Omaha daily bee., 1889-07-25
THE SWEETWATER HANGING.
Five Men Held Responsible For II
BY the Coroner.
ALL OF THEM PROMINENT.
Two of tho Parties Readily Admit
Their Participation IN tho
Tragic Affair hut DO Not
Regret Ii.
The Double Choke Mt swectwater.

AhS pOuptf SnOKC nU SwcctwNtTr.
DOUGLAS, Wyo., July A.--TSpccial Tele-
gram to TuE BEE. The dime novel litera-
turc telegraphed from Cheyenne Monday
night regarding the lynching of James Aver
ell and Ella Watson Saturday last was not
correct in some particulars. Averell aud tho
woman were in wagon en- route for Casper
The lynchers surprised and captured them,
and while IN the act of hanging them a cow
boy named Buchanan, who was a friend OF
Averell, and who had witnessed the capture
of the victims, began firing on the lynchers
They returned the fire and pursued Bu.
chanan. who escaped and rode into Casper,
fifty miles away, and told his story. War
rants were sworn out FOR the supposed
lynchcrs, and n deputy sheriff left with
posse of seven men for the scene of the trag-
edy Monday morning. Two of the men
returned last night. They report that the
sheriff and posse reached the scene OF the
lynching at an early your yesterday morning
The tale told by Buchanan was true
Hanging from tho limb Of a stunted pine
growing on the summit Of a cliff fronting the
Sweetwater river were the bodies of James
Averell and Ella Watson. Side by side they
swung, their arms touching each other, their
tongues protruding and their faces swollen
and discolored almost beyond recognition by
the exposure of almost forty eight hours II
was ghastly picture. Common cowboy
lariats had been used and both had died by
strangulation, neither having fallen over two
feet Judging from signs too plain to be
mistaken a desperate struggle had taken
place on the cliff, and both man and woman
had fought for their lives to the last
The bodies were cut down and
taken to the ranch of Ed Healy,
where Acting Coroner Emery i'm.
paueled jury and held an inquest, result
ing in verdict to the effect that the deceased
met their death at the hands OF John Durbin,
Tom Sum, j. Il. Boutwell,, Sam Johnson
and n man named Mclean.
The bodies were placed in one box and
buried at the ranch. Sheriff Watson and
party then proceeded to the ranch Of Tom
Sum, who admitted that he was one of the
lynchers and readily gave the names of the
others. He stated further that one of the
shots fired by Buchanan at the lynchers,
when they were in the act of stringing
Averell up, struck John Durbin in the
hip infiicting very serious IL not.
fatal wound. The wounded man had been
taken to Sand creek, and Sum did not know
whether he lived or not. Taking Sum into
custody the party then proceeded to the
ranch of j. X. Boutwell, who also readily ad-
mttcd that he had assisted at the hanging.
He told Buchanan and Healey that both
would go over the range the same way il
they didn't leave the country, and on being
told that he would be taken to RawlDs, ad-.
vised the sheriff to take q good look ut every
tree he came to on his way back to Casper,
for he would be likely to find six or eight
more cattle rustlers hanging by the neck
when he returned from taking them to Jail.
The two men who furnished these facts Of
the party here returned to Caspar. Watson
probably had no trouble in arresting the
balance of the lynchers, and should have.
reached Rawlins with them some time to-
day.
All the men who participated in the lynch
ing are among the most prominent stockmen
in the Sweetwater valley. Durbin lives in
Cheyenne and is one of the pillars of the
Methodist church there. Boutwell, is the,
son of a wealthy New York business man,
and Tom Sum is an old pioneer scout and
guide, who is known all over the west.