When the two arrived, Mrs. Hurst agreed to see him. Leaning over the fence, Hurst embraced her in what appeared to be a genuinely affectionate manner, only to pull out a large knife, cutting her throat, severing her jugular vein and carotid artery. Hurst  gave himself up to the Justice of the Peace; however, news spread rapidly and a lynch mob formed led by the Marshal. The Marshal, with a revolver at Hurst’s head commanded that Hurst put his head in the noose, but Hurst refused and a fierce struggled ensued between the Marshall and the Mayor’s men ensued. Both Hurst and the Marshal were jailed and Hurst was taken to Troy to be safely lodged. Hurst was sentenced to be hanged, but was later moved to an insane asylum.

By 1883, White Cloud boasted four general stores, two grocery stores, three drug stores, a hardware store, a furniture store, two restaurants, two hotels, a livery stable, a barber shop, a gristmill, a saw-mill, two shoe shops, two blacksmith shops, a jewelry store, a billiard hall, a harness shop, a wagon shop, a meat market, a printing office, a millinery store, two attorneys, four doctors, and several construction proprietors.

According to Sarah Ann Lock, a descendant of Captain John Lock, Steamboat Ferry Owner; and Sawmill owner, John Adams, the billiard hall/restaurant close to the river on the north side of the street was once owned by her lively fiddle-playing great-grandpa LeRoy Butrick. Though Sarah is Tulsa, Oklahoma resident, she says she will always be a "White Cloud girl!"

Though the population had dropped dramatically with the coming of the railroad, White Cloud, in 1910, still supported two banks, a weekly newspaper, and an opera house, as well as several other businesses. Stages ran daily to Forest City, Missouri. However, there were only 735 residents.

In the early 1900’s, a ten year-old boy, impressed by a traveling missionary’s sermon about lepers, decided to raise money to help a boy suffering from the disease. Raising a pig named Pete, Wilbur Chapman, sold the pig, donating the $25.00 from the sale to the boy with leprosy. His compassion caught the imagination of the public and started the “Pig Bank Movement” to help lepers and the name “piggy bank” was coined. A plaque commemorating the boy and the idea of the “piggy bank” is mounted on the Community Christian Church on Main Street.