User:Dausten59/Dora hand

Dora Hand was a saloon singer in early Dodge City, Kansas. Dora was married to Thomas Hand in St. Louis and left him to travel west to seek fame and fortune. She arrived in Dodge City where she was popular performer in the various saloons and music halls in the newly formed town. Dodge City was founded in 1872 and soon sported seventeen saloons and only 1000 inhabitants. Mrs. Hand (who performed under the stage name of Fannie Keenan) regularly performed at the Comique and Varieties music halls. She also performed at the Alhambra Saloon on Front Street which was owned by Dodge City Mayor James "Dog" Kelley. While her evening profession was looked down upon by the citizens of Dodge City, she was remembered for her charitable work during the day. Because Dodge City was the trailhead for longhorn steers being brought up from Texas, every year, rowdy cowboys visited the town and were immediately drawn to the saloons & music halls on Front Street. One cowboy was James "Spike" Kenedy, son of Texas rancher, Miflin Kenedy. Spike visited the Alahambra Saloon and managed to cause enough trouble to be forcibly removed from the saloon. Kenedy did not appreciated being thrown out of "Dog" Kelley's saloon and decided to seek revenge on the Mayor and planned to fire shots into the mayor's house. But in an unfortunate turn of events, the Mayor was away seeing the doctor at Fort Dodge and had arranged for Dora Hand & another saloon singer - Fannie Garretson - to stay at his house. Early on the morning of October 4, 1878, Kenedy rode by the house, firing four shots. The first two missed the house completely, the third entered through the front and lodged in the wall and the fourth passed through the bedclothes where Fannie Garretson slept, missing her but passing through the wall into the room where Dora Hand slept, killing her instantly. A posse was formed the next day to find Kenedy and included Wyatt Earp & Bat Masterson. The posse found Kenedy but not before Wyatt Earp shot his horse and Bat Masterson wounded him. While no formal court trial was held, Kenedy was released because of the lack of a witness to the murder.