Camon Military Band, Winfield Kansas

Subject: Band History
Date: Fri, 19 Mar 1999 15:38:04 -0600
From: Winfield Public Library

Bill & All:
I knew I remembered seeing Bagby's History on the city band somewhere! The Library has a copy - "The Winfield Municipal Band" by Randal E. Bagby, B.M. Friends University, May 1985 -
According to the band history of the Twigg incident :
"...On 13 August 1903, the most tragic event in the WInfield Band's history ocurred. During a regular weekly concert at Nonth Avenue and Main in Winfield, an ex-Phillippine war soldier named Gilbert Twigg began
shooting a sixteen gauge double barreled shotgun into the crowd. Upon the first shot the band 'jumped up' and Camon said, 'sit down, sit down, that's only a couple of drunks,' but before the band sat back down, two more shots
sounded. Eight shouts were fired in all with Twigg backing up between reloads. Three people were killed on the scene and six more died later as a result. twenty-five people were wounded including Claude Waggoner, a band member who suffered a serious wound to his back. The incident ended with Twigg in an alley where he shot and killed himself. Twigg was originally from Cowley County, and a letter found in his room in the 'Thompson Block' addressed to the public indicated that he was bitter about not having a 'noble position' in Winfield. The letter also indicated that Twigg felt he was constantly being watched and that he was treated 'in a poor manner'. While the town was in mourning, the following appeared in the local newspaper:
'Poor Twigg was not responsible for his insane act. His disordered mind led him to the conclusion that the whole world was against him, and he came back to the home of his boyhood to wreck vengence and end it all.'
Twigg was later described as a maniac, and it would be some time before the community of Winfield would enjoy band concerts in the way they did before the shooting incident."
Another note- according to the book, 2 years later to the day the band (Camon Military Band) was involved in a train wreck on the east side of Dodge City, Ks. - They were on their way to Green Mountain Falls, Colorado
for a camping trip.

Joan Cales
Winfield Public Library

Newspaper account of the Camon Band Massacre by Gilbert Twigg.