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Sheriffs of Reno County: Charles Collins

September 9, 2020 by Jim Potter 8 Comments

https://jimpotterauthor.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Sheriffs-of-Reno-County-1-Charles-Collins.mp3

· Charles Collins (1845-1906)

Sheriff 1872-1874

Eastside Cemetery, Hutchinson, KS
Eastside Cemetery, Hutchinson, KS

·

 

It’s Friday, October 7, 1927. Houston Whiteside, retired attorney-at-law, resident of Hutchinson, Kansas, since May 1872, is celebrating his 81st birthday at the Masonic Hall. Judge Whiteside has been encouraged to recall the good ‘ole days.

*

Reno County Sheriff Fay Brown, 36, the newest member of the Masons, has known Houston Whiteside for over a decade, mostly through fellowship in the Knights of Pythias. Since Whiteside retired in 1909, before Brown joined the Hutchinson Police force, the lawman never observed the well-known and well-respected attorney practice law in the courtroom.

“What do you recall about the first sheriff of the county,” asked Fay.

 

“We were friends. Charles Collins died too young,” began Whiteside. “He was only two years older than me, but he passed on at age 61 in 1906. He was never the same after his wife, Loretta McMillan, was killed in Los Angeles in a street car accident a year before his death. He brooded over her loss, and failed in his own health.

“In his youth, Collins was a tall man with eyes as black as his wavy, long hair, and with a commanding manner,” recalled Whiteside.

Hutchinson News, September 5, 1884

“I beat the first train to Hutchinson, but the first sheriff beat me here,” said Whiteside. “Charles Collins was appointed by the Governor as sheriff in the unorganized county and then was elected to the office at Reno County’s first election on March 12, 1872. Like all the other county candidates on the ballot that day, he faced no opposition. He was just 27 years old. But in 1871, Collins, who was one of the first settlers here—he took up a claim in the sand hills—helped Clinton Carter Hutchinson locate and stake out the town that would bear Hutchinson’s name.

“Collins was the first lawman to settle in the unorganized county. He carried a Deputy U. S. Marshal’s commission upon his arrival here, having become a U.S. Marshal while working as the first city marshal of Topeka. He not only knew William F. Cody, or ‘Buffalo Bill’, but he arrested him on several occasions when Cody and his men were having a good time. They became friends.

“C. C. Hutchinson didn’t want his town to become a lawless cow town of the wild west. Instead, he promoted it as ‘the banner temperance town’ of Kansas. When a fellow from Newton with two barrels of whiskey, two frowsy-headed women, a tent, and a wagon, set up his operation without consent on the banks of Cow Creek, C. C. Hutchinson sought the help of Deputy U.S. Marshal Collins. The marshal visited the Cow Creek den of sin, told them they were all under arrest for selling whiskey in an unorganized county, then escorted them to jail in Newton.”

Whiteside started laughing, just thinking about the story he was going to tell. “I used to give my friend a hard time about being a crook, prior to becoming a lawman. Even though Charles was born in Montgomery, Alabama, he fought for the Union. At the age of 12 he and his family moved to Leavenworth, Kansas. Four years later, at the outset of the war, the 16 year-old enlisted twice without his parents’ consent. Each time his father tracked him down and brought him home. Finally, on his third enlistment, still patriotic and anxious to serve his country, he traveled with young friends to St. Louis, and enlisted under the fictitious name of Michael Crook and claimed to be of foreign birth. He served in the Fifth United States Artillery for nearly three years under the name of Crook. That’s why I always told Collins that before he was sheriff, he was a crook.”

“Judge, did enlisting under a fictitious name, prevent him from collecting a pension?” asked a Mason in the crowd.

Loretta McMillan Collins died from a street car accident in Los Angeles, CA, in 1905. Charles, her husband, died from illness in Hutchinson, in 1906. They each had their funeral service from their home, 317 First Avenue east, Hutchinson, KS.

“He never filed,” answered Whiteside. “Of course, the pension system evolved. Originally, Union soldiers were required to be disabled as a result of their service. Later, as the veterans aged, they were eligible if they were unable to do manual labor whether they were wounded or not.

“Never was a man more loyal to his friends than Charles Collins,” continued Whiteside. “He was a secretive man until you got to know him. I suppose living in Leavenworth prior to the Civil War may have been a factor. Lawrence was the territorial capital of Kansas abolitionism. While the Kansas territory was home to many from the South, those settling in and around Leavenworth, learned early that a man’s politics, especially in reference to slavery, was potentially life threatening. Pro-slavery vigilance committees terrorized the territory, killing, lynching, tarring-and-feathering.

Houston Whiteside, Attorney, Hutchinson, Kansas

“Like me, Charles grew up in a family that owned slaves. I was born and bred near Shelbyville, Tennessee, a state with slavery. Our sympathies were divided. We were slave holders, and had no use for abolitionists, and yet we were not secessionists. Tennessee was loyal to the union.”

Houston considered referring to his own war injury, his crippled arm.

Russell, Houston’s father, died in 1854 when Houston was six. His father’s two brothers left home together for the war, one enlisting in the Union Army, and the other in the Confederate forces, and they fought against each other. One was killed at Chickamauga, wearing the blue; the other was badly wounded, as a rebel.

“Tennessee was in the path of the armies,” said Whiteside, “and hardly a week passed throughout the long years of the war but soldiers of either the Union Army or the Confederate passed through Bedford County.

“We were constantly raided by one side or the other seeking food and forage. Part of my work during the war was to hide out with the stock, and try to keep the animals hidden from the soldiers.

“When the war came, I was a youth of 15. Instead of trying to enlist like Collins, I served with other young men of the community in a patrol guard, an armed and mounted force. We sought to preserve the peace against the bandits and marauders.”

It was on patrol that I was severely wounded, Whiteside thought to himself, as he touched his useless arm and remembered the first, sharp pain before passing out.

“I was 15, and now I’m 81,” said Whiteside. “It was a long time ago, but it feels like it was only yesterday.”

Note: There are conflicting records for the birth year of Charles Collins. Some, like his gravestone, use 1844. Others, including his obituary, use 1845.

*

Until next time, happy writing and reading.

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Filed Under: Blog posts Tagged With: Buffalo Bill, C. C. Hutchinson, Clinton Carter Hutchinson, Fay Brown, Fifth United State Artillery, Houston Whiteside, Hutchinson Kansas, Jim Potter, Kansas Authors Club, Lawrence Kansas, Leavenworth Kansas, Loretta McMillan Collins, Reno County, Reno County Sheriff, Sheriff Fay Brown, Sheriff Fay Brown's Badge, Sheriffs of Reno County, William F. Cody

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Alex says

    September 9, 2020 at 9:21 am

    Transporting!

    Reply
    • Jim Potter says

      September 9, 2020 at 9:23 am

      Thank you, Alex!

      Reply
  2. Letty Watt says

    September 9, 2020 at 10:49 am

    I think you have found your writing niche and passion.

    Reply
    • Jim Potter says

      September 9, 2020 at 11:56 am

      Thanks so much, Letty! It’s been on my mind for 40 years! The project has always seemed monumental because I wanted to have every fact available. Now that I’ve reframed this as an introduction to sheriffs–stories–it’s no longer too big.

      Reply
  3. Louise says

    September 13, 2020 at 3:46 pm

    Enjoyed the read. Great character descriptions. Made them dimensional which of course made them real.

    Reply
    • Jim Potter says

      September 13, 2020 at 3:51 pm

      Thank you, Louise. Of course, I take liberties with dialogue. I’m planning on dedicating my next eight months to writing historical non-fiction. I’ll introduce the reader to every Reno county sheriff beginning with Charles Collins in 1872.

      Reply
  4. Earl says

    September 13, 2020 at 3:55 pm

    Great story. I enjoy my Wednesdays reading these.

    Reply
    • Jim Potter says

      September 13, 2020 at 3:56 pm

      Thanks, Earl.

      Reply

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Denise Low, author of Jackalope (Red Mountain Press)

Jim Potter is a cop, retired, but he brings deep understanding of this job to his novel Taking Back the Bullet: Trajectories of Self-Discovery. This layered novel has literary dimensions as characters explore crisis situations. Congratulations to this fine writer for his debut novel.

Rebecca from Proud Police Wife

Taking Back the Bullet is an emotional, yet captivating novel. Jim Potter does a superb job of intertwining each character and putting their individual identities on display. All law enforcement storylines are a true reflection of Potter’s years as a police officer because they are realistic and relatable. This is a book I highly recommend.

Dennis Perrin, educator

Masterful storytelling, exquisite character development, so real as to HURT and HOPE, a real page turner. Begs for stage, screenwriters, and visual episodic development a.k.a. TV series . . . Thanks Jim Potter for telling it like it is AND providing us visions of how it could be. Well done!

Rebecca Schillaci

As a former law enforcement officer, I found the story very relatable as it details the life of a law enforcement officer and the struggles some face throughout their careers. . . Taking Back the Bullet is a journey of understanding, respect, and forgiveness . . .

Sheryl Remar

I enjoyed the different stories of this book because Tom, James, and Suanna, the three main characters, represent in their own way the different struggles with themselves and society’s idea of what is normal.

John & Cindy Morrill, 20 years Air Force retired, 17 years law enforcement

I enjoyed your book. When I am looking for a new read, I always read the first page, last page and choose a random page somewhere in the middle before I decide to buy it. You had me on all three pages. I also like reading a book where you can relate to the characters and the settings in which they live and work. It makes a story more realistic if you can say, I am familiar with the area; I know where that town is or I have traveled that street. It was easy to relate to the characters. In one way or another, I have met them all somewhere in my journeys.

Judy Hawk

. . . I was impressed with the Native American information as well as the depth of character development . . . .

Wynona Winn, PhD, retired school superintendent

Three main characters walk different paths but with the same destination – each coping with his or her self-discovery, self-identity, and self-realization. Much like their earlier counterparts – Huck Finn and Holden Caulfield – their journeys are often joyous, often tedious and often tragic.

Diana Dester

Good story line, building the characters along the way. Great job!

Deb Theis, LSCSW, clinical therapist/hypnotherapist

Jim Potter has done it again! After his book, Cop in the Classroom: Lessons I’ve Learned, Tales I’ve Told, Jim has written another great work. In Taking Back the Bullet: Trajectories of Self-Discovery, Jim Potter takes us on an insightful journey into the lives and relationships of numerous characters. Jim is such a talented storyteller that the reader quickly becomes immersed and has a ‘bonding experience’ with each of the characters, feeling their joy, fear, passion and pain. Jim’s novel speaks to the empowerment of persistence with the characters as they work through their trials. As a therapist, I appreciated the heartfelt struggles from each of the characters and their diversity. I also found value in the novel’s understanding of society’s misunderstanding of both mental health and other conditions in which people struggle. The novel contains rich exposure to various realities that many of us do not know about . . . but should. When I finished this captivating novel, I was wanting to read the sequel! It was an honor and a wonderful, mesmerizing experience reading this book. Congratulations, Jim!

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I finished it last night around midnight. What a great piece of work. It kept me intrigued all the way to the end.

Sean McArdle, Winchester, England

Retired police officer Potter’s novel centres on very disparate characters and through the tried and tested means of gradually introducing each one, builds a sense of anticipation about what is going to happen to them. This often used methodology is not easy to do well but is superbly handled by Potter who knows how to give enough detail to bring the characters to life, yet not too much so as to slow down the pace of the developing story. A climactic event affects the main characters and it is at this point Potter’s deep knowledge of people and police procedures really hits home; page by page we read how a seemingly simple, though terrible occurrence, can have huge consequences. To Potter’s credit the story does not have a completely conclusive or simplistic ending. Instead it leaves the reader thinking about how the events of a single minute can affect lives forever. I would whole heartedly recommend this book not as a crime novel or even as a novel about crime but as a beautiful and positive affirmation about what it is to be human and how ultimately it is relationships which matter more than events.

Morgan Penner

Taking Back the Bullet is a novel that provides the reader with a window into the world of law enforcement. As the novel unfolds, the reader is able to see how split-second decisions alter the lives of the main characters in the story. Taking Back the Bullet also explores how humanity is impacted by mental illness. One of my favorite quotes from Taking Back the Bullet is “We’re all just a critical moment from being disabled or mentally ill, and we don’t want to think about it.” The novel also provides the reader an opportunity to gain a better understanding of how mental illness impacts the individuals, their family, friends, and society. Taking Back the Bullet is a story of forgiveness and overcoming life’s struggles and tragedies.

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Larry Kruckman, anthropologist

Jim Potter displays ethnographic skills in Taking Back the Bullet: Trajectories of Self-Discovery, creating vivid scenes and fascinating characters. The Greeks had a word for subcultures and people’s behavior: ‘ethos,’ or ‘ways of being.’ In colorful, sometimes marvelous detail, this novel captures various people and settings . . . the ethos of rural Kansas: a jail, art fair, powwow, rehab center, courtroom, albinos, and even someone in the throes of postpartum depression. So detailed are the descriptions that they must be drawn from the author’s personal experience. Besides the artfully created characters such as the struggling jailer and husband Tom Jennings, local artist Jesse Thomas, and Native American Joe Morningcloud, there is a tight story line that grabs your attention and won’t let go. Human tensions, love, conflict, joys and sorrows are all there. Magically, all the many pieces come together in a final crescendo, giving hope that even when we find ourselves in big trouble we can survive. This is a novel I highly recommend!

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Terrific story relevant to today’s social issues . . . well written . . . likable characters . . . insightful perspective from an insider in law enforcement.

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