Tragedy was never far from the lives of Kansas settlers. The story of Thomas and Nancy Morris sadly embodies the elements of lives drawn into a downward spiral that left them tragically broken. The couple moved to Illinois after their marriage in June of 1869 at Orleans County, N.Y. From Illinois they moved to Woodson County, Kan. in 1872. They settled south of Yates Center on West Buffalo Creek.

Mr. Morris was described as “a fiendish brute, pounding his wife whenever he felt like it, without any cause whatever.”

Mrs. Morris left him and applied for a divorce in August, 1877. According to the Jan. 22, 1878, Topeka Daily Commonwealth, “through some technicality she did not get it.” She remained separated, living with friends in Yates Center.

Enmity continued between them throughout the closing months of 1877, leading up to a final confrontation on Jan. 11, 1878. Mrs. Morris had been visiting the Myron Isham family north of Buffalo, Kan. She and 15-year-old Mattie Isham walked two-and-one-half miles to visit the James Sells family. About an hour before sundown, the pair set out on the return walk to the Isham place. Suddenly Mr. Morris appeared and ordered the pair to walk into a nearby ravine. When they hesitated he drew his revolver and repeated the command.

Obviously frightened, Mattie held Mrs. Morris by the hand. After taking a few steps, Mrs. Morris turned to face her husband just as he fired at her, the ball striking her leg. Fearing for her life, Mattie ran at the crack of the pistol. He then seized Mrs. Morris by the shoulder and put his revolver to her head. He fired but she grasped the revolver just in time to turn it aside. The ball hit her in the left shoulder. The impact drove her face down, but somehow she held onto the weapon. In the struggle she was able to turn the muzzle of the revolver toward him, but she couldn’t get hold of the trigger. He still controlled the trigger and when the muzzle was turned away he discharged the revolver two or three more times. He finally gained enough control over the revolver to strike her over the head. She lost consciousness and “remembered nothing more.”

When she came to she was unable to walk, so began to crawl to the home of Charles Chappel and family, three-quarters of a mile away. Dr. J. W. Turner was called for and reported favorably on her condition. The ball was still in her shoulder. Her little finger was amputated, but the only dangerous wound appeared to be a fractured skull from which “death may ensue at any moment from compression of the brain.”

Morris was described as “about five feet eight inches high, slender build; dark, curly hair; sandy mustache and goatee, when not artificially colored, and very red, florid face; about 35 years old.”

The sheriff ’s posse started after Morris early the next morning but lost him in the Belmont Hills. The papers were reporting that Mrs. Morris had been murdered, causing great alarm in the neighborhood. In fact she had survived and had given a detailed account of the attack.

Morris had eluded the sheriff ’s posse having them in his sight the second day. He turned south for Indian Territory and wandered about for four days in the territory. Coming upon the railroad line that passed through the territory, he abandoned his horse, hopped a freight, and “took the cars for Texas.”

“An avenging conscience hurried him onward, ever fleeing from the pursuing spectre of his murdered wife.” Unable to remain in Texas he returned to Kansas, stopping in Lawrence long enough to purchase a vial of strychnine. His track led him to St. Louis, New Orleans, Florida, back to New Orleans and up river to St. Louis. The vision of that murdered woman, lying stiff and cold upon that Kansas prairie,” chased him all the way to New York. He had no way of knowing that she was still alive as all the papers reported that she had been murdered.

In a way, the woman that he left lying on the prairie was truly chasing him in his wild flight from justice. At her direction, notices with his description and a $500 reward were sent to friends who had known them before coming to Kansas. A photograph was included.

An undercover railroad detective suspected that Morris was a fugitive and directed him toward Pittston, Penn., with the prospect of a job. In a twist of fate, Mrs. David Anston, was a friend, and postmistress at Plainsville, Penn., the same post office that served Pittston.

Mrs. Anston passed the information along to detective James O’Brien. It wasn’t long before O’Brien captured Morris. Taking Morris to Kansas City, the detective and his prisoner checked into the Leland hotel. But Morris was determined to cheat the gallows. He still had the strychnine hidden in the bottom of his watch pocket. Doctors were called after he took the poison, but Morris coolly told them that he wanted to die. Efforts to save his life failed. Thomas Morris succumbed to an agonizing death in the early morning hours of May 16, 1878, having cheated the gallows in a dreadfully tragic way on The Way West.

“The Cowboy” Jim Gray can be reached at 220 21st Rd., Geneseo, KS 67444, (785) 531-2058 or kansascowboy@kans.com.