Museum Memories

Submitted by Lucille Glasgow
Courtesy of Clay County 1890 Jail Museum - Heritage Center

The following are "Museum Memories" from the archives of the the Clay County 1890 Jail Museum - Heritage Center, where a collection of stories, newspaper articles and memories are located.  These articles have been published in the Clay County Leader and are there for copyrighted by the Clay County Leader & authors.  All articles are reprinted with permission as well as the articles posted on this site.  Please do not copy or redistribute any articles without the written permission of the Clay County Leader or authors.

If you would like to visit the the Clay County 1890 Jail Museum - Heritage Center,
please contact Lucille Glasgow for more information about the museum.


A real treasure trove of Clay County history has been donated to the museum by Jo Ann Glassford from the collection her late husband, Bill Glassford, publisher of the Clay County Leader, had accumulated over the years. The archives already had copies of some of it, but most of it is new to our collection. This is just a small bit of the legacy "Mr. Bill" has left to Clay County and we are grateful for it.
One piece of info is a clipping from the Wichita Daily Times of July 8, 1951, written by Frank Hall, Times Staff Correspondent, entitled, "White Horse, Kiowa Chief, indicted in Clay County in 1874 for murder." Most of us have read or heard the story before but this article contains more information than is usually known.

"Henrietta, Texas, July 7.-Dusty files in the Clay County courthouse this week yielded documentary evidence concerning one of this area's early-day incidents that almost had been lost to history.
"That incident was the slaying of Gotlieb Koozier, pioneer settler, by warring Kiowas during one of their raids.

"Original copy of the grand jury's indictment of White Horse, leader of the Kiowas, once known as the 'Tigers of the Plains,' for the murder of Koozier was located in files at the office of District Clerk J. Don Slagle.

"The document, still well preserved despite the years since it was returned in 1874, accuses the Kiowas' leader of killing Koozier with a gun on June 10, 1870.
"Additional search of Clay County court records failed to reveal any trace of White Horse ever being tried. Apparently he successfully eluded capture and never was called upon to answer for the murder before the white man's bar of Justice.

"No records could be located of any additional indictments being returned in the Koozier killing so White Horse must have received the dubious honor of getting all the official credit for the slaying.
"The slaying was followed by the capture of Koozier's wife and several of their children by the Kiowas but many of the facts surrounding the actual killing and ultimate fate of the widow and children remain clouded in the incomplete recording of history of that particular era.
"Little has been written of the Koozier slaying. Many and varied have been the tales told about the incident.

"Probably the most complete printed account of Koozier's death at the hands of the marauding Kiowas appears in the book, 'Andele, or the Mexican-Kiowa Captive,' written by Rev. J. J. Methvin, missionary to the Indians. The book, termed an account of 'real life among the Indians,' was published in the late 1890's.
"But obviously Reverend Methvin's account of the incident is far from presenting all the facts, and portions of his account differ from stories handed down from father to son concerning the slaying.
"Reverend Methvin says in his book that the slaying occurred July 10, 1870, but the original indictment discovered here sets the date of the slaying as June 10 of that year.

"The indictment was not returned until Aug. 7, 1874, more than four years after Koozier's death, and at about the time that Clay County was reorganized. The county originally was carved out of Cooke County in 1859 and organized in 1860 but later abandoned due to Indian raids.

"The name of F. E. Piner, district attorney, appears upon the indictment. W. N. Howeth was foreman of the grand jury that pointed an official accusing finger toward White Horse. It was the first grand jury session after the county's reorganization.

"Also found in the court files here were two warrants, one dated Sept. 5, 1874, the other Dec. 10, 1875, commanding the Clay County sheriff 'to take the body of White Horse, if to be found in your county, and him safely keep so that you have him before the honorable district court of Clay County&then and there to answer to an indictment for murder.'

"F. Johnston was clerk of the district court at the time the warrants were issued, and G. W. Alexander was deputy clerk. Both warrants bear the scrawled notation that White Horse was not located in the county.
"The fourth instrument found in the historic White Horse file is a subpoena for two witnesses, Dan Koozier and Elizabeth Koozier, to appear in the trial against the Kiowas' leader -but they never were afforded the opportunity to speak up against him in court.

"Since Reverend Methvin's book carries the only detailed account of Koozier's death that has been located, portions of the story are reprinted below:

"& a band of Kiowas went to the home of Gottlieb Koozier, in Texas. Mr. Koozer was not aware of the Indians' approach till he saw them in the yard, and being defenseless, he decided it was best to show a friendly spirit toward them, so he went to meet them and offered his hand in friendship. Two of them took hold of his hands at the same time in apparent friendship while another, stepping a little to one side, shot him through the heart. They scalped him and then went into the house, destroyed what they found therein, dresses, feather beds and many other things. They took Mrs. Koozer and her five children - one a young lady, one small girl and three boys - and also a young man by the name of Martin Kilgore, who was about 14 years of age, and started back to the reservation.

"As soon as news of this outrage was received at Fort sill, Agent Tatum determined to rescue the prisoners and find out and punish, if possible, the depredators. He announced to the Indians what he had heard, and declared that he would never issue any more government supplies to them till they brought the prisoners in. They demanded a ransom for, two years before, they had been paid $1500 each for some captives. He sent a letter to Mrs. Koozier by the hands of a trusty Indian on the 7th of August, 1870, On the 18th of August, the Indians, giving up any idea of fighting, went to the agency with their wives and children.
"Whenever Indians are not expecting to fight, they take with them their wives and children everywhere they go, but when war is expected they send them all away together in care of the old men. When, therefore, women and children are in sight there is assurance of peace.

"They had two of the Koozier family, Miss Koozier and her little sister, with them. The little one, who had not seen her mother for several days, began crying, but was forced to hush. Indians do not allow their captives to cry. The soldiers became indignant and stepped forward to take the captives, but in an instant the Indians pointed a dagger at the heart of the girls. The Indians took them away, but seeing they could not change Agent Tatum from his purpose to withhold all government supplies till the prisoners were delivered, by 11 o'clock the two girls and two boys were brought in and delivered to him. A Mexican Kiowa had the mother and he was stubborn and insisted upon a ransom, 'a mule and a carbine.'

"Having delivered the above four, the Indians called for the supplies, but were informed that all the prisoners must be brought in first. Very soon Mrs. Koozier and the other boy were brought in but they had left young Kilgore at their camp out many miles upon the reservation. Agent Tatum then paid the Indians $100 apiece for the captives, lest in the future they should kill all they found on their marauding expeditions instead of taking them captive. He then issued them the usual government supplies, with the understanding that he would issue no more till M. B. Kilgore was delivered to him.

"The Koozier family were a pitiable sight. Nobody can describe what Mrs. Koozier and her daughter suffered till they found some protection and relief from an Indian woman who seemed to have more than the usual influence of a woman among the Indians. Mrs. Koozier was appropriated by a Mexican Kiowa as his wife, and he was very cruel to her, trying twice to kill her, but each time protected by the chiefs.
"Three days later Colonel Grierson sent a detachment of soldiers to conduct Mrs. Koozier and her children to Montague, Texas, from which place she reached her home in safety. After the awful scenes of the past month and a half, what a home!

"Reverend Methvin gives no specific reason of why the Indians raided the Koozier home, leaving the implication that they were just on one of their numerous expeditions into Texas with a view of pillaging some early settlers' homes and possibly obtaining a few more scalps.
"However, another theory has been advanced by some of those who have a knowledge of the background of some of those early day events.

"This theory is that some horses had been stolen from the Kiowas and that the animals had been brought south of Red River and placed in a lot near the Koozier home. Whether Koozier was aware the animals were stolen is not clear. When the Kiowas saw their horses in Koozier's lot they decided to seek revenge by killing him, capturing his family and pillaging the home, according to this version of the story.
"Another interesting sidelight to the Koozier incident is told by some of the old timers here in Clay County, but apparently historians never have recorded it.

"It seems that one of the Koozier children had fiery red hair. The Indians could not understand why anybody's hair should be of such a color and they figured something had been placed on it to make it appear red. Consequently they washed the child's hair frequently for many days trying to get the red out of it. It is not known what their final conclusions were on the matter.

"Just what became of the Koozier family after their release by the Indians has been lost in the dim recesses of the past, but several hold to the belief that they found their way to Illinois, from whence Mrs. Koozier had come to Texas, where they sought to forget the terrible experiences of the Indian raid and their subsequent days as captives of the redmen.

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