Getting into an argument, Edwin Fransen and other ranch employees urged Thomas to leave. When he finally agreed, he opened fire hitting Carl Kinstrom, Nellie Brand, missing the bookkeeper, but fatally wounding Fransen. Thomas then did leave and rode five miles to the East Fowler Ranch where he opened fire again on Gus Carlson, a man named Anderson, and, had he been there like planned, Tom Gristy.
John Thomas then rode, nonchalantly, to Halifax (a small rail town now called Hessdale located at present-day Hessdale and Halifax roads) where he stayed the night and had breakfast with J.B. Crumb. The sheriff was heading east along the railroad so Thomas went west to Alta Vista, meeting and staying with numerous people who had no idea he was wanted for murder.
John Thomas then passed through Volland, Alta Vista, and Dwight before arriving in White City. He then went to Latimer, Herington and them Templin. His last known whereabouts were at Lamb's place on May 17th--a whole 13 days after the shooting in Maple Hill. J.M. Wilkerson, an ex-police chief for the Topeka Police spent weeks searching for John Thomas, also called Missouri John because he had originally come to Kansas from Missouri. Wilkerson suggested that John Thomas was probably an alias and he was, by now, going by another different name.
In June 1898, Topeka Chief of Police Henry Steele went to Missouri on a credible tip that John Thomas was back in Missouri. The man ended up not matching the description. Wilkerson continued to search for Thomas in the western part of the state, but ultimately, John "Missouri John" Thomas was never found.
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| from the March 4, 1898 edition of the Alma Enterprise |
