The Red Light was Caldwell’s most notorious dance house. Owners George and Maggie Woods arrived in Caldwell early in 1880 to stake their claim in the “sporting” business of the town. Coming from Wichita, the two had received a proper education in the trade under the eminent tutelage of Bessie Earp, wife of James Earp and Wyatt Earp’s sister-in-law.

Caldwell had just gained a railroad connection, which meant the great herds of Texas cattle would bring cowboys to George and Maggie’s dance house by the score. From its beginnings, the Red Light was seen as the downfall of many a good man and woman. The combination of whiskey, women and song were certain to, “… bring the worst passions of mankind into action.”

The boisterous atmosphere drew men to the Red Light like moths to the flame. And so it was that a young Texan by the name of Charlie Davis came to the Red Light to plead with sweet Lizzie Roberts who had left him for the rousing life with George and Maggie. Davis hoped she would return with him to their quiet “home on the range.” Lizzie was not so inclined, and told Charlie that she preferred the climate at the Red Light to that of living with him. As the two argued, George Woods stepped in to take Lizzie’s side.

Woods impressed Davis with the observation that Lizzie, “… should not go unless she wanted to.” Taking offense at the interference, Davis asked Woods what he had to do with it. The tone of the disagreement escalated when Woods replied that he had a great deal to do with it and that Davis should leave. With that, Davis pulled his sixshooter and put a bullet through Woods, who was standing only three feet away.

Woods lunged at Davis and the two wrestled about the room and out the door in a struggle for the gun. Suddenly, a second shot exploded. The shot went wild, but caused Woods to lose his grip on Davis. In that moment, Davis took his chances and ran away. Woods stumbled back into the barroom. In hesitating words, he told onlookers that he had been killed. Maggie Woods rushed to George and held him in her arms as he told her, “Catch Charley Davis and prosecute him to the fullest extent of the law.” His final words in front of witnesses were for Maggie to “keep all the property, do the best she could and to be a good girl.”

Davis was arrested, but escaped from custody and made his way out of the reach of the law in Indian Territory. Maggie followed George’s advice to “do the best she could” by keeping the Red Light running full bore. She hired George Spear to run the saloon and according to the Aug. 25, 1881, Sumner County Press, “The dance still goes on.”

But Maggie was in for a surprise from the man she trusted to take George’s place at the bar. Shortly after George Wood’s funeral and burial, George Spears and Dave Sharp returned to the grave, intent on retrieving a diamond stick pin from the corpse. George Spears’ girlfriend, identified as Blanche in the newspaper, followed them and witnessed the men in their gruesome task.

The story came to light nine months later when Blanche went to the police. According to the May 18, 1882, Caldwell Commercial, “When the earth had been removed to the box which contained the casket, they broke the top off with a hatchet, then broke the lid and glass of the case, removed the diamond pin from the shirt front on the body and then filled in the earth, never taking the trouble to fix the casket so that the dirt would not fall in upon the body.”

George Spear’s accomplice, Dave Sharp, was arrested on Blanche’s statement. Maggie Woods immediately requested an exhumation of the body. A careful examination found marks on the shirt front where the pin had been but no pin. Sharp denied any knowledge of grave robbing. He argued that Blanche’s story was a lie. The case was decided June 10, 1882. Sharp stuck to his story and with only the word of Blanche, a known prostitute, the case was dismissed.

George Spears, Sharp’s partner in the alleged crime, was not available for prosecution. Spears had been killed six months earlier during a wild shootout Dec. 17, 1881, known as the Talbot Raid on Caldwell. Ironically, Maggie Woods, unaware at the time of the desecration of her husband’s corpse, arranged for Spears to be buried right next to George Woods in an interesting little twist of fate on The Way West.