, 1886-06-26
THE OLD WOMAN or RAwnIpEy
Frontier Mystery Explained--"Mam"
Sheppard and the Tensas Outlaws.

A Frontier Mystery Explained--"Mam"
sheppard and the Tensas Outlaws.
Mr.. Ed. Mayes, of Rawhide Buttes is
in the city. Mr.. Mayes is an old acquain-
lance of the scribe, and in reminiscent
conversation with him yesterday, that well
known but mysterious frontier character,
the ''Old Woman of the Rawhide was
mentioned, and the particulars of her
bloody death were talked over.
The "Old Woman's' ranch. where she
lived, and where she sleeps now in her
bloody grave, situated at the summit
of high ridge, at the foot of which runs
the waters of the Rawhide, Is an object of
general and grisly interest in the vicinity.
In 1876 the old woman appeared on the
banks of the Rawhide. and located the
ranch that still bears her name, buik a
cabin, and opened a rude place of enter
tainment for travellers. She had a few
head of stock, and these ran on the range
near her cabin. No one knew who she
was or where she came from She never
gave any name. and she soon became
known us the 'Old Woman of the
Rawhide.
About a year after her appearance in the
region, there began to be seen about the
cabin a man who gave his name as Dick
Davis, but who was generally known as
Dangerous Dick" No one seemed to
know who this fellow was ether, and his
startling sobriquet was derived from a
certain hang dog and evil look which
seemed cngrained IN his countenance.
This man ostensibly followed hunting and
trapping for a livelihood, but most of his
time was spent in loafng about the "Old
Woman's' cabin. The two seemed well
acquainted, and when seen together, con
veyed strong impression that their past
was no mystery to each other.
One evening in the fall of 1878 some
travellers stopped at the "Old Woman
ranch. They found the Goor wide open,
and the interior OF the house bearing the
appearance of having recently been thor
oughly ransacked. Neither the old woman
or Dangerous Dick" could be seen.
Finally one of the travellers took the path
leading to a spring at the foot of the
ridge, and there the body of the old
woman was found riddled with bullets.
She had evidently been shot from behind
as she stopped over the spring to fill her
bucket with water. In the soft soil about
the spring were many tracks made by a
man wearing moccasins. a species of foot
gear always worn by Dangerous Dick. -
The body was carried back to the cabin on
the summit Of the ridge. and buried near
the door. The murderer had made good
his escape, taking with him the 81 200 or
81, 500 the old woman was known to have.
From that time the ranch of the cold
Woman was avoided, and soon fell into
decay, and there only marks the dismal
spot a few stones left from the old chin
ney, and the rotting board at the head of
the sunken grave,
But who was the odd Woman of the
Rawhide, and who was Dangerous
Dick p 1t can be told. Several years
ago, while riding along the banks of the
Big Horn river in the dusk of a sum
mer's evening, the scribe came upon the
camp of a party OF emigrants. Dismount-
ing he passed the night with them, and
by their camp fires listened to the early
history of the "Old Women of the Raw
hide and Dangerous Dick" At the
close of the civil war there lurked in the
Shiny Businesses of the Tensas swamps in
northern Louisiana a band of outlaws and
cutthroats known as the ''Shephard's
gang" Outlawed by both sides, they
preyed on all alike, and lived by muir
der and rapine. The gang was led by two
brothers, Tom and Bill Sheppard, and
with them was their mother, Nam as
she was called, and from whom the boys
had inherited the f%erocity and Iapacity
which made them the terror of the
country.
With the return of the paroled confej
crate soldiers the doom OF the band was
sealed. They were hunted like the wild
beasts they were, and both the Sheppard
boys died by the swift judgment of the
Iynching halter. The gang was wiped out
with the exception of "Mam' and a fel-
low known as The Tarapin." These
two succeeded in making their escape, to
appear years afterward on the far Western
frontier. as the odd Woman of the
Rawhide and Dangerous Dick"
After numbering the woman who had
long been his companion in crime. The
Tarapin' struck back with the plumber to
his old haunts in the swamps of Louisiana.
Engaging here in his old practices of muir
der and robbery, he was soon made the
object of a community's Just vengeance,
and was lynched within sight of where his
old leaders, the Sheppard boys, the sons
of the he had murdered, had met
a similar fate. Before the ~avenging cord
did its fatal work, he made a full confess
sion, and thus is cleared up the mystery
of the "Old Woman of the Rawhide and
dangerous Dick