Henry Newton Brown - The Medicine Valley Bank Robbery

The Medicine Valley Bank Robbery

In April, 1884, Brown and Wheeler concocted a story convincing the mayor to give them leave to travel into the Indian Territory to hunt a murderer. With two Cherokee Outlet cowboys, William Smith and John Wesley, they rode to Medicine Lodge, Kansas, and attempted to rob the Medicine Valley Bank. Almost immediately, their attempt fell apart in disaster when gunfire erupted and two of the bank officers were shot. Most conventional accounts name Brown as bank president Wylie Payne’s murderer. But T. A. McNeal, author of When Kansas Was Young, sat at his friend Payne’s bedside as he lay dying and reports that Payne named Wesley as his killer. Wheeler (and possibility, Wesley) shot George Geppert, the bank's chief cashier who, just before he died, sealed the vault, preventing the robbers from escaping with any money.

Brown and the outlaws fled under fire, pursued by a posse composed of 12 cowboys that happened to be in a stable directly across the street from the bank. The four fugitives, closely pursued by the posse, unwittingly rode into a box canyon several miles south of the town and were eventually forced to surrender. Later, incarcerated in the town's small jail, they anticipated a lynch mob, and were offered the opportunity to write letters to their loved ones. Brown did write a poignant letter to his wife. It read in part: "Darling Wife: I am in jail here. Four of us tried to rob the bank here and one man shot one of the men in the bank. I want you to come and see me as soon as you can. I will send you all of my things and you can sell them. But keep the Winchester. It is hard for me to write this letter, but it was all for you, my sweet wife, and for the love I have for you. “Do not go back on me. If you do it will kill me. Be true to me as long as you live, and come to see me if you think enough of me. My love is just the same as it always was. Oh, how I did hate to leave you last Sunday evening. But I did not think this would happen. I thought we could take in the money and not have any trouble with it, but a man’s fondest hopes are sometimes broken with trouble. We would not have been arrested but one of our horses gave out and we could not leave him alone. I do not know what to write. Do the best you can with everything. I want you to send me some clothes. Sell all the things you don’t need. Have your picture taken and send it to me. Now, my dear wife, go and see Mr. Witzleben and Mr. Nyce and get the money. If a mob does not kill us we will come out all right after while. Maude, I did not shoot anyone and didn’t want the others to kill anyone. But they did and that is all there is about it. Now, my darling wife, goodbye. H. N. Brown."