Thunder Over the Prairie: The True Story of a Murder and a Manhunt by the Greatest Posse of all Time
by Howard Kazanjian and Chris Enss, TwoDot (The Globe Pequot Press), Guilford, Conn., 2009, $14.95.
The trigger finger of frontier fate pointed to songstress Dora Hand in Dodge City, Kansas, on October 4, 1878. That night, one of her admirers, Texas cowboy James “Spike” Kenedy tried to shoot another of her admirers, Mayor Dog Kelley, while he slept in his modest home. Trouble was, Kelley happened to be out of town, and sleeping Hand, who had been invited to use his abode, took the bullet in what might be described as “the first ride-by shooting.” That unusual action—even for the Wild West—certainly makes for a fine story, and that is the focus of the first part of this book, as it was for an article by Susan and Lee Silva that appeared in the December 2009 issue of Wild West (see www.historynet.com). But there’s much more to the tale (thankfully, since Hand meets her fate on P. 14), and the rest of the story should delight fans of such lawmen luminaries as Wyatt Earp and Bat Masterson. Those two well-known badge wearers teamed up with two other “fearless” young lawmen, Bill Tilghman and Charlie Bassett, to form what was arguably “the greatest posse of all time.” Actually, there was probably a fifth member of the posse (William Duffy or perhaps Neal Brown), but the authors “decided to focus on the lawmen referred to most often as being members of the posse.”
The capture itself seems dramatic enough, although exactly how things played out and who shot whom might not be as clear-cut as the 146-page book suggests. What happened to Kenedy after he was brought back to Dodge for trial is equally interesting (hints: no rope was involved; he had a rich Texas daddy) and presents another reason to wonder about frontier justice.
Originally published in the February 2010 issue of Wild West. To subscribe, click here.
