HAUNTED LAWRENCE

Underneath the U.S. 40 and 59 bridges that span the Kaw River, on the
southern shore, the remnants of an old pylon can still be seen. This
rocky post once supported an iron wagon bridge on which a truly heinous
event in Lawrence’s history occurred: the lynching of Pete Vinegar.
Pete Vinegar was the patriarch of the Vinegar clan, an impoverished
family who had long annoyed the citizens of Lawrence with their begging
and occasional stealing in the late years of the nineteenth century. One
of the members of the Vinegar family was the sixteen-year-old Sis, who
was infamous in the town for being a prostitute. In early June 1882, she
agreed to rendezvous with David Bausman (a wealthy widower from
Ohio who had just moved to the area) under the iron wagon bridge that
crossed the Kaw. Little did Bausman know that Sis and two others—
George Robinson and Ike King—were planning to mug him.
In the middle of the night, Bausman arrived under the bridge, only to
be jumped and robbed by Robinson and King. The two then proceeded to
viciously beat Bausman with a club, a hammer and a crowbar. This was not
part of the original plan, and Sis reportedly begged her co-conspirators to
spare the man’s life. They did not, and Bausman died of his wounds.
Robinson, King and Vinegar promptly fled the scene, and within the
next few days, Bausman’s body was found in the river. In the interim,
Robinson had boasted about his most wicked deed to several people.
Coincidentally, a few of these individuals had also witnessed the murder
in secret. Once the authorities were notified, Robinson and King were
quickly arrested, as were Sis and her father, Pete (despite his having
nothing to do whatsoever with the murder).
As can be imagined, word soon spread, and the townsfolk were furious.
On June 11, a mob broke into the city jail and seized Pete Vinegar, Robinson
and King. (The group decided to spare Sis.) The posse then took the three
prisoners to the iron bridge under which Bausman had lost his life and
prepared them to be hanged. In the face of death, both Vinegar and King
were reportedly calm, but Robinson threw himself to the ground and begged
for mercy. His cries fell on deaf ears, and at the mid-point of the bridge,
King, Robinson and Vinegar were brutally lynched.
It seems inarguable that the behavior of his daughter and her affiliates
was horrendous, but Pete Vinegar himself was an innocent man, guilty of
only being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Consequently, his death
remains a sad and sordid footnote in the history of Lawrence.
In the years following his demise, a legend claims that his ghost stills
lingers near the spot where he lost his life. What is more, it is said that if one
stands on the north end of the bridge and repeats, “Pete Vinegar, what did
they hang you for?” three times, the deep and eerie voice of his ghost will
respond, “Nothing. I didn’t do a thing to be hung.” *
The bridge from which Pete Vinegar was hanged formerly crossed the
Kaw River at the site of the current locations of the U.S. 40 and 59 bridges.
These modern bridges are open to foot traffic.