At the close of the Civil War in 1865, a lot of young men were left without a means to make a living.

During the war the act of taking private property by combatants was common practice. Foraging, as it was called, kept the troops supplied. For many, stealing had become a way of life, especially among the ranks of the partisan rangers, known more commonly as bushwhackers and jayhawkers.

The uncertain years following the war provided plenty of temptation for an entrepreneur with “foraging” on his mind.

In Missouri the editor of the Warsaw, Mo., Standard observed, “If it is true that horse thieves have been in the almost daily habit of loafing about the liquor and gambling saloons of this town with impunity; that men, knowing them to be such, dare not give the authorities the wink for fear of their lives; that young men with long hair, wearing two revolvers at their girdle, have been seen boasting, as they unrolled a bundle of greenbacks, ‘that they earned this money by knocking men down,’ [and] ... if all this is really patent, it is high time society was reorganized, and this community of thieves and robbers thoroughly weeded out.”

A reign of lawlessness prevailed across southwest Missouri. Murders were all too common. Almost daily, men were robbed, and horses were stolen. Few of the outlaws were caught.

Vigilantes were organized for common protection, “through the forms of law if possible, but if necessary, to execute justice ... in its own way.”

A war on thieves and robbers then began in earnest to reorganize Missouri society.

In Carroll County, vigilantes “stretched” the neck of a horse thief until he divulged the names of his compatriots. He revealed that a gang of thieves were working out of Kansas, Missouri, and Iowa.

The editor of the Carroll County Journal noted in a November, 1866, issue, “A number of fine horses have been stolen from farmers in this county recently; and we think if two or three of the thieves were hung when caught, it would check the depredations of the gang in this section for a while.’’

In February of 1867 the Carthage, Mo., Banner published a story of just such a hanging across the border at Baxter Springs, Kan. On information provided by an associate of the gang newly arrived from Indiana, authorities arrested one of the accused men.

The Carthage editor wrote, “An attempt was made to try him by the civil law, but the effort was futile, and he easily proved himself clear.”

The vigilance committee took matters into hand Saturday evening, the same day that the first man went free. Three men were “arrested” by the vigilantes and sentenced to be hung in the semblance of a “fair trial.”

Justice was swift.

“Their sentence was executed to the letter.” Such a judgment was said to be presided over by the fabled, imaginary Judge Lynch, who under the circumstances always accomplished his purpose.

The following Monday two more were sentenced to the same fate. Before the vigilantes could put the rope on the unfortunate men one of them, a man named Gillette, was shot down as he bolted to run for his life. The other man was summarily hung in quick order.

Three of the outlaws were brothers, George, William, and James Mizer of southwest Missouri (near present-day Joplin). Their brother-in-law, John Edwards, was among the men that were hung. The other man was not identified. The newspaper account added that one of the Mizer brothers revealed that on a recent trip to Texas “he had killed, and helped kill, fifteen men, and that he killed every man he met who appeared to have any money...”

The leader of the outlaws, a notorious man by the name of Bill Smith, eluded the vigilantes. The editor of the Banner noted, “if caught will probably get his deserts in a hurry at the end of a short rope.” The Indiana man was spared and jailed at Fort Scott. The editor concluded, “Surely such wretches should die, and the sooner the better.”

The quick action taken by the vigilantes was applauded from the Jasper County Seat at Carthage. “The summary mode in which the five scoundrels at Baxter Springs were disposed of last week will have a good moral effect, and all that need be done to eventually rid the country of the presence of thieves, robbers, and murderers...is to apply the remedy on every villain caught and proved guilty.”

A posse pursued Bill Smith across the border from Baxter Springs into Jasper County, Missouri, but his trail went cold and one notorious outlaw escaped the deadly verdict of Judge Lynch on The Way West.

“The Cowboy,” Jim Gray is author of the book Desperate Seed: Ellsworth Kansas on the Violent Frontier, Ellsworth, KS. Contact Kansas Cowboy, 220 21st Road, Geneseo, Kan. Phone: (785) 531-2058 or kansascowboy@kans.com.