A Corpus Christi connection to an Old West homicide - Part 1
Dodge City’s beloved Dora Hand had been murdered by Texas cowboy, Spike Kennedy, and a posse of the city’s elite lawmen were in hot pursuit. Even though Kenedy was seen riding West out of town, the posse realized that he would eventually head south toward Texas.
Two days later, they encountered him near Meade City, 35 miles south of Dodge City.
When Kenedy refused to surrender, the lawmen fired numerous shots. Three bullets struck and killed Kenedy's horse. Another shot from Bat Masterson's rifle struck Kenedy in the left shoulder, shattering it and Kenedy's upper arm.
Kenedy's first words to the lawmen as he was being arrested were: "Did I kill that bastard Kelley?" When Bat Masterson told him that he had not killed Kelley but had killed Dora instead, a distraught Spike Kenedy responded, "then you ought to have made a better shot at me than you did."
The gravely wounded Kenedy was returned to Dodge City and to a waiting mob that wanted him lynched immediately. He was jailed not only as a suspect in the murder but to protect him from the mob. Doctors believed that he would probably die from his gunshot wound. Things did not look good for the 23-year-old hothead from Texas. Three days after the murder of Dora Hand, young Spike Kenedy underwent surgery in his jail cell.
Although he would survive the wound, surgeons had to remove 4 inches of his arm bone, leaving the arm permanently disabled. But, that was the least of his worries. Not only had an eyewitness seen him leave the scene of the crime, but he also had told a friend before the shooting that he was on his way to kill Mayor Kelley, AND he had freely admitted his role in the shooting when he was arrested. It was an open and shut case from which there seemed to be no escape.
Meanwhile, Dodge City's beloved Dora Hand was laid to rest in the city's "Boot Hill" cemetery. Her funeral was attended by the largest crowd the city had ever seen. Every store, saloon, and gambling house was closed. Over 400 cowboys, with their hats on their saddle horns, rode behind the springboard wagon that carried Dora's body to the cemetery. People from Dodge City's most prominent citizens to notorious saloon types were in attendance. Such was the respect the entire town had for Dora Hand.
At the same time, Mifflin Kenedy was on a train from Corpus Christi heading to Dodge City. Because of Spike's grave medical condition, his "trial" on murder charges was held three weeks later in a small room next to his jail cell, Judge Rufus G. Cook presiding. The proceedings were over in just a few short hours.
On October 29, the Ford County Globe reported that Kenedy, "the man who was arrested for the murder of Dora Hand was examined last week before Judge R. G. Cook and acquitted. His trial took place in the Sheriff's office, which was too small to admit spectators. We do not know what the evidence was or upon what grounds he was acquitted." I doubt that we'll ever know for sure what 'arrangements' were made for Spike's acquittal. The official report claimed that there was a lack of evidence to warrant a full trial on murder charges. Unofficial reports were that Mifflin Kenedy paid out as much as $25,000 to the right people to gain the release of his son.
Spike Kenedy was returned to Texas and spent months recovering from his wound. The Kenedy family never fully recovered from the embarrassment of Spike's role in the murder of Dora Hand. Spike DID settle down somewhat....enough so to become co-manager of his father's ranch with his younger brother, John.
In November 1883, Spike married Corina Balli Trevino. His brother, John G. Kenedy, would marry Marie Stella Turcotte in January 1884. Despite the fact that Mifflin Kenedy's daughter, Sarah, had married Dr. Arthur E. Spohn (THE Dr. Spohn) in 1876, it was the wayward son, Spike, who gave Mifflin Kenedy his first grandchild.
On August 24, 1884, Spike and Corina's son, George Mifflin Kenedy, was born in Corpus Christi. The joy of that birth, however, would be overshadowed by the rapidly declining health of Spike. He had contracted typhoid malarial fever and severe lung congestion. James "Spike" Kenedy, the infamous killer of Dora Hand, passed away in Corpus Christi on December 29, 1884, at the age of 29. Father Claude Jaillet administered the last rights and assured the family that his sins had been forgiven.
**At the time of his death, Spike Kennedy was under indictment for the "accidental" shooting of a ranch hand whom he had fired. Just 2 1/2 months after Spike's death, his mother, Petra Kenedy, passed away. She requested that she be buried next to her son (a mother's love never wavers). In 1888, Spike's oldest brother, Tom Kenedy, age 35, was shot to death by the estranged husband of a woman he was courting. Such was the tumultuous life of the Mifflin Kenedy family.....and the Corpus Christi connection to a famous Old West murder.
Robert Parks is a special contributor to KRIS 6 News. Parks was a history teacher at Carroll High School for 19 years and is now retired. His knowledge of Corpus Christi history makes him a unique expert in the subject.
