The following day, he attacked and strangled her, burying her body in a haystack on a farm in Rawlins County. Read then returned to Colby, where he reported to the Sheriff that he had been kidnapped by two men but had made an escape. The law officers, aware of the missing child in Selden, began questioning Read, who finally confessed to the killing.
Over 4000 people attended the child’s funeral, and feelings ran high over the crime. Fearing for the safety of the prisoner, the Thomas County sheriff transported him to the Cheyenne County jail in St. Francis to await trial. If convicted he would serve a life sentence, as the death penalty was not a consideration in Kansas. Early the following morning, a large mob descended on St. Francis and took Richard Read from the jail to a ranch in Rawlins County, where they hanged him from a large tree by the roadside. More than 50 men had threatened the life of the Deputy Sheriff in St. Francis if he did not turn over the confessed killer. After their getaway, law officers from both Cheyenne and Rawlins Counties pursued them, but were too late to stop the mob’s actions.
Under Kansas law, automatic suspension of the sheriff of Cheyenne County was announced by Governor Woodring, and an investigation of the incident was conducted by the State Attorney General and his staff. No charges were brought against anyone, and the sheriff was quickly reinstated. The Governor announced that after the investigation and hearing, he was fully convinced that the law officers involved used every available means to protect the prisoner, and were not at fault for Read’s removal from the Cheyenne County Jail. A story from The Denver Post summed up the majority opinion on the event by declaring that ‘the execution of Read is called a lynching…but it is nothing but justice…the citizens who strung up this fiendish murderer are a credit to their community’. No one ever learned the identity of any of the members of the vigilante group that took justice into their own hands on April 17, 1932.
Thanks to the Rawlins County Historical Museum for contributing material for this story. For High Plains Public Radio, I’m Craig Cox in Atwood, Kansas.
High Plains History is a production of High Plains Public Radio. Special thanks to Lynn Boitano for additional production assistance.
