Mutual Life Insurance Company of New York - A death at Crooked Creek: the case of the cowboy, the cigarmaker, and the love letter

A DEATH AT CROOKED CREEK

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THE CASE OF THE COWBOY,
THE CIGARMAKER,
AND THE LOVE LETTER

MARIANNE WESSON

NEW YORK UNIVERSITY PRESS
New York and London
www.nyupress.org
2013 by NYU Press
All rights reserved

References to Internet websites (URLs) were accurate at the time of writing.
Neither the author nor New York University Press is responsible for URLs that may have expired or changed since the manuscript was prepared.

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA
Wesson, Marianne.
A death at Crooked Creek : the case of the cowboy, the cigarmaker, and the love letter / Marianne Wesson.
pages cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-8147-8456-3 (cloth : alk. paper)
1. Hillmon, Sallie E.Trials, litigation, etc. 2. Mutual Life Insurance Company of New YorkTrials, litigation, etc. 3. TrialsKansasHistory19th century. 4. Insurance crimesKansasHistory19th centuryCases. 5. Evidence, HearsayUnited StatesHistory19th centuryCases. I. Title.
KF228.H543.W47 2013
346.7308632dc23 2012048184

New York University Press books are printed on acid-free paper, and their binding materials are chosen for strength and durability. We strive to use environmentally responsible suppliers and materials to the greatest extent possible in publishing our books.

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If [the dead] should speak, what revelations there would be!

MARK TWAIN, THE PRIVILEGE OF THE GRAVE (1905)

Some circumstantial evidence is very strong, as when you find a trout in the milk.

HENRY DAVID THOREAU

The volume that follows is a work of both history and imagination. Portions of the narrative, those told from the point of view of one or another of the characters in the Hillmon story, necessarily contain some invention; nobody memorialized the sorts of conversations that surely took place in parlors and courthouse vestibules, nor did Sallie Hillmon or any of the other actors, apart from John Hillmon, leave behind for us a journal or diary that recorded her or his thoughts. Notes at the end of each of these scenes inform the reader which aspects represent documented history, and which parts are invented.

Imagination is hardly a steady beacon, of course, and at times as I researched and wrote, mine led me off the straight path. New information and reconsideration many times compelled me to revise my theories, and these moments came to form their own narrative.

The remaining portions of the book are as accurate historically as I could make them. All newspaper stories in the text are rendered verbatim as in the originals. Other sources are documented in the endnotes. When inventing, I did my best to hew to the historical record as I discovered it. Nothing herein is contradicted by the evidence to which I had access, and I have made an effort to treat the case evenhandedly. The reader must judge whether I have succeeded.

THE HILLMONS AND FAMILY OF LAWRENCE, KANSAS, AND ENVIRONS:

Sallie Quinn Hillmon, the plaintiff. Waitress and seamstress.

John Wesley Hillmon, her first husband. Civil War veteran and cowboy.

Levi Baldwin, her cousin. Rancher.

James Smith, her second husband. Traveling salesman.

THE WALTERS FAMILY OF FORT MADISON, IOWA, AND ELSEWHERE:

Frederick Adolph Walters, itinerant cigarmaker.

Mr. and Mrs. Daniel Walters, his parents.

Fannie and Anna Walters and Elizabeth Walters Rieffenach, his sisters.

C.R. Walters of Missouri, his brother.

Alvina Kasten of Fort Madison, Frederick Adolphs fiance.

FRIENDS AND ACQUAINTANCES OF THE HILLMONS:

Mr. and Mrs. Arthur Judson, the Hillmons landlords.

John Brown, John Hillmons former employee and occasional traveling companion.

THE INSURANCE COMPANIES AGENTS AND INVESTIGATORS:

A.L. Selig, agent. Later Mayor of Lawrence.

G.W.E. Griffith, agent.

H.B. Munn, agent.

C.E. Tillinghast, investigator.

Samuel (Colonel) Walker, investigator.

Theodore (Major) Wiseman, investigator.

CORONERS:

George Paddock, Medicine Lodge, Kansas.

Richard Morris, Lawrence, Kansas.

EXAMINING PHYSICIANS:

Dr. J.H. Stewart.

Dr. G.G. Miller.

Dr. Charles V. Mottram.

LAWYERS FOR SALLIE HILLMON:

E.O. Borgalthaus (the Lawrence inquest).

Lysander Wheat (all six trials).

Samuel Riggs (all six trials).

John Hutchings (second and third trials).

Charles Hutchings, brother of John (fourth through sixth trials)

John Atwood (sixth trial).

LAWYERS FOR THE INSURANCE COMPANIES:

James Woods Green (all six trials). Also at one time County Attorney of Douglas County, and at all pertinent times Dean of the University of Kansas Law School.

George Barker (all six trials). Also at one time Assistant County Attorney for Douglas County.

W.H. Buchan, Kansas State Senator. No trial appearances, except as witness. Also claimed to represent John Brown.

Charles Gleed (second through sixth trials). Also businessman, occasional journalist, and eventual owner of the Kansas City Journal.

Eugene Ware (fourth through sixth trials). Also known as the poet Ironquill.

Edward Isham (fifth and sixth trials). From Chicago law firm of Isham, Lincoln, and Beale; law partner to Abraham Lincolns son Robert.

ASSORTED WITNESSES:

W.H. Lamon, photographer.

Reuben Brown, Johns brother.

James Crew, banker.

W.W. Nichols, buffalo hunter and brother-in-law to John Hillmon.

William Hillmon and Mrs. George Nichols, brother and sister to John Hillmon.

Dr. Patterson, dentist.

Patrick Heely, agent for railroad excursion tickets.

Alva Baldwin, Levis brother.

Arthur Simmons, cigar factory owner.

Various citizens of Lawrence and Fort Madison.