One of the first crimes committed in Platte County, and the one in which pioneer justice was meted out without delay, occurred in January, 1867.
Robert Wilson and Ransel B. Grant were employed by John Rickly in hauling wood for the Union Pacific Railroad. They got into a quarrel over the measurement, Wilson claiming that Grant had taken some wood from his pile and put it on his own. Their quarrels had been growing in heat for some time, and, upon the day in question, Wilson walked up to Grant and shot him through the lungs. The tragedy occurred south of the Union Pacific track, near Speice & North's office. Having committed this heartless murder, he went to the store of John Rickly and found him ongaged in settling up some accounts with an employe. Being busy at the time, Mr. Rickly did not look up, but, without preface or hesitation, Wilson said, "I've shot a man, --- ---- ye; I've got $1,700, four wagons and fourteen yoke of oxen. Take me before Bill Little, of Omaha. I don't want to hang here. I killed a man in Indiana, and had $1,400, and got clear." Mr. Rickly did not believe him at first, thinking the man crazy, but, as he persisted, took the murderer into a building which he owned near by, and locked him up with his dog and bottle of whisky. Pretty soon, the sheriff, John Browner, came along. He had been notified of the murder and was shown to the temporary lock-up. The three then went to where the murdered man lay and put him upon a lumber wagon. Wilson thereupon mounted the vehicle and muttered his satisfaction, scowling at the dead body and half shaking his fist at it. George Grant, brother of the murdered man, became acquainted with the facts in the tragedy in the afternoon. He bought a large coil of rope the next day, and, throwing it around his body, marched all over town, even as far out as the brewery block, shouting, in a loud voice, "Who'll avenge the blood of my brother?" It happened that, upon the very day of the murder, Leander Gerrard went to the Grant brothers to see about some stock. While there, the conversation turned upon the character of the murderer, and it may be that, at the very time the tragedy was occurring, George Grant was speaking a good word for Robert Wilson. In the afternoon, however, he heard of the murder, starting out that day to wake public sentiment. Calling upon Mr. Gerrard, he tried to induce him to sign the "death warrant," which appears hereafter, but that gentleman attempted to dissuade him from his rash resolve. A Coroner's inquest was held before Justice Hudson upon the day of the murder, and the regular trial fixed for the next morning.
The trial finally took place before Justice Hudson, upon the afternoon of the day succeeding the murder. The court-room was crowded, the "death warrant" having been extensively signed. Wilson, trembling at the fate which he knew awaited him, had already conveyed the information to the court that $500 awaited him if he (the prisoner) were allowed the privilege of "sloping" But Mr. Hudson knew what public sentiment meant in those days, besides being bribe-proof, and kept his eye on the murderer. O. T. B. Williams was the prosecuting attorney, and C. A. Speice and C. C. Strawn--the latter editor of the Golden Age, Mr. Speice being Williams' partner in the law--attorneys for the defense. It is needless to say that the court decided to hold him for murder in the first degree.
Hardly had the decision been announced before a rush was made for the prisoner, who, knowing what was coming, tried to break away from the Sheriff and the court and reach the back door. The authority for this proceeding was the death warrant already referred to, which was as follows:
COLUMBUS, N.T., January 16, 1867.
We, the undersigned, citizens of Columbus and vicinity, having become duly informed of all the circumstances connected with the shooting of Ransel B. Grant by a person calling himself Robert Wilson, and being fully satisfied that the murder was without provocation and brutal in its character; and knowing the uncertainty of the law in this Territory; and there being no safe place of confinement in this county; therefore, for these reasons and others which might be mentioned, we are firmly of the opinion that justice requires that the said Robert Wilson ought to be executed without delay.
Although the court threw himself before the prisoner, he was seized by violent hands himself; ditto the Sheriff and Deputy, Wash Fulton. A rope was thrown around Wilson's body, and he was dragged along the road toward a large tree a few rods southeast of the court room. When first taken from the Justice's office, he lost his hat in the scuffle. His old bull-dog, his close companion, settled there and remained for two or three days, allowing no one to approach--not even a team. The murderer was dragged to the tree, which is still standing, and hauled up over the limb, exclaiming the while. "Boys, you don't give a fellow any chance!" But his antecedents were sufficiently known to turn the edge of any little feelings of pity which might otherwise be caused by his conduct. In fact, it had been his boast that he had killed his man in Indiana, or in Bowling Green, Ky., and that his money had bought him off. He had threatened the lives of several before he shot Grant, and, with a "yank," he was pulled up between heaven and earth. His body was taken down and dragged to the Loup amid general rejoicing. A hole was cut in the ice, and the corpse pushed in head first--which was the last of Robert Wilson, the murderer of Ransel B. Grant. So disrespectful was the treatment of the villain by the people of Columbus that they did not even vouchsafe an examination of his person to ascertain where he had deposited the $1,700. But, in pursuance of a decision of an Arbitrator's Court, consisting of Messrs. Leander Gerrard and C. H. Whaley, all of Wilson's property in Butler County went to the widow of the murdered man, while all his effects found in Platte County were divided among the legal fraternity.
This affair, and its subsequent results, formed one of the most exciting and excitable episodes which ever stirred the blood of Platte County. The famous death warrant, published above, has never before been made public, but, since fifteen years have blown over, there is little danger of its signers being called to account by the more stringent legal formalities of the present day.
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