The Bozeman weekly chronicle. (Bozeman, Mont.) 1883-1889, 1886-01-06

point seventeen miles from wher
Cover left Russell's wagon. Nine year
after they located there they were fer
reted out by the officers and taken Il
Sacramento to be tried for killing th,
miner at Placerville. But years hae
elapsed, the victim was unknown, and
had neither friends nor relatives whC
could be found. The case was dismissed
in the Sacramento court for want of evi
dence and the Helms returned to theil
ranch. They have q 160-acre location
on the divide, and claim the range from
Warmers ranch to the Colorado river, q
distance of ninety miles. Their location
includes Borrego Springs.
"In 1872, Frenchman named Bosque
started to drive a large band of sheep
from Los Angeles county to Yuma, and
on the way camped at Borrego Springs.
Struck by the advantages Of the place,
he decided to locate the springs TIE
Helm brothers told him they claimed
the water, and if ne didn't clear out
they'd kill him and his sheep. He re-
fused to go, whereupon the desperadoes
came down with their Winchesters and
laid siege. They turned loose on his
flock and killed hundreds of sheep be-
fore he got away with the rest. Bosque
had with him half-breed herder named
Rufno Rimaldo, who left him at that
juncture. Rimaldo turned up at San
Luis Rey, twenty-four days later-hav-
ing been previously seen at Pala Mission.
He was in fine feather, had squaw and
three horses, and to his confdantes ex-
hibited the skin of sleeps leg, filed
with yellow nuggets. He had found the
Lost Peg-Leg. He migrated thence to
San Juan Capistrano, where an unsuc-
cessful attempt was made to rob him,
and thence to Santa Ana. There he got
into a difficulty and was sent to Los
Angeles to work 100 days in the chain
gang. Persons here found out his story, >
paid his fine, and induced him to take
them in to locate the mine. Becoming
that they were going to rob
him, he drew out, and all attempts to
get information out of him failed. He
is now living down south. But l am
"We consulted with the Helms, who
said they had hunted for Cover. They
did good many tricks to throw the
guilt on Russell, but was onto their
game. AT last, one day our party was
camped on Cresa creek, about twenty
three miles from a place where Russell
said he and Cover camped, and at
point where Helms says they camped
again. and not far from where Cover left
the wagon to start on his fatal walk.
While we lay there, there came up one
Of the hardest rains l ever ssw-almost
a cloudburst. When we started to move
on after the rain. West and | crossed the
creek and road, few hundred yards up
the opposite bank, when saw something
that made me exclaim, I've got itp The
rain had cut little gullies in the soil, and
in one of these I saw some fragments Of
bone. I traced the lead up, and at last
found the spot sought. / spent couple
Of days panning out that dirt. Six or
eight inches below the surface was
heap of ashes. mingled with pieces of
human bones, burned in the fire. A
great space around had been stripped of
greasewood for the materials for that
blaze. ! gathered about two quarts of
bones and several teeth, and, with them,
evidence that these were the
of poor Tom Cover. I fixed
them in a cloth in my valise, and we
returned. Getting up to the divide, ]
sent for Turner Helms, the youngest Of
The brothers, but the boss. He is the
only one who can read or write. He
came to our camp, and l opened out my
valise suddenly and told him whose the
bones were. You never saw a man turn
30 many colors. He turned right around
and went off trembling. / called him
back and told him of course we knew
Russell committed the murder. This
him, and he went on laying
the guilt on Russell How / wished for
. warrant thenl notified Sheriff Bushy-
head of San Diego and presume he has
Helms locked up by this time" A tele-
gram to Bushyhead yesterday afternoon
had elected no reply up to the time of
going to ess.-Rep.l
"What is my theory of the MURDER
Well, this: We followed Covers trail
from where he left the wagon till it was
lost utterly. He was then nearly back
TO his starting point But there we
struck the tracks of two horses-one
very large American horse and one
small broncho. I knew the big horse
we'll. Thence there is another trail, not
Covers, leading back to Helms place.
The two horses went from the place
Covers tracks end to where We found
The bones. Instead Of following the
plain across, they went in and out, in
md out, the scalloped fringe of hills,
walking upon the rocky lodges, SO as to
cave little trail. We had the hardest
Iort of time to follow it, but it was
here. When they went down over the
nde of barrsnca, the little horse in
ront was always turned as only guided |
lorse would be- while the big one behind
Iprawled down just as pack animal
llways does. Turner Helms told me,
Fhen spoke of following that trail,
hat he and his man Marsh made it in
for Cover. When | asked
what they were doing up there. he said
hey were directed by Los Angeles |
;lairvoyant Elijah Moulton) whom his |
brother had consulted. He told them |
cover had been killed with hatchet,
md was lying in barranca with rocks
,iled on him
"Well, think when Cover had made |