View source for Ben Kuhl

{{Short description|Stage coach robber}}
{{Infobox criminal
| name              = Ben E. Kuhl
| image             = Ben Kuhl mugshot 1917.jpg
| caption           = Mugshot of Ben Kuhl, 1917
| birth_date        = 1884
| birth_place       = Michigan
| death_date        = {{death year and age|1945|1884}}
| death_place       = Northern California
| resting_place     =
| residence         =
| nationality       = American
| occupation        = stage coach robber, mail robber, horse thief, baker, drifter
| known_for         = Robbery of a mail [[stage wagon]]
| height            = 6 feet
| weight            =
| predecessor       =
| successor         =
| religion          =
| criminal_charge   = robbery, murder
| penalty           = Death
| conviction_status = Commuted
| spouse            = Minnier
| children          = 1 son
| parents           = <!--Do not include parents unless notable or they are relevant to the crime.-->
| allegiance        = <!-- [[Lucchese crime family]] -->
| motive            = Financial
| conviction        = Murder
| reward_amount     =
| capture_status    =
| wanted_by         =
| partners          = Ed Beck, Billy McGraw
| wanted_since      =
| time_at_large     =
| escaped           =
| escape_end        =
| comments          =
| victims           = Fred M. Searcy
| date              = December 5, 1916
| time              = 6:30 PM
| beginyear         =
| endyear           =
| country           = United States
| states            = Northern California, Nevada, Idaho, Oregon
| locations         = Jarbidge
| targets           = mail stage wagon
| fatalities        = 1
| injuries          =
| weapons           = .44 caliber
| apprehended       =
| imprisoned        =
| footnotes         =
}}
'''Ben E. Kuhl''' (1884 – paroled 1945, date of death unknown, possibly 1945) was, in 1916, the last known stage coach robber in the United States.  Kuhl took part in the robbery of a mail stage wagon in [[Jarbidge, Nevada]], US; the driver, Fred M. Searcy, was killed. The incident became a myth: "Staging a Robbery Without a Coach".<ref name="Rocha2003">{{cite web |url=http://nsla.nevadaculture.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=776&Itemid=418 |title=Staging a Robbery Without a Coach |last=Rocha |first=Guy |date=November 2003 |publisher=Nevada State Library and Archives |accessdate=26 May 2012 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20101113013600/http://nsla.nevadaculture.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=776&Itemid=418 |archivedate=13 November 2010 }}</ref><ref name="WinesMuseum2008">{{cite book|last1=Wines|first1=Claudia|author2=Northeastern Nevada Museum|title=Elko County|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NCVbeHvR1GwC&pg=PA107|accessdate=25 May 2012|date=5 November 2008|publisher=Arcadia Publishing|isbn=978-0-7385-5886-8|pages=107–}}</ref>
While most of the evidence against him was circumstantial, a bloody palm print on an envelope led to Kuhl's conviction. Kuhl's trial, which began in September 1917, was noted to be the first time  palm prints were used as evidence in a U.S. courtroom.<ref name="Rocha2003" /><ref name="clan.lib.nv.us">{{cite web|url=http://www.clan.lib.nv.us/content.asp?id=310|title=Stage Lines|work=clan.lib.nv.us|accessdate=26 May 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304122002/http://www.clan.lib.nv.us/content.asp?id=310|archive-date=4 March 2016|url-status=dead}}</ref> ''State v. Kuhl'' also set the precedent that palm prints were as valid as [[fingerprint]]s in criminal cases for identifying individuals.<ref name="Newton2008">{{cite book|last=Newton|first=David E.|title=DNA Evidence and Forensic Science|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OEJemQWU3hsC&pg=PA64|accessdate=25 May 2012|year=2008|publisher=Infobase Publishing|isbn=978-1-4381-0019-7|pages=64–}}</ref>
==Biography==
Ben Kuhl was from [[Michigan]].<ref name="nsla.nevadaculture.orgCaseFiles">{{cite web|url=http://nsla.nevadaculture.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1465&Itemid=95|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130415130723/http://nsla.nevadaculture.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1465&Itemid=95|url-status=dead|archive-date=15 April 2013|title=Nevada State Prison Inmate Case Files Ben E. Kuhl|publisher=Nevada State Library and Archives|accessdate=26 May 2012}}</ref> In 1903, he was jailed in [[Marysville, California]] for [[petty larceny]], and had also been sentenced to do 1 to 10 years in [[Oregon]] for horse theft. Kuhl arrived in [[Lander County, Nevada]] in 1916 and lived in a tent with two other [[drifter (person)|drifter]]s, Ed Beck and Billy McGraw. He worked as a cook at the OK Mine for about a month before he was fired for attempting to jump another man's mining claim. He was arrested for [[trespassing]] in Jarbidge.<ref name="Hickson1998">{{cite web|url=http://www.gbcnv.edu/howh/606.html|title=Case Number 606 Makes History A Murder in Jarbidge, 1916|last=Hickson|first=Howard |date=4 October 1998|publisher=Great Basin College|accessdate=26 May 2012}}</ref>
The [[Jarbidge Stage Robbery]] occurred on December 5, 1916, just before 6:30 PM. The mail wagon from [[Three Creek, Idaho]], drawn by two horses, was [[ambush]]ed. Searcy was killed by a .44 caliber slug to the head, and about $4,000 was stolen.<ref name="Rocha2003" /> While the money was never recovered, almost fifty pieces of evidence were collected. Kuhl, Beck, McGraw, and another acquaintance, B.E. Jennings,<ref name="Hall1998">{{cite book|last=Hall|first=Shawn|title=Old Heart Of Nevada: Ghost Towns And Mining Camps Of Elko County|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6mL12N7yhgwC&pg=PA114|accessdate=25 May 2012|date=1 March 1998|publisher=University of Nevada Press|isbn=978-0-87417-295-9|pages=114–}}</ref> were caught soon after the incident occurred. Most of the evidence against Kuhl was circumstantial. However, there was a bloody [[Hand#Human anatomy|palm]] print on a letter from the wagon's mail pouch;<ref name="nsla.nevadaculture.org">{{cite web|url=http://nsla.nevadaculture.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=953&Itemid=418|title=The Last Stage Robbery – State v. Kuhl|publisher=Nevada State Library and Archives|accessdate=26 May 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131029191630/http://nsla.nevadaculture.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=953&Itemid=418|archive-date=29 October 2013|url-status=dead}}</ref> and Kuhl became the first American convicted of murder based on a palm print. His death sentence was commuted to life in prison at the Nevada State Prison in [[Carson City, Nevada]], but he was [[parole]]d on May 7, 1945.<ref name="Turner2009" />
Kuhl was slender and nearly {{convert|6|ft}} tall; he had light blue eyes. His wife, Minnier (nicknamed "Minnie"), and a son lived in [[Salt Lake City, Utah]];<ref name="Turner2009">{{cite book|last=Turner|first=Erin|title=Rotgut Rustlers: Whisky, Women, and Wild Times in the West|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=m6nWhmGluV0C&pg=PA59|accessdate=25 May 2012|date=18 September 2009|publisher=Globe Pequot|isbn=978-0-7627-5536-3|pages=59–}}</ref> she divorced Kuhl after the conviction. His mother lived in [[Kalamazoo, Michigan]]; his father in [[Walla Walla, Washington]]. Kuhl is thought to have died of [[pneumonia]] or [[tuberculosis]] in [[northern California]], possibly [[Sacramento]] or [[San Francisco]], within 6 to 12 months of his release.<ref name="Westways1977">{{cite book|title=Westways|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sda2AAAAIAAJ|accessdate=25 May 2012|year=1977|publisher=Automobile Club of Southern California|page=80}}</ref>
==References==
{{Reflist|33em}}
==External links==
* [http://www.legendsofamerica.com/we-outlawlist-k.html Ben E. Kuhl - The Complete List of Old West Outlaws]
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kuhl, Ben E.}}
[[Category:1884 births]]
[[Category:Year of death unknown]]
[[Category:Criminals from Michigan]]
[[Category:History of Nevada]]
[[Category:American people convicted of murder]]
[[Category:American prisoners sentenced to death]]
[[Category:Elko County, Nevada]]
[[Category:Deaths from pneumonia in California]]
[[Category:People paroled from life sentence]]
[[Category:People convicted of murder by Nevada]]
[[Category:Prisoners sentenced to death by Nevada]]