Deadmans Bar on the Snake River
A true story as told by Eric Barker
In 1886, T.H. Tiggerman, Henry Welter, and August Kellenberger were panning for gold in the shallows along this stretch of the Snake River in Wyoming and were found brutally murdered. One victim was shot in the back, and the other two were dispatched by ax blows that stove in their skulls. The assailant – John Tonner, a fourth partner on the mining claim – was apprehended and he claimed self-defense.
Tonner’s trial was held in Evanston, 200 miles to the south. A surgeon visited the scene of the crime to collect forensic evidence, specifically the skulls of the murdered miners. These he prepared on-site, boiling them in a large kettle to clean them for transport. He packed the axe-damaged skulls and brought them back to Evanston to be viewed by the jury; the third skull was left behind. The kettle and the skull are now stored at the Jackson Hole Museum.
Despite the evidence of fatal axe blows on the two skulls presented to the jury back in Evanston, they voted to acquit Tonner, citing the circumstantial nature of the evidence and the lack of eyewitnesses. Upon his release, Tonner fled Wyoming Territory. He hopped on the first train out of Evanston, promising to pay his attorney as soon as he got back on his feet. Apparently, he never did. The citizens of Wyoming Territory viewed the Tonner verdict as a miscarriage of justice, a sentiment that may have encouraged and justified later vigilantism.
Deadmans Bar on the Snake River
A true story as told by Eric Barker
In 1886, T.H. Tiggerman, Henry Welter, and August Kellenberger were panning for gold in the shallows along this stretch of the Snake River in Wyoming and were found brutally murdered. One victim was shot in the back, and the other two were dispatched by ax blows that stove in their skulls. The assailant – John Tonner, a fourth partner on the mining claim – was apprehended and he claimed self-defense.
Tonner’s trial was held in Evanston, 200 miles to the south. A surgeon visited the scene of the crime to collect forensic evidence, specifically the skulls of the murdered miners. These he prepared on-site, boiling them in a large kettle to clean them for transport. He packed the axe-damaged skulls and brought them back to Evanston to be viewed by the jury; the third skull was left behind. The kettle and the skull are now stored at the Jackson Hole Museum.
Despite the evidence of fatal axe blows on the two skulls presented to the jury back in Evanston, they voted to acquit Tonner, citing the circumstantial nature of the evidence and the lack of eyewitnesses. Upon his release, Tonner fled Wyoming Territory. He hopped on the first train out of Evanston, promising to pay his attorney as soon as he got back on his feet. Apparently, he never did. The citizens of Wyoming Territory viewed the Tonner verdict as a miscarriage of justice, a sentiment that may have encouraged and justified later vigilantism.