Josephine "Josie" Anderson

General Thomas Ewing, Jr., the local Union commander, ordered the arrest of the relatives of the leading members of Quantrill's guerrilla company. William "Bloody Bill" Anderson's sisters Mary, Josephine, and Martha were imprisoned with nine other women who were accused of spying and assisting the Confederate partisans. The group of women were housed in a three story building at Kansas City, Missouri.

On August 14, 1863 the building collapsed, killing four of the women. Anderson's sister Josephine was among the dead while his sister Mary survived but was permanently crippled. Both sides claimed different reasons for the building collapse. Some claimed that Union soldiers made the structure unsound by removing partitions and posts in an effort to make more space for prisoners. General Ewing countered that the prisoners had caused the collapse themselves by digging an escape tunnel. This incident has been suggested as the spark for the brutality that Anderson henceforth displayed against Union soldiers and civilians.