This Day…

1892 – An early attempt at rain-making is successful in bringing rain to Midland, Texas, dry since 1888.

1877-McNelly’s Bulldog, John Barclay Armstrong, arrested John Wesley Hardin on a train in Pensacola.  The outlaw, Jim Mann, was killed in the fray.

1863-Approximately 450 irregular Confederate raiders under William Clarke Quantrill stage a dawn terrorist raid on the town of Lawrence, Kansas, leaving 150 civilians dead, 30 wounded, and much of the town a smoking ruin.

1856-Tom Bell Gang attempted to rop the Comptonville Stage outside of Marysville, California.  A passenger on the stage, Mrs. Tilghman, was killed in the ensuing gunplay.

1903-Tom Horn escaped from custody in Cheyenne, Wyoming.  He was quickly overtaken by townsmen after being grazed in the head by a shot fired by O.M. Eldrich, and badly beaten during recapture.

1940 – Arthur T. Enss was born.  He served his country in Vietnam and later took in three children who had been abandoned by their biological father.

1902-Harry Tracy in an act of desperation and severely wounded in a shootout with lawmen near Davenport, WA., ended his own crime spree with a self inflicted gunshot to the head.  Officers were so wary of him they did not approach the corpse until the next day.

1867-The Sioux and Cheyenne continue their war against the US Army forts stationed along the Bozeman Road.  More than 500 Cheyenne warriors, led by Dull Knife and Two Moon, attack about 30 soldiers and civilians working in a hayfield near Fort C.F. Smith.  In what becomes known as the Hayfield Fight, the defenders drive off the Indian attack with breech-loading Springfield rifles.

1892-Congress bans the sale of alcohol on all Indian lands.

1865-In a romantic duel over the affections of Suzanna Moore Wild Bill Hickok shot Dave Tutt through the heart at 75 yards in the town square in Springfield, Missouri.  Tutt fired first and missed.