On the night of December 22, 1896, Owen Booth, constable of Clay Township in north-central Douglas County, Missouri, learned that 20-year-old James Kunze, who was wanted for burglarizing a store on nearby Dry Creek, was attending a dance at a residence near the small community of Bryant. Accompanied by Findley Township constable Perry Gentry, Booth went to the location about 10:30 p.m. to arrest the fugitive. Booth sent Gentry inside to make sure Kunze was there, and Gentry came back and said he was.
Booth called Kunze outside, telling him he was under arrest, and the wanted man soon sprang from the house and took off running. The constable gave chase and yelled for Kunze to halt, but the fugitive paid no mind. Booth then fired a couple of warning shots into the air above the fleeing man's head, but this, too, did not deter his flight. Finally, the constable took aim and fired at Kunze, but he missed his mark and, instead, hit an innocent bystander in the leg.
By this time, Kunze was nearing a fence, and his pursuer was close on his heels. The fleeing man was in the act of jumping the fence when Booth made a grab for him. Kunze whirled and fired, sending a pistol ball into the constable's head and killing him instantly. The murderer then made his escape, as several bystanders looked on without attempting to stop him. A posse was organized shortly afterward but could not locate Kunze, who was thought to be headed for Arkansas "through the jungles of Taney County."
Sure enough, Kunze was apprehended in Bentonville, Arkansas, less than a month later, and the Douglas County sheriff made preparations to go after him. As he was getting ready to leave, however, he telegraphed authorities in Bentonville and learned that Kunze had escaped.
A few months later, in May of 1897, the fugitive was taken into custody again in El Paso County, Colorado, where he was going by an assumed name. Douglas County officers traveled to Colorado and brought Kunze back.
He was tried during the September 1897 term of Douglas County Circuit Court and found guilty of second degree murder. Sentenced to ten years in the state penitentiary, he was received there in mid-October and discharged in April 1905, after having served seven and a half years, three-fourths of his assessed term.
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