Jackson County Deputy Marshal Henry Hughes was shot and killed whili attempting to serve a warrant.

On February 10, 1877, Deputy Marshal Hughes was shot and killed serving a warrant for assault with intent to kill. Jackson County Judge Ranson had issued a warrant for two men, Richard Green and Frank Miller, for shooting at three young men on the east levy. Deputy Hughes received information that the men named in the warrant were working six miles east of Independence as wood choppers for a man named Fisher. Deputy Hughes set off for the area and contacted Fisher at 7 or 8 pm on February 10. Fisher confirmed that the two men were working for him and accompanied Marshal Hughes to the double cabin where the men were located. Fisher entered the cabin followed by Deputy Hughes and found the two men playing cards with two other men by firelight. Deputy Hughes read the warrant to the men then asked Green to surrender his gun. Green drew a pistol and fired three shots at Deputy Hughes inflicting a bullet wound to the deputy's left chest, piercing his lung, and another striking the deputy in the arm, breaking the bone near the shoulder. Fisher attempted to render aid to Deputy Hughes who died within five minutes of the assault.

Suspects Green and Miller fled together into the woods but were surrounded in a field the following morning, where they were apprehended and taken to Kansas City for safekeeping. Green, alias Edward McFarren, the son of a well-to-do Iowa farmer was found to also be wanted in Fremont, Iowa where he had assaulted the sheriff and broken jail while being held for horse stealing.

Suspect Richard Green was found guilty of first degree murder by a jury. After the three-day trial the jury was reported to have deliberated for a mere 30 minutes before rendering a guilty verdict. His appeal to the Missouri Supreme Court was denied and he was hanged on March 1, 1878 in a narrow alleyway between the rear off the new courthouse and the bluff. The Jackson County marshal presiding over the execution. The execution was intended to be private but a crowd of thousands gathered on the day of the execution, covering the bluffs in the area and requiring Company A of the Kansas City Guard and the Craig's Rifles to keep the peace.

Suspect Frank Miller was granted a change in venue, tried in Lexington, Missouri, found guilty of first degree murder and sentenced to hang on May 8, 1878. The Missouri Supreme Court heard and affirmed Miller's conviction. Miller's sentence was later commuted by Governor Phelps in 1878 to ten years imprisonment.

Deputy Hughes, a Mason, had previously served as an associate editor of the Independence Herald. He was survived by his wife and one child. Interred: Sibley Cemetery, Sibley, MO. (ID: 202, Mon: 346, Map: A6-07)

Deputy Marshal Henry H. Hughes served during the era when the County Marshal served Jackson County from 1871-1924, as the designated conservator of the peace in the county, maintained the jail in independence and the courts and had all the powers in criminal cases that are or may be conferred on sheriffs. He maintained an office in the marshal's jail that also had a quarters for the resident jailer. What is now the 1859 Jail Museum in Independence, MO.

Article by Brent Marchant