Last updated: March 7, 2023
Person
Melville Baughn
Quick Facts
Significance:
Pony Express Rider
Date of Birth:
1800s
Date of Death:
September 18th, 1868
Place of Burial:
Milford, Kansas
Cemetery Name:
Barry Cemetery
Alexander Majors, a principal in the firm that operated the Pony Express, wrote that his riders were “faithful, daring fellows . . . remarkable for their lightness of weight and energy” and, above all, “skillful guides, scouts, and couriers, accustomed to adventures and hardships on the plains—men of strong wills and wonderful powers of endurance.” For Melville “Mel” Baughn, who was born in Virginia, orphaned by the age of fourteen, and described by his contemporaries as a “bright, dashing youth,” the reality was more complicated. In some ways, the historical record shows Baughn to be the prototypical Pony Express rider: fearless, energetic, and resolute. In other ways, however, his story challenges this narrative.
When Mel Baughn left Virginia at the age of fourteen, he moved to Franklin, Tennessee, and worked as a bartender. Frequenting the local horse races in his off time, Baughn developed a reputation for his skills as a horseman, which drew “the attention of sporting men.” His associates also recognized his penchant for whiskey drinking, which persisted despite a career change from bartender to professional horse trainer. Near the end of the 1850s, Baughn left Tennessee for Independence, Missouri, with a company of horse racers; upon their arrival, he took a job as a hostler on a large farm, training and managing the horses. He remained there for a year.
At some point in 1860, Mel Baughn moved to Kansas to work as Pony Express rider for the Central Overland California and Pikes Peak Express Company, which was operated by the firm of Russell, Majors, and Waddell. The twenty-year-old Baughn rode between Thirty-Two-Mile Station and Fort Kearny (in what is now Nebraska). One story in particular highlights Baughn’s horsemanship and the challenges that riders might face on a regular basis. One day, while resting between trips at his home station, Baughn realized that his favorite horse—the best in the stable—had gone missing. Fortunately, he noticed soon enough that he was able to pursue the bold thief. Despite riding a lesser horse, Baughn’s superior horsemanship allowed him to catch the villain at Loup Fork and force the thief to abandon the stolen animal. Baughn might have chased him down, but he had a job to do, so the unsuccessful bandit disappeared. With his horse retrieved, Baughn returned to his station, where a mail bag awaited him, and he continued his regular run without delay.
When Baughn left the Pony Express, Russell, Majors, and Waddell owed him about $500; severe financial troubles, however, prevented the firm from paying him. After that, Baughn found himself in “embarrassed circumstances” and eventually became a “jayhawker”—a person who committed violent raids against pro-slavery interests in Kansas Territory before and during the Civil War. He was ultimately arrested, tried, and convicted for his crimes. Although sentenced to ten years in prison, he served just two and a half years before returning to St. Joseph, Missouri, where he “became the companion of dissolute men, and became connected with a band of robbers and murderers.”
After the suspension of the Pony Express in 1861, Baughn’s life took a turn for the worse. The same penchant for thrill-seeking that had made him a legendary Pony Express rider also led the twenty-something Baughn to join a gang of horse thieves and murderers that terrorized northeast Kansas and northwestern Missouri. In his History of the State of Kansas (1883), William G. Cutler recalls the details of what he named “The Baughn Tragedy,” in which Baughn’s crew killed a prominent citizen of Seneca, Kansas. On 12 November 1866, Baughn and three other men arrived in Seneca with three stolen horses; a week later, the horse’s rightful owners appeared and—during the ensuing chase—Baughn fatally shot Jesse S. Dennis in the back.
After successfully evading would-be captors, Baughn was arrested by for the last on 27 June 1868. Baughn’s trial, which began on 2 August, lasted four days; the jury found him guilty of murder and the judge sentenced him to death by hanging. During his final days, Baughn asked that his wife be informed of his death and asked that a “Reverend Stewart” offer her consolation. Mel Baughn’s execution took place on 18 September 1868, which at the time of Cutler’s history “was the first and last judicial execution the county [had] seen.” He is buried at Barry Cemetery in Milford, Kansas.
The saga of the Pony Express remains one of the American West’s most fascinating historical subjects. The legendary exploits of its riders create a romantic image of the upstanding, dutiful, and even heroic rider. Mel Baughn’s story shows that Express riders were imperfect human beings—and, in some cases, criminals.
(Special thanks to UNM PhD candidate Angela Reiniche for compiling this information.)