During the 2019 National Law Enforcement Appreciate week we pay homage to one of our own officers who gave the ultimate sacrifice. Marshal Leonard S. Rich was a Webb City lawman dedicated to bringing law & order to his town.
“On the Saturday night of August 10, 1902 he was responding to a disturbance inside Lizzie Reed’s Resort.
The trouble was between the owner, Lizzie, & Jim Gideon. The resort was a two-story building on Main Street (At that time, Main Street was Broadway Street from Webb Street East to Webb Corp. where Broadway meets Daugherty Street.
Not on the Main Street we think of today.1) with a parlor & girls upstairs. It seems Gideon had been giving some of the girls a bad time. Lizzie wanted him to take his gang & go downstairs, but he refused.
The Gideon brothers, Joe & Jim, had moved to Webb City from Oklahoma Indian Territory in December 1901. They quickly became known as dangerous men & this was not their first run in with Marshal Rich. Both brothers had been bragging all evening about how they were going to “get a guy” & the deed was going to take place sometime around midnight. Joe would not stop talking about it & kept showing off his gun until Jim finally told him to take the gun back to the hotel room. Only Joe didn’t do it & he continued to drink.
Finally Lizzie called Marshal Rich, Marshal James, & Sam Moon, a temporary police officer hired to server during the street fair.
At first Marshal Rich tried to talk Jim down & for a while it seemed to be working until they got to the front door. That’s when a scuffle between Jim & Marshal Rich broke out. At the same time a fight was going on between Joe Gideon & Marshal James.
Shots were fired & when it was over Joe Gideon had killed Marshal Rich. Sam Moon had killed Joe Gideon & Jim Gideon had been shot through the arm. Marshal James was badly beaten but survived.
Marshal Leonard Rich was a peace officer & a family man. He married Eve May Eulitle in July 1888. They had a six-year old daughter, Stella. Marshal Rich is buried in the Webb City Cemetery; his stone does not show he died in the line of duty.
Marshal Leonard Rich was a peace officer & a family man. He married Eve May Eulitle in July 1888. They had a six-year old daughter, Stella. Marshal Rich is buried in the Webb City Cemetery; his stone does not show he died in the line of duty.
We need to remember the heroes who gave so much to build the place that we call home.”
-Information courtesy of Priscilla Brown & Jeanne Woodworth Newby1 of the Webb City Area Genealogical Society
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