The Mountaineer. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1859-1861, 1860-10-27
! cRIMr w l.PIKE,s PEAK.

The series Of wanton murders aud mys-
tefious escapes 81 the criminals which q
FEW weeks ago excited the community,
have been succeeded by stiIl more start
ling and alarming Developments. The
present condition Of affairs Is uhpreceaent-
al In the history Of this region, California
Eor Australia. IL il discovered that d
Eeigaatic. secret organization Of horse
thieves acting under q written Constitul
tion a,id bye-laws, bound together ny the
most solemn oaths, employing q complete
Esystem OF signs, grips and. passwords
understanding III lis rainificatidhs 70 the
| Missouri River, has benin operation for
several mouths past. IL has succeeded in
running on hundreds Of cattle horses and
mules, committing murder when necessary
| 10 carry ont les designs, and shielding It's
members from punishment whenever they
have been detected Thepublic has been
Eastoundcd to learn that II embraced sey-
{eral prominent citizens Of Denver who
bore MI unsaIlied reputation IN the com,
muulty. Bit while these facts have been.
/ made known, the people are still 10 ignoT-
tahce Of the names Of its members, the
"details or its operations, and Of the means
A through which they were discovered
h 0athe other hand, a secret Vigilance
i Committee has been formed to ferret out
the affair, and while the names Of its
members, the times and places Of its meet
ing, and the exact evidence upon which
4 II IS acting, are all unknown tothephblic,
1 Inns brought two Of the leading horse
4 thleyes to- d most summary aud violent
death, captured and examined three more,
Eand sent parties in pursuit Of others still,
II who have fed from the country. Between
these two secret organizations the people
at large are completely bewildered; the
confidence Of man in mat seems to be ut
terly destroyed, except ID cases Of long
land intimate acquaintance, and the public,
having reached that point atswhieh men
are incapable Of being surprised, is anx-
ionsly awaiting further Developments.
The leading events Of the past two
weeks have. been, briefly these: An i'm
Emensc amount 81 stock had been isreyf-
tousiy stolen during the summer, including
Zone hundred aud three animals taken from
this vicinity in q single night Az last,
upward of iifty valuable horses and mules
were taken at once from a rancho on the
1 Platte, simultaneously with the wanton
murder Of two men engaged In making
hay An attempt was made to conceal
4 the crime BY burning the cabin which con
I tanned the bodies Of the murdered pen I;
and several arrow-heads found among
the bones left the impression thar the
crime had been committed>hy tile Indians.
But the owners Of The stock, WHO followed
/ the thieves eighty miles across 1he3dcserE
/ toward the Arkansas, aud we're fialIy
compelled to return unsuccessful because
their horses gave ont, ascertained that
the fugitives were white men. !.
About the same time. two OF three III
Eterceptud letters from G ortlon, the escaped
murderer, gave a eiae to the horse.steaE
ling Organization, and two or three Of its
members were sdiateiy secured blythe
Vigilance Committee. s0ne Of Them d
4 heavy property near tow j, was kept
q prisoner five or six day., while tile public
lmere altogether n,ignofance Of hisWhere.
q atouts. At the end Of that time lie again
4 made bis appearance, asserting that lie
l had been absent on. business trip 10 the
aI mountain; but lie was peculiarly hiiggard
Eand worn, and seemed to have grown fiyp
years older III the terrible erdeal To which
he had been subjected: 1t is generally
4 understood that he made d detailed con
fession in writing, which was cofrohorated
i in every particular by two Of bis eonfed.
lerates, who were examined separately
from him; and that the Committee have
. rcfraihed from giving these confessions to
the public until lie has had sufficient time
! to settle up his business aud escape from
the country. r. T,
/. Meanwhile, one Of the itri-weekly stage,
+. TO the Missouri River, had just left Den
yer with Eve passengers, including A. q
! Ford, Esq, well known lawyer Of thi,
q city. About three miles out, and almost
in sight Of Denver, 1t was stopped, at 10
o'clock in the morning, BY eight men
Earmed with double barreled shot guns
J, They did not say a single word, except to
: order Mr.. Ford TO get oat aud accom-
tipany them, and then TO direct the driver
! TO 20 on, both of which iujuactions were
very promptly oheyed The last that the
driver or passengers saw Of Ford he was
standing near the roadside, surrounded
by his captors, and few days after his
corpse was discovered, mile from the
: road, riddled by eight bucksIiot. The
: men who took him were entirely uudis:
: guiscd, anu are understood: to be we'll
known here, but as all the passengers
have gone OH TO the river, and the driver,
who has returned to town, was afterward
warned, at the peril of his life, not to
! EgiSe their names, it is not generally
known, or even suspected who they were
Ford was well known here, having. come
: to this region from Council Bluffs, Iowa
He has an cstinable family in that city
! who have been sustained for months by
the charity Of Reighbors, while he owned
: considerable property in this city, and
: was maintaining two mistfesSes.- u
8 f. Nearly simultaneously with this death
: another well known citizen Of Denver,
; John Shear, formerly extensively engaged
: Etu quartz mining, aud more recently pro
prietor Of the Yasquez House, came tc
J an equally summary and rioEent end
Late IL the evening he was entieed from
: his home by an unknown aad unsupported
&. visitor, and early the next morning hi;
. corpse was discovered daagiing from a
\ tr,n nt, IL ha,,i, IS tFra. FBl a. -, n