Wild West Podcast
Welcome to the Wild West podcast, where fact and legend merge. We present the true accounts of individuals who settled in towns built out of hunger for money, regulated by fast guns, who walked on both sides of the law, patrolling, investing in, and regulating the brothels, saloons, and gambling houses. These are stories of the men who made the history of the Old West come alive - bringing with them the birth of legends, brought to order by a six-gun and laid to rest with their boots on. Join us as we take you back in history to the legends of the Wild West. You can support our show by subscribing to Exclusive access to premium content at Wild West Podcast + https://www.buzzsprout.com/64094/subscribe
Wild West Podcast
A Story of Many Varieties: The Death of Dora Hand
Ever thought you've lived through some intense rivalries? Strap in, folks, because your neighborhood squabbles have got nothing on the animosity simmering between James Spike Kenedy and Mayor James Dog Kelly in the unbridled days of the Wild West. We're painting a vivid picture of Dodge City, Kansas, as you've never seen it before - mired in tension, scandal, and the glamour of entertainment from Dora Hand and Fanny Garretson. The stakes are high, the insults fly, and the gunfire? Let's just say things got a bit messy on July 26, 1878.
But the story doesn't end with the dust of a showdown. We're also digging into the legacy of the Kenedys, from the illustrious life of Don Gregorio, to the last generation of this family rooted so profoundly in the Wild West history. Amidst the exchanges of threats, bullets piercing the night, and the echoes of laughter from the Lady Gay Dance Hall and the Comique Theater, a tale of survival and resilience has shaped the fabric of Dodge City. Join us on this journey where the past collides with jealousy, and the tales of confrontation and revenge breathes life into the history of the Wild West.
Legend has it that James Spike Kennedy was just as much a victim as the woman he killed in cold blood. Though all agree Dora Hand was in the wrong place at the wrong time and was not Spike's intended target, there is some disagreement as to why Mayor James Dog Kelly was Spike's target. Some speculate that Spike tried to kill Dog because Dog was his rival in love with Dora. That would have been more than ironic, ended up killing the object of his adoration rather than winning her. For whatever reason, there was bad blood between Kennedy and Kelly. Things got out of hand in the summer of 1878 when Dog threw Spike out of his saloon. Spike vowed to bring vengeance upon Dog. Wild West podcast proudly presents the beautiful and lovely Dora Hand.
Speaker 1:Dog achieved its most significant notoriety as a gunman's town during the cattle drive period from 1876 to 1878. Sensationalists at the time depicted Dodge City as a seething cauldron of violence where the only law was the law of the gun and a man for breakfast was common place. That is considering the large number of characters in town with leather slapping reputations. There was remarkably little gunplay. In June the Globe proudly announced Three dance halls in full blast on the south side, stables jammed full. Hundreds of cowboys perambulate daily, but two cases in police court. Who says we aren't a moral city? Eddie Foy agreed. The majority of days passed rather peacefully in Dodge, with no killings and few fights.
Speaker 1:Shortly after singers Dora Hand and Fanny Garretson arrived in Dodge City they took a stroll down Front Street to the theater district. Ham Bell said that Dora Hand's beauty was marred only by a small scar on her forehead which she vainly kept hidden. Some say she was a beautiful creature with a face and voice which gave men strange, nostalgic dreams of better days and finer surroundings. Some say her maiden name was Dora Cruz and others say she was born on August 23, 1844, as Isidore Addie May. When she arrived in Dodge City, kansas, she was a strange former husband, ted Hand, and went by her stage name Fanny Keenan. She completed her music education abroad, in Germany, and made her stage debut in Europe with a company of operatic singers. By the age of 24, she returned to America and became fond of the vagabond lifestyle of an entertainer. The need for musical acts beyond the Mississippi River urged her to travel west. In 1868, she joined a theater troupe of some of the fastest growing railroad towns outside of Kansas City, kansas. She fell in love with Theodore Hand while in Kansas.
Speaker 1:Mr and Mrs Theodore Hand had been a couple since their marriage. On November 22, 1871. The two were married in St Louis County, missouri. Her divorce petition stated that during the marriage she had conducted herself as a true and faithful wife, fulfilling and performing all her duties as contemplated by the marriage contract. But more than one year ago the defendant abandoned and deserted this plaintiff, which the defendant does now and ever since lived in open and notorious adultery with one, lizzie Latour, a woman residing in Cincinnati, ohio. Further, mr Hand had failed to support her and treated her with extreme cruelty on several occasions by threatening her with bodily harm. In other words, dora Cruz Hand was forced to earn her livelihood by whatever means she could, unbeknownst to her from her petition for divorce date. Dora had but 10 days to live. When Belle asked her real name, she said Well, mr Belle, take your pick, one's just as good as the other.
Speaker 1:Dora and her friend Fanny Garrison soon found that this settlement's financial growth on the Kansas Plains depended on the cowboys and their immoral conduct. The two were often seen together around town. Fannie Garrison had played Dodge City previously and was a friend of Mayor James H Dog Kelly. This friendship landed the two ladies an engagement at the Lady Gay Dance Hall in Saloon for a very rewarding $40 per week each. Ben Springer and Jim Masterson owned the Saloon Shortly after being hired to perform at the Lady Gay Dance Hall.
Speaker 1:An incident occurred in the early morning of July 26 involving Policeman Masterson and Deputy City Marshal Wyatt Earp. The two law officers patrolling the streets of Dodge encountered a couple of cowboys full of spirit, both boisterous and alcoholic, and got their attention. Galloping through town on the way to the prairie campground, the herders unlimbered pistols and fired in all directions. At least one bullet tore through the flimsy siding of the Kameke Theater and Dance Hall, sending folks inside, including performer Eddie Foy, sheriff Batt Masterson and gambler John H Dock Holiday scurrying for cover. Earp and Masterson opened fire on the shoot-us and one shot in the arm tumbled from his horse, george Hoy. The wounded cowboy lingered almost a month before dying on August 10. Eddie Foy stated in his accounts of the night of July 26, 1878, in the early hours of July 26, a party of Texas Cowboys rounded off their night's entertainment by riding by and firing a volley into the theater. Foy later recalled how impressed he was and how quickly those inside, including Batt Masterson and Dock Holiday, dropped to the floor. Peace officers Wyatt Earp and Jim Masterson joined others in firing after the fleeing Cowboys and dropped one from the saddle, badly hit in the arm. Texas rowdy George Hoy died from the effects some three weeks later.
Speaker 1:After the July 26 shooting incident, dora became the featured performer at the Lady Gay and made $75 a week. The pair found work at the Kameek Theater, a favorite place of resort offering the best shows in Dodge City. The entertainment they were to provide for the Cowboys included a ballad variety show with can-can dancing and transformation dancing. Fanny and Dora appeared regularly, as did several others, including popular vaudeville entertainer Eddie Foy. The Ford County Globe reported on July 30, 1878, the following Kameek, this favorite place of resort, is at present giving to its patrons the best show or entertainment ever given in Dodge. They have Billy and Nola Forrest, dick Brown and Fanny Garrison, mae Gaylor, belle LeMent, fanny Keenan, jenny Morton and that unequal and splendidly matched team, eddie Foy and Jimmy Thompson. All the members of this troupe are up in their parts and considerable above the average inability.
Speaker 1:Sometime in early August Mary Kelly negotiated with the Alhambra so that Dora could sing there five nights a week for two hours. This increase in income allowed her to begin doing charity work in earnest. She would help nurse the sick, feed the poor and bankroll down and out Cowboys. It was as an angel of mercy that Dodge would remember her. She was one of the most respected persons in Dodge. Ham Bell also asked Dora to do a two-week benefit at the Ham Bell's Varieties. The Dodge City Times August 10, 1878 reported Hattie Smith and Fanny Keenan take a benefit at the Ham Bell's Varieties next Wednesday night. They are general favorites and will be sure to draw a crowded house. Dora made many contributions to the community when not performing at the dance halls and theaters. She became noted for her talents and benevolence and became the favorite among the Cowboys.
Speaker 1:After her divorce announcements on September 24, 1878, two prominent men in town sought her attention James Mifflin Kennedy and James Dog Kelly, the mayor of Dodge City. James Kelly served for the Confederacy during the Civil War and as a Lieutenant Colonel in the United States Army for General George Armstrong Custer and came to Fort Dodge. Kelly obtained his nickname of Dog when honorably discharged in 1872, custer gave him a dozen greyhounds as a gift. He then went to Dodge City where he associated with P L Beatty in the restaurant business. Beatty became the acting mayor in 1875 and James Kelly later followed in 1877.
Speaker 1:We know from history that James Kennedy and Doug Kelly did not get along. What must have made the situation between them even more volatile is their attraction for door hand. James W Spike Kennedy came from a wealthy family with many political connections. James Kennedy found himself in trouble with the law on several occasions, once while in Ellsworth, kansas. Fortunately, the Ellsworth Reporter Editor considered the event involving Kennedy and a man named Print Olive a critical circumstance, providing notable coverage of the shooting, and it is worth reprinting in total here. The first shot, two men wounded. No one killed.
Speaker 1:Ellsworth, which has been remarkably quiet this season, had its first shooting affair this season last Saturday at about 6 o'clock at the Ellsworth Billiard Saloon. The room was full of money changers at the time busily at work and lookers on intently watching the games. Among others, ip Olive was seated at the table playing cards. All of a sudden a shot was heard and, sooner than we can write it, four more shots were fired. Kennedy came into the room, went behind the bar and, taking a revolver, walked up in front of Olive and fired at him, telling him to pass in his checks. Olive threw up his hands, exclaiming don't shoot. The second, third and fourth shot took effect, one entering the groin and making a bad wound, one in the thigh and one in the hand. Olive could not fire, though he was armed, but someone, it seems uncertain, who fired at Kennedy, hitting him in the hip, making only a flesh wound. The difficulty arose from a game of cards in the forenoon, kennedy accusing Olive of unfair dealing. Olive replied in language that professionals cannot bear.
Speaker 1:The affair made considerable excitement. The wounded were taken into custody and cared for. Doctors Duck and Fox extracted the bullet from Olive and a piece of his gold-watched chain which was shot into the wound. It was feared that Olive would not survive, but the skill of the doctors saved him. Kennedy was removed to South Main Street and put under the guard of three policemen, but by the aid of friends he escaped during the night from the window and has not been heard from.
Speaker 1:After rescuing his son from an earlier scrape with the law in Ellsworth, kansas, mifflin Kennedy moved Spike to a new ranch in the Texas Panhandle with a crew of 2,000 head of cattle. He figured that that would keep him busy and out of trouble. James, based at Toscosa and Oldham County, was in his heyday a center of business for ten Panhandle counties. At the time, young James was considered the most handsome bachelor in the county, with an athletic physique, dark hair and eyes. However, james Kennedy was known for being unable to withstand the temptations of the underworld, and whenever he left his Panhandle ranch for Dodge City he was known to abandon all caution. In Dodge City, young James Kennedy had already twice run afoul of authorities there in 1878, when, on July 29th, deputy City Marshal Wyatt Earp arrested him for carrying and brandishing a pistol. By 1878, dodge City had a city ordinance against wearing guns in town.
Speaker 1:It was in September of 1878 when the first dispute between two men occurred over their devotion to door hand. The first, james Spike Kennedy, a tall, well-dressed man of 23 years of age who took after his mother, an attractive daughter of a one-time provincial governor of Spanish Texas, entered the Alhambra Saloon. As Kennedy entered the Alhambra Saloon in Gambling House, he introduced himself to Dora. His intentions for the evening were to marry Dora and accompany her back to his Lorellis Ranch, a quarter of a million-acre spread near Corpus Christi. But preoccupied with Dora's delicate features, james did not see Mayor James Kelly walk up behind them and place his hand lovingly on the songstress' shoulder.
Speaker 1:The second Mayor, kelly, was a problematic man in his mid-40s with a thick, droopy mustache and exiduous bedraggled hair of indeterminate color. Kennedy and the mayor eyed one another carefully. Dora ever so slightly shifted her body toward Kelly and he smiled a satisfied smile. James' expression was surly. His history with the mayor was unsettled. The Kennedy family had sold Kelly a pinched horse some months back and news of the sale had besmirched the Kennedy name. James convinced Kelly and told Dora that the Kennedys were a family not to be associated with, and that was the basis she was ignoring him.
Speaker 1:James had doubled his alcohol intake and felt no pain when he started cursing his adversary. The whiskey made him aggressive and clangorous. He accused Kelly of ruining his opportunity to woo Dora. He professed to have her, regardless of what she or anyone else presumed, assuming some of James' riding buddies would accompany their friend out of the saloon. Once his behavior became too obnoxious, mayor Kelly tolerated the cow hand. When it was clear James would not be leaving, either on his own steam or with the help of his associates, kelly yanked the man out of his seat and hurled him out of the tavern. Kennedy was unhappy about getting thrown out of the saloon by Kelly and, knowing Kennedy's hot temper, he was gunning for Kelly. However, once James sobered up, the memory of the humiliating events sparked his desire for retaliation. Armed with dangerously wounded pride, a.45 caliber pistol and the financial backing that would deliver him from any illegal act, james vowed that Kelly would pay for his offenses. Although afterward the bruised and battered cattlemen spurred his mount out of town, the Mayor and everyone else in Dodge presumed he was returning to Texas to lick his wounds. Kennedy soon returned and slept unseen into Dodge City. With him he brought a new mount, a resource of the high breed.
Speaker 1:The following day, a relentless sun peaked through a partly cloudy sky and revealed the carnage left by wild Dodge City inhabitants like James he had been celebrating the previous evening. Broken glass beer bottles, human waste and the occasional drunken cowboy lay in the streets and alleyways. The scent of cattle, gunpowder, straw manure and wretched perfume, mixed with the freshly baked bread from the bakeries and ham and eggs from the various eeries on the other side of the railroad tracks that ran down the center of town. Dora maneuvered around the hurried and aromatic scene escorted by the Mayor, her hand pleading in the crook of his arm. James stood outside one of the town's myriad of hotels watching the pair interact. He was hung over and moiling with anger. Then, disgusted and disheartened, he turned away from the couple and took off in the opposing direction. Several loyal hands from his father's ranch followed after him. Dora and Mayor Kelly eventually concluded their outing and went their separate ways. The pack of dogs at Kelly's heels cheerfully paraded behind him as he walked toward his home situated behind the Great Western Hotel.
Speaker 1:Once inside the modest house, the Mayor relaxed his frame into his cozy bed in the front bedroom and endeavored to nap. But after a few moments he was aroused from his light sleep by a bluster in his yard. Bracing on one elbow, he intently listened to the disturbing clatter outside his home. Then, glancing out the window and over the tops of the cannas and yucca plants surrounding his residence, he spotted James coming up the gravel path leading to his front door. Mayor Kelly jumped out of bed and grabbed his six-shooter from a nearby nightstand. When he heard James' boots on the porch, he flung the door open and raised his gun level with the cattleman's chest. James was taken aback and the two men stood rubber-necking at each other for a quick second. Kelly was ready to fire a forest and James, backed up by a handful of armed men, was ready to draw if the disposition and nerve struck him. Tenth silence gave way to a flurry of profanity. The pair exchanged insults and threats. Finally, kelly ordered James off his property, persuaded by his hired hands, and the hot-headed cattleman eventually gave in. He backed up along the walkway surveying Kelly's place as he went. His face was vicious with a destructive reflection. The Patriot of Kelly formed in his every thought that he would have to act on later. Before James turned to leave, the wind stirred the curtains on the window in the front bedroom and he caught a glimpse of the mayor's unmade bed. He paused for an instant then grinned tolerantly at Kelly as he left.
Speaker 1:On October 3, 1878, dorahand entered another standing, room-only crowd at the Alhambra Saloon in Gambling House. She courteously accepted the energetic applause, thanked the piano player for accompanying her, said goodnight to the audience and departed the tavern to withdraw for the evening. Men milling around the streets whistled mischievously and called after her as she walked by them. Finally, dorah, accompanied by her friend Fanny Garrison, hurried along undisturbed to Marikelli's and entered the home. As they were expected. Marikelli was out of town and invited Dorah and her friend Fanny to stay at his place during his absence. The accommodations were infinitely quieter and more private than the hotels. The performer tiptoed through the house, making sure not to wake Fanny. Then, after slipping into her bedclothes, she crawled under the covers and drifted off to sleep.
Speaker 1:The shots pierced Kelly's home walls at 4.15 in the morning. Dorah housed Fanny Garrison from her bed shortly after she'd heard them fired. An eerie stillness hung in the air, a quiet that begged her not to trust it. Fanny glanced down at the quilt across the bed and noticed a burn hole in the fabric. She knew a bullet had made it. Slipping her finger into the frayed material, she traced the path of the pistol ball to the wall opposite the bed. Fanny raced out of the house her eyes wide, with terror screaming, shaking in hysterical. She sat on the alleyway between Mary Kelly's home and a row of saloons bordering the building in the back. When the law arrived moments later to investigate, they found Fanny Garrison sobbing and rocking back and forth in her nightgown. Too upset to speak, she merely pointed at the house and shook her head. Poor Dorah. She later told authorities she never spoke but died unconscious. She was so when she was struck and so she died.
Speaker 1:According to the Times, kennedy did not leave town after his supposed killing of the mayor. Instead, with an unidentified companion, he was seen gyrating in the dim shadows of the flickering light of the solitary open saloon. The gunshots had aroused the police and Assistant Marshal Wyatt Earp and Officer Jim Masterson soon investigated. When the pair arrived at the saloon, kennedy decided it was time to leave, galloping away toward Fort Dodge. The companion was then arrested but claimed that Kennedy had done the shooting alone.
Speaker 1:The law enforcement officers started on the trail at two o'clock in the afternoon of the fourth. The posse was composed of Sheriff WB Batten Masterson, marshal Charles E Bassett, wyatt Earp, deputy Sheriff William Duffy and William Tillman. A group that the Times described as intrepid aposse as ever pulled the trigger. According to Robert K to Arment, jim Kennedy had a start of almost ten hours on the hunters, whose problem was to locate their quarry in the vast prairie wilderness lying south and west of Dodge. Although Kennedy was last seen heading west out of town, the law enforcement officers were sure that he would make for his Tuscosa Ranch to the southwest. They believed he would swing wide of the Jones and Plummer Trail for the Cimarron narrow wagon bed springs and head south to cut the Texas Trail in the Indian nations. They planned to cross country. To make the Cimarron forward before the fugitive could reach it by his circuitous route, the posse took a shortcut and caught up with Kennedy as he was ready to cross the Arkansas River.
Speaker 1:A heavy storm that night delayed both posse and Kennedy. A lone horseman appeared in the distance about four o'clock Saturday afternoon, approaching the camp where the posse was concealed. Within a few hundred yards Kennedy halted, apparently suspecting something was not right. The posse now realized Kennedy's suspicion and commanded him to surrender. Seeing the posse blocking his path, Kennedy turned his horse and ran. While the posseman turned loose of Ollie, three bullets slammed into the galloping steed, dropping him in mid stride. Kennedy fell partly pinned under the dead horse, his left arm shattered by a ball from a fifty caliber sharps. When the officers approached, according to the story Earp told his biographer the following exchange took place Kennedy's first words concerned the success of his murderous attack.
Speaker 1:Did I get that bastard, kelly? He demanded to know. No, but you killed someone else. Wyatt told him. Door a hand was asleep in Kelly's bed. The wounded man seemed stunned for a moment. A look of seemingly genuine remorse and self-hatred crossed his face. Then, seeing the sharps big fifty in Bat's hand, he snapped you damn, son of a bitch, you ought to have made a better shot than you did. Well, bat replied in astonishment you damn, murdering son of a bitch. I did the best I could. The posseman took Kennedy back to Dodge and jailed him, where he refused to confess to the crime.
Speaker 1:On the fifth Door, a hand's companion, fanny Garrison, wrote to JE Fisher, their former employee, about the killing. She either did not know Kennedy's name or merely chose not to state it, but described the killer as a half-breed or half-Mexican. But let him be what he may. I know him to be a fiend in human form. She was able to explain why her life was spared, but Dora's not.
Speaker 1:My room was the front one and Fanny occupied the one back of me. Both our beds stood in the same position, mine being a higher bedstead than hers. There were four shots fired, two in the air and two penetrating through the door leading to my room. One was fired very low, taking the floor and causing two places in the carpet. It glanced up, striking the inside piece of the bedstead, the one I occupied. It penetrated through these and through the plastering and lathe and part of the bullet was found on the floor. They said it was a.45 caliber. The one that did the horrible work was fired directly aligning for my bed and had the one whom they were after had been there. The probability is that there would have been three or four assassinated. Even there would have been two, probably Fanny and myself. Poor Fanny, she never realized what was the matter with her. She never spoke but died unconscious.
Speaker 1:Spike's father, texas rancher Mifflin Kennedy, immediately made his way up to Dodge City to arrange a defense for his son's crime. His father was no stranger to Dodge City, as he provided a considerable percentage of the cattle from his ranches in Texas yearly. Mifflin Kennedy was also the co-founder of the King Ranch Kennedy. Texas is named for him, as is Kennedy County. He was wealthy and influential. So he arrived, they say, with a satchel full of money and arranged for his 23-year-old son, spike, to get the medical care he needed for his shoulder wound. A judge conducted an inquest into Dorahan's death, but they understood after a meeting that included Sheriff Masterson, mayor Kelly and the judge. Kennedy was released for lack of evidence. No one saw Kennedy shoot at Mayor Kelly's house, resulting in Dorahan's death.
Speaker 1:Mifflin Kennedy died at Corpus Christi on March 14, 1895. Both he and his wife were buried at Brownsville. He outlived his three sons and one of two daughters. Spike died of natural causes in 1884 while awaiting a murder trial. His death came 12 years after his baby brother was laid to rest and four years before a jealous husband gunned down the lone surviving son. Mifflin Kennedy died without leaving a will.
Speaker 1:His only surviving son, john Gregory, or Don Gregorio as he was known locally, bought out the other heir's interest in the vast Kennedy Ranch La Para. There he and his wife Marie Stella raised their two children, john Jr and Serita, in the big house. The third generation of Kennedys would be the last. With the death of Serita in 1961, the Kennedy name remained only an essential part of South Texas history. The patriarch of the cattle clan went to his grave knowing there was no one left to carry on the family name. So make sure you subscribe to our shows listed at the end of this description text in the podcast to receive notification on all new episodes. Thanks for listening to our podcast. Join us next time as we return to Dodge City and tell the story of the state of Kansas versus wild hard.
