In mid-November 1874, a report reached Springfield (MO) concerning a fatal affray involving two prominent Taney County residents, J. C. Johnson and Kenneth Burdett. Johnson, who was Taney's current sheriff and had recently been elected to the state legislature, and Burdett, who was a prominent doctor in the community, had allegedly gotten into a shooting affray at Forsyth that left Johnson dead and Burdett mortally wounded. "No particulars of the difficulty" were received, however.
The reason no particulars of the affray were received is because it didn't happen. But that didn't keep several newspapers across Missouri from reprinting the report that Johnson and Burdett had killed each other in a gun battle. After all, it made a good story. It's even questionable whether such a report actually reached Springfield, since the Springfield papers were not among those that reprinted it.
In fact, both men lived a long time after 1874. J. C. Johnson went on to serve three terms in the state legislature. During this time, he also studied medicine and received a diploma from a St. Louis medical school. Returning to Taney County, he practiced medicine for many years and also continued his public service, being elected Clerk of the Circuit Court and Recorder of Deeds in 1894. He died in 1906.
Meanwhile, Dr. Burdett continuing practicing medicine after his supposed 1874 affray with Johnson. In 1890, he moved to Douglas County and lived on a farm east of Ava. He practiced medicine until shortly before his death in 1903.
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