On 5 October 1901 George Montgomery was killed by an assailant firing a shotgun outside his home at Winfield, Kansas. The case is of interest to me as Montgomery was for many years the assistant to RR Detective JJ Kinney, until 1900 Chief Detective of the Santa Fe RR. O. W. Coffelt was indicted for the crime, and stood trial four times, the jury deadlocked in each trial. The defense attorneys tried to pin the murder on Ben Cravens, a notorious desperado then at loose after his famous escape from the penitentiary. The prosecution attempted to tie in Coffelt with the Miller brothers, proprietors of the famous 101 Ranch in southern Kansas and northern Oklahoma, as there was something of a feud between them and Montgomery over--of all things--a box of cigars. Does anybody know if someone was ever convicted for Montgomery's murder?

--meursault