Dora Hand
Undated photo
Bornc. 1844
Place of birth missing
DiedOctober 4, 1878 (aged approximately 34)
Dodge City, Kansas, USA
Cause of deathGunshot
Resting placeBoot Hill, Dodge City
NationalityAmerican
OccupationDance hall singer
SpouseTheodore "Ted" Hand (divorced)
Close up of Dora Hand

Dora Hand, her stage name was Fannie Keenan, (c. 1844 – October 4, 1878), aged c. 34, was an American dance hall singer and actress in Dodge City, Kansas, who was mistakenly shot to death from ambush by a young unwanted suitor who was acquitted of criminal charges in the case. Hand was also linked romantically with James H. "Dog" Kelley, the mayor of Dodge City from 1867 to 1871.[1]

Biography

Hand born in New York City, and raised in Boston. She studied music in Europe and became an opera singer in New York City. After getting tuberculosis, she was taken to travel east. Hal was married musician Theodore Hand, but divorced in Indiana. She later travelled to Memphis, Tennessee, and in 1876 was in St. Louis, Missouri. Hall arrived in Dodge City in June 1878 to work for Kelley, Kelley met Hand earlier at Camp Supply.. Kelley joined P.L. Beatty and founded the Beatty and Kelley Restaurant. Kelley became a part-owner of the Dodge City Alhambra Saloon. Kelley later became mayor of Dodge City in 1877. The city's law enforcement was very weak as group of the towns merchants, saloon operators, and gamblers called the Gang like the business that the cowboys brought to the town and did not what law and order to slow business. In May 1877 cowboys in town were so out of control and had shot up business while drunk Kelley took action. Kelley sent a telegraph to lawman Wyatt Earp in Deadwood, South Dakota asking him to come to Dodge City and restore Law and order. Wyatt and Morgan became the marshals and restored restore Law and order. [2] [3][4] In 1885 a fire destroyed the wood built Beatty and Kelley Restaurant. The fire also destroyed the Alahambra Saloon/Junction Saloon. In its place Kelley built and opened the Kelley Opera House at the corner of First Avenue and Front Street. Hand became one of the well known singers at the Alahambra Saloon/Kelley Opera House, singing five nights a week. Hand was known for her version of the songs Blessed Be the Ties That Bind and Because I Love You So.. While Kelley was out of town, in a hospital in Fort Dodge, he let Hand and her friend Fannie Garretson, stay at his home. Fort Dodge was United States Army outpost about five miles from Dodge City. On October 4, 1878 at 4 am, cowboy James Kennedy (1855–1884), known a Spike, fired shots in to Kelley home, thinking the mayor was home sleeping, one of the shots hit Hand in the side and killed her instantly, she was 34-years old. James Kennedy, was the son of a rich Tascosa, Texas cattleman, Mifflin Kennedy, owner of the Laureles Ranch. Before the Laureles Ranch, Mifflin Kennedy was in a partnership with Richard King in the King Ranch. Cattleman would did cattle drives on the Chisholm Trail, to take there product to Dodge City, this is what made Dodge City a boomtown. James Kennedy and Kelley had a dispute that led Kennedy to shoot at his house. Hand friends and the town's lawmen, Sheriff Bat Masterson, Assistant US Marshal Wyatt Earp, Charlie Bassett and Bill Tilghman pursued Kennedy. A posse also took after Kennedy. Masterson caught up with Kennedy the next day and stopped him with a shot. Masterson's 50-caliber rifle took Kennedy off his horse with a hit in the shoulder.[5] Kennedy was arrested, but did not go to trial for the murder of Hand. Judge R. G. Cook and acquitted, claiming lack of evidence. Rumors are that Mifflin Kennedy may have paid Cook money. [6] Kennedy had been arrested in Dodge City two times before. Wyatt Earp arrested Kennedy for carrying and brandishing a pistol in Dodge City and on August 17, Marshal Charlie Bassett arrested Kennedy for disorderly conduct, but the Judge only gave Kennedy a warning.[7]

Television and film depiction

Claire Trevor played Hand in the 1943 film The Woman of the Town, which depicts a fictional romance with Bat Masterson.

Phyllis Coates played Hand in the 1964 episode "The Left Hand Is Damned" of the syndicated television anthology series Death Valley Days, hosted by Ronald Reagan. In the story line, Hand nurses the ungrateful gunslinger Slim Kennedy (Peter Haskell) back to health after he is shot in self-defense by Dora's boss, Mayor James H. Kelley (Stephen Roberts) of Dodge City, Kansas. Having lost the use of his right hand, Kennedy vows to kill Kelley and tries to develop skills with his left hand. However, Kennedy mistakenly kills Dora instead. Following this, Kennedy commits "suicide by cop".[8]

English singer-songwriter Frank Turner released a song displaying her story in 2019.[9]

References

  1. ↑ Weiser, Kathy, ed. (April 2010). "James H. "Dog" Kelley". Legends of Kansas. Retrieved September 4, 2014.
  2. ↑ Shillingberg, William B. (Summer 1976). "Wyatt Earp and the Buntline Special Myth". Kansas Historical Quarterly. pp. 113–154. Retrieved September 4, 2014.
  3. ↑ Kathie Bell, "Dodge City's Own James "Dog" Kelley", Dodge City Daily Globe, March 14, 2007
  4. ↑ Bill O'Neal, Encyclopedia of Western Gunfighters (Norman, Oklahoma: University of Oklahoma Press, (1979), p. 217
  5. ↑ "Haile: Rich rancher's son charged with Dodge City murder". The Courier. October 16, 2015.
  6. ↑ Laughead, George (September 23, 2009). "Robert M. Wright, 1840–1915: Dodge City, Kansas, Town President, founder, pioneer". kansashistory.us. Retrieved September 4, 2014.
  7. ↑ Silva, Susan Leiser; Silva, Lee A. (October 1, 2009). "The Killing of Dora Hand". Wild West Magazine. historynet.com. Retrieved September 4, 2014.
  8. ↑ "The Left Hand Is Damned on Death Valley Days". IMDb. Retrieved September 10, 2018.
  9. ↑ "Frank Turner, The Death Of Dora Hand". Retrieved July 13, 2019.
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