1883 Dodge City Sheriff Summons Quadruple Signed by W.F. Petillon

Partly printed document accomplished in manuscript and signed by William F. Petillon (1846-1896), as Clerk of the District Court. Dodge City, Ford County, Kansas, 1 December 1883. 1 page with extensive docketing to verso, twice signed by Petillon. Manuscript note in red ink to recto left margin notes that the injunction was granted and signed by Petillon.

Petillon was a member of the “Dodge City Peace Commission” and is pictured in the famous image taken on 10 June 1883 alongside his close friends Bat Masterson and Luke Short.
He would also work as the editor of The Democrat newspaper of Dodge City. Earlier in 1883, the mayor of Dodge City tried to close the Long Branch Saloon, of which Luke Short was a part owner. Short appealed to his friend Masterson, who in turn contacted Earp, and along with several others were deputized. When faced with the confrontation, the mayor backed down. The conflict, though bloodless, is remembered as the Dodge City War.

Here, he signs this document four times in his role as clerk of courts in Dodge City just months after the events of the Dodge City War. The summons is for Defendant R.W. Evans, the Treasurer of Ford County. The plaintiffs, livestock dealers Beeson & Harris, were requesting a perpetual Injunction of School Tax. Stipulating the time frames with which to respond to the said petition.

[Western Americana, Law & Order, Manuscripts, Ephemera]