Vengeance of a Maniac in the Winfield Daily Courier on August 14, 1903
Collection: Gilbert Twigg
Title
Vengeance of a Maniac in the Winfield Daily Courier on August 14, 1903
Subject
Winfield Daily Courier
Twigg, Gilbert A.
Winfield, KS
Description
The article in the Winfield Daily Courier on August 14, 1903 described the mass shooting at the corner of 9th Avenue and Main Street in Winfield, KS. Caman's Band was in the middle of their concert when Gilbert Twigg began shooting into the crowd. Three men were killed, four more carried away in critical condition, and around 25 men and one woman were injured.
Creator
Winfield Daily Courier, Winfield, Kansas USA
Publisher
Winfield Public Library, Winfield, KS USA
Date
1903-08-14
Rights
Format
text/plain
Type
Clippings
Citation
Winfield Daily Courier, Winfield, Kansas USA, “Vengeance of a Maniac in the Winfield Daily Courier on August 14, 1903,” Winfield Digital Collections, accessed June 23, 2026, https://winfield.digitalsckls.info/item/223.
Text
Winfield Daily Courier
ESTABLISHED 1884. WINFIELD, KANSAS, FRIDAY, AUGUST 14, 1903.
THE COWLEY COUNTY FAIR AT WINFIELD, KANSAS,
VENGEANCE OF A MANIAC
Gilbert Twigg, Demented, Fires on a Crowd of Citizens and
Prominent Young Business and Professional Men Went Down Before His Leaded Argument.
DEAD 6, SERIOUSLY INJURED 25
Possessed of An Hallucination - After Wreaking Vengeance on
An Innocent People Takes His Own Life.
HE WAS A COWLEY COUNTY BOY
At 9:15 p. m., Thursday, the Survivor of Recent War Made His Last Charge - God'sFinger Freed the Wayward and the Once Good Soldier Crossed the Great Divide.
Last, night at 9:15 Gilbert Twigg, a demented young man, deliberately fired into the crowd of promenading people, at Ninth avenue and Main street, as Caman’s band was in the midst of its regular weekly concert.
As a result of his wild episode, three men were killed out right, four more
were carried from the street in a die-ing condition and no less than twenty five men and one woman were injured -some fatally.
THE DEAD
GILBERT TWIGG,
STERLING RACE,
WILL BOWMAM,
DAWSON BILLITER,
OTIS CARTER
Jack Simpson. breast,
Al Shoups, legs
CHARLEY THOMAS is dy-ing at the Win field hospital.
SAM COMPTON’S injuries are much more serious than at first reported.
JIM CLARKSON may recover on account of his unparallelled nerve and rugged constitution.
ELMER FARNSWORTH reported dying and the attending
physians will make no promises.
Artie Cutler, foot.
- Paris,
each shell was loaded with twelve bullets, each as large as a good sized pea.
At the first shot fired, Clyds Wagon-er’s horn was shattered in his hand and at the next Re Oliver fell from his chair on the band stand.
It would beggar fancy to attempt to describe the suffering of the injured and the sight of prominent young businessmen dying in pools of their own blood, made strong men turn aside their heads.
A hand full of brains on the pavement in front of the Craig book store, with young Dawson Tillitson laying within a few feet, in a pool of his own blood, is a representative picture of
the vengence meeted out to an inno-cent public by the demented man.
After firing his first two shots, Twigg arose and each time he fired he took a step backward, until he was in the aIleyway back of Craig’s where he came face to face to face with night-watchman, George Nichols and Cal Ferguson, who out of |he crowd of several thousand people, were the only men who displayed any disposition to follow the veritable human cannon and then still believing himself innocent and the victim of plotting enemies
Twigg took his own life, rather than be taken alive.
— The body of the desperado was car-ried ried to the street where it was identi-fied by Chance Wells, manager for the Baden Produce company and who was at one time Twigg’s employer.
Twigg- was a smooth faced
rather handsome man of about (thirty years,
He was a miller having learned his trade at Burden, this county, and was
afterwards employed by the Baden’s
Original Format
Paper
Title
Vengeance of a Maniac in the Winfield Daily Courier on August 14, 1903
Subject
Winfield Daily Courier
Twigg, Gilbert A.
Winfield, KS
Description
The article in the Winfield Daily Courier on August 14, 1903 described the mass shooting at the corner of 9th Avenue and Main Street in Winfield, KS. Caman's Band was in the middle of their concert when Gilbert Twigg began shooting into the crowd. Three men were killed, four more carried away in critical condition, and around 25 men and one woman were injured.
Creator
Winfield Daily Courier, Winfield, Kansas USA
Publisher
Winfield Public Library, Winfield, KS USA
Date
1903-08-14
Rights
Format
text/plain
Type
Clippings
Citation
Winfield Daily Courier, Winfield, Kansas USA, “Vengeance of a Maniac in the Winfield Daily Courier on August 14, 1903,” Winfield Digital Collections, accessed June 23, 2026, https://winfield.digitalsckls.info/item/223.Text
Winfield Daily Courier
ESTABLISHED 1884. WINFIELD, KANSAS, FRIDAY, AUGUST 14, 1903.
THE COWLEY COUNTY FAIR AT WINFIELD, KANSAS,
VENGEANCE OF A MANIAC
Gilbert Twigg, Demented, Fires on a Crowd of Citizens and
Prominent Young Business and Professional Men Went Down Before His Leaded Argument.
DEAD 6, SERIOUSLY INJURED 25
Possessed of An Hallucination - After Wreaking Vengeance on
An Innocent People Takes His Own Life.
HE WAS A COWLEY COUNTY BOY
At 9:15 p. m., Thursday, the Survivor of Recent War Made His Last Charge - God'sFinger Freed the Wayward and the Once Good Soldier Crossed the Great Divide.
Last, night at 9:15 Gilbert Twigg, a demented young man, deliberately fired into the crowd of promenading people, at Ninth avenue and Main street, as Caman’s band was in the midst of its regular weekly concert.
As a result of his wild episode, three men were killed out right, four more
were carried from the street in a die-ing condition and no less than twenty five men and one woman were injured -some fatally.
THE DEAD
GILBERT TWIGG,
STERLING RACE,
WILL BOWMAM,
DAWSON BILLITER,
OTIS CARTER
Jack Simpson. breast,
Al Shoups, legs
CHARLEY THOMAS is dy-ing at the Win field hospital.
SAM COMPTON’S injuries are much more serious than at first reported.
JIM CLARKSON may recover on account of his unparallelled nerve and rugged constitution.
ELMER FARNSWORTH reported dying and the attending
physians will make no promises.
Artie Cutler, foot.
- Paris,
each shell was loaded with twelve bullets, each as large as a good sized pea.
At the first shot fired, Clyds Wagon-er’s horn was shattered in his hand and at the next Re Oliver fell from his chair on the band stand.
It would beggar fancy to attempt to describe the suffering of the injured and the sight of prominent young businessmen dying in pools of their own blood, made strong men turn aside their heads.
A hand full of brains on the pavement in front of the Craig book store, with young Dawson Tillitson laying within a few feet, in a pool of his own blood, is a representative picture of
the vengence meeted out to an inno-cent public by the demented man.
After firing his first two shots, Twigg arose and each time he fired he took a step backward, until he was in the aIleyway back of Craig’s where he came face to face to face with night-watchman, George Nichols and Cal Ferguson, who out of |he crowd of several thousand people, were the only men who displayed any disposition to follow the veritable human cannon and then still believing himself innocent and the victim of plotting enemies
Twigg took his own life, rather than be taken alive.
— The body of the desperado was car-ried ried to the street where it was identi-fied by Chance Wells, manager for the Baden Produce company and who was at one time Twigg’s employer.
Twigg- was a smooth faced
rather handsome man of about (thirty years,
He was a miller having learned his trade at Burden, this county, and was
afterwards employed by the Baden’s
Original Format
Paper