Written by Alex Peck
A photo of the Spearville Train Depot. (City of Windmills)
Spearville has gone through several shifts over its long and rich history. In the early days, it was a frontier—a railroad town at the edge of the Great American Desert. Westward Expansion, pioneers, cow wrangling, agricultural prospecting, and The Wild West were everyday concepts to early Spearville. Hollywood dramatizations would lead one to believe that outlaws were running rampant across the West, but Spearville sits contrary to this idea. For the vast majority of its history, gunslinging bandits have remained far from public consciousness. However, at the turn of the 20th century, there was an abnormal uptick in big-time crime in Western Kansas. Robbers and gangsters set upon many southwestern communities due to the lower security measures and easier escape routes via the Oklahoma Territory just south. For these reasons, there was once a day when the Daltons, Doolins, and Henry Howard were household names.
Nowadays major crime remains uncommon in the Spearville community. This has been true for over a century, made clear when the Spearville jail was closed down and sold in the early 1900s.1 Unfortunately, the end of the 19th century brought a renewed wave of crime to small towns of the American West as legal reform and infrastructure development improved conditions in urban areas, forcing gang activity to the margins. As these changes took root across the nation, it became clear that the Wild West was soon to be tamed. Jesse James' death in 1882 signified the beginning of the end for banditry, and gangs across America knew that their time in the spotlight was running short as they were forced to move into the rural and outlying communities throughout the Southwest.2
In early November, 1892, the Doolin gang robbed Ford County Bank in Spearville of nearly $1,700—the modern equivalent of over $60,500. The robbery was carried out by namesake Bill Doolin and his cronies Ol’ Yantis and Bitter Creek Newcomb. Yantis watched the horses while the other two entered the building, brandishing weapons at bank staff. Despite being held at gunpoint, bank teller Baird dropped behind the counter to retrieve a gun, attempting to defend against the attackers. Doolin promptly jumped the divider and wrestled the weapon from Baird who reluctantly turned over the funds.3 Luckily, during the scuffle Baird managed to conceal a portion of the gold and silver carried by the bank, keeping it safe from the robbers.4
A reenactment of the famous robbery at Ford County Bank. (Boot Hill Museum)
A local group of hunters noticed the strange and paranoid behavior of Ol’ Yantis behind the bank and became suspicious. Confirming the worst, they witnessed the two bandits attempt to saddle up with Yantis and realized what was taking place. A brief firefight ensued, with approximately 15 rounds being discharged. Miraculously, nobody was injured.5 When given the opportunity, the outlaws made a break for their horses and escaped, eventually outpacing a makeshift posse from town while fleeing south. Word spread quickly, but despite the combined efforts of several citizen groups and local law enforcement agencies including Ford County Sheriff Chalk Beeson, they lost sight of the gang in Ashland, Kansas as they made their way to Oklahoma.6
The stardom and action typical in Hollywood Westerns seldom captures the fallout of major robberies such as this one. For the rural Spearville community, this was a devastating monetary loss. After two years of struggle through economic depression and lack of public trust, Ford County bank was forced to close. This left Spearville without any center for wealth management for over eight years, forcing people to make the trek to Dodge City for banking and other errands. The money was never recovered, but by reducing capital stock prices, enough excess funding was gathered to open up a new local bank now known as Ford County State Bank, still serving the Spearville community to this day.7
Ford County State Bank today. (Google Maps)
The era of outlaws is often looked at with pop-media romanticism, but the John Wayne-ification of real small-town tragedies fails to show the real consequences of crime and economic distress. Though Spearville did recover, escaping with no major injuries or deaths, the same can not be said for all similar communities. This attack was one of many carried out by this group and associated gangs, and between all members involved in the robbery, the loss of life and wealth cannot be understated. At one point, these occurrences were not just interesting historical happenings, but were actually threats to the wellbeing of all residents alike. It speaks not only to the courage of the residents involved but the resilience of all those affected.
Bitter Creek Newcomb (Left) and Ol' Yantis' Headstone (Right). (findagrave.com)
For this crime and many others across the nation, the gang was pursued. Over the next several years, Sheriff Beeson and several others tracked the outlaws. Several weeks after the robbery, Ol’ Yantis was discovered at his sister’s home by an undercover agent in Orlando, Oklahoma. Beeson and his posse descended on the location in the early hours of November 30th, and Yantis was cornered and mortally wounded during the ensuing gunfight. He died later that afternoon. Bitter Creek Newcomb died similarly unceremoniously, ambushed and killed alongside a friend of his two years after his notorious robbery so the ambushers could claim the $5000 prize on the pair’s heads.8
Bill Doolin was the final remaining member of the three, and the last of the similarly infamous Dalton gang. After being shot in the foot during a botched train robbery, he suffered chronic rheumatism. While seeking treatment in the allegedly healing waters of Eureka Springs, Arkansas, he was ambushed and jailed. The cell was only able to hold him for so long however, and six months later in late July, 1896, he broke free. A month later he was tracked to Lawson, Oklahoma attempting to get his wife and two-year-old son and retreat to New Mexico. After a brief exchange of fire, Doolin was killed by a point-blank shot from an eight-gauge shotgun, ending his outlaw career over three years after the Spearville robbery.9
The Doolin Gang, photographed postmortem and pasted on a postcard. (Boot Hill Museum)
Spearville was not done with its troubles however. Three years after Doolin’s death, the town once again was faced with big-time burglary. In July of 1899, Harry Howard and several other co-conspirators broke into Edwards and Nichol’s Spearville general store containing the local post office, stealing $1500 worth of merchandise and cash, including the getaway vehicle—a bicycle. During the robbery they attempted to blow open the safe, resulting in further damages to the property. However upon accessing the safe, they managed to overlook a large store of silver, taking stamps instead.10
Edwards and Nichols store on a postcard.
Howard and his cronies did not make it far, and were apprehended nearby in Dodge City. This was not the end of the ordeal; using a nail file Howard was able to saw through the bars of his and two of his bandits’ cells.11 He escaped the area after a brief chase, making national news. The wide press coverage worked to his detriment, as it led to him being identified in a Chicago hotel nearly a month later. This led to his arrest in the Windy City just three weeks after his great escape. Though details are sparse, it seems that in September, 1903, he escaped confinement once more, apprehended for the final time in Topeka, Kansas.12
Today Spearville enjoys peace and safety bandit-free, though it has not always been so clear cut. Once upon a time it was squarely within the Wild West, one of the first frontiers of the Western United States. In the not-so-distant past, it attracted real attention from the occasional outlaw and major crime organizations as they were forced to move further into rural America. Only a few generations ago in the Spearville ancestry residents banked at the same building that once felt the wrath of Bill Doolin and shopped at a store still sporting the soot and scuff of the crazed safe-cracker and escape artist Harry Howard. That same day you could go down to the saloon and grab a drink with local legends like heroic cashier Baird and Sheriff Chalk Beeson. Though the Spearville of today remains a quiet agricultural community, its early years carry on a Wild West legacy palpable in the community's memory to this day.
Footnotes
Bibliography
Burke, W. L. “Kansas Notes.” The Galena Evening Times, January 3, 1901. newspapers.com.
Colwich Courier. “The World at Large.” Sedwick County Reporter, November 4, 1892. newspapers.com.
Ford County State Bank. “About Us.” Fordcountystatebank.com. Accessed November 4, 2025. https://www.fordcountystatebank.com/about-us/ford-county-state-bank.
Fry, Eleanor. Spearville: City of Windmills. Spearville, Kansas: The Spearville News, 1975.
Myers, Roger. “Dirty Doings of Bill Boolin and His Gang.” ; Leesburg 15, no. 1 (2002): 22–28. https://www.proquest.com/docview/201481532?parentSessionId=eU1XLftg1l5%….
stjosephmo.gov. “Jesse James Home | St. Joseph, MO - Official Website.” www.stjosephmo.gov, n.d. https://www.stjosephmo.gov/362/Jesse-James-Home.
The Hutchison News. “Capture of Howard.” The Hutchison News, August 21, 1899. newspapers.com.
