The Forgotten Crimes of The Old West

by M.P. Pellicer | Stranger Than Fiction Stories
​Echoes of the past, especially a violent one is heard sometimes years afterward. Stories of skulduggery and secret burials traveled from town to town, brought by visitors who stayed at roadside inns and taverns in the old West.

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Hispanic farming family from Mora, NM c.1895

1870
On October 13, Charles Kennedy was arrested for murder. He owned a tavern and inn at the junction of the Mora and Taos Roads in New Mexico. This was at the base of Palo Flechado Pass.  He lived there with his 17-year-old wife Gregoria and their 1-year-old son, Samuel. 

The crime took place on the night of December 24, 1869. Kennedy had two men staying the night. One was a tall man with a full, red beard. The other was a local man by the name of Jose Cortez.

​At a later trial Cortez testified that he saw Kennedy shoot an American with a pistol. "A stranger came to the house and and stopped for the night; he was an American with large, red whiskers;" They retired for the night. Then a shot woke him up, but there was no light in the room. Kennedy lit a candle, and by the light Jose saw blood pour from the bullet hole in the man's head into his red whiskers. 

Cortez knew the killer was Kennedy because there was no one else at the inn bedsides Kennedy, his wife, the stranger and himself.

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Elizabethtown, NM c.1868

Jose Cortez refused to help Kennedy bury the dead man, and took the first opportunity to run away, no doubt fearing he would join the man with the red whiskers in a secret grave. He went to Taos but kept what he witnessed a secret, until September when he told police what he saw take place.

Upon Kennedy's arrest nine months after the crime, a number of bones were found in inn's garden, and they were presented at court. Two doctors examined them, and opined they belonged to a human body.

On October 6, 1870 an Indian belonging to the Pueblo of Taos came to town, and stated that a human skeleton was found buried under one of the rooms of Kennedy's house. It begged the question how many travelers had Kennedy done away with? Unfortunately these strangers were rarely missed in the highly transient settlement, and no questions were asked when they disappeared.

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Article about Kennedy's lynching at Elizabethtown c.1870

Justice Edward McBride held an inquest and it was decided the dead man came to his death at the hands of Charles Kennedy. The skeleton with the skull which bore evidence of a bullet entering the right temple were brought back to town. 

The townspeople held an impromptu trial but failed to agree despite testimony from Jose Cortez and Kennedy's wife, so another trial was scheduled. Sheriff Houx was fitting up a more secure jail cell through the winter for the prisoner, and in the meantime he was kept in a log house heavily guarded by two men.

At 11 pm on October 7, a band of armed, disguised men forced the sheriff to turn over the prisoner. It seemed they thought one trial was enough. Kennedy was taken to an old slaughter house about half a mile from town, and he was hung from a rafter.

The body was discovered in the morning, and the coroner's jury returned a verdict that Kennedy came to his death by hanging at the hands of parties unknown.

Stories are that Kennedy's wife, not Jose Cortez was the one who reported him to authorities after he killed their 10-year-old son and 20 travelers. This version is difficult to believe since the census of 1870 taken in the month between the murder and his trial, his wife Gregoria was 17 years old with an infant son. That she testified at the trial about what she had witnessed is probably true, no doubt helping to seal his fate.

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Charles Kennedy's grave at Elizabethtown cemetery. He died when he was 31 years old

The group of men who took Kennedy from his cell were supposedly led by Robert "Clay" Allison (1841-1887). He was a confederate soldier who after the war went westward, and soon developed a reputation as a gunslinger with a bad temper. Among his friends were the Earp brothers, Kit Carson and James "Bat" Masterson who said of his companion "... the best eradicator of badmen, liars, cheats and thieves."

Clay Allison was born with a club foot, however this did not stop him from immediately enlisting in the Confederate Army when the Civil War broke out. However a few months later he was discharged for medical reasons which were listed as: "Emotional or physical excitement produces paroxysmal of a mixed character, partly epileptic and partly maniacal." There was also mention that he had received a blow to his head many years before which might have led to his psychotic behavior when drinking, even though it was known that he was a difficult child.  ​

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Clay Allison as a young man with family members

He rejoined a few months later and served as a scout and spy for the 9th Tennessee Cavalry.

In 1865, he was held as a prisoner of war for a week, and was convicted of spying and sentenced to be shot. The night before his planned execution, he killed the guard and escaped.

By 1880 Allison moved to a ranch in Hemphill County, Texas, married America McCulloch, and fathered two daughters, Patti and Clay.

Ironically after being known as a notorious shootist, he died at the age of 46 in a freak accident. A grain sack slid from his wagon and when he reached for it, he fell and one of the wheels passed over his neck killing him. He once remarked, "I never killed a man that did not need killing."

Elizabethtown was known for its many saloons, and no doubt Allison and the others in the group were well in their cups when they strung Kennedy up. But it seemed the disruptive behavior continued, so much so that two weeks later, Justice McBride announced that a serious riot was going on, and he sent a telegram to the governor requesting troops stationed at Cimarron to be sent to Elizabethtown, since it was feared the town would be destroyed by fire. McBride's own house had been burnt down. By the time soldiers arrived, things had quieted down.

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Holy Moses saloon in Colorado

Justice McBride died in 1900, and his obituary described him as an "old timer". It was noted he was instrumental in the capture of Sam Ketchum only a year before.

After a hold-up, the Black Jack Ketchum Gang headed for Turkey Creek Canyon above Cimarron where they had a hideout. A posse consisting of Sheriff Ed Farr of Huerfano County, Colorado, special Agent W.H. Reno of the Colorado & Southern RR, and five deputies found their trail and tracked them into the Canyon where Sam was wounded. Deputies, W.H. Love and Tom Smith, along with Sheriff Farr were killed. Wounded, Sam made his escape and wandered in the mountains, before coming to McBride's ranch in search of food and medicine.  McBride turned him over to the law, and he and his son received the reward for his capture.

Ketchum was taken to Santa Fe Territorial Prison where he died from the wounds. He was buried in the Odd Fellows Cemetery in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Another member of the gang, William H. McGinnis, a train robber and desperado was tried and found guilty of murder in the second degree. McGinnis was the alias of William "Elzy" Lay, a well-known member of Butch Cassidy's Wild Bunch.

He was sent to the New Mexico Territorial Prison. In 1906, he was released and returned to Baggs, Wyoming, where he ran a saloon and mended his outlaw ways. He married twice, had three children, and moved to California. He died in Los Angeles in 1934.

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A secret burial was discovered close to Whitewater, CO c.1923

1923

In September, human bones were found about a mile and a half from Whitewater, Colorado. Coroner Krohn and Under Sheriff C. A. Clay concluded they'd been buried for many years, and they suspected they belonged to a man killed during a brawl at a saloon close to the discovery of the remains.

W. H. Coffman a local resident of the area since 1883, told the story of what happened to the unfortunate victim. At that spot was a saloon and blacksmith shop. In 1883, there was a fight and two men were killed, and Mr. Coffman remembered that one of them was buried nearby. Without money, and perhaps an identity, the man was dumped without a coffin into unconsecrated grounds. The years passed, and the weather eroded the area, uncovering the bones and scattering them along the roadside. After a little digging the rest of the skeleton was found. The plans were to rebury them.

Unlike the lynching of Charles Kennedy, no one knew the identity of those killed or even the reason. Was this man buried in a field because of expediency or because he was murdered? Do you even exist, if no one knows your name?

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