Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1885-04-03
A WESTERN TRAGEDY.
Remarkable Story OF q Fratricide
In q Colorado Cabin.
A Miner Murders and RObs q Man and Dt,-
covers His Own BrOther-He Returns
and Hangs Himself st the scene
OF His Horrible Crime.
Denver NewA1

on Badger Gulch, yet evidences Of civfliza-
ton wero not wanting. Sluices and
fumes, shovels, picks and q dismantlod
rocker, were to be seen on the edge OF the
bank in the bed Of the gulch, while some
hundred yards distant on the edge of n
cottonwood grove stood q log cabin, rough
In its construction, but picturesque In its
surroundings
Outside on q bench were utensils for
cooking, rude, but fitted for the rough
hands Of men and the simple wants Of
miners. These were the only evidences Of
the recent presence Of humanity visible
outside Of the cabln-nothing to Indicate
the horrible presence within, where, Iyinz
on the floor of the one room that had an
swered all the purposes of the simple
housekeeping, was the body of a man
whose white face cleaned with an un-
earthly pallor in the dim light from the
small window, from the pool Of blood sur
rounding the head and its mass OF golden
hair. The fixed, horrible stare of the blue
eyes, the ugly, gaping wound in the fore
head from which the life had for some
time ceased to ebb, all told the fearful
story OF murder, whose motive was only
too plainly visible in the inverted and
empty pockets, and the absence of every-
thing valuable on the body, save one arti-
Gle, small medallion, which had been ap-
Parently jerked partially from the neck OF
the wearer and then for some unknown
reason left In the violence with which It
had probably been snatched the spring
had been pressed, disclosing a beautiful,
loving woman, with the same blue eyes
and fair hair ofits wearer, whose clottei
blood on the glass almost obliterated the
features OF the portrait. Yet this man,
whose beardless face and smooth features
indicated that his boyhood's years were
scarcely passed, had been handsome.
Nothing inside or outside the cabin gave
any indication Of tho perpetrator Of the
foul crime.
Presently two horsemen came gsnoping
over the trail, crossed the gulch, and pro-
ceeded TO the cabin, seeking for refresh
rients- Knocking at the door and receive
ing no answer, they lifted the latch and
pushed back the obstruction, which they
found to their horror to be the corpss OF the
murdered man, dead apparently for some
hours. After searching, but in vain, for
some evidence Of his identity, they went
outside aad saw the prints OF horses feet,
evidently recently made, and showing that
their course headed up the gulch. Exam
tning their guns and ammunition, the
strangers, who were in search of stray cat
tie, started on a full gallop up the gulch
aud over the divide, their experienced eyes
readily marking tho track Of the fugitive,
until reaching the main road 10 Dsnvor,
which was on the top Of the ridge, where
IL was lost In the numerous Others which
had travelled over It that day. Reluctantly
they gave up the chase and turned their
horses towards Franktown, where they
gave the alarm. The murderer, however,
was never caught, notwithstanding the
hue aud c.y that was raised.
Just one year later some travellers
stopped At the deserted and now supposed
TO lie haunted cabin. In fact, for several
succeeding nights q light had shono
through the one window far out into the
night, and bslated travellers had seen
shadows fiitting in the interior, yet no one
had the hardihood to enter those terrible
precincts after nightfalI. On this day,
however, everything was apparently the
same a. that day one year ago. Dismount-
ing, the elder horseman said: "Bill, l
wonder IL wo will have the same luck we
had when stopping here one year agof'
His companion answered.: "Idont know;
they told me at the camp below the cabin
was haunted; that lights and strange
sounds are seen and heard in the cabin aft
or nightfall, one man saying that some
evenings since, having to pass here, he
heard voices and the sound of some one i'm
ploring for his life and then followed blows
and groans, after which all was dark, so
We must expect TO see something. Let's
open the door, anyway"
The door creaked on its hinges and, look
ing into the shadowy room from the bright
sunlight, nothing at frst was seen. Then,
simultaneously from both, . cry Of horror
There, hanging to one of the Tafters, was
the form Of a man whose protruding tongue
and eyes and blackened face gave ghastly
evidence Of death by strangulation. An
overturned stove showed that the crime
was self-committed and, looking around,
they saw a folded paper on the one table
in the room, which in the strange story
therein told made the manner Of death and
its motive perfectly clear. On a number of
closely written pages, directed "To who
ever finds this" was q remarkable narra-
tive as follows:
"Oh, the horrible remorse of the muir
derer, Of the man who, in defiance of all
the laws of God and man, takes the life of
his fellow-being! Sleeping or waking,
alone or among men, the terrible vision of
his crime haunts him ever; but for the
fratricide, damned for here and for eter-
nifty, there is no rest, no hope. 1 was the
son Of Presbyterian preacher in an East
ern town. Although I had received q
good education, was always Of a way
ward and restless disposition, and, at the
age Of twenty-eight, in spite Of the tears
and prayers of q loving mother and the
express commands of my father, left my
pleasant home and came West, excited by
the numerous stories Of danger and ad-
venture among the Indians. Besides my
parents, / had q sister several years
younger and baby brother scarcely Eve
years old. After a terrible, rough expert
ence as teamster and miner, managed In
the latter pursuit to acquire several thou
sand dollars Ina California. then en-
barked in the cattle business, fencing in a
small range, and, taking the worn-out
cattle which had pulled the heavy teams
across the plains, feeding and caring for
which time they would Be In good condi-
ton and would sell them for q good sum
In San Francisco. As my herd increased,
l enlarged my ranch, which was In q
beautiful valley near the mountains.
"Ons day there was . tremendous fresh
u, the greatest ever known since the coun-
try was settled All my cattle were
drowned and I was again q bexgar. 1
wandered over the West, mining In the