Sidney Telegraph: Missing pages of history

Sidney Telegraph: The missing pages of history

M. Timothy Nolting

In the spring of 1876, Texas cowboys, James M. Riley and his brother Joe took part in the roundup of 2,500 head of longhorn steers on the Nueces River. After the herd had been gathered and road-branded the brothers joined the drive that was headed for the Dakotas. It was the first large herd of Texas longhorns to cross the state of Nebraska for delivery to Sioux Indian Agencies on the Missouri River.

Although Joe apparently made a good hand, James was a bit more restless and following the southern end of 2,500 northbound longhorns was not his idea of adventure. Perhaps it was the revelry and excitement in the Nebraska cow town of Ogallala that sparked the wild streak in James. Whatever it was that called to his spirit of adventure it was not the cattle trail to the Dakotas. James drew his pay, bid his brother farewell, and faded into the boisterous clamor of dance halls, gambling houses and saloons.

In the fall of 1876 James hired on as a teamster with the freighting outfit of Pratt and Ferris out of Sidney. Gold had been discovered in the Black Hills and Sidney was a major terminus for supplies from the east to the mining camps of the Dakotas. Sidney was a booming town with a reputation for rampant lawlessness. Troopers at Sidney Barracks were charged with the task of protecting the railroad and the ever-increasing flow of westward emigrants. However, many times the soldiers were more a part of the problem, than an aid to the solution, in matters of lawlessness.

On January 16, 1877 the Cheyenne Daily Ledger reported on a brawl between soldiers and teamsters at Joe Lane’s saloon in Sidney, Nebraska “… Private James Keith was shot and instantly killed, by one James Riley.”

The archives of The Sidney Telegraph are missing these pages of history, but more detail of the brawl can be found in other sources. In August of 1879, Mr. Riley gave a personal interview with a reporter from the other Sidney paper, the Plaindealer. In the interview, Riley tells the reporter about the January 13, 1877 incident of being severely beaten by soldiers and only killing Private Keith in self-defense. This was later confirmed by the Sidney Chief of Police, John Nelson who said, “I was in the place at the time. I could not blame him in any way for what he had done. I told him to skip out of town as quickly as he could…” However, despite several eyewitness accounts supporting the claim of self-defense, on April 7, 1877, a grand jury indicted James M. Riley for murder in the second degree.

Interestingly enough, the official Army records show that one Private, James Keefe of Company D, “died of disease” on January 13, 1877 at Sidney Barracks, Nebraska, “as a result of accidental gunshot.” No doubt the disease was the rampant epidemic of lead poisoning resulting from frequent gunplay.

Although these particular pages of The Sidney Telegraph have been lost, there were numerous opportunities to cover the continuing story of James M. Riley. The archives of the Telegraph contain multiple accounts of the young man whose direction in life was drastically changed when he became a ‘wanted’ killer. With a price on his head, Riley was compelled to live the life of an outlaw until he was finally captured, tried and sentenced. After his release from prison, Riley became a respected citizen and in 1885 was appointed Deputy Sheriff of the newly formed Sheridan County, Nebraska.

From 1877 until his death in 1913 The Sidney Telegraph carried numerous stories about James M. Riley, aka, Texas Jack, Jack Lyons, Gold-Tooth Jack, Gold-Tooth Charley and to his Nebraska friends and foes, he was known as “Doc” Middleton.