Wicked Wichita

Early Wichita earned a wicked reputation from newspapers across Kansas thanks to a bevy of madams and murderers, bootleggers and bank robbers, con men and crooked cops. Gambler and saloonkeeper Rowdy Joe Lowe was the toast of the town before shooting down his rival, Red Beard, and skipping town. Robber and cop killer Clever Eddie Adams spread a wave of terror until the police evened the score. Dixie Lee ran the city’s classiest brothel with little interference from authorities. Notorious quack Professor H. Samuels made a fortune selling worthless eye drops. And county attorney Willard Boone was chased out of town when he was caught with his hand in the bootlegger’s cookie jar. Local author Joe Stumpe tells the real stories of the city’s best-known and least-known criminals and misfits.