Probably Monday, 19 April 1897 in the story; published 23 April / T016
Alexander Hamilton's airship and stolen heifer
Near Le Roy, Kansas
Witness account
Hamilton's published statement said an enormous airship with six strange occupants descended over his cattle, caught a heifer by a cable, and carried it away. He claimed that the animal's hide and other remains were subsequently found. A printed testimonial from community members endorsed Hamilton's honesty. It did not provide twelve additional eyewitness accounts of the supposed abduction.
Public record
The 23 April newspaper narrative is reproduced in historical investigations. Later evidence placed it within a local tall-tale culture: former editor Edward F. Hudson acknowledged a made-up airship story in a 1943 recollection, and Ethel Shaw described Hamilton and the local Liar's Club in 1976. Jerome Clark published the corrective research in Fate in 1977.