The first homicide to be tried in a Sherman county court occurred shortly after the great influx of settlers during 1885 and 1886. The murder took place on the northwest quarter of section 2, township 8, range 42, which would place it approximately 2 miles east and 4 miles north of Kanorado. The Sherman Center newspaper of Friday, April 22, 1887 reported that Mr. F. H. Boalt (also sometimes spelled Bolt) was murdered sometime between “last Saturday evening, when he was last seen alive, and Monday morning in his house.” In the same issue the weather was reported : “Last Saturday, the 16^th, rain fell steadily during the day and continued into the night, turning to snow about ten o’clock. Snow fell on Sunday until about noon, when it measured about five inches in depth. On Monday the snow melted away and rain began falling late the same evening and a heavy rain fell during the night; Tuesday the clouds were swept away by a strong breeze from the north.”

The newspaper reported the body was discovered by a neighbor (P. H. Nickel) about 10 o’clock on that Monday morning, and neighbors then went to Voltaire, then to Eustis returning by Sherman Center, taking Dr. Rush with them to the scene of the murder. The room had not been opened until this party of neighbors arrived there, and Mr. Boalt had been alone in the sod house. Upon examination of the premises the fact was determined that a fatal shot had been fired from outside through the window near which Mr. Boalt was sitting reading a paper. Footprint tracks were found near the window and were measured and carefully preserved. Mr. Boalt was still in a sitting position, one arm resting on a table near a lamp which had burned out, and the other hand still held the paper. The head had only dropped backward, showing that death was instantaneous. Post mortem examination showed that the ball had entered the left superior maxillary one inch below and one inch in front of the left ear. The course of the ball traveled upward and backward, entering the skull at the front part of the base of the brain and passed diagonally through the cerebellum and lodged against the right side of the back part of the skull. The ball was from a 38 caliber gun. The newspaper stated no coroner nor justice of the peace was present at these findings and these facts were merely taken as a post mortem and all possible evidence was taken.

Suspicion first pointed to J. C. Birdsall as the perpetrator of the foul deed, since he was the former claimant to a quarter of land on which Mr. Boalt had put a contest. Mr. Birdsall had been absent for nine months and Mr. Boalt had contested the claim and was living on his own claim with his wife and five little children, who were in Ohio, having gone there before the tragic murder. The time for the contest was April 22, and Mr. Birdsall had made threats to kill the contestant and asked several land men if the contestant was dead and did not appear, would that give him the claim clear once again. Birdsall went to Voltaire on Sunday, stayed there a night then went to Sherman Center on Monday, telling people that this man “Boalt” was dead and had killed himself drinking. Birdsall who was reported as “not telling very straight stories”, was watched and then arrested at Eustis Tuesday morning while on his way to Oberlin. He was then taken to Voltaire before justice Whitney for a preliminary trial. Birdsall, who was about 45 years old and unmarried, then waived examination until April 23^rd and said he could prove an alibi.

The April 21 issue of the Sherman Center News reported: “The man gives his name as Charles Olling (sic), but the plat of the township made from the land office books gives it J. C. Birdsall which we use.” However, no further mention is made of the name Birdsall and the court case is filed against Charles Olin.

Mr. Boalt was “a good citizen and well liked by all.” The Sherman Center News stated that Capt. Boalt was a gallant soldier and served throughout the war in the 55^th Ohio Infantry, and has friends without number. “The only enemy Mr. Boalt is thought to have is one Chas. Olin, who took a claim over one year and a half ago, joining Mr. Boalt’s claim, and who has never done a lick of work on the claim, and the former put a contest thereon, and it appears there was no appearance on the part of Olin, until after, and another hearing was granted, and the case to come up this week or next Monday. The party had been to see Mr. Boalt and desired him to take the contest off, which he said he would do if Olin would come and live on the claim, or even show good faith that he intended to do so, but it appears the old coon, (whose eyes show that he is the man that committed the heinous crime), said he did not have to, and would not.” Newspaper editors of the day told every little detail and did not hesitate to reflect their personal opinions.

The Sherman Center News of April 28, 1887 had a one line item: “The body of Mr. Boalt was taken to his home in Ohio Thursday.” The alibi of J. C. Birdsall is not mentioned again as the April 29, 1887 newspaper reported that the murder case of Charles Olin, a Swedish neighbor of Mr. Boalt, was tried before Squire Whitney and the accused party was committed for a hearing in the district court and held for that trial. The news also said “Other parties are now implicated, and several homesteaders are expressing themselves rather loudly. Arrests are being made of the some of these parties, and a regular combination is now expected to be revealed, organized for the express purpose of keeping parties from contesting claims. It is quite aggravating to the honest homesteader to have his claim contested, and it is wrong. There are men that make a regular business of contesting or filing contests, and then asking the homesteader to give them from ten to fifty dollars to withdraw the contest. This is extortion and a shameful wrong.”

Another Chapter. The Sherman County Democrat reported on April 28, 1887: “James Hoit (also spelled Hoyt), a young man living near the place where Mr. F. H. Boalt was murdered, was arrested last week as an accomplice in that crime.” After hearing testimony, Hoit was discharged for want of sufficient showing on part of the state, however the newspaper said “it is evident that some one accessory to that great crime is at large and as yet undiscovered.” On that same date the Sherman Center News reported that Birdsall left Jones’ where he boarded on Saturday night and attended a secret meeting somewhere in the township, and on Sunday night he again left Jones’ house about eight o’clock and did not return until Sunday morning. That night he knocked at the door of Mr. Ewing and said that he was lost. Monday morning a 38 revolver was found in Jones’ stable by one of the children. That night a man by the name of Hoyt came to Jones’ and was around the stable, but soon left and took the revolver with him. On Monday four more persons were arrested at Voltaire and among them Hoyt, who got the pistol. Three of the party arrested live in the Boalt neighborhood, and have said enough to convince persons that a regular organization exists and that Boalt was murdered by their preconcerted action. The newspaper opines “The law allows, and rightfully, a legal contest, and if a man fails to go according to the requirements of the land laws, he has no right to hold his claim, but if he has done this, a contest is not going to hurt him.”

Harry Lenon of Yuma, Arizona, son of Sherman county pioneer settlers, wrote in a letter which was published in the December 25, 1941 Sherman County Herald: “A Mr. Bolt was murdered as he sat in his cabin reading by lamplight but the murderer, a Swede, was arrested and convicted. I remember Bolt as the man who pronounced the words to the contestants in the spelling matches.” Mr. Lenon said he had called upon Rev. H. J. Lorenz of Tescott, Ariz., who spun a yarn about the H. U. A. during this July 1941 visit. Mr. Lorenz was a member of the H. U. A., and said at a meeting of the neighborhood chapter, a bachelor (sic) who lived in the neighborhood who was not above reproach, was decided to be eliminated. Lorenz and three others were provided with rifles and were told that three rifles were loaded with bullets, the other merely with a blank. At the appointed time the four crept to the doomed man’s window, plugged him by the light of his own lamp, firing in unison, of course. Next day other neighbors “discovered” the lifeless body, hastily decided he had died of heart failure and buried him without benefit of coroner or clergy.

A. H. Stewart, writer for the Sherman County Herald in December 1941added his more accurate facts of the case according to Sherman county district court records: “On the 17^th day of April, 1887, F. H. Bolt, a homesteader, was found dead in his shanty, the coroner’s jury finding he came to his death from gunshot wounds, and charged a neighbor, Charles Olin, with the crime. At his preliminary examination Olin entered a plea of not guilty and was bound over to the district court for trial. He was arraigned in court in May, 1887, Judge Louis K. Pratt, presiding. W. K. Brown was county attorney by appointment and it was his duty to prosecute Mr. Olin. Attorneys J. W. Lewis and G. L. Bagley were appointed by the court as counsel for the defendant. They asked and were granted a continuance until October 1887. The defendant was remanded to jail without bond, and as the county had no jail Olin was taken to the jail in Norton county to await trial.”

The case came to trial in October 1887 and a plea of not guilty was entered, and after several days duration the jury returned a verdict of “guilty of murder in the first degree”, and Judge Pratt sentenced Olin, after being confined in the state prison for a term of a year, to be hanged upon the death warrant being signed by the governor. The status of Olin became a man under sentence of death whenever a governor should sign the warrant. He remained in prison for many years, and Mr. Stewart recalled that Olin published a petition to apply for parole which he thought was granted. Olin did not return to Sherman county to live and his whereabouts were unknown at that time.

In June 1888, a year after the murder, Mrs. F. H. Boalt of Norwalk, Ohio arrived in Goodland just before the Rock Island Railroad line was completed to the city. Charlotte W. Boalt was the widow of Mr. Boalt, and still owned the land. However, the Sherman County Dark Horse of June 28, 1888 reported “The persons who have been so depraved as to destroy the house (in which he gave up his life) by stealing the roof and lumber, and trying to gain possession of land which rightfully belongs to the murdered man’s family, may yet have an invitation to look through the bars. They would be fit associates for Olin, the murderer of Mr. Boalt.”

A coroner’s inquest was held on April 19, 1887 at McPherson township (now Stateline) and the following six jurors were sworn in: J. H. Myers, Joe E. McDowell, Jack Maloney, W. P. Pierce, John Hollingshead, and John H. Scott, who was foreman. Dr. J. M. Poff, Dr. M. A. Rush, and Dr. J. R. Morris were summoned to examine the body, and George Ewing, P. H. Nickle, and A. B. Mead were witnesses in the matter.

Charles Olin came to Sherman County March 29, 1887, and had been residing in Grant Precinct according to court files. He was confined first in the county jail at Eustis, and was a casual acquaintance of August Neu. He had 3 brothers and 2 sisters, none of whom were said to reside in Kansas, and had had no communication with them for 20 years, and is uncertain of their whereabouts. Has no money or property of any description. Attorney Lewis evidently was able to contact one sister as a May 14, 1887 letter from Mary E. Corey, Lincoln, Nebraska, a sister of Mr. Olin, to Mr. J. W. Lewis, gives some enlightening information: “Two years ago while plowing he (Chas. Olin) was bitten by a mad dog. On examination of the wound, it was found that many thicknesses of woolen goods had prevented the saliva from penetrating the wound to any amount, but he suffered terribly from the bite and physicians decided he would never recover, that is to say would never be a sound well man again. The poison penetrated the system and for 6 months he was confined in the Lincoln Insane Asylum. I wish it were possible for me to see you in person for I feel that I could prove to you and many others that you have confined a mad man (her emphasis) and one that is not responsible for what he has done. Mary E. Corey”

Defense attorneys also contacted a brother of Mr. Boalt between May and October 1887 as reported in the following news items:

Sherman County News, Voltaire, Oct. 17, 1887 C. G. Boalt, a brother of F. H. Boalt who was murdered last spring, arrived here this week with legal talent and will see this matter through to the bitter end, and we hope justice will be done to the guilty party or parties, who ever they may be.

Sherman County Democrat, Oct. 13, 1887 A brother to J. F. (sic) Boalt, who was murdered last spring in 8-42, is here from Salina, Kansas, to assist in the prosecution of Charles D. Olin the man accused of that murder. Mr. Boalt has employed the ablest firm of attorneys in Salina who will be here by the time court opens next Monday and nothing that money and talent can do will be left undone to secure a conviction of Olin. J. W. Lewis and J. E. Bagley, Olin’s attorneys have a hard fight to make. We hope justice and nothing more may be meted out to all parties.

Sherman County News, Sept. 16, 1887 Frederick A. (sic) Boalt, who was recently shot in Sherman county, had his life insured in the Mutual of New York, for $20,000. His widow received last month the sum of $2,011. The man accused of the murder is now in jail in this city. Mr. Boalt had only paid the insurance company $549.72. His widow thereby received $1,461.28 in excess of the premiums paid. –Oberlin Opinion

Criminal Action, State of Kansas, Sherman County vs. Charles Olin, Before J. S. Whitney, a Justice of the Peace of Voltaire Township, in said county. April 19, 1887. Defendant in court. Present: W. K. Brown, County Attorney, R. G. Allbright, Sheriff, Wm. Walker, Deputy Sheriff, J. W. Lewis Attorney for defendant. Prisoner arraigned and plead not guilty. Motion supported by affidavit of defendant for a continuance to Saturday April 23, 1887; and court adjourned to 1 p.m. to hear argument. … Court granted continuance to Saturday April 23, 1887 at 10 o’clock a.m. Prisoner committed to charge of Sheriff with instruction to take extra precautions and with order to return prisoner to court on day set for examination, April 23, 1887. Saturday, April 23, 1887. Prisoner brought into court by Deputy Sheriff. W. K. Brown, Atty. for State, J. W. Lewis and J. E. Bagly attys. for defense.

Sherman Center News, May 20, 1887. “The murder case was continued until the next term of court next fall, and Mrs. F. H. Boalt left yesterday morning for her Ohio home, to wait the slow action of the court and justice to be meted out to the guilty party.”

When Sherman County Commissioners John Bray, Charles E. Bennett, and E. L. Lyons met at Eustis on July 5, 1887, they allowed payment of several bills, including $49.11 to Sheriff R. G. Albright for taking prisoner to Norton county Jail and $7.60 for tending inquest of F. H. Boalt. Eustis may have had a county jail, however a Sherman county jail was also in process of being built during 1887 and 1888, according to bills paid by the commission. The commissioners also allowed $29.50 for lodging & boarding at the Norton Jail from May 21, 1887 to June 30, 1887, plus medicine for the prisoner, and $7.00 to a Dr. Turner for medical treatment of Chas. Olin.

On July 6, 1887 the commission allowed $25.00 to Dr. J. M. Poff and Dr. Rush for the autopsy of Boalt case; however the bill of Dr. J. R. Morris was layed (sic) over to October 3, 1887 “on account of not being a registered Physician to autopsy in Boalt case.” At that same meeting they allowed fees of 10 cents a mile and 50 cents a day in fees to the following: Geo. Nott, Geo. G. Ewing, P. H. Nickle, A. B. Mead, M. H. Brachear, Dr. Poff, J. R. Morris, Dora (also listed as Flora) Jones, Edward Jones, Daniel Jones, James Hoit, O. B. Kail, W. H. Pratt, W. P. Pierce, John Hollingshead, and Frank Hollingshead. Inquest fees were paid to: W. P. Pierce, J. E. McDowell, John Maloney, John H. Scott, John Hollingshead, and J. H. Myers. Witness fees were paid to P. H. Nickle (50 cents), G. G. Ewing (50 cents), and A. B. Mead ($1.00). The firm of Ennis & Walker was paid 75 cents for bedding for the prisoner.

In the November 26, 1887 county commission minutes, juror fees in the case of the State of Kansas vs. Chas. Olin were paid to: J. S. Kelley (foreman), J. B. Moore, G. S. Sperry, John Farris, Emery Pratt, Jacob Ayer, J. T. Wasson, Andrew Wasson, J. J. Knight, Daniel Dillinger, W. T. Tovera, Ethen Allen, Emmett Lister, H. A. Chambers, J. H. Seviler, G. W. Duff, W. T. Clayton, A. N. W. Palmer, C. H. Paddock and C. P. Harris.

In the District Court of Sherman County. The State of Kansas, Plaintiff vs. Charles Olin, Defendant. VERDICT We the jury, duly empanneled and sworn in the above entitled cause, do find from the law and the evidence, that the defendant, Charles Olin, is guilty of murder in the first degree as charged in the information herein.

J. S. Kelley, Foreman. [no date on this document]

The Goodland News, Thursday, October 27, 1887. “Charles Olin was sentenced at Eustis Friday, by Judge Pratt, to be hanged for the murder of Boalt. In order to hang a man in this state the governor has to sign the death warrant and as this has not been done for many years it is hardly likely that it will be the case with Olin. The murder was very revolting and the murderer deserves hanging if ever a man did. Olin had been off his claim longer than the law allowed and Boalt had put a contest on. When Olin returned he found this to be the case and he went to Boalt’s house and shot him through the window. The evidence against him was altogether circumstantial, but was sufficiently strong to convict. When sentence was pronounced he appeared unmoved and said he had nothing to say, and once during the trial he was very much amused and laughed heartily. Sheriff Albright started with him for Topeka the same afternoon, and as the wagon in which they were riding passed the court room, Olin looked as a farmer going to his claim, instead of a man to be either hanged or shut up from the world for the rest of his years.”

Thus ends the saga of the first homicide to be tried in the courts of Sherman County Kansas.

The date for this year’s history conference is Saturday, May 24^th. It will be held from 1 to 5 p.m. in the meeting room of The Goodland Public Library. Linda Davis-Stephens of Colby Community College will be the main speaker. Linda’s topic will be the Dewey-Berry Feud. For more information please contact Evelyn Ward at (785) 899-3351. The history conference is being sponsored by The Heritage Preservation Alliance.

Thank You to all our members who have recently renewed their memberships. We appreciate your support. Please feel free to share with us your ideas for newsletter topics or publications, we would like to hear from you.

The Sherman County Historical Society will once again be entering The Carnegie Arts Center’s Tablescapes competition. The showing will be held during the month of May. Terri Anderson, Board member, will be representing the historical society. Last year, Lloyd Holbrook’s table won the competition for the historical society, and we received $100.00. For those of you living in or near Goodland, please attend this showing and vote for your favorite table. Good luck, Terri!

Furnishings loaned to the Ennis-Handy House since the last bulletin include: A 36” x 48” lithograph of “The Marriage of Pocahontas”, framed in a giltwood and pseudo marble ornate frame, loaned by Rod and Michelle Cooper; A 1928 Goodland State Bank calendar and 1923 Kolacny Cleaning & Tailoring calendar, both loaned by Mrs. Lucille Blackwood of Jacksonville, FL via Gary Garrett of Goodland. A brown silk Victorian style dress and form by Gerry Osterman.

Gifted to the Historical Society are three Llanos Township record books covering years 1910 to 1960 by Allen Quenzer of Brewster, and a New Hope School Clerk’s record book which has been added to the school record collection at the court house. Thank you Mr. Quenzer, for these valuable additions for research.

The Sherman County Historical Society is looking for anyone interested in donating yearbooks or alumni directories from Goodland, Edson, or Kanorado. These will be kept in our collection for research purposes.

The Sherman County Historical Society’s research department is currently working on the second edition of the Obituary book.  The new edition will cover the periods 1901-1915. The book is in the final stages of production before heading to the printers.

The Carnegie Arts Center, formerly the Carnegie Library of Goodland and later the Senior Center, celebrated its ninetieth birthday on Monday afternoon, March 31^st. David Branda, president of The Sherman County Historical Society, presented a plaque to Tina Goodwin, director of the Carnegie Arts Center, on behalf of The Sherman County Historical Society and The Heritage Preservation Alliance. In attendance were Board members of the arts center and the historical society, Goodland Ambassadors, the City Manager, and area residents. Light refreshments were served as visitors enjoyed the latest art exhibition.

SHERMAN COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY
ANNUAL MEETING
JANUARY 25, 2003