Bushong, has arrived at Wilson from Manhattan and has identified a ring as belonging to one of his granddaughters. The harness on the team was marked "R. M. B." Clothing covered with blood and partly burned has been found and in the pocket of the trousers there was a watch.

The officers have been following the clews at hand since Saturday, but no arrests had been made at noon today. Bushong was 28 years old and Fuller was 22.

A message to the Sar from Manhattan, Kas., says the Bushongs are not known there. (Kansas City Star, November 6, 1916, page 1)

KEIL IS RETURNED TO RUSSELL COUNTY

Leroy David Keil, charged with stealing oil pipe in Russell county, was returned here for trial from Abilene TX. He was arrested at the Cactus Courts in Abilene on a tip given by his brother-in-law.

Keil has been missing since Oct. 1948. Several leads were uncovered, but officers were unable to apprehend him until now. The fugitive is charged with taking 15 joints of pipe from L.W. Murfin, three joints from Shields Oil Producers and 12 joints from Dwight Shawber.

At the time, pipe thefts had been occurring for several months in Russell, Barton and McPherson counties. Members of the Kansas Bureau of Investigation assisted officials from Russell, Barton and Sedgwick counties in tracing down the pipe thefts.

Several companies were reported affected. They were not, however, listed on the complaint against Keil. Included were Derby Oil Co., Sidney Oil Co., B. and R. Drillin Inc., The rapid Drilling Co., and Sohio Petroleum Co.

Keil was picked up in Texas by Sheriff Milton Gayartdt and County Commissioner J.A. Evans. The brother-in-law who gave information leading to Keil's apprehension, was himself held in custody by officers. It was then he said he knew of a man wanted in this state on felony charges. (The Salina Journal, February 11, 1951, submitted by Christine Walters)

HUNG UP BY A MOB

THREE MEN LYNCHED AT RUSSELL, KANSAS

Confessed Murderers

THE MOB CAME QUIETLY, ORDERS GIVEN BY SIGNS AND THE WORK WELL DONE

RUSSELL, Kan., Jan. 15---A mob of about 20 men entered the jail, last night, took out J. G. Burton, William Gay and his son, John Gay, and hung the trio to a small railroad bridge a short distance east of the depot in this city between 1 and 2 o'clock.

No officers were aroused or even were aware of what was going on until early morning, so quiet were the notions of the mob. Orders were given by signs and obeyed without a word being spoken.

The jail is a small woden building surrounded by a fence eight feet high. In the jail are two cells in which the prisoners were confined. Guards were placed about the jail about it was but the work of a few moments for the mob to gain an entrance. The masked mob began to break off the locks with sledge hammers.

Burton was the first one taken out. The two Gays were then taken out and marched to the bridge where Burton had been left. Ropes were placed around their necks. The leader clapped his hands three times, and, quick as a flash, all three were pushed off the bridge. Each of them had a bullet shot into him. The mob then left as quietly as it came, going north.

The crime with which they were charged was the killing of R. D. Dinning in July. Inquiries regarding a draft payable to Dinning and his mysterious disappearance led to an investigation and the arrest of Burton who implicated the others. Each made a confession and disclosed the hiding place of the body which had been buried in a plowed field near the scene of the murder.
(Grand Rapids Press ~ January 15, 1894 ~ Submitted by Lori DeWinkler)