Latest news with #KansasStateHistoricalSociety
Yahoo
17-05-2025
- Yahoo
‘In Cold Blood' killers hanged on gallows like these added to Kansas prison tour
When the Lansing Historical Society and Museum began offering tours of the decommissioned Kansas State Penitentiary last year, the historic prison was missing an important piece that could help drive home the haunting history of the facility. The gallows, where 15 penitentiary inmates were executed by hanging, were no longer there. That changed on Friday when the historical society unveiled a replica of the original gallows within the confines of the former prison. Unable to secure the return of the original historic structure, the Society's board voted unanimously to build a reproduction, which is now a feature of the prison tours. This reproduction will allow visitors to experience a key element of the prison's past. 'The gallows, it's a somber reminder of a part of our past,' said Debra Bates-Lamborn, president of the Lansing Historical Society and Museum. 'This is something that we grew up with, knowing they were there. And if we were to ignore that and not present it because of issues with capital punishment and whatnot, we'd be remiss,' she added. 'We chose to bring another piece of our penitentiary history, even though it's a replica, back on display.' Years after the brutal 1959 Clutter family murders in Holcomb, Kansas, the convicted killers Richard 'Dick' Hickock and Perry Smith swung on the gallows until death on April 14, 1965 at the Kansas State Penitentiary. While their execution marked a significant moment in the highly publicized 'In Cold Blood' case, they were not the last to be executed at the prison. Just months later, in June 1965, convicted killers George York and James Latham were also executed there, making them the final individuals to face capital punishment at the Lansing facility. Bates-Lamborn said the original gallows were built in 1944. They were transferred to the Kansas State Historical Society in the 1980's and are now part of the Kansas Museum of History in Topeka, where they sit disassembled in the basement. Because of a Kansas law in the 1860s that outlawed public hangings, Bates-Lamborn explained that the gallows were situated inside the warehouse, away from the view of other prisoners. On March 10, 1944, prison Warden Robert Hudspeth oversaw the first execution by hanging of Ernest Hoefgen, 31, a confessed murderer in the shooting death of Bruce Small, 18, a Kansas State College student. Dressed in a white prison suit with a #2 on it, representing his cell's number, Hoefgen's hanging was the first state-supervised execution in Kansas since 1870. The original Kansas State Penitentiary, also known as the Lansing Correctional Facility, closed in 2020 after a new, modern facility was opened on the same grounds. Managed by the Lansing Historical Society, the prison tours have been popular. 'The tours have been doing great, we had about 1,200 people go through since March,' said Bates-Lamborn. 'And we've had schools come through, criminal justice classes, eager to learn the history, the true crime of this place.' The reproduction of the gallows is certain to evoke strong emotions for visitors. Tom Young, a member of the Lansing Historical Society, led the team of Paul Lamborn, John Craig, and Randy Elliott, who quickly built the replica over a couple of days. Young explained that he went to Topeka, to learn more about the original gallows stored there. 'The state architect or whoever disassembled it, made blueprints of it when they moved it to the museum,' Young said. 'So, they gave me those and we worked off of those plans.' On the size and dimensions, Young said 'I didn't have to guess because the guy gave us measurements, all the specs were already done for us.' The replica now stands stark against the backdrop of the prison walls. The timber and the distinct design spoke of finality. Young described the dimensions, 'The platform is eight feet off the ground,' he said. 'And then the main hanging beam that goes diagonally across the trapdoor ended up being about 16-feet, nine inches.' The trapdoor, he noted, measuring 37x41 inches was made intentionally 'not operable.' Young mentioned that his grandfather, Frank Young, a prison employee who was in charge of the machine shop, helped produce the trap door for the original gallows. 'I kind of feel turnkey, you know, knowing that he had something to do with the original one back in 1944 and then I basically made a reproduction.' Young found the replica straightforward to build. 'I am happy how it turned out.' He added that a noose was securely fastened with 'about five screws' to prevent anyone from trying to remove it. Young said Friday he hopes to create a more accurate noose from a thicker rope. Under bright blue skies, visitors toured the reproduction gallows near Building No. 2, also known as death row, which stands approximately 200 feet from the original gallows' warehouse location. 'It absolutely evoked emotions when I turned the corner to see it,' said Todd Thompson, Leavenworth County Attorney, who viewed the gallows on Friday. 'It's really haunting because you see it within the facility and you see those that actually were hanged,' he said. ' And it just makes you think about what has happened here, that this isn't just, a fun tour, but something that you can take with you and hopefully instill to people like what it's like to violate crime and what the repercussions of that is.' The tour guides will be trained to discuss this history with sensitivity, Bates-Lamborn explained. A metal sign is at the bottom of the 13 steps with a profile picture of the 15 men who were hanged. Their names and the dates that they were executed are on the sign. Bates-Lamborn emphasized the human element of the gallows. 'People are very interested in hearing the stories,' she said. 'Not being able to tell the story of these 15 men is one thing, but being able to tell the story of these 15 men who were executed here is another.' 'We grew up in the shadow of the penitentiary... it's such a large part of our community's history,' said Bates-Lamborn. 'The gallows are not something that we're wanting to sensationalize, but people want to see what it looked like,' she said. 'And because we couldn't produce it, we came up with this idea.' More than just a structure of wood and rope, the gallows serve as a powerful symbol of history that will not be forgotten. Tours of the prison are conducted on Friday, Saturday and Sundays through the end of October. Some of the men who were executed on the original Kansas State Penitentiary gallows: Perry Smith and Richard Hickock (1965): Convicted for the Clutter family murders ('In Cold Blood'). Lowell Lee Andrews (1962): Executed for murdering his parents and sister. Ernest Hoefgen (1944) Clark B. Knox (1944) Fred Brady (1944) George Ronald York (1965) James Douglas Latham (1965)
Yahoo
26-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Shawnee Tribe clashes with Kansas Historical Society, others in effort to reclaim boarding school
The West Building is the oldest of the three buildings still standing at Shawnee Indian Mission state historic site, and was used in 1855-56 as offices for the first territorial legislature, known as the "Bogus Legislature" for its pro-slavery stance. Thomas Johnson, a Methodist minister who founded the mission, held at least seven enslaved persons during the 1850s, but the fates of these individuals is unknown to the historic site's partners, including the Kansas State Historical Society. (Max McCoy/Kansas Reflector) TOPEKA — State, city and tribal leaders scrutinized Tuesday an attempt from the Shawnee Tribe to acquire control of a former Native American boarding school amid disagreements over their shared history. In the tribe's second attempt to reclaim the land where Native American children from 1839 to 1862 endured assimilation tactics, resistance came from the Kansas Historical Society, the city of Fairway and a nonprofit organization, all of which currently help operate the Shawnee Indian Manual Labor School, also called the Shawnee Indian Mission. Shawnee Chief Ben Barnes of Oklahoma told legislators during a bill hearing the school was 'built on Shawnee lands by Shawnee hands and using Shawnee funds.' House Federal and State Affairs Committee chairman Tom Kessler, a Republican from Wichita, introduced the bill earlier this month. House Bill 2384 mimics one that received a hearing in 2024 to authorize the historical society to transfer the nearly 12 acres to the Shawnee Tribe with stipulations. The bill would forbid the tribe from opening a casino on the land. Barnes said his tribe's efforts have been misrepresented with some opponents saying a transfer would put the site's history at risk. 'The reality is that history is already being lost,' he said. Barnes expressed concerns with the current operations of the boarding school site, including hosting things like yoga lessons and chili competitions, along with narrow educational efforts and a lack of long-term planning. The historical society is required to create a five-year plan for the landmarks under its purview each year. The historical society has worked in tandem with the city of Fairway since 2016 to operate the site, and a three-way agreement is currently in the works between the society, the city and the Shawnee Indian Mission Foundation, a nonprofit that doesn't declare affiliation with any tribe, according to its tax filings and mission statement. All three opposed the bill, including Fairway Mayor Melanie Hepperley and Patrick Zollner, the executive director of the historical society. 'We absolutely are invested in telling everyone's story,' Zollner said. He said it's arguably the state's most historic site, highlighting its use as barracks for Union soldiers and one of the only remaining stops used by travellers on the Oregon, California and Santa Fe trails. It is the most visited historical landmark in the state, second only to the state Capitol building, Zollner said. 'It's not falling down. It's in good shape,' he told legislators Tuesday. 'It's better than some of our other state historical sites and we know there's still work. We do have a plan.' The Shawnee Tribe hired Architectural Resources Group, a firm that specializes in historic architecture, to evaluate the site, and the resulting report found it was in need of $13 million in repairs and preservation and restoration efforts. In response, the Shawnee Tribe came up with a 10-year plan to fund millions of dollars in restoration that involves crafting and construction techniques that adhere to the time the school was built, Barnes said. With the backing of the tribal government, he said, the tribe has pledged to fully fund the project. Republican Rep. Clarke Sanders of Salina recalled hearing the same bill last year. 'It seems to me the problem is the opponents don't believe you're going to do what you say you're going to do,' said Sanders. The bill itself contains language requiring the tribe to adhere to its plans, Barnes said in response. Representatives from four federally recognized tribes in Kansas signed a joint resolution supporting the land transfer. Those four tribes — the Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation, the Kickapoo Tribe of Kansas, the Sac and Fox Nation of Missouri in Kansas and Nebraska, and the Iowa Tribe of Kansas and Nebraska — also want to weigh in on the future of the school site. Any financial contribution to the Shawnee Tribe's restoration efforts from other tribes has not been discussed, said Joseph Rupnick, chairman of the Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation's tribal council. 'We just want to make sure that we're being consulted on any work that's being done out there to make sure that it fits within our vision of what that site should look like,' he said. On the other hand, members of the Kaw — or Kanza — Nation, which originally possessed much of present-day northeast Kansas, and other tribes were unsupportive. Melissa Garrett, an enrolled citizen of the Cherokee, Quapaw and Seneca-Cayuga nations, described her grandfather as a survivor of the Carlisle Indian Industrial School, the first off-reservation boarding school in the U.S. While assimilation did occur in Kansas, Garrett cautioned against oversimplifying history and comparing it to federally mandated boarding schools. 'Instead of transferring ownership to a single tribe, we should try to preserve an inclusive, multi-tribal, state-supported preservation model that reflects the full history and the complex history,' Garrett said. The boarding school was founded by Thomas Johnson, a Methodist missionary, slaveholder and pro-slavery advocate. He is also the namesake of Johnson County, where the historical site is located. Children from 22 different tribes attended the boarding school. Most of the attendees were from the Shawnee and Delaware — historically called Lenape — tribes, which lived in present day Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York and New Jersey. Indigenous people either moved eastward on their own to avoid encroaching colonialism or were forced eastward into 'Indian Territory,' including present day Kansas. Both the Shawnee and Delaware tribes were removed from Kansas to Oklahoma once Kansas became a state. A collection of records about Johnson and the school was published in 1939. A September 1854 entry from the Daily Republican in Massachusetts reads: 'He draws pay for every one present the first day, and it always happens that after the first few days, the school diminishes wonderfully in numbers. No restraint is exercised over those children who wish to go, and some who wish to stay and learn are abused to such a degree that they are obliged to go.' The state of Kansas acquired the 12 acres of land in 1927, and it was designated as a historical landmark in 1968. Attention to the problematic history of Native American boarding schools has been piqued in recent years. Former President Joe Biden issued a formal apology on behalf of the U.S. government in October for the country's boarding school program. Former Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland created the Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative to examine and document the troubled history of Native American boarding schools in the U.S.
