Here is a good article from writer Sarah Weinman on Buzzfeed.com: “Massacre on Ninth and Main.”

Summary: On August 13, 1903, Gilbert Twigg opened fire during a concert in Winfield, Kansas, killing nine and injuring dozens. There was no motive, and no one had ever seen anything like it before, or for decades after. Yet it’s the archetype for the kind of tragedy we see so frequently now.

“Inside an alley right near Milligan’s, the boys finally saw the man’s gun. One or two might have known who he was. They might have heard their elders call him ‘Crazy Twigg,’ or somehow sensed that something wasn’t quite right with him. And now the man was upon them.

“He stared down at one boy. “I am going to do some tall shooting, son,” the man said. “And you had better run, as I have no desire to hurt you.”

“The boy did not run. Neither did the others, not at first. The man raised his firearm, a 12-gauge double-barreled shotgun, and said, ‘I wonder if I can get Caman.'”

Read More

Thank you to M.V. Avery for the story tip.