December 2025 • Nebraskaland 39
photos below look more like summertime but are probably
based on similar circumstances.
After completing three terms as sheriff, by 1913 Sammons
was working as a claim adjustor for the Union Pacific Railroad
and had risen to lieutenant colonel in the Guard. He had a wife
and 5-year-old daughter at home but spent part of Christmas
Day drinking in a local bar with his buddy Delbert Smith.
Smith was a clerk at the local post office. He mentioned
that a special package had arrived containing a $5,000 bank
transfer. It sat in the post office safe until the banks opened
after the holiday.
the Crime?
Another view with a different "bad man." Butcher was known to stage photos re-enacting events, which he would then sell as
postcards. NSHS RG2608-0-2935A
Omaha Daily Bee, Nov. 20, 1914.
