Part II-The Curley's Bar murders: Whatever happened to Milford Gardner?

Seven weeks after he was quickly removed from Tekoa and jailed in Colfax following the death of three men in his bar at Tekoa, Milford “Curley” Gardner walked out of Whitman superior court a free man. A jury of 12 men ruled his was not guilty of killing a harvest hand by hitting him with a pistol.

The early morning fight at Curley’s in Tekoa Aug. 24, 1912, had led to an emergency meeting of the Tekoa City council, a decision to revoke Curley’s bar license and then the shooting deaths of three more men when the civic delegation was greeted at the saloon by Curley’s brother who had loaded a 30-3...