It was mid October, 1888, in a hotly contested election year. A package, being stored at a private residence in Coffeyville, Kansas, destined to be shipped by train exploded killing two women.. The tragic event sent shock waves throughout the state. Politicians blamed different groups in opposing camps.
Eventually a legislative committee was created to investigate the explosion. The Committee heard testimonies, reviewed exhibits and letters and issued its report in 1891.
The State Library of Kansas' KGI Online Library recently add this 1891 report to our collection:
Proceedings of the Joint Committee of the Legislature of the State of Kansas, appointed at the Session of 1891, to investigate the explosion which occurred at Coffeyville, Kansas, October 18, 1888
Want more? The Kansas Historical Society has a digitized copy of a pamphlet issued by Populists on the Coffeyville explosion:
"The Coffeyville Dynamite Outrage"
A Populist perspective on the explosion