Paying a Debt to Society

Lawman Henry Brown went to the dark society, with tragic results.

Henry Newton Brown made his spurs by fighting in the Lincoln County War. By 1882, he is a lawman in Caldwell, KS—and well-respected by the townsfolk there. But a new marriage meant a deluge of debt. On April 30, 1884, he and three compatriots try to rob the bank in Medicine Lodge, KS. Things go wrong; two bank employees are killed. The would-be bandits are quickly taken into custody. Brown is shot to death as he tries to escape; the others are lynched.