The fourth annual “Charley Melvin Mad Bomber Run For Your Life” kicks off Friday afternoon with new events to celebrate the infamous bombings of 107 years ago.
Allen County Crime Stoppers and Thrive Allen County are organizing the event which will include an inflatable carnival, car show, the ever-popular “Drag” race and first-ever “Parade of Lights,” plus assorted activities.
At 12:26 a.m. a loud boom will signal the beginning of a run/walk, capping off the night’s activities.
The walk/run begins in the 100 block of West Street — where Melvin blew up the Eagle, Red Light and Blue Front saloons — for the start of the race. Runners will take part in a 5-kilometer road race, while those in favor of a more leisurely pace can partake in a 3K walk.
FOR THOSE unfamiliar with the story, Charley Melvin, 42, was a strict prohibitionist working at the Kansas Portland Cement Plant in 1905. Even so, a group of his coworkers convinced him beer and whiskey would help quiet his nerves.
Within two hours, he had consumed nearly three quarts of beer and a half-quart of whiskey.
Outraged and disillusioned by his binge’s predictable results, Melvin set about ridding Iola of its poisonous brew. He was arrested shortly after purchasing a gun, with the intention of killing about a half dozen Iola saloon keepers.
He was judged insane and taken to the state hospital in Osawatomie, where he remained until he was discharged four months later and considered cured.
State officials should have considered otherwise.
In short order, Melvin returned to Iola, with many of the same intentions, this time to use dynamite instead of a revolver to rid Iola of alcohol.
He waited until the early morning hours of July 10, 1905, to fill several downtown saloons with dynamite and lit a series of fuses.
The ensuing explosion blasted three of the saloons — the Red Light, Eagle and Blue Front saloons — while partially burned fuses were found in other buildings on the north and east sides of the square, with another saloon in Bassett targeted.
There were no fatalities, although one of the saloon owners was trapped in his second-store apartment for hours. The sound of the massive explosions was heard as far away as Humboldt, LaHarpe and Neosho Falls.
The sparkling new Allen County Courthouse Clock stopped at 12:26 a.m., disabled by the blast’s concussion. Several other downtown buildings sustained damage. The courthouse lost 71 windows. Damage to all buildings was placed then at about $100,000, or $2.4 million in today’s dollars.
MELVIN DIDN’T stick around to enjoy his handiwork. He fled town that night (his route marking a portion of the trail for the 5K runners). He was arested a month later while working in a railroad camp near Keystone, Iowa.
Curiously enough, Melvin was never charged with the bombing. Rather, he was convicted of burglary and larceny for the theft of the dynamite. He served about nine years in the state penitentiary until his release in June 1914, shortly before his death.
