See Jim Sherman, alias Jim Talbott, and his connection to Ironton, Lawrence County, Ohio
Researched by Sharon M. Kouns
The Leavenworth Press, Leavenworth, KS 7 Nov 1878 p4
In the police court this morning, Jim Talbott, charged with petit larceny, was discharged.
1881 Raided Caldwell, Kansas 17 December 1881
January 9, 1883 – The commissioners offered a $100 reward for Jim Talbott and a $25 reward for each of the other outlaws who raided Caldwell on December 17, 1881.
Lawrence Daily Journal, Lawrence, KS 18 Dec 1881 p1 By Telegraph, Wellington, Kas, Mob Law Supreme.
Wellington, Dec. 17. – The town of Caldwell is in the hands of six cowboys, and the officers are powerless to do anything. Mike Meagher, formerly Mayor of the city but lately Marshal, is killed. The Sheriff with a posse from Wellington is just starting to the scene of the trouble.
Topeka, Dec. 17. – A special dispatch to the Commonwealth from Caldwell states that several cowboys entered that town this morning and, after filling up with bad whisky, attempted to run the town. Among other deviltries that suggested themselves was to shoot s close to the men on the street as they could and not hit the victim.
The affair caused a few determined men to stand on a corner and fight the crowd. Mike Meagher, the ex-Mayor of Caldwell, was killed outright and three of the cowboys bit the dust. The cowboys finally gave up and rode away, followed by a large posse of citizens. At last accounts, the remainder of the gang, four in number, were surrounded, and assistance from the town was expected.
Particulars cannot be learned with the general excitement that prevails even at this late hour. Still, it seems that last night and this morning, a party of cowboys named Sherman, alias Talbott, Jim Martin, Bob Munising, and a fellow named Lowe was drinking and carousing. About 6 o’clock this morning, they began to show a disposition to raise a row, and as a preliminary move Geo. Speer shot off his revolver into the sidewalk on Main street.
Through efforts of the police, the disturbance was suppressed, and as a precaution, additional policemen were put on, among them Mike Meagher. At about 1 o’clock, the party above named turned loose and began to shoot indiscriminately. Talbot shot Meagher from the rear of the bank building, killing him instantly.
Citizens turned out at once with guns they could get hold of and attempted to take in the party, who had proceeded to the livery stable in the north part of town and compelled the men in attendance to give them horses, mounted, and started off. Speer attempted to saddle a horse at the red-light dance house and, while doing so, was shot by one of the citizens.
The others struck off in the direction of Hunnewell and, about two miles east, struck south for the Territory. A party of citizens started after them, and at last, accounts were within sight of the four fleeing cowboys. They will likely be taken, and if brought back alive, nothing will save them from pulling hemp. The excitement here is intense, and the present disposition is to make the aiders and abettors of this murderous gang pull out from this neighborhood.
The preliminary examination of Stinson, one of the section bosses charged with defrauding the Santa Fe road, was concluded at noon today. The defense did not examine any witnesses. Stinson was bound over to the District Court in the sum of $1,500 and, in default of which, was sent to jail.
Caldwell, Dec. 17. – One of those terrible border shooting affrays occurred in this city about 1 o’clock this afternoon, resulting in the death of Mike Meagher, formerly Mayor. He was shot by a Texan named Jim Talbott. Talbott was one of the leaders of the element that wanted to hang Danford without allowing him to settle and was one of the leaders of the party who took Danford from the Sheriff at this point.
Dave Speer belonged to the Speer family of Caldwell, Kas., known as Royal Citizens, engaged in the liquor and dance house business. Dave was arrested last year on the charge of shooting and killing Frank Hunt, the Marshal of Caldwell, but discharged for lack of evidence and was hardly twenty years of age.
The cowboys escaped from town and were pursued in the timber on Polecat Creek, some twelve miles south of Caldwell. Rumors of an engagement in which three or four citizens and two cowboys were killed are rife, but nothing definite can be learned, the operator at Caldwell having been out of his office since 8 o’clock this evening.
The Leavenworth Times, Leavenworth, KS 18 Dec 1881 Sunday p1
(duplicate story)
TAKING THE TOWN WILD COWBOYS ON THE WARPATH. Crazed by Whisky They Defy the Authorities – A Policeman Shot Dead, and a Gambler Made to Bite the Dust. Hemp to be Used.
Caldwell, Kan., December 17. – [Special]
Five cowboys with Spencers have defied the city authorities here, and a regular battle has been held this afternoon. Mike Meagher, mayor of the city, and George Speers, a gambler, were killed. The cowboys left for the Territory, and citizens were in hot pursuit. – H. S. Bickford.
Later News.
Full particulars cannot be learned in the general excitement prevailing, even at this hour. It seems that last night and this morning, a party of cowboys named, respectively, Sherman alias Talbot, Jim Morton, Robert Mersing, and a fellow named Lowe were drinking and carousing.
About eight o’clock this morning, they began to show a disposition to raise a row, and as a preliminary move, George Speer shot off his revolver into the sidewalk on Main street. Through the efforts of the police, the disturbance was suppressed, and as a precaution
ADDITIONAL POLICEMEN
were put on, among them Mike Meagher. At about one o’clock, the party above named turned loose and began to shoot indiscriminately. The citizens turned out at once with such guns as they could get hold of, and attempted to take in the party, who in the meantime had proceeded to a livery stable in the north part of the town, compelled the man in attendance to give them horses, mounted and started off. Speer attempted to saddle a horse near the Red Light dance house, and
WHILE DOING SO WAS SHOT
by one of the citizens. The others struck off in the direction of Hunnewell and, about two miles east, struck south for the Territory. A party of citizens started after them, and at last, accounts were within sight of the four fleeing cowboys. It is
THEY WILL LIKELY BE TAKEN
If brought back alive, nothing will save them from pulling hemp. The excitement here is intense, and the present disposition is to make the aiders and abettors of the murderous gang pull out from this neighborhood.
ANOTHER ACCOUNT.
After filling up with bad whisky, the cowboys attempted to run the town. Among other deviltries that suggested themselves was to shoot as close to men on the street as they could and not hit the victim. The affair caused a few determined men to stand on a corner and fight the crowd. Mike Meagher, the ex-mayor of Caldwell, was killed outright, and three of
THE COWBOYS BIT THE DUST.
The cowboys finally gave up and rode away, followed by a large posse of citizens. At last accounts, the remainder of the gang, four in number, were surrounded, and assistance from the town was expected.
STILL ANOTHER ACCOUNT.
Meagher assisted the officers when he was shot by a Texan named Jim Talbott. Talbott was one of the leaders of the element that wanted to hang Danford without allowing him to settle and was one of the leaders of the party who took Danford from the Sheriff at this point.
Dave Spear belonged to the Spear family of Caldwell, Kansas, engaged in the liquor and dance house business. Dave was arrested last year and charged with shooting and killing Frank Hunt, the marshal of Caldwell, but discharged for lack of evidence and was hardly twenty years of age. The cowboys’ made their escape from town and were pursued and
AT LAST, ACCOUNTS ARE SURROUNDED
in the timber on Pole Cat, some twelve miles South of Caldwell. Rumors of an engagement in which three or four citizens and two of the cowboys were killed are rife, but nothing definite can be learned. The operator at Caldwell has been out of his office since eight this evening.
THE BLOODY BORDER, THE GLORY HAS NOT YET DEPARTED FROM THE COWBOY’S SCEPTRE.
Caldwell the Scene of Another Frontier Battle.
Mike Meagher and George Spear Slain
The Sumner County Press, Wellington, KS 22 Dec 1881 p3
The history of Caldwell dates back to the beginning of the cattle drive from Texas in the spring of 1871. Capt. Henry Stone’s log store, the first building erected on the town site, became the resort of the few bold pioneers who had ventured to settle upon a wild frontier. With the influx of Texas cattle came an army of reckless cowboys.
These wild, frolicsome “sons of the border” may not be more quarrelsome than the generality of mankind, but their quarrels rarely end except in streaming blood and ebbing life.
Situated, as it is, on the north line of the Indian Territory, Caldwell has ever been a favorite resort for the cowboy, whether upon his periodical excursion from the cow camp to the borders of civilization for supplies and a “hoorah,” or for a few day’s rest after the wearisome drive from Texas through the Territory. During these sojourns in town, the cowboy usually resorts to cards, drinking, and exhibitions of his skill with his revolver, a brace that every “thoroughbred” carries through life and parts within death only.
While in his cups, the cowboy is quarrelsome; but all his difficulties are adjusted at the revolver’s point. His victim is rarely a man from the “range” but usually a citizen or shark from the “states.” July 3, 1871, George Peay, a young man from Cherokee county, who had
settled near Caldwell, met a party of cowboys in Stone’s store.
Being fond of the social glass, he joined them in a game of cards. Warmed by drink, he uttered a thoughtless word, half in jest, which provoked an answering taunt. His keen retort was cut short by the pistol’s flash, and George Peay was laid away from mortal sight as the first victim in Sumner county of the cowboy’s wrath.
Succeeding murders along the border have followed each other so rapidly since then that many of them have never been chronicled. Years ago, when there was no law, the murderer did not consider it necessary to flee but kept a sharp outlook for the “avenger of blood.”
In late years, however, some effort has been made to enforce the laws, and these desperadoes have been warier of their lawlessness. Yet the immediate cause of their depredations has never been removed. Most brawls terminated in murder began in dance and bawdy houses. In every instance, the murderer’s brain has been fired by a strong drink frequently sold in violation of the law. (need to finish)
The Desperados Escaped.
Fort Scott Daily Monitor, Fort Scott, KS 21 Dec 1881 p1
Honeywell, Kansas, December 20. – The desperados who “rounded up.” Caldwell has undoubtedly escaped. On Sunday night, at about 8 o’clock, they come upon some freighters and took five horses. They also made them cook supper and feed their horses before they left. They next exchanged their horses for five others at a ranch below.
They fought last night at Sanford’s ranch on Wagon creek, where they took some saddles. They travel only at night. In a fight at Dugout, Jim Talbott had his finger shot off, and Dunhill was shot in the heel. The other three are Jim Martin, Bob Bigtree, and Bob Munson. They are aiming for Old Mexico.
Talbott is a noted desperado. He killed a marshal and a deputy at Fort Elliott, Texas, in the spring of 1880 and two years ago, killed two negroes in the Creek Nation without cause. He was also one of Billy the Kid’s gang of cutthroats. A messenger just in and says the Sherriff’s posse is in hot pursuit and sent back for reinforcement of twenty picked men to meet them at the Cannon meet. (or Canionmeet?)
The Caldwell Advance, Caldwell, Kansas 4 Jan 1883 p3
$2,400 REWARD FOR THE PARTIES WHO MURDERED MIKE MEAGHER, EX-MAYOR OF THE CITY OF
CALDWELL, KANSAS
DECEMBER 17, 1881
“Jim” Daniels, alias “Jim” Talbott, about 5 feet, 10 inches high; weighs about 170 pounds; light complexion; light-colored mustache and whiskers; light blue or gray eyes; broad face, high cheekbones, nose turned up a little at the end; low, narrow forehead; his under jaw is the longest; when he shuts his mouth, his under teeth projects out past the upper ones; he generally gambles and “carouses” around saloons; will probably have his family with him, a wife (of whom I can furnish a photograph upon application), a boy about 4 or 5 years old, named “Jimmy,” heavy set and fat, a little freckled and light-colored hair; and a girl 2 or 3 years old. He is wanted in several places for horse stealing and shooting men. He is a bad outlaw.
Bob Bigtree, about 6 feet high; slim build; stoop shoulders; hollow breast; light complexion; light blue or gray eyes; coarse features; smooth-shaven when last seen; weighs about 150 pounds.
James Martin, about 5 feet 7 inches high; heavy build; light complexion; light blue or gray eyes; round face; no whiskers when last seen;
the thumbnail on the right hand is shot off; it weighs 165 pounds.
Bob Munson, about 5 feet 5 inches high; sandy complexion, sandy mustache; short hair, blue eyes, slim build, weight 140 pounds.
Dug Hill, about 5 feet 9 inches high, slim build; hump shoulder; large blue eyes; light complexion; light hair and mustache; weight 144 or 150 pounds.
The last four are cowboys, and some are “Cow Thieves.”
Of the above reward, the Governor of Kansas offers $1,700; $500 for Talbott, $300 apiece for the last four described; City of Caldwell $500; $100 apiece; $200 individual for Talbott. Arrest and hold them in jail and telegraph. J. M. THRALLS. Sheriff Sumner County, Kansas.
Wellington, December 26, 1882.
Cheyenne Transporter, Darlington, OK 11 Jan 1883 p4
Sheriff J. M. Thralls, of Sumner county, has published a reward of $2,400 for the arrest of Jim Talbott, Bob Bigtree, James Martin, Bob Munson, and Dug Hill, who murdered Mike Meagher on the 17 Dec. 1881.
Medicine Lodge Cresset, Medicine Lodge, KS 23 Jul 1885 p1
The famous Jim Talbott, who murdered Mike Meagher at Caldwell a couple of years ago, has been captured at La Junta, Colorado. Officers have gone to see the man; should it be Jim, he will be brought to Caldwell. The Journal says quite a several Caldwell’s citizens could identify Jim at sight and that to quite a number, this would be a real pleasure, especially if he was thoroughly ironed and in a secure jail.
A Morning Murder
George Parker Shot and Killed Ukiah
Oakland Tribune, Oakland, CA 20 Jun 1893
Ukiah, Cal., June 20 – George W. Parker, an old resident and a leading jeweler of this place, was shot and killed at Neiph’s saloon here at 1:30 this morning by J. D. Sherman, a sheep herder living near Ukiah. Both parties had been drinking, and five or six shots were fired. Parker was shot at least three times, twice in the head and once in the body. Sherman at once surrendered himself to an officer. There were seven eyewitnesses to the tragedy.
J.D. SHERMAN had killed Mayor Meyer of Caldwell Sumner County 13 years before killing Parker in 1893.
The Daily Sentinel, Grand Junction, Colorado 30 Jun 1894 p4
Patrick Burns in Limbo
Patrick Burns, the young man who stole from her home Fannie Brink was arrested yesterday on Divide Creek, brought to the city last night, and is now in the county bastille. Burns, who made silly boasts in the past that officers would not be able to apprehend him should he commit some act against the law, fell easy prey to the officers once they were started on his trail.
After he had borrowed the horse to make his escape, Burns hid the girl and returned to his home, taking one of his parents’ horses and stealing one of Manuel Brink’s during the latter’s absence in this city.
Under Sheriff Reeder received the following dispatch yesterday afternoon: “Have Burns. Send transportation and bring him down on tonight’s train; if now, I will hold him until morning. Answer. Jim Talbott.” Transportation was wired to Talbott at once, and Burns is now behind bars. His preliminary trial will take place Monday.
The Talbott Case An Interesting Description of the fight from the Sumner County Press
The Daily Mail, Wellington, Kansas 13 Sep 1894 p3
Sheriff Woodcock has reached California, and Jim Talbott wanted in Sumner county for the killing of Mike Meagher in Caldwell on the day of December 15, 1881, has been turned over to him. Talbott, whose real name is James Talbott Sherman, killed G. W. Parker, a prominent resident of Ukiah, Cal., a small town about 125 miles north of Sacramento, in June of last year.
He had one trial and was convicted but managed to secure another. As the California officers were not certain he would again be convicted, they communicated with the county officers of Sumner county a few weeks ago. After some preliminaries were arranged, he was decided to be turned over to the officers here.
Accordingly Thursday of last week Sheriff Woodcock, accompanied by Bill Lee, a member of the Salvation Army at Wichita, who was a resident of Caldwell at the time of the shooting, left for Topeka, where they secured a requisition on the governor of California, which they presented to Governor Markham at Sacramento and secured the necessary papers for taking Talbott out of the state.
Upon the Sheriff’s arrival in Ukiah, the case against Talbott was dismissed. Immediately afterward, he was arrested by Sheriff Johnson of that county on the charge of shooting Meagher here. Sheriff Woodcock, after leaving here, lost no time in reaching California for fear in some manner Talbott would secure his release. He will start home with Talbott at once and will reach here next week. Sheriff Johnson, through an intimate friend of Talbott, secured information of the killing in this county and then communicated with the officers here.
After Talbott’s adventurous career in this county, he went to California, where he remained, employed by various stock raisers as a vaquero. Previous to the crime at Caldwell, Talbott, or Sherman, committed an offense in Texas and dropped the name of Sherman for that of Talbott, his middle name.
The trial of Talbott will be a memorable one in Sumner county. The officers did not decide to prosecute the case before they were certain they could get the evidence to convict Talbott. Scattered through this and adjoining counties are several persons who were either eyewitness of the shooting or were in the vicinity at the time.
Coroner John H. Folks held an inquest on the three days following the shooting, which occurred on Friday. The jury returned a verdict that Meagher died from a gunshot wound inflicted by Jim Talbott. The witnesses before the Coroner will, as far as possible, be secured, and it seems probable that an easy conviction can be had. The case will probably cost the county quite a sum, as the fees for going after Talbott will be large, as well as the cost of the trial.
It is said that the state offered a reward of $500 for the capture of Talbott shortly after the shooting, which has never been withdrawn. The Sumner County Press, published here at the time of the shooting, contained, in a lengthy write-up of the affair, the following particulars of the shooting:
“For some time, a party of roughs consisting of Jim Talbott, Tom Love, Bill Mankin, Bob Munson, Dick Eddleman, Jim Martin, Doug Hill, Bog Bigtree, and Tom Delaney has been loafing about Caldwell. They had been cowboys at one time or another but were resting for the time being.
“Talbott, whose real name is Sherman, is a native of Buchanan county, Mo., and a cowardly desperado by instinct. It seems he is a cousin of one Powell, whom Mike Meagher killed in 1876 while marshaling at Wichita. Munson was one of Powell’s ‘pards’ also. Besides, the whole crowd bore Meagher a grudge because he endeavored to have Davis, who murdered Georg Woods on the 18th day of last August, arrested.
“Therefore, during their sprees, they sought occasion to quarrel with Meagher and repeatedly threatened his life. This party had been preparing to leave for the Territory for a week before the affray last Saturday. Consequently, they had been unusually boisterous and had been committing various depredations. The police authorities knew that an affray would be started on the least pretext and exercised unusual vigilance, hoping they would leave without bloodshed.
“Last Friday evening, this crowd went to hear Uncle Tom’s Cabin, attended by their prostitutes. Their conversation was so loud and obscene as to disturb the whole house. Mr. Tell W. Walton, the editor of the Caldwell Post, requested their leader, Jim Talbott, to desist from his obscenity. In return, Talbott cursed him and publicly declared that he would ‘fix him the next day.’
“When the theater closed, the crowd gathered on the street and agreed to “fill up with whisky and fix Meagher and that editor.’They spent the night carousing about the saloons. Meagher’s friends attempted to persuade him to go home, but he refused and spent the night about town. Several times during the night, he came into conflict with the cowboys, who threatened to kill him.
“At daybreak, Meagher went to the residence of John Wilson, the city marshal, woke him up, and informed him of the situation. By this time, the desperados had commenced to shoot off their revolvers in the street, George Spear leading off in this performance. [George Spear was the former proprietor of the Red-Light dance house and an elder brother of Dave Speer, the supposed murderer of Frank Hunt.]
“When Wilson came downtown, he found Tom Love, Bill Mankin alias Comanche Bill, Bob Munson, and Dick Eddleman armed with Winchester rifles; Jim Martin with a revolver, and Jim Talbott with a needle gun. Love shot off his revolver in Moore’s saloon. Wilson disarmed and arrested him, but his comrades rushed to the rescue when he started to the calaboose with him.
Wilson called on Meagher to assist him when the ruffians turned upon Meagher, knocked him down, and threatened again to kill him. Wilson induced Meagher to take refuge up the opera house stairway while he guarded the entrance. In the meantime, Love had escaped. The crowd then scattered, and things seemed to quiet down, although the city authorities were so apprehensive of serious trouble that they telegraphed for Sheriff J. M. Thralls, who left on the noon train with a posse of twenty men.
“About 1 p.m., Armed with a revolver, Jim Martin was arrested for resisting an officer, taken before the police judge, and fined. He offered to pay the fine if the marshal would accompany him to York’s store. While crossing the street in charge of the assistant marshal, Talbott, Love, Munson, and Eddleman rushed up to rescue the prisoner. The marshal came up, drew his revolvers, and ordered them to disperse. The crowd scattered, and Martin escaped, but as Talbott retreated south, he fired three shots up the street and called on the others to get their guns.
“Talbott, Bigtree, Munson, and Hill ran to Talbott’s house, east of Main street, got their guns, and started up town. By this time, the marshal, Meagher, and one or two others had followed them, passing between and through buildings to the rear of the lots on the east side of Main street.
The officers and citizens sheltered themselves as well as they could and shot at the desperadoes, who hid behind the buildings and outhouses. Every building in that vicinity is riddled full of bullet holes. While his comrades kept the town’s attention to the east, Talbott slipped to the north and west and came into the north of the rear end of the buildings to get a crossfire on their assailants. While in this position, Meagher stepped from behind the end of a building, and a moment afterward, a load from Talbott’s gun had passed through his chest. Meagher died in a few moments.”
After several thrilling adventures, the gang finally escaped, and Talbott was but the second to be prosecuted for the offense.
The South Haven New Era, South Haven, Kansas 14 Sep 1894 p2
Sheriff Woodcock, who went to Ukiah, Cal., last week after Jim Talbott, the murderer of Magher at Caldwell in 1881, writes that the prisoner has been turned over to him by Sheriff Johnson of Mendocino county and that he will start home with him at once. Sheriff Johnson, who arrested Talbott for the murder of a man named Parker in December of last year and has since had him in charge and is reported to be a most efficient officer, and by the way, he is a nephew of the writer’s brother, who visited here last year from California.
Who Jim Talbott I – Sumner County Star
The Sumner County Standard, Wellington, KS 8 Nov 1894 p8
Soon after Jim Talbott was placed in jail, Hon. W. J. Lingenfelter went into the jail to see him, merely out of curiosity, as dozens of others did. As he approached the cell, Talbott rushed to the grating, exclaiming: “Here’s my old friend.
I knew your voice as soon as I heard it,” During their conversation, Talbott talked as though he had known Mr. Lingenfelter all his life.
On the other hand, Mr. Lingenfelter, who is a close observer of men and has a good recollection of faces, went away mystified, wondering where and when Talbott had known him or what his strange demeanor meant. He had never known a man named Talbott.
Next day Mr. Lingenfelter learned that the prisoner’s real name was Sherman and in company with his brother, John M. Lingenfelter, of South Haven township, revisited the jail to solve the mystery. A question about whether he was not raised in Missouri brought an affirmative answer from Talbott. Then another question, whether he knew Nathaniel Crank, brought the exclamation, “Don’t you know me! I’m Jim Sherman, the boy who lived with you, whose life you once saved!”
Jim Talbott’s real name is James D. Sherman. He was born and raised in De Kalb county, Mo. His father, Lewis [Lewis Gordon] Sherman, who lived near Winslow, was a Union man. After the war’s opening, De Kalb county became a hotbed of rebellion. Reinforcements for the rebel army were openly mustered.
It became dangerous to espouse the cause of the nation’s flag. However, Lewis Sherman started out to raise a company of Union soldiers; he had about sixty men enrolled and had already been agreed upon as the company’s captain.
One day in 1861, as he and his family sat at the dinner table, three bush-whackers rode up in front of his house and called him. He went to the door, and James D., then a boy of ten years, boy-like, followed him.
As the father opened the door, a load of buckshot was discharged into his body, and his lifeblood spurted out all over his white-haired boy, the man now incarcerated in the Sumner county jail. Two hours later, Lewis Sherman was dead. Two years later the mother died, the victim of a broken heart.
Thus, the children, four boys and one girl were left alone to fight the battle of life. The two older boys enlisted in the First Kansas regiment. The oldest one fell in battle. The second son, Rollen, the one who now lives in Denver, was only fifteen years old when he enlisted.
James D. and Sylvester, his younger brother, who is now a ranchman in Wyoming, were left to shift for themselves as best they could. They worked first for one farmer and then another. In those troublesome times, there were very few schools in Missouri, and the boys grew up without many chances to obtain an education.
In 1866, Mr. Lingenfelter moved to De Kalb county and became the principal of the Winslow schools. All three of the Sherman boys and their sister were his pupils. Although James D. was then almost fully grown, he went to school in the primary classes, and Mr. Lingenfelter bears witness that he was an exemplary pupil and apt at learning.
From October 1868 to April 1869, he was a member of Mr. Lingenfelter’s family, lived with him, and did the chores to pay his board. And Mr. Lingenfelter says that a kinder hearted, better behaved, more gentlemanly boy never lived in Missouri or anywhere else than James D. Sherman, or Jim Talbott, was then. Mr. Lingenfelter left Missouri in 1872, and the two never met again until they met in the Wellington jail, as narrated above.
The incident of Mr. Ligenfelter saving Talbott’s life came about as follows: Late in August 1868, Lost creek was very high, probably half a mile wide. Mr. Lingenfelter and quite several young men were swimming. The flood had undermined a tree so that it had topped over until the limbs were touching the water. The tree was covered with grape vines which were a great abundance of nice, ripe grapes. Mr. Lingenfelter swam out to the tree and called the others to come and get some grapes.
When Sherman was within twenty feet of him, swimming on his back, he called out that he was cramping, that his legs wouldn’t work. Mr. Lingenfelter thought he was only “fooling” and paid no attention until he had secured a particularly fine bunch of grapes he was after. He then found that Sherman had sunk in twenty feet of water. He swam to where he had been and, as he came up, caught him by the hair and swam ashore with him, where he was brought back to consciousness with difficulty.
All of Sherman’s relatives, on both sides, are highly respected and respectable people in DeKalb county.
The Sherman family came originally from Ironton, Ohio. Mr. Lingenfelter informs us that he read a letter from General W. T. Sherman (Gen. W. T. Sherman married Ellen Boyle Ewing), written in 1866, to Sylvester Crank.
Talbott’s maternal grandfather, in which General Sherman stated that his father [Charles Robert Sherman 1788-1829] and Lewis Sherman’s father [per ancestry Lewis Gordon Sherman 1826-1856 father’s name was Elisha Sherman 1775-1840 died possibly Lawrence County, Ohio, and was married to Elizabeth Powell] were brothers.
This makes James D. Sherman, the prisoner, a second cousin to Gen. W. T. Sherman and Hon. John Sherman (John Sherman married (per Wikipedia Margaret Cecilia Stewart; Gen Sherman’s sister married Charles Moulton, and his brother Hoyt Sherman married Sara Elvira Moulton on December 25, 1855) of Ohio.
Lewis Sherman had married Mr. Crank’s daughter before Gen. Sherman became famous. Afterward, Lewis Sherman’s brother claimed to be a first cousin to the general, and Mr. Crank wrote to the general to learn the facts and received the letter mentioned above. There are several DeKalb county people now living in this county who speak in the highest terms of Sherman’s mother’s people, the Cranks.
Of course, Mr. Lingenfelter knows nothing personal of his old pupil’s later life. Still, he does know that good blood course through his veins and that, up to the time he arrived at man’s estate, he enjoyed and deserved an excellent reputation as an industrious, honest, and well-behaved young man.
The Daily Mail, Wellington, Kansas 8 Dec 1894 p3
Roland Sherman, of Denver, Colo., arrived in the city last night to visit his brother James D. Sherman, alias Jim Talbott, who is confined in jail awaiting trial on a charge of murdering Mike Meagher in Caldwell in 1881. He is looking after the defense of his brother and renewing his acquaintance with his old schoolteacher, Hon. J. W. Lingenfelter, whom he has not seen before for twenty-five years.
The Caldwell Advance, Caldwell, KS 21 Nov 1895 p2
A dispatch from Ukiah, Cal., to the San Francisco Examiner last week states that Jim Talbott had killed Valleley, a man who had eloped with Talbott’s wife.
See also Sherman & Crank & Hankins file; Col. John H. Moulton; the Ewing & Sherman families;
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