Old West Justice in Belle Plaine, Kansas

$17.00

Old West Justice in Belle Plaine, Kansas - Tom S. Coke. On November 14, 1884, members of the small farm community of Belle Plaine, Kansas, lynched one of its marsfhals after the marshal shot a citizen. “Today, the only evidence of the event that became known as ‘Black Friday’ in Belle Plaine, Kansas back in 1884 is a pair of handcuffs and a chunk of wood… Before the night was over, one man would be shot to death and another shackled in those handcuffs and hanging from a rope attached to the wood… This is the story of Belle Plaine’s ‘Black Friday,’ its history, its players, its place in the American West.” Anyone interested in local history during the Wild West era in Southern Kansas will welcome this account of the last days of the Old West. Discussions include historical settings for “Black Friday”, Kansas’s prohibition laws, and vigilante justice in Southern Kansas. A photograph of the jail and two maps are included. Tom S. Coke is an established author, a member of the Belle Plaine Historical Society, and writes a regular Old West column for his local newspaper. (2002), 2007, 5½x8½, paper, index, 168 pp.

ISBN: 9780788420474

101-C2047