Ca. August 25, 1874; Meade, Kansas: The Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad hired a twenty-two-man crew
to finish its survey in southwestern Kansas. The small expedition left
Dodge City in August and divided up on 24 August to cover different
regions. Oliver F. Short and his party of six men headed out for Meade
County with their wagon and tools. Short, his fourteen-year-old son
Daniel, James Shaw, Shaw's eighteen-year-old son Allen, Harry Jones,
and John Keuchler were never seen alive again.
Near Spring Creek, about six miles southwest of present-day Meade, Kansas, a band of fifteen or more Cheyennes led by Medicine Water surprised the surveyors in their camp and quickly killed them all. Two days later, another crew saw their wagon and rode up to the scene. The wagon had twenty-eight bullet holes in it, and the oxen were dead in their yokes; the warriors had cut off their hindquarters for food. The party's dog was also dead. Jones and the two Shorts were scalped and had their heads smashed in. Their pockets were turned out and the contents stolen. Medicine Water had also captured Oliver Short's big bay horse.
The six were all buried at the site of their deaths, near a large, lone tree, which served as the massacre's only memorial until 1938, when a Kansas historical marker was erected a mile west of Meade. After her husband's murder, Frances Short petitioned the government for $10,000 in losses. Following much debate, she and Mrs. Shaw eventually received $5,000 each.
