"Did You Know This About Geary County History?”
By Dr. Ferrell Miller
Geary County Historical Society Board Member
“A Mystery In 1868” – Part 1 of 3
Gaylynn Childs, retired Executive Director of the Geary County Historical Society (GCHS), researched and wrote about a lynching in August 1868 of Geary County pioneer Thomas M. Reynolds. The two articles she wrote were published in The Daily Union newspaper in August of 2011. One of her sources came from genealogical research done by Bill Armond Miller, the great-great grandson of Thomas Reynolds, who sent information to the GCHS. William Bradley, who was a hired hand for Reynolds and later married widow Reynolds, wrote a letter to the children and grandchildren of Thomas Reynolds describing the circumstances surrounding the death of their father or grandfather, Thomas Marcus Reynolds. This is some of what was in that letter.
“On Saturday morning, August 22, 1868, Thomas Reynolds started out for Mitchell’s Mill to deliver 1,800 head of cattle to a cattle drover named William Davis. He was accompanied by his two young sons, who were 10 and 14 years of age.
I (William Bradley) remained at home to repair some fence and then go to Junction City for ranch supplies. The two boys came home about two o’clock in the afternoon and said their father had told them to come home to help with the chores. When I got to Junction City, I met Reynolds, who was just going into the bank with the receipts of his sale. When we both returned home and were sitting down to supper, a stranger came to the door. When Reynolds went to meet him, the stranger asked if he had some cattle for sale. Reynolds stated he had sold them that day and delivered them. The stranger then wanted to know who bought them and where they were camped? Reynolds told him he thought William Davis and his men were expecting to stay at Mitchell’s Mill that night. The stranger wanted to know if Reynolds thought Davis would sell the cattle? He also asked Reynolds to go with him to Mitchell’s Mill.
After eating supper, they left about eight o’clock. Along in the night, Reynolds’ horse came home without him. When I went out to do the morning milking, I found the horse at the gate and the saddle was covered with blood. I rushed to the house to tell Mrs. Reynolds and then went to arouse the neighbors. A group of eight or ten of us set out at once to search for Tom. We headed for Mitchell’s Mill. On the way we met another neighbor named Fox Booth, who told us he had discovered the body of Tom Reynolds hanging from a tree beside the road near Dry Creek”.
“A Mystery In 1868” – Part 2 of 3
In Part 1, it was learned that Thomas Marcus Reynolds had been hung from a tree and found dead. The consensus of opinion within the family of Thomas Reynolds about his death was that Thomas was killed as a result of his political views. A written and signed deposition found among the papers of Samuel Orr at the time of his own death in 1900 revealed who had really been responsible for the death of Thomas Reynolds. Orr was a prominent territorial settler and community leader in Junction City and Davis (Geary) County. Orr stated that “Thomas Reynolds was hanged by neighbors, who were all old Union soldiers.” Or was that the reason?
“Following an investigation, rewards were offered and a grand jury called. The case was argued on street corners and at gathering places. George W. Martin, editor of the Union newspaper and self-appointed community watchdog for truth and justice, published the verdict of the jury. The final decision of the jury was that Thomas Reynolds was found suspended from the limb of a tree by a part of his bridle rein by some person or persons unknown to the jury.” (Union January 9, 1869)
George Martin kept the case before the public for the next two years. During that time Reynolds’ family sent for two detectives from St. Louis to find the real culprits. On July 31, 1870, the Union noted the arrest of a local man, John Sanderson, for stealing government horses. Sanderson was the oldest of three brothers who were the sons of William and Jane Sanderson. The Sanderson’s had settled in the Smoky Hill Township just south of Junction City near the bend of the river.
Within a day or two after that last arrest, John’s brother, Jonathan secured his release by posting his $4,000 bond. On the following Saturday morning, John returned to town to retrieve his horse, which had been taken from him at the time of his arrest and retained as part of the bond. Sanderson then contacted a man named Tucker near Humboldt Creek, who agreed to furnish bond for the horse. When they returned to town, a man by the name of Tucker, who was also suspected of being a horse thief, made a “sworn confession” in writing charging John Sanderson and another party as the murderers of Thomas Marcus Reynolds.
A warrant was issued for the arrest of Sanderson and his partner. Sheriff R.C. Whitney, a deputy U.S. Marshal and young Jimmy Reynolds, who was a son of the murdered man, went out to Sanderson’s homestead to arrest him. A gun battle resulted in which young Reynolds and White were wounded. John Sanderson made an escape into the brush”.
(to be continued)