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| The "Gunn City massacre" happened on a rail road that runs through my western most property. The rail grade is a little steep and when the train slowed down on the grade, it was stopped and the massacre occurred. Below is a description of the event. My great, great uncle lived south of the railroad at the time, and heard the shots allegedly. Once in a while someone comes by and wants to see the sight. Not much to see any more, no monument. There is a description of the events on a plaque on the courthouse lawn in Harrisonville, the county seat.
Gunn City Massacre," the background of which began in 1857. Cass County approved a large stock subscription for the Pacific Railroad Company. This corporation later surrendered the bonds to the new Saint Louis and Santa Fe Railroad, from whence they were still later assigned to the Land Grant Railroad & Construction Company of New York. Citizens of Cass County sought by injunction to prevent the funding of these bonds, but by legal maneuvering and collusion, a new set of bonds was issued secretly. Basically the outraged populace viewed this development as a sophisticated maneuver to benefit the holders of bonds that had become worthless by re-obligating the county to pay those same bonds. Three men who helped to perpetrate this swindle, including the county attorney and a judge of the county court, were shot and killed on April 24, 1872 while on board a Katy railroad spur between Bryson, Missouri and Paola, Kansas (in or near what is now known as Gunn City). Forty-one men were arrested and brought to trial for these killings, but there were no convictions. At the time of the shootings, a Republican newspaper, belonging to Mr. Porter J. Coston, in Harrisonville, Missouri, was burned by the same mob.
Edited by datyerdog? 12/17/2012 18:52
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Anything historical ever happen on your farm?
