Officer Theodore Leslie was shot and killed attempting to arrest two men wanted for theft.

On April 14, 1903, Officer Leslie was advised that two men had been seen with revolvers in the Kansas City Southern railroad yards. Officer Leslie was informed that there was a theft of two guns from a hardware store and that three men had gone out in search of two suspects. As Officer Leslie attempted to catch up to them, he crossed the bridge over Joplin Creek and walked to the tracks on Broadway, he observed a man near a string of three box cars. He ordered the man to put his hands in the air and a shot rang our from inside a box car. Officer Leslie drew his weapon and fired striking the man in the thigh. Another shot came from inside the box car striking Officer Leslie in the right eye, fatally wounding him and he fell to the ground. The suspect, Thomas Gilyard, 20, a tramp was apprehended the next day, found to be wounded in the leg from Officer Leslie's bullet, and confessed to the crime. An angry mob of thousands of men used a battering ram to break down a jail wall, stormed the jail and hung Gilyard at 2nd and Main Streets. The sheriff and city attorney plead with the mob to no avail.