Vernon County Sheriff Joseph Bailey was shot and killed while attempting to arrest two brothers for hog stealing.

On March 26, 1867 Sheriff Bailey rode out to Moor's Mill, four miles west of Nevada to arrest two brothers suspected of being hog thieves. The men refused to disarm himself and he agreed to take them in armed. The sheriff was last seen 2 miles west of Nevada riding with the two brothers following him. When he failed to return a search was mounted and he was found dead beside the road, shot in the back of the head. The suspects robbed the Sheriff of his gun, horse, and money. Two of the suspects escaped, a third suspect who was believed to have aided the men was lynched in Vernon County.

Sheriff Bailey had served with the agency for one year and previously as a Brigadier General during the Civil War and was a Freemason. He was survived by his wife, Mary, and four children. nterred: Evergreen Cemetery, Fort Scott, Bourbon County, Kansas.

Marshal Coffman was a veteran of the Union Army in the Civil War and served at the Red River Expedition. Interred: Hillcrest Cemetery, Fulton, Callaway County, MO.