Goochey's Story About Vigilantes

Doc Middleton

In a February blog I shared the transcript of one version of the story Louis Goochey told his grandchildren about the Turpin shooting.  I promised more information to help sort through the story.  This is a start....

Goochey told his family that “shortly after the family moved to their claim on the Niobrara [he] was approached by a committee from the neighborhood. They stated that the area was rife with horse thieves, and, since law authority was tenuous at best, they had formed a vigilante committee to protect their property from these thieves.” 

How true is this?  Let’s look at what was going on.

James Robert Turpin - Cloyd and Delbert’s Dad

James Robert Turpin

James Robert Turpin was the last of the Turpin children to be born in Iowa.  He was born 9 April 1877 and spent his first birthday in Nebraska as the family relocated. 

Not much is known about his youth, but at age 18 (a few years after his dad's death) James went to work at Carns in Keya Paha County, Nebraska in the A.O.U.W. (Ancient Order of United Workmen).  He was living at home in the 1900 census and his brother Charles and family are living next door.  In 1900, his father Newt Turpin was no longer alive and his mother Mary Ellen had not yet remarried.  James was listed as a farmer and I’m sure that at 23 years of age, he was helping his mother with the farming as she raised the family – there were six other kids living at home in 1900.