- John W. Hillmon and Sadie E. Quinn Marriage License, Douglas County, Kansas, 3 October 1878.
- The Hillmon Concealment, by John Benjamin Lewis and Charles Carroll Bombaugh, from Stratagems and Conspiracies to Defraud Life Insurance Companies: An Authentic Record of Remarkable Cases, pages 173 - 180.
- The Hillman Case, by T.A. McNeal, from When Kansas Was Young, pages 89 - 92.
- A Protocol for Excavation and Analysis of Remains Located in a Gravesite in Lawrence, Kansas (attached as an exhibit to the petition for exhumation).
- Medicine Lodge, Barber County, Kansas.
- Sun City, Barber County, Kansas.
(All of the following hyperlinks which are to off-site pages will open in a new browser window.)
Earlier Accounts of the Hillmon case:
- The Hillmon Concealment, by John Benjamin Lewis and Charles Carroll Bombaugh, from Stratagems and Conspiracies to Defraud Life Insurance Companies: An Authentic Record of Remarkable Cases, pages 173 - 180.
- The Hillman Case, by T.A. McNeal, from When Kansas Was Young, pages 89 - 92.
- "The Case of the Anonymous Corpse", by Brooks W. McCracken. American Heritage, June 1968, Vol. 19, Issue 4.
Academic papers & news articles:
Mimi Wesson and Dennis Van Gerven's investigation of the Hillmon case:
- The Hillmon Case: An Exercise in Interdisciplinary Research and Teaching - Dennis VanGerven and Mimi Wesson with Jim Curry, moderator. "The Wisdom of Practice in Teaching and Learning", Fall 2005 Retreat, University of Colorado President's Teaching Scholars Program.
- "Particular Intentions": The Hillmon Case and the Supreme Court, 18 Law & Lit. 343 (2006), by Marianne Wesson.
- Gravesite in Lawrence’s Oak Hill Cemetery might hold clues to the mystery of Crooked Creek, By Charlie Brennan - Special from Rocky Mountain News, Lawrence Journal-World, January 30, 2006. Includes a photo captioned: "University of Colorado professors Dennis Van Gerven and Mimi Wesson hold pictures of a body believed to be John Wesley Hillmon, who died in 1879. Van Gerven and Wesson plan to ask Lawrence officials for permission to exhume Hillmon’s body, supposedly buried in Oak Hill Cemetery."
- Petition filed to dig up old grave: City supports project to exhume 127-year-old remains at Oak Hill Cemetery By Sophia Maines, Lawrence Journal-World, Saturday, 02 February 2006. "Two University of Colorado professors want to exhume the remains of a 127-year-old unmarked grave at Oak Hill Cemetery. Anthropology professor Dennis Van Gerven and law professor Marianne Wesson both are working on the project. They plan to use forensic evidence to solve a dispute that in 1892 was taken to the U.S. Supreme Court and generated an important piece of federal evidence law."
- Professors will exhume body to solve mystery, Wichita Eagle, 05 April 2006. "LAWRENCE - Two University of Colorado professors hope a 127-year-old mystery involving an unmarked grave in Kansas will be solved as soon as next month. A Douglas County judge on Friday gave Colorado anthropology professor Dennis Van Gerven and law professor Marianne Wesson permission to exhume a body in the grave at Lawrence's Oak Hill Cemetery. They hope to determine if the corpse is John Hillmon or Frederick A. Walters. Questions about who was buried in the grave eventually led to the creation of an important piece of federal evidence law in the late 1800s."
- DNA twist to Old West case: CU profs hear from descendant of man they exhume today By Charlie Brennan, Rocky Mountain News , May 19, 2006. "LAWRENCE, Kan. - An answer to the John Wesley Hillmon mystery might be found in the DNA, after all. Work begins early today to identify the coffin's remains at the 127- year-old grave of the man at the center of an epic insurance fraud case. And now, the 11th-hour discovery of a Hillmon descendant could make the job much easier..."
- Sleuths continue digging into grave mystery By Sophia Maines, Lawrence Journal-World, Saturday, 19 May 2006. "A bit of bone. That’s all they have for now, and that may be all two University of Colorado professors need to solve the century-old mystery of who was buried in an unmarked grave in Lawrence’s Oak Hill Cemetery. After several hours of digging, crews shortly after noon today uncovered what they believe is a piece of shoulder blade."
- Grave riddle one step closer to being laid to rest: Identity of bones could have legal impact By Sophia Maines, Lawrence Journal-World, Saturday, 20 May 2006. "Will the bones unearthed Friday from an unmarked grave in Lawrence’s Oak Hill Cemetery solve a 127-year-old murder mystery? After hours of digging, crews exhumed numerous bits of remains, including teeth and parts of skull and clavicle. DNA tests will now determine who was laid to rest in the grassy plot more than a century ago."
- Teeth could help unearth longstanding mystery: Colorado researchers dig up grave in Lawrence to determine who was buried there in 1879 By Tim Hrenchir, The Capital-Journal, 20 May 2006. "LAWRENCE -- Researchers digging up a grave Friday in Oak Hill Cemetery found teeth and bone fragments, leaving them optimistic that DNA testing can prove whether the man buried there in 1879 was actually John Wesley Hillmon. University of Colorado law professor Mimi Wesson said more than 20 small bone fragments were recovered from the grave purported to be that of Hillmon, who was at the center of an epic insurance fraud case that was twice heard by the Supreme Court. Wesson and CU anthropology professor Dennis Van Gerven led the team that conducted Friday's dig."
- Bones back in Kansas: DNA evidence pending in landmark 1879 case By Charlie Brennan, Rocky Mountain News, May 22, 2006. "Forty-six of the 47 bones exhumed Friday at this city's Oak Hill Cemetery were returned to the earth Sunday in a brief ceremony under cloudless skies. It's the fourth time the same remains have been laid to rest. Just one bone, a section of a man's left shoulder blade, is to be taken back to Boulder, where a geneticist will attempt to retrieve DNA that could prove whether the man buried here 127 years ago is Hillmon, or perhaps another man who was killed in 1879 and buried as part of a $25,000 insurance fraud."
See current Google search results for Hillmon +Wesson for more information about Mimi Wesson's investigation of the Hillmon case; see Google search results for Marianne Wesson for more information about her writings and career.
Dennis Van Gerven, PhD - Director, Honors Program, University of Colorado at Boulder. See current Google search results for Hillmon +Gerven for more information about Dennis Van Gerven's investigation of this case; see Google search results: Dennis Van Gerven for more information about his writings and career.
A Plausible Cause of Death? Death resulting from the accidental discharge of a firearm being taken from a wagon or carried in a horse-drawn conveyance was not an uncommon occurence around the time the man thought to be John Hillman/John Hillmon was killed.
Other examples from the Barber County, Kansas, area are Harrison Jones of Barber County, who died in 1887, Frank Robinson of Barber County, who died in 1890, Tom Brown of Barber County, who died in 1901, Joseph Young of Barber County, who also died in 1901, Willie Richardson, of neighboring Comanche County, in 1907, and Forrest Tatton, also of Comanche County, in 1919.
From the Barber County, Kansas: History & Genealogy web site:
- Tales From The Crypt by David Fasgold, The Gyp Hills Premiere, 27 Feb 2006.
- Benjamin Hillman Family, 1860 Census, Grasshopper Falls, Jefferson County, Kansas.
- Benjamin Hillman, father of John W. Hillman/Hillmon. Obituary from the The Oskaloosa Independent, 27 Nov. 1869. Jefferson County, Kansas.
Biographies of a few people involved in the Hillmon case:
- John Harrison Atwood: "He was attorney in the famous John W. Hillman will case remembered because of the claim of the insurance companies that another body than Hillman's was being palmed off to obtain $25,000 of insurance money; there had been six trials of this case without result; on this trial a verdict was obtained and over $40,000 recovered for the widow."
- George J. Barker: "He was the chief attorney for the insurance companies in the Hillmon case, and conducted for the companies every examination of witnesses."
- Colonel Samuel Walker: "The party came down to identify the body as Hillman was largely insured in both companies. The identification was satisfactory and the body started Tuesday morning to be returned to his relatives near Lawrence. Col. Walker of Lawrence accompanied the party. The Col’s. fame in early Kansas history is too well known to need any comment." -- The Medicine Lodge Cresset, April 3, 1879.