When Lawmen Go Bad
Marshal Henry Newton Brown robs a Kansas bank.
“When not engaged in murder and robbery, Mr. Brown served as a peace officer…He was about twenty-six years old and had probably killed or robbed a man for each year of his age.” — Sterling Gazette, Kansas, May 8, 1884
Cowboy Detective Charlie Siringo, reflecting on his illustrious career as a Pinkerton Detective, recalled the look on Henry Brown’s face when the citizens of Caldwell, Kansas goaded their marshal into having a phrenologist read his head. The lawman was mortified, frightened by what the seer might reveal.
Although the “science” of phrenology has been relegated to the dustbins of history, it was a popular topic in the late-1800s. Practitioners claimed that they could read a person’s personality and divine their secrets by feeling the bumps and indentations of the skull.
Expert phrenologists toured the American frontier, offering demonstrations of their art. One evening in 1884, just after Charlie Siringo and his bride had moved to Caldwell to open a cigar shop, a phrenologist arrived in town to perform a reading. Nearly everyone turned out, including Marshal Henry Brown.
Henry Brown was still relatively new in his position of chief lawman. He began his Caldwell career as a deputy marshal under Bat Carr.
