Mystery Surrounds Historic Murder at 1859 Jail
1859 Jail Museum. September 1959. Image from JCHS Collections. Image No. PHS 3245
The 1859 Jail and Marshal’s Home on the Independence Square has a long and storied history. It has held
countless felons, petty thieves, and even a few outlaws. Meanwhile, just a few feet away from the cell blocks,
generations of jailers and their families lived in comfortable domestic quarters in the adjoining home built
for their use.
Of all that has played out at the jail over the past century and one half, among the most dramatic and tragic
events was the murder of Sheriff Henry Bugler on the evening of June 13, 1866. The shooting of one of the
area’s most prominent law enforcement officers sent a shock wave through the county, which was still
struggling to heal deep wounds from the just-ended Civil War. With controversial Reconstruction policies
being implemented across the South and the border states, the murder carried political overtones and was
covered by newspapers nationwide.
Despite the attention it received, no one was ever charged or convicted of the crime. To this day, mystery
surrounds the events of that violent night. All the witnesses and participants have long since passed away.
We will never know for sure who fired the fatal shot. What we can do is review the known facts and consider
who had the motive and the means.
By BRAD PACE
Origins of Conflict in Jackson County
The underlying conditions in Jackson County which led to the murder of Sheriff Bugler
had origins dating way back to the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854, which overturned the
Missouri Compromise of 1820. Under the Missouri Compromise, Missouri was
permitted to enter the Union as a slave state. But the Compromise also prohibited
slavery above the 36” 30’ latitude line in the remainder of the Louisiana Territory –
which included the area that would eventually become the state of Kansas. This
arrangement helped to maintain a delicate balance between free and slave states.
But 34 years later, with passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Act, the people in the newly
created territories of Kansas and Nebraska were given the right to decide for
themselves, by popular vote, whether to enter the Union as a slave state or a free state.
This drew thousands of Northern abolitionists to settle in Kansas. In turn supporters of
slavery, sometimes called border ruffians, poured into Kansas from Missouri and
elsewhere to vote (legally or illegally), and to influence Kansas territorial politics, often
through intimidation or violence. Freestaters, often called Jayhawkers, fought with the
ruffians in Kansas, and crossed the border into Missouri looking for trouble and plunder,
and hoping to free slaves and kill slave owners. This prelude to the Civil War has been
called Bleeding Kansas, and the Border War. By 1858 the many clashes had claimed
at least 200 lives.
Border Violence Creates the Need for a New Jail
Photo taken during 2022 Living Windows at the 1859 Jail Museum. Shown is JCHS Director and Jail Museum Volunteer, Jason Wade. Image from JCHS Collections. Image No. PHS 27158.
It was in this environment, with violence spilling over both sides of the state line, that
the idea for a new Jackson County jail was born. Jittery residents of Independence, many
of whom were slave owners, hoped that such a tangible brick-and-mortar law
enforcement presence would bring some badly needed stability.
The new jail would be constructed just northeast of the Independence Square at 217 N.
Main Street. With $10,000 allocated by the County Court, prominent area architect A.B.
Cross was retained, and by 1859 construction had begun on the two-story 12-cell
limestone jail building.
Parlor at the residence of the 1859 Jail Museum. Image from JCHS Collections. Image No. PHS 27133
Adjoining the jail block, an impressive two-story red brick “Federal Style”
home was built for the sheriff who would serve as jailer. This rectangular
structure fronted Main Street so that the cell block itself was not visible
from the street. In keeping with the position and station of a Jackson County
sheriff, the house was spacious and comfortable by standards of the day.
The jail was quickly put to use housing the usual criminal elements, as well
as those detained in the ongoing border fighting.
Civil War Comes to Jackson County
When the Civil War finally erupted in 1861, Missouri elected not to secede from the
Union. This created a quandary for slave owners and families with connections to the
South. Whole communities were reliant on the slave economy. Some young men in
Missouri chose not to fight against the South, but instead took up arms against the
Union, serving unofficially as Confederate guerrillas. Known as bushwackers, they
typically operated from the relative safety of the rugged backcountry. These men
harassed Union forces, and also civilian supporters, with ambush and hit-and-run
tactics. Service as a guerilla meant a fighter could remain near his home and
maintain a certain degree of independence. But they were not afforded the protections
given to regular combatants, and were subject to arrest or even summary execution.
During the first bloody Battle of Independence in 1862, the 1859 Jail was briefly
captured by a force of Confederates and guerrillas. Afterwards it was pressed into
service as a badly needed hospital.
Order No. 11/Martial Law engraving by George Caleb Bingham. Image from JCHS Collections. Image No. PHM 21291.
The jail was a very busy place during the war, especially after August 25,
1863, when Union General Thomas Ewing issued his infamous Order No. 11,
which instituted martial law and forced thousands off their homes. Anyone
in the county suspected of being disloyal could be detained indefinitely. The
jail cells were said to be so packed that prisoners had to sleep in shifts. The
misery and suffering experienced there is almost impossible to imagine
when visiting the peaceful jail today. It became headquarters for the Federal
Provost Marshal, a status interrupted briefly by the forces of Confederate Major General Sterling Price
during the Second Battle of Independence in 1864.
The War Ends - Conflict Continues
By the time the Civil War ended in 1865, four years of fighting and upheaval had left
Jackson County in shambles. Good farmland lay abandoned and overgrown. Many
were homeless, with no way to support themselves or their families. There was no
social safety net as we know today.
Those who had supported the South, even if from well-respected families, were
marginalized by society, and often shunned by employers. Former guerrilla fighters
were presumed disloyal, and considered the lowest of the low.
It is said that in Missouri the Civil War came early and stayed late. Ex-guerrilla fighters,
many of whom had known nothing but conflict, struggled to put the war behind them.
Facing a bleak future, and barriers to assimilation, some chose a seamless transition to
outlaw, targeting banks and railroads typically owned by Eastern or pro-Union interests.
It was in this context that on June 12, 1866, a former bushwacker named Joab Perry
was arrested for horse theft and detained at the 1859 Jail.
Joab Perry
Col. William Quantrill. Image from JCHS Collections. Image No. PHS 5500.
Perry was a Cass County resident and an experienced bushwacker who had ridden with
William Quantrill’s Confederate guerrillas on their murderous raid on Lawrence, Kansas
in August of 1863. During their retreat to Kansas City after the attack, Perry was
attached to Quantrill’s rear guard to help fend off the pursuing Union Cavalry. He
reportedly lost his nerve and deserted the battle line. Fellow raider William Gregg later
wrote in 1906, in his record entitled A Little Dab of History Without Embellishment, that
Perry “struck out alone, his long hair standing out in the Kansas Breeze.”
Later that same year Perry travelled south with Quantrill and his raiders to spend the
winter months in Sherman, Texas. After some unproductive idle time, Perry decided to
separate from Quantrill and join with bushwacker William “Bloody Bill” Anderson.
Anderson was travelling to Jackson County with his own guerilla group of experienced
fighters, which included Jesse James.
Portrait of Captain Bill (Bloody Bill) Anderson in 1865. Image from JCHS Collections. Image No. PHL 4908
“Bloody Bill” soon established a reputation as a sadistic and psychopathic killer. His
atrocities included the murder of 24 unarmed Union soldiers on a captured train in
Centralia, Missouri, a war crime known today as the Centralia Massacre.
Following Anderson’s death in an ambush in October 1864, his lieutenant Archie
Clement took command. Clement was at least as brutal as Anderson, and had been
called his “scalper and head devil.”
Portrait of Archie Clement, Dave Pool, and Bill Hendricks, with their firearms. December 1863. Image from JCHS Collections. Image No. PHL 22640.
Perry’s exact actions during his war time service with Bloody Bill
Anderson and later Archie Clement are not known, but he would have been exposed to
some of the most bitter and violent fighting the Civil War had to offer.
After the war Archie Clement and his remaining band of ex-bushwackers were among
those who failed to return to peaceful civilian life.
America’s First Daylight Armed Bank Robbery
On February 16, 1866, criminals targeted the Clay County Savings Association, in
Liberty, Missouri, an institution well known to be owned and operated by former Union
militia officers. This is believed to be the first armed, daylight, peacetime bank
robbery in America.
Clay County Savings Association bank building.
In a military-style operation, roughly a dozen men took up strategic
positions around town. Meanwhile, two gunmen dressed in blue soldiers’
overcoats walked into the bank and asked to have a 10 dollar bill changed.
Before the cashier could comply the two men drew their revolvers and
climbed over the counter and demanded all the money in the bank. One of
the men gave the cashier a cotton sack and told him to fill it with money.
After stuffing the bag with approximately $58,000 in cash, government bonds, and gold and silver coins, the
cashier and his son were forced into the vault. The outlaws then closed the heavy vault door and made a
hasty getaway.
They were joined outside the bank by men on horseback, and together they galloped
out of town, firing their revolvers as they went. In what is generally considered an
accident, a 19-year-old innocent bystander was killed by a stray bullet.
Although no one was ever charged with the Clay County Savings Association heist, the
bank president and most area newspapers quickly surmised it to be the work of ex-
Confederate bushwackers. Witnesses initially identified former guerrillas Oliver
Shepherd, Bud and Donny Pence, Frank Gregg, Jim and Bill Wilkerson, and Joab
Perry. All these men, including Perry, had been part of Bloody Bill Anderson’s terrorist
group during the war.
Although witnesses did not place Archie Clement at the scene, the evidence pointed to
him as the leader, with a possible assist from Bloody Bill’s surviving brother Jim
Anderson.
An engraving of Frank and Jesse James from an unidentified publication. Image from JCHS Collections. Image No. PHL 20318.
The press did not initially accuse outlaws Cole Younger or the James
brothers. At one point Frank and Jesse James were both identified
as having been involved, but the allegations against them were later
retracted under threat. Jesse himself would always claim as an alibi that he
had been recovering from a gunshot wound at the time. Folklore and some
sources connect Younger to the crime, but he is not generally thought to
have been part of Clement’s gang at that time.
In June that same year a sheriff’s posse attempted to arrest Joab Perry for
horse theft. Hardened by years of bushwacking, Perry predictably resisted
arrest, fired shots at the sheriff’s men, and escaped. A second posse was quickly organized from a group
known as the Honest Men’s League, said to be comprised of both former federals and rebels. This volunteer
group was more successful, and on June 12, 1866, Perry was captured and delivered to the 1859 Jail, and into
the care of Jackson County Sheriff Henry Bugler.
Henry Bugler
Henry Bugler was an Irish immigrant who had a history with the jail dating back to even
before it was built. He had been paid $11 to remove the existing construction in Lot 3 in what then was
considered the “Old Town” district of Independence, to make room for the new 1859 Jail. The county had
previously employed him as a guard at the 1841 Jail, which was just north of Lot 3.
While there is no definitive record of the first lawman to occupy the new jail, it was most
likely Bugler. By the end of the war he was occupying the residence portion, along with
his growing family—wife Mary, and their children, Bridget, Mary Celia, Julia, Sarah,
Henry, Jr. and John. One last child, Thomas, was born after the war in 1866.
Gunmen Attempt a Jailbreak
When Joab Perry arrived at the jail on June 12, 1866, he was probably brought in
through a side door, rather than through the North Main Street door, which led directly
into the sheriff’s office. The South Main Street door would not have been used since it
was the private residence entrance.
After being processed Perry would have been taken to one of the 12 limestone cells.
The jail block was often full, so he may have had to share his claustrophobic cell with
one or more other prisoners. Some of the cells had leg and wrist irons, but it is unlikely
those were needed. Along with the other prisoners he would have been provided with
simple meals likely prepared by Mrs. Bugler herself.
The following evening, June 13, 1866, a group of approximately five or six armed men
on horseback rode onto the Independence Town Square. Their arrival at the 1859
Jail between 10:00 p.m. and 11:00 p.m., would have startled and alarmed the Bugler
family, who had probably turned in for the night.
When Bugler and another jailer present named Hughes appeared at the door, they were
apparently told that they would not be harmed if they would hand over the keys to the
jail so Joab Perry could be set free. There are differing accounts as to exactly what
happened next. Some sources claim that in reply Bugler began to raise his gun and
was immediately shot. However, several newspapers, including the Chicago Tribune,
reported that Bugler simply indicated he would not deliver the keys. He was then shot
as he started to close the door. This account seems reasonable, since being
outnumbered, Bugler may have been reluctant to trigger a gunfight.
The Chicago Tribune also reported that Bugler “fell dead” while “retiring into the house.”
This implies that the shooting may have occurred at the South Main Street door,
opening into the sheriff’s private residence, which is where the Bugler family normally
would have been that time of night.
Image of Henry Bugler. Image from JCHS Collections. Image No. PHL 3807.
Some sources say the fatal bullet entered Bugler’s back, while other accounts
claim he was shot through the heart.
In the brief hail of gunfire, the Bugler’s 4 year-old son John, who had been
sleeping on the second floor, was wounded in the wrist.
Newspapers described that the gunmen directed a “young man” (possibly
the jail employee named Hughes) to go retrieve the jail keys. This person “went in, but escaped back, and
hid in a hollow entry.”
The gunmen, at least one of whom was carrying a torch, then charged into the jail.
While looking unsuccessfully for the key, the torch set off a small fire in the sheriff’s
office. Although the men were likely able to get to Perry, they had no way to force open
his cell door, which was constructed of heavy hand-forged iron. They soon fled the scene before help could
arrive, leaving the disappointed Perry still behind bars.
2022 image of the main bedroom at the 1859 Jail Museum, where Henry Bugler passed away. Image from JCHS Collections. Image No. PHS 27136.
The gravely wounded Sheriff Bugler was taken upstairs to his bedroom
where he passed away.
The Usual Suspects
No one was ever charged with the brazen murder of Sheriff Bugler. In the
absence of any trial or conviction, the public and law enforcement were
denied proper closure. Speculation and controversy still exist today as to
the identity of the killer.
Most newspapers quickly deduced that the attempted jailbreak was the work of former
Confederate bushwackers. The Daily Kansas Tribune (Lawrence, Kansas) reported
that those involved supposedly belonged to a group led by “Gregg and Wilkerson.” This
was a reference to Frank Gregg and brothers Jim and Bill Wilkerson. They would have
known Perry since all had been involved in war-time guerilla groups led by William
Quantrill, Bloody Bill Anderson, or Archie Clement. More recently, Gregg, the Wilkerson
brothers, and Perry had all been suspected in the Clay County Savings Association
heist.
Perry’s possible connection to the Liberty bank job raises a question as to whether the
robbers may have wanted him freed so he could rejoin their crew. While there may well
have been a camaraderie among the ex-bushwackers, it seems unlikely that Perry
would be considered so indispensable. There were many alienated and angry former
Confederate guerillas to choose from. And this was the same Joab Perry who had
deserted William Quantrill’s battle line during their fighting retreat after the Lawrence
massacre.
Or was Perry’s incarceration troubling not so much for what he could do for the Liberty
bank robbers, but rather for what he might do to them? If he had indeed been along for
the robbery, then he would have valuable information to trade with the prosecutor in
exchange for amended charges or a reduced sentence for himself. This would have
provided Archie Clement and his band of criminals with a prime motive to break Perry
out of jail quickly, before he could rat them out. In fact, the jailbreak was attempted the
very day after he was detained.
Although most historical sources do suggest that Perry was involved in the Clay County
Savings Association robbery, we will never know this for sure. But what we do know for
certain is that he was a credentialed ex-bushwacker and well-connected in
guerilla/outlaw circles. There is a good chance he would have had information about
the crime, even if he had not actually participated.
Moreover, the former guerillas were perhaps those best positioned to even think about
breaking Perry out of jail. Naturally we can assume that his family would have wanted
him free, but there is no evidence to suggest they would have had the nerve or ability
for an operation that almost certainly would involve a gun fight. We can probably also
safely assume that few Union men would risk their neck for the likes of Joab Perry.
The ex-bushwackers on the other hand, had the weapons and the ability to use them,
honed by years of violence on the border. A bold attack on the 1859 Jail would also
serve their political aim to undermine established authority in Reconstruction era
Missouri.
Responsibility for the murder of Sheriff Bugler likely rests among those outlaws who
pulled off the daylight armed robbery of the Clay County Savings Association. These
suspects include Oliver Shepherd, Bud and Donny Pence, Frank Gregg, Jim and Bill
Wilkerson, Jim Anderson, Frank James, Archie Clement, and to a lesser degree, Cole
Younger and Jesse James.
Aftermath and Legacy
Grave marker of Henry Bugler at Woodlawn Cemetery. Image from JCHS Collections. Image No. PHM 6.
Following the murder there was a great outpouring of sympathy for Bugler and his
family, with Independence businesses closed for mourning. He was described in the
Lexington Register as an unoffending citizen, a man of unsullied character, and a victim
of the spirit of rebellion. After a large funeral procession, he was buried in St. Mary’s
Cemetery, adjoining Woodlawn Cemetery, along what is current-day Noland Road in
Independence. Engraved on his headstone are the words “assassinated while in
discharge of his duty as Jailor of Jackson County, Mo.”
Bugler’s widow Mary, then pregnant, remained working at the jail for at least a year after
the murder, feeding and tending to the prisoners. The final child of Mary and Henry
Bugler, Thomas B. Bugler, was born in the residence portion of the jail in December
1866.
The lingering Civil War divisions in Jackson County were only deepened by Bugler’s
assassination. Pro-union elements considered it just the latest example of bushwacker
resistance to post-war law and order. At a meeting of local citizens held after the killing,
it was voted to disarm every rebel in the county, and to request that the governor place
Jackson County under martial law. It was also resolved that anyone known to have
disloyal sentiments, and without visible means of support, should leave the county
within 24 hours.
An armed posse was raised, and a $1,000 reward fund established. Missouri Governor
Thomas Fletcher commanded the county to “call into the service of the state” 100
militiamen “for the preservation of the peace, and the protection of the loyal people of
the district.”
The Daily Kansas Tribune (Lawrence, Kansas) opined that the violence was a natural
result of the teaching of Missouri’s Copperhead newspapers and politicians. The
Copperhead party had opposed Lincoln during the war, and had called for a peaceful
settlement with the South.
Jackson County would endure more violence in the years to come, earning its moniker
as the “Outlaw State.” Law enforcement was hampered by a lack of cooperation from
bitter ex-Confederates who saw celebrated outlaws like the James brothers and Cole
Younger as continuing the fight against Northern interests. Jesse James in particular
promoted the politics of the “Lost Cause.”
As crimes against banks, railroads and stagecoaches grew bolder, and with the
Jackson County Sheriff seemingly unable to cope, the state legislature in 1871,
established the office of “Marshal of Jackson County,” which was a two-year elected
term. This placed the county in the unique position of having both a sheriff (who going
forward would be responsible for civil matters), and also a marshal (who would be
tasked with apprehending criminals).
Legend has it that Jackson County was given its marshal for the sole purpose of
catching Jesse James. The legislators also no doubt well remembered the murder of
Sheriff Bugler, just five years earlier.
Although the office of Jackson County Marshal was abolished in 1924, the residence
portion of the 1859 Jail has since 1871 been commonly known as the Marshal’s Home.
A visit today to the 1859 Jackson County Jail and Marshal’s Home is a tribute to the
many generations of law enforcement personnel who served there, and especially to
Sheriff Henry Bugler, the first Jackson County sheriff to give his life in the line of duty.
Brad Pace is a current board member and past president of the JCHS. He is a frequent writer on historical subjects.
Special thanks to Kip Esry and Jason Wade for their assistance in the research for this article.