A.B. Campbell to Governor John Martin
Creator: Campbell, A. B.
Date: April 4, 1886
The Kansas adjutant general at Parsons sends a telegram to Governor John Martin of Topeka asking the governor for permission to furnish the mayor of Parsons with one hundred guns to preserve peace in the city. A strike of railroad workers on the Missouri Pacific Railroad at Parsons led company and city officials to ask the governor to arm citizens and for call out the militia.

Art Harm and Lee Spencer of the Shawnee County Mounted Posse
Date: Between 1940 and 1959
A photograph of Art Harm and Lee Spencer on horseback at Mead Farm, possibly taken in Shawnee County, Kansas. Harm and Spencer were members of the Shawnee County Mounted Posse.

Ass't Attorney General Trickett's address
Creator: Kansas State Temperance Union
Date: February 05, 1907
An address by Assistant Attorney General C.W. Trickett at the Convention State Temperance Union in Topeka, Kansas on February 5, 1907, with a subtitle of "The Story of the Kansas City Clean-up by the Man Who Made Good."

Bender family house, Labette County, Kansas
Creator: Gamble, G. R.
Date: 1872
This is a photograph showing people on the north or front side of the Bender house. The Bender family operated a remote road house on a farm near Cherryvale, Kansas. When several travelers disappeared, local residents became suspicious of the Benders. A search of the property revealed eleven bodies buried in the yard and all of them died of injuries consistent with blows to the head. The Bender family members escaped and were never found.

Bender farm
Creator: Gamble, G. R.
Date: 1873
This photograph shows the graves found behind the Bender farm, Labette County, Kansas. The Bender family operated a remote road house on a farm near Cherryvale, Kansas. When several travelers disappeared, local residents became suspicious of the Benders. A search of the property revealed eleven bodies buried in the yard and all of them died of injuries consistent with blows to the head. The Bender family members escaped and were never found.

Ben Thompson
Date: Between 1881 and 1884
A photograph of Ben Thompson, who made his name as a gunman and a gambler before accepting a job as Marshal in Austin, Texas, in 1881.

Bob and Grat Dalton
Creator: Tackett
Date: October 5, 1892
Law enforcement officers hold up the bodies of Bob and Grat Dalton, who had been killed during an attempted robbery of the C. M. Condon and Company Bank in Coffeyville, Kansas. Coffeyville citizens shot and killed four Dalton gang members as they tried to escape. Emmett Dalton was wounded, captured, and sentenced to life imprisonment.

Center-fire police revolver
Creator: Meriden Firearms Company
Date: between 1907 and 1909
Double-action center-fire revolver. Empire State model produced by the Meriden Firearms Company. The Meriden Firearms Company was a subsidiary of Sears and Roebuck Company from 1907 to 1909. The pistol was used on the Topeka City Police force.

Center-fire revolver
Creator: Colt Patent Firearms Manufacturing Company
Date: 1884
Colt Single Action nickel-plated Army Revolver with ivory handle. 45 caliber. Ornately engraved throughout. Presented to Patrick F. Sughrue by the citizens of Dodge City on December 18, 1884. Sughrue served as Constable of Dodge City from 1877 to 1879 and then as Sherriff of Ford County from 1884 to 1888. Sughrue gave the pistol to his son in 1904 after his son suffered a severe injury. His son later had the pistol engraved to commemorate its initial presentation to his father.

Chauncey Belden Whitney
Date: Between 1868 and 1873
A portrait of Chauncey Belden Whitney, an early Ellsworth County settler and law enforcement officer. He served as Ellsworth County Sheriff 1871-1873; Under Sheriff, 1870; Ellsworth Township Constable, 1867-1873; and Ellsworth Marshall 1871-1872. On August 15, 1873, Whitney was killed in the line of duty by Bill Thompson. In addition to his law enforcement duties, Chauncey Whitney served as a civilian scout during the Indian Wars and was involved in the Battle of Beecher's Island. In July, 1869, he was a first lieutenant of Company A, Second battalion, Kansas State Militia, and provided settlers' protection against hostile Indians.

Citizens of Dodge City to Governor George W. Glick
Creator: Citizens of Dodge City, Ford County, Kansas
Date: May 15, 1883
Twelve citizens of Dodge City, Kansas, write Governor George W. Glick, of Topeka, protesting the forcible removal of Luke Short from Dodge City. The letter recounts the events which led to Mr. Short's removal and testifies regarding his character. The events recounted occurred between April 26 and May 1, 1883. The letter refers to Short's employment of women singers at his Long Branch Saloon and their subsequent arrest, a shooting between Short and Louis Hartman (special policeman), the arrest of Short and Hartman, the intimidation of Short's attorneys, and the Mayor's (L. E. Deger) insistence that Short (and others) be escorted out of the city. An appended newspaper article recounts events occurring between May 1 and May 10, 1883, specifically the attempted return of two men formerly jailed with Short. Dodge City Times editor, Nick Klaine, wrote the article and was an enthusiastic supporter of Deger's recently elected reform party. The arrest of Short's women employees is often credited as beginning the "Dodge City War," a bloodless conflict between competing political-business factions.

City prison, Topeka, Kansas
Date: June 05, 1914
This black and white photograph shows four police officers on horse back and a horse-drawn paddy wagon in front of the city prison at the northwest corner of 5th & Jackson Street in Topeka, Kansas.

Criminal X-Ray
Creator: Kansas State Penitentiary
Date: April 1915
Criminal X-Ray, Volume I, No. 3, published by The Kansas State Penitentiary for the Bureau of Identification. The booklet contains photographs, physical descriptions, sentencing information, and relatives of prison escapees, and parole violaters. The publication was used by police authories, sheriffs, and detective agencies to identify and arrest escapees and parole violaters. A reward is listed for each individual.

Dance card
Date: 1891
Multi-page dance card from the Second Annual Ball of the Topeka Police Relief Association, January 22, 1891. Belonged to John W. Gardiner, who was Topeka's Chief of Police from 1889 to 1892.

Dodge City jail key
Date: 1884
Large symmetrical-shaped steel skeleton key. This key, dated to 1884, was reportedly the key to the Dodge City Jail.

Dodge City Peace Commission
Date: Between 1882 and 1884
These three photos show different versions of the Dodge City Peace Commission as variations of a single photo negative. The first photo shows the commission with Wm. Tilghman (back right). The second photo shows the commission with W. F. Petillon (also back right). The third photo shows the commission without either Tilghman or Petillon. The other seven members left-to-right include (back row) Will Harris, Luke Short, and W. B. Masterson; (front row) Charles Bassett, Wyatt Earp, Frank McLain, and Neal Brown.

Elect Vern Miller, Democrat sheriff
Date: June 17, 1962
A political advertisement for Vern Miller, who was the Democratic candidate for Sedgwick County Sheriff, Wichita, Kansas.

Executive circular to metropolitan police commissioners
Creator: Lewelling, Lorenzo Dow, 1846-1900
Date: December 4, 1893
With this circular, Governor Lorenzo Dow Lewelling of Topeka, Kansas, appeals to police commissioners of Kansas cities to show restraint in the prosecution of the unemployed. The governor argues that high rates of unemployment are a product of the industrial system of production and not the fault of individuals. Since jobs are not available to all employable persons, he argues, unemployed persons should not be treated as criminals. The governor denounces the vagrancy law for first class cities included in the General Statutes of 1889, and similar city ordinances, which allowed for the arrest, imprisonment, or fine of "all vagrants, tramps, and confidence men and persons found in said city without visible means of support, or some legitimate business." The Kansas Legislature originally enacted the law in 1881. Governor Lewelling was the first People's Party (Populist) candidate to become governor. Republican opponents of the Populist governor dubbed this letter the "Tramp Circular."

Governor Clyde M. Reed correspondence, law enforcement
Creator: Kansas. Governor (1929-1931 : Reed)
Date: 1929-1930
This file includes subject correspondence relating to law enforcement, which is part of a bigger collection of the Governor's correspondence.

Governor Clyde M. Reed correspondence, law enforcement
Creator: Kansas. Governor (1929-1931 : Reed)
Date: 1929-1931
This file includes subject correspondence relating to law enforcement, which is part of a bigger collection of the Governor's correspondence.

Governor Samuel Medary, annual message
Creator: Medary, S. (Samuel), 1801-1864
Date: January 3, 1860
Governor Medary addressed his annual message to the Council and House of Representatives of Kansas Territory from the executive office in Lecompton, Kansas Territory on January 3, 1860. At this point, the Wyandotte Constitution had been approved and was awaiting action by Congress. Medary outlined a number of issues that the legislature needed to resolve. These included the organization of counties and townships, setting interest rates, public schools, procedures for selling public lands, bank charters, a penitentiary, a territorial library, and railroads. He indicated that he believed a law passed by the last session of the legislature deprived many citizens of the right to vote that that law needed to be changed.

Hanging of Nat Oliphant in Topeka, Kansas
Date: June 04, 1889
Three photographs showing a crowd gathered for the hanging of Nat Oliphant, a well known burglar. He was arrested for robbing and killing A. T. Rogers, a popular citizen who lived at Third and Fillmore in Topeka, Kansas. While in jail, an angry crowd made a hole in the jail wall and went to Oliphant's cell where they threw a rope around his shoulders and dragged him down the stairs to the outside of the jail. He was carried by the crowd to the steps of the First National Bank building and then across the street to a telegraph pole. After the hanging, Oliphant's body was cut down and taken to the morgue where it was put on display. This was the first and only public lynching in Shawnee County.

Henry C. Lindsey's portfolio of personal, military & civil history
Creator: Lindsey, Henry C. (Henry Carlton)
Date: Between 1890 and 1895
Certificates, newspaper articles, photographs, and other materials relating to Colonel Henry Clay Lindsey, a resident of Topeka, Kansas. He had a long military and public career serving in the Civil War, Indian campaigns in Western Kansas, and the Spanish-American War. Colonel Lindsey's public service includes four terms as Topeka police chief, first elected in 1871 and serving four years as deputy chief. He was Shawnee County commissioner for six years and during that time he was chairman of the board for three years.

Henry Newton Brown's rifle
Creator: Winchester Repeating Arms Company
Date: between 1879 and 1884
2nd Model 1873 Winchester rifle. Citizens of Caldwell, Kansas, presented the rifle to Henry N. Brown on January 1, 1883, in appreciation for his services as their marshal. With personal debts weighting heavily on his mind, on April 30,1884, Brown used the rifle in an attempted bank robbery in Medicine Lodge and killed the bank's president in the process. Brown was captured and secured in the Medicine Lodge jail. When a lynch mob later broke into the jail, Brown attempted to flee and was shot to death.

How will you vote
Creator: The Christian Citizens' League of Topeka
Date: 1897
A leaflet distributed by The Christian Citizens' League of Topeka, asking the public who will they vote for in the election for Sheriff of Shawnee County. The two candidates being the incumbent, R.B. Kepley, and the other, Porter S. Cook, who the League endorses. At the bottom of the leaflet is a letter from Porter Cook, telling why he should be elected Sheriff.