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Outlaw Frightens Girl at Wayside Hotel

By Capper's Staff
Published on August 26, 2011

My great-grandmother came to Kansas in a covered wagon when she was a young girl: Her family stopped at one of the wayside hotels for a meal.

Great-Grandmother was sitting at the table beside an empty chair. There was sudden confusion when two known outlaws came in and one of them seated himself by the frightened girl. She was too scared to eat because the man had placed a gun beside his plate. When the outlaw noticed that she wasn’t eating, he picked up his gun, twirled it around his finger and said, “What’s the matter, little girl? Are you afraid of my toothpick?”

Mrs. Jim Crane
Wichita, Kansas


Back in 1955 a call went out from the editors of the then CAPEPR’s WEEKLY asking for readers to send in articles on true pioneers. Hundreds of letters came pouring in from early settlers and their children, many now in their 80s and 90s, and from grandchildren of settlers, all with tales to tell. So many articles were received that a decision was made to create a book, and in 1956, the first My Folks title – My Folks Came in a Covered Wagon – hit the shelves. Nine other books have since been published in the My Folks series, all filled to the brim with true tales from CAPPER’s readers, and we are proud to make those stories available to our growing online community.