Abilene Daily Reflector, Wednesday, Sept.
25, 1895, Pg. 1
Vol. IX, No. 125
ACCIDENTAL
DEATH.
______
Col.
W. C. Jones Jerked Out of His Buggy
and
Killed.
Iola, Kan., Sept. 25.—Col. W. C. Jones, the noted democratic leader and ex-United States marshal of Kansas drove this morning to his farm, about 5 miles from here, and had passed through the gate into a wooded pasture, when the spirited horse he was driving became frightened and ran away, throwing him against a tree in such a way as to break one leg and crush the skull. Physicians were summoned as soon as possible but the injured man died without showing any signs of consciousness. A young man who was with him jumped from the cart and escaped unhurt.
Col. Jones came to Kansas in 1860,
settling in Allen county. When the war began he enlisted in the Tenth
Kansas regiment and was made captain. Afterwards he became major and in
that capacity he served until the close of the war. Later he was made
lieutenant colonel of the Eighteenth Kansas, a regiment organized to fight
Indians who had invaded Kansas and were laying waste the country. April 6,
1883, Col. Jones was appointed warden of the state penitentiary, in which
position he continued until 1884 he was a delegate to the national democratic
convention, which nominated Grover Cleveland for president the first time.
April 5, 1885, President Cleveland appointed Col. Jones United States marshal
for the district of Kansas and he held the office until 1889. In 1890 he
was chairman of the democratic state central committee and managed the campaign
of ex-Gov. Charles Robinson. He was chairman again in 1892, but that year
his party had no ticket in the field and his duties were little more than
nominal.