Palmer Divide Research

Kiowa lynching (Aug. 25, 1874)

Also: four accused horse thieves hanged

Murders, lynchings and killingsHistoric or vanishedElbert County

What we know

Tip and Joshua Marion, Dick Thompson and Jerry Wilson, bound over for trial on horse-stealing charges, were taken from the sheriff at Middle Kiowa by about fifty masked men and hanged in pairs, still shackled (Rocky Mountain News, Aug. 27, 1874).

Where it was

Placed just north of the Kiowa marker: the men were taken 'to a grove a mile from town'; the direction is not given.

Placed from a written description, such as a land section, a distance from a landmark or an old survey note.

See it on the map

Sources

Sources are named in the text above. Numbers such as S-0080 refer to our source list. Most newspaper quotations were read in the Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection. Long quotations from recent books are shortened here.

Know more about Kiowa lynching (Aug. 25, 1874)?

Corrections, family stories, photographs, deeds, letters and maps are all welcome. Messages and files come to Michael Christensen privately; nothing appears on the site until it has been checked, and you'll be credited the way you ask.