An Innocent Man Murdered by a Mob

We met in our city, Sabbath last, Rev. Mr. Callahan, of Topeka, father of one of the young men who was recently murdered by a Sumner County mob, near Dodge City, on the charge of horse stealing. It was a sad sight to look upon the heart broken old gentleman, and hear him talk. It seems he had been selling sewing machines in this vicinity, and had not, till Saturday, heard of the terrible fate of his son. He was at Americus, and borrowing a horse of Hon. John Loy came down here to get his mail. Reaching here the sad news was confirmed by a letter from a party in Dodge City, which gave him the particulars. He was so overcome that he had to call on a bystander to read the letter. As near as we can ascertain, young Callahan was engaged in gathering bones on the prairie for a man in Dodge. It seems the thief who stole the Sumner County horses, came to his cabin while the pursuers were close after him, and he was found there by them. Both were taken and hung. The old gentleman says his boy had been rightly raised, with religious training, and had never committed any crime. He is perfectly satisfied of his son’s entire innocence. There is now no doubt but that Lewallen and his party committed a cold blooded murder of an innocent man, and they should be made to suffer the consequences. What makes the affair doubly sad is the fact that the boy’s mother is an invalid, and it is feared, when she hears the news of the fate of her son, it will kill her. The news had been kept from her up to Sabbath, in order that the father might reach home and be present when she learned the sad facts in the case. The Emporia News, Emporia, Kansas. Friday, April 28, 1876. Page 2. © Transcribed by Darren McMannis for the Kansas Council of Genealogical Societies, Inc.