The Way West

The idea of Halloween came from the Nov. 1 observation of All Soul’s Day or All Saint’s Day. In England “hallow” came into use, hallow meaning holy, referring to one who is holy.

The evening before All Hallows Day was known as All Hallows Even, eventually shortened to Hallowe’en, the spelling commonly used in early America. Being the night that spirits were out and about, the holiday became a time for anarchy when a certain amount of lawlessness was tolerated.

In the 19th century Hallowe’en was not the children’s holiday that we know. It was a lot more trick than treat, and had become a night for tomfoolery and mayhem often stimulated by spirits of liquid form.

Outhouses were upset or set on fire. Ropes were tied across walkways to trip folks in the dark. Windows were soaped or shattered by a thrown rock. Not that children did not get involved, but their pranks usually remained on the mild side. A knock on the door might elicit a demand for a treat to forgo the trickery that was sure to come.

For the most part, damage to personal property was not well received. For those who had worked hard to gain a little something in this world, the pranks of Hallowe’en were anything but innocent fun. Almost every day of the year charlatans were lurking about to steal hard-earned possessions, but on Hallowe’en devils walked the earth.

The Oct. 31, 1878, Lawrence Weekly Times noted remarks made in rival newspapers on the catastrophe that was sure to come that very evening.

“Shotguns are being loaded with powder and coarse salt, even a few pistols are in readiness to practice upon trespassers and destroyers of property, spring guns will be set, stalwart citizens will provide themselves with clubs, an extra police will be put on, and the law rigidly enforced against those who disturb the peace or trespass upon property. The city is in need of funds, and those who are caught at any deviltry will pay handsomely for their fun.”

However as noted before, trickery was not only reserved for Hallowe’en. The same page that warned “destroyers of property” carried the story of William O’Brian, a recently discharged soldier from nearby Fort Leavenworth. After receiving his pay from the army paymaster on Oct. 29, 1878, O’Brian “came into the city” with $387 in his pocket. At the Continental Hotel on the corner of Fourth and Cherokee Street he made the acquaintance of the hotel porter, Isaac Hayden.

Apparently over drinks at the hotel bar, Hayden learned that O’Brian was a discharged soldier with his pockets full of money. Instead of checking O’Brian into the hotel, Hayden invited the gullible, and by then, very drunk patsy to his house on Seneca Street where he could spend the night in the company of a woman.

O’Brian planned to take the east-bound train the next day and arranged for Hayden to wake him. At the appointed time, early the morning of Oct. 30, O’Brian was awakened by Hayden and taken to the depot. To his surprise O’Brian discovered that most of his money was missing from his pocket book. He looked for Hayden but couldn’t find him.

Hurrying to police headquarters O’Brian filed a complaint that he had been robbed by Hayden. Hayden was found and arrested, but apparently did not have the money on his person. The woman who stayed with O’Brian lived across the street in an infamous sporting house. She had recently come to Leavenworth from western Missouri after her husband had committed suicide.

O’Brian recalled that Hayden had put his pocket book that contained the money in a bureau “before retiring.” Hayden, on the other hand, denied having even taken O’Brian to his house. But O’Brian led the officers to Hayden’s house, accurately described the room in which he slept, and the bureau that had once contained his money.

The woman was not to be found, having left the city the morning after O’Brian discovered the deficit in his pocketbook. O’Brian, who was “very much affected by his loss, went off and got blind drunk.” He was found on the street by a police officer “in an entirely helpless condition.” For his own safety O’Brian was locked up until he could “sober off.” He still had $38.95 left. Nothing further was reported in the paper. For William O’Brian it was a hard lesson to learn. Malicious spirits might haunt the night on Halloween, but evil trickery rarely took a holiday 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.