American West; The Murder of Sheriff Gaylord Lyman, Chariton Iowa July 12th , 1870, Edited by Gene Stevens

  The following story was compiled by John G. Pierce of 

Chariton Iowa. 

The Outlaw post card from the Authors collection

                                              INTRODUCTION BY BLOG AUTHOR

 

 Iowa is almost overlooked when it comes to the stories of outlawry in the region. However, there are many forgotten stories from the past, including the first train robbery in the west that occurred in Adair Iowa in 1873, the outlaw Frank Rande who went on a crime spree in Illinois, Iowa and Missouri and the Barrow gang shootout in Dexter Iowa in 1933. Another lessor know incident happened in Chariton Iowa in 1870, when the local Sheriff Gaylord Lyman was alerted that there was a possible horse thief heading to Chariton. A letter that was allegedly received from Northern Missouri warned him to be on the lookout. On July, 6, 1870 Sheriff Lyman confronted a suspicious character, which resulted in gunfire and the murder of Sheriff Lyman by outlaw Hiram Wilson. The booklet shown here was created by Author John G. Pierce, he gave me permission publish it directly from his work.

-Gene Stevens 

Hiram Wilson was seized by vigilantes and outraged citizens and hung . 

Frontier Justice was swift, even in Iowa

Credit Laramie's Vigilante Justice - Cavalryman Steakhouse (wyomingsteakhouse.com)

Iowa was admitted to the union as a free state under the Missouri compromise.

There were still fears that the Civil war could reignite, and they were 

on guard for several days after the shooting and subsequent hanging of Hiram Wilson.