Bill Caldwell: Jasper County posses have changed with the times
Jun. 19—Mention the word "posse" and often Western movies will come to mind. It could be John Wayne, Gene Autry or Roy Rogers leading a group of horsemen across a desolate landscape in pursuit of bad men, hoping to head them off at the pass — all in glorious black and white.
That kind of lore persists in memory and dies hard. Posses have a long history in Jasper County, and successor groups such as the Jasper County Mounted Sheriff's Posse continue to this day.
Missouri sheriffs, as part of their duty to preserve the public peace and quiet, are empowered by the state constitution to raise a posse comitatus at their direction as their judgment may require. The term refers to a group of people mobilized by a public officer, usually a sheriff, to suppress lawlessness. In common usage, it has been shortened to posse.
Notable posse pursuits
The pursuit of horse thieves was a common cause for raising a posse in the late 1800s in Jasper County. Notable among horse thieves who required a posse for their apprehension was May Colvin. The young woman stole horses and buggies over two years in the 1890s. A sheriff or deputy would be hard pressed to keep up with her. Her longest escapade began June 19, 1893, with a jail break in Carthage, and she led a hastily called posse on a merry chase through Jasper and Newton counties until her horse dropped from exhaustion on the border with Indian Territory.
Members of posses in Jasper County at that time were often also members of the Anti-Horse Thief Association. They stood ready to respond to calls from sheriffs or marshals. One of the last of these took place in 1914. The Baxter National Bank robbery in Baxter Springs, Kansas, caused mounted posses from Kansas and Missouri to be summoned to scour the hills after robbers left the public roads. The robbers on horseback had cut fences and crossed plowed fields in order to elude a 100-man posse in automobiles called by Baxter Springs City Marshal Henry Horton.
After World War I, technology in the form of automobiles and telephones had changed police work. Criminals and law enforcement had taken to cars and used the improved roads to good effect. The AHTA had become a social group as tractors took the place of horses on farms. In searching through the Globe and News Herald archives for the 1920s and 1930s, there are no local stories of county sheriffs summoning a posse.
Cold War revives the posse
That was the situation until the years after World War II. The Cold War, with its threat of nuclear war with the Soviet Union, caused the formation of state and local civil defense agencies. The probability of disruption of roads and communication led local governments to look for alternative ways to supplement law enforcement. Starting in the late 1940s, county sheriffs across the country began to establish horse patrols as a civil defense measure.
Sheriff George Hickam, the county's longest serving sheriff (1947-1972), followed the trend and established the Jasper County Mounted Sheriff's Posse in January 1956. A Globe article from April 28 showed a photo of 19 members on horseback lined up for a practice session at the old Joplin Stockyards rodeo arena. There were 37 members at the time. The goal was to have a maximum of 53 members.
The purpose for the group was to aid in civil defense work and assist the sheriff's department or other agencies in a time of emergency, such as tornadoes or floods.
Each of the members had to own or have access to a horse at all times. All were volunteers serving without pay. To qualify for membership, each would be screened by the sheriff's department and required to take a loyalty oath. Once approved, the members would be trained in first aid, traffic direction and firearms handling, with additional training as horsemen as required. Ongoing first aid and civil defense police training were requirements to remain in the posse. Members were given special deputy sheriff commissions, though the extent of their authority was not specified.
The group's first fundraising event was a square dance with music by the Ozark Jubilee in Joplin's Memorial Hall for the purpose of purchasing uniforms and equipment. This became the template for future fundraising events.
Posse's work
By September, the posse had uniforms and had sufficient training to present horsemanship programs at rodeos in Coffeyville, Kansas, and Cassville, as well as the Lamar Saddle Club's Horse Show. The posse became a regular part of the traffic control guiding visitors along the route to Carver Days in Diamond for several years through the end of the 1950s.
In May 1960, a Jasper County civil defense drill practiced a mass evacuation of the town of Jasper. A caravan of 324 people left Jasper for Carthage to register as evacuees and receive medical checks at Memorial Hall. The posse was stationed in Jasper along with sheriff's deputies to monitor the town during the drill.
All through the 1960s to the 1980s, the posse participated in holiday parades, town celebrations such as Carl Junction's annual Bingville and in horse shows across the state. They earned first-place recognition in parades such as the American Royal parade in Kansas City in 1971. By the 1970s, they sponsored their own horse show at the old Joplin Stockyards arena.
However, the posse had gone into a lengthy hiatus in the 1990s, and that did not end until 2004. The posse was officially revived by Sheriff Archie Dunn and renewed by current Sheriff Randee Kaiser.
They continue to be self-funded, working crowd and traffic control for shows and community events and participate in area parades. While in previous decades the posse presented horsemanship programs, the new group now focuses on participating in search-and-rescue operations. In recent years, they took part in the search for a boy in Carthage in 2016 and a missing man along Highway 96 in 2020.
The membership is much smaller these days, with just 10 members at present. A member must pass a background screening, own or have access to a horse, be willing to train in first aid and search-and-rescue practices, and train and maintain their horse. For example, their horses must be able to handle working in crowds, among cars or on uneven terrain.
For more than 50 years, the Jasper County Mounted Sheriff's Posse has performed ceremonial and public service work for the sheriff's department and local communities. While their role now is a far cry from chasing horse thieves or bank robbers across country, members of the mounted posse have carved out a niche for themselves as horsemen for continued community service.
Bill Caldwell is the retired librarian at The Joplin Globe. If you have a question you'd like him to research, send an email to wcaldwell@joplinglobe.com or leave a message at 417-627-7261.
