After arriving in Cheyenne, Wyoming Kansas Charley had himself a good meal, bought some new clothes and made a new friend of Henry Howland from Grover, Colorado. Howland later recalled that Charley had said he was from New York and that he had come to Cheyenne in hopes of getting a job as a cowboy.
A Dream Deferred
Becoming a cowboy was probably one of many unattainable dreams that Kansas Charley may have gotten from reading Dime Novels. He knew very little about how to ride a horse, much less how to care for one. He also did not possess the strength that the job required. This whole lack of skills needed resulted in Kansas Charley not becoming a cowboy. Instead, he took a job that surely, in cowboy country, did little to boost his confidence. Kansas Charley became a sheepherder. He joined a group that was headed south, on foot, to Grover.
Once Charley reached Grover he was so tired out from walking and herding sheep that he quit the job. Seemingly, he'd had enough of the Wild West. Four days later on October 6, he showed up in Leonardville, Kansas where he was reunited with his brother, Fred and Willie, who were living together with the Loofbourrow family.
Remorse,Confession, and Arrest
Perhaps it was the closeness of having at least a part of his family near him that made Charley start to feel a remorse for the murders he had committed. Perhaps it was a chance reading, in an outhouse, of a newspaper article that gave all of the goolish details of the incident.
Charley took the newspaper to his brother Fred and told him he had been the murderer those glaring printed words were telling about. Fred told the Loofbourrows the story and Charley agreed to give himself up. Three days later, Charley traveled to Manhattan, Kansas where he turned himself over to Sheriff Joseph Meyers at the Riley County Jail.
Meyers wasn't totally surprised when Charley presented himself. He had already received word to be on the lookout for the suspect of a murder committed in a train car at Hillsdale, Wyoming.
Kansas Charley is Arrested: Boy Murderer Turns Himself In , continues with Kansas Charley Makes Headlines: Waiting an Uncertain Fate.
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