Volume 15 , Issue 32

Grant County Murder Mystery (1915)

Have you ever heard of the 1915 Nellie Byers murder mystery in Grant County, Kansas? In the Meade County News, dated Thursday, November 4, 1915, front page headlines reported: Mystery Is Unsolved." The grant county, Kansas officials were still working on the Nellie Byers murder case. Nellie Byers was murdered October 22, 1915, and there was fear that Archibald Sweet would be lynched if taken to Grant county for trial.

Archie Sweet, the youth, was charged with the outrage and murder of Nellie Byers, a school teacher, who was waylaid by some ruffian, and whose nude body was found hidden in a ravine.

As reported, up to the present (4 November 1915) time nothing of particular interest had transpired in the Grant county murder mystery. As was stated the week before, the Hensons were placed under arrest, but since that time Jared Henson and his son, Alva, had been released. Clint, Henson a nephew of Jared Henson, was taken to the Ford county jail for safe keeping.

An impression taken of the teeth prints on the girl's body correspond to the plaster paris impression made of Clint Henson's teeth. In a statement made by Archie Sweet, also held in the Ford County jail on the same charge. Sweet says that Clint Henson told him that he (Henson) had killed Miss Byers, but that it looked bad for him (Sweet).

J. D. Wilkerson, the Burns detective hired in the case, does not believe that Sweet is guilty, but says that evidence points to Henson. It was on account of this opinion that he and the Grant county officials had a disagreement and Wilkerson was discharged from the case. It appears that the people of Grant county believe Sweet to be the guilty man, even though as bit by bit new light is thrown on the case it becomes evident that more than one took part in the awful crime.

Parties who were present when the body was found say that it was not yet cold, which proves one of two facts: Miss Byers was either left unconscious by her assailant or assailants, and died from exposure, or she was not killed until early int he morning of the day the body was found.

Earlier in the week it was reported that Clint Henson had been released upon orders from the Grant county authorities. The fact is that such an order was received, but before Henson was released another order was received advising that he be held until Grant county authorities could arrive in Dodge City and make further investigation. Up to this time he was in jail.

Abe Hanson, a former inmate in the Meade county jail, and who appeared in Meade the next day after the murder, with blood on his clothing, and fresh scratches on his face, and who was arrested at Enid, Oklahoma the Thursday before, charged with being implicated in the crime, seems to have vanished. It is supposed, however, that he was being held and would be called upon to prove his whereabouts the day of the crime, when the proper time came.

The crime was one of the worst on record, and it was believed by many that a gang, rather than one man, took part in it.

Dodge City Nov. 4 -- Deputy Sheriff McCall, of Grant county said he believed Abe Hanson, arrested at Enid, Oklahoma had been released. Clint Henson of Grant county who had been held in connection wight he murder, had been released. Eleven witnesses had testified that he was at the Liniger farm, six miles from the school house, all the afternoon of the day the crime was committed.

December 9, 1915

In the Meade County News, dated 9 December 1915, there was a small page snippet that read: "Western Kansas and attorney Stubbs have gotten enough publicity out of the Nellie Byers awful murder and trial should start with Archibald Sweet. If he is not guilty, let's have it out. Time something was done to bring the murders to justice. - Pratt Republican."

February 3, 1916

On Thursday, February 3, 1916, Meade County News, out of Meade, Kansas, was reporting on the Nellie Byers Case.

Topeka, Jan. 25 (1916) -- Dr. E. H. Ballon, the Dodge City dentist, displayed his collection of teeth, teeth marks, and other exhibits in the Byers murder case to S. M. Brewster, attorney general, on the morning of January 25, 1916. He had made a set of teeth, mounted, for both Archibald Sweet and Clint Henson. Then there was a little oval-shaped drumhead, on which he had drawn a picture of teeth marks on the body of Nellie Byers, the murdered school teacher. There were also a dozen wax records, replicas of the teeth marks on the body, and those made on wax by Sweet and Henson.

Dr. Ballou explained again to Brewster that teeth marks on a body are not reliable. He took the little drumhead and stretched it. The position of the teeth marks was all distorted. After the marks were made on a human body, he explained, the flesh straightens out and does not give an accurate relics of the marks made.

Summed up, however, and admitting that the teeth marks on the body of the girl might be used as evidence. Dr. Ballou sized the situation up as follows:

"The teeth marks could have been made by Henson. Henson has an alibi to prove he wasn't there when the murder was committed. The teeth marks could not have been made by Archie Sweet. Sweet has admitted that he was in the neighborhood when the crime was committed. Measurements of footprints coincide with measurements of Sweet's shoes. Sweet says Henson wore a pair of his (Sweet's) shoes that day. There you are. The case against Sweet, charged with murder, is set for the April term of the Grant county district court. Nellie Byers was murdered October 22, 1915, and there was fear that Sweet would be lynched if taken to Grant county for trial."

In the Meade County News, dated 4 May 1916, there is another article, "Sweet Trial At Syracuse." The Archie Sweet trial would be held at Syracuse, May 22, 1916.

Archie Sweet, the youth, was charged with the outrage and murder of Nellie Byers, a school teacher, who was waylaid by some ruffian, and whose nude body was found hidden in a ravine. The only evidence against Sweet was purely circumstantial evidence that he was near the scene of the crime, by his own admission, and saw the school teacher at a distance, as she was starting for home the afternoon of the tragedy. Other than this, there was no evidence against Sweet. Prints of the teeth marks on the girl's body absolutely did not fit the mouth of Archie Sweet, according to the dentist who made the cast. Sweet was poor and had no funds to employ lawyers, but he would be defended by J. I. Sheperd, an attorney of Fort Scott, where Sweet formerly lived, who had volunteered his services.   |  View or Add Comments (0 Comments)   |   Receive updates ( subscribers)  |   Unsubscribe

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