The village of Holcomb stands on the high wheat plains of western Kansas, a lonesome area that other Kansans call “out there.” Some seventy miles east of the Colorado border, the countryside, with its hard blue skies and desert-clear air, has an atmosphere that is rather more Far West than Middle West. Editor’s note: All quotations in this article are taken either from official records or from conversations, transcribed verbatim, between the author and the principals.
