Waterbury evening Democrat., 1889-02-20
RATHER A COSTLY JOKE.
A SCARE THAT WAS CAUSED BY AN UNSIGNED BOGUS DISPATCH.

A SCARE THAT WAS CAUSED BY
 AN UNSIGNED BOGUS DISPATCH. Mystery of the Rio GIande Indian Excite
 ment in 1883 Cleared Up-"Judge' Bean
 and His Jovial Com pauions Play a Prac-
 tical Joke.
 There ara probably not half dozen people living who are aware that the terrible Indian raid in southwestern Texas along the Rio Grande, in the spring of 1885, was bogus affair. Fewer yet know the origin of the farce, which arose simply from drunken spree, cost the national government and the Southern Pacific Railroad company thou | sands of dollars and caused the people along l that road such fright as they will not soon l forget.
 The facts in the case are given as follows | by writer in The St Louis Post-Dispatch: | On Jan. t2 1883, connection was made be- tween the Sunset" or G. H. and S. A. rail- road, running west from San Antonio, Tex, and the Southern Pacific, running east from 1 San Francisco, Cal Both roads had been in course of construction for several years, lead ing through a wild, desolate and unnhabited | TeglOu OI country. He couutleS tuIOuSn which the roads were built, in the Pecos and
 Devils River countries, were unorganized, and since the labor employed along the line consisted of probably as rough an element of civilization as the world ever saw, there was very little semblance of law order among the thousands and thousands of men in the grading camps strung along the line. The
 principle of existence was every man for him.
 self, etc.
 REFRESHMENTS OF LAW AND ORDER Finally murders, highway robberies and
 other crimes became so frequent that the con-
 tractors and the railroad company united in
 petition to the governor of the state to ap-
 point justice of the peace, clothed with the
 additional functions and authority of coro-
 ner, with jurisdiction over this entire terri
 tory. The petition was granted, and the man
 appointed at the request of the petitioners to
 fill this important position was Roy Bean.
 "Judge' Bean as he called, was O
 short, stocky man of about five feet eight
 inches in height, about 62 years of age, illit-
 crate, stern, pompous and courageous.
 His honor, as he frequently asserted, was
 the law, the judge, the jury, attorneys and,
 if need be, witness on both sides. He swore ill
 the renaissance style, and his decisions were
 brilliantly bespangled with salient and pro-
 nounced forms of ancient and modern impre- ] cation.
 But after exercising such arbitrary author
 ity over territory larger than several east ern states thrown together, as soon as the
 connection was made, the camps deserted
 and the men scattered, Othello's occupation
 was gone, and the judge had to hie him to | IT., l and opened out the Eagles Nest" saloon at Langtry, which station was inhabited by , the operator and the tankman until Judge
 Beans arrival.
 But to our episode During the warm sum- mer months of 1888 the writer happened to be in the little border town of Del Rio one } day about noon. The village was wild with excitement over a dispatch coming from the 3 west worded: "The Indians are upon us!"
 The operator did not sign his station, and
 what it's locality might be or where the In , dians might be was left to conjecture. The
 supposition was that the poor fellow hao
 either fled for his life or had been scalped : The telegrams kept flying, and anxious inqui
 ries were made of each passing train, but noth r ing could be learned. Finally the excite ment grew so intense that Superintendent Van Week, in San Antonio, was literally . showed in with telegrams beseeching: "Fol 1 Gods sake, send us trains to take us to place n of safety!n Trains were made up taking the employees and their families to either Del Rit d or Sanderon.
 $ In the meantime there was a company O. + United States cavalry at the post of Del Rio
 commanded by Capt. Randlett. As soon a.
 there scanned to be good grounds for actior j. the captain wired Gen. Stanley at San An }, l tonic, commandant of the southwestern mill @ tary system, asking what he should do in ths premises. The general telegraphed at ono, J to the secretary of war at Washington ask !, ! ing instructions, and was ordered to hav ,, Capt. Randlett's company to go to the seen d of action at once At o'clock the morninI o after the alarm the cavalry were aboard tn
 cars and whirling along to the fray. The.
 were gone week or ten days, callarrupini around over the prairies in search of tn Q bloody hostiles, and returned with the repor @ that no one had been killed and not ivini l. soul could be found who had seen or defnitel F. heard of an Indian. The fears of the peopl 1T gradually subsided and the incident becam s' thing of the past.
 l THE MYSTERY CLEARED UP.
 During that summer the WTlVer nau occt,
 sion to go to Langtry, where Judge Bean wa
 conducting his establishment for the dispen Q sation of liquids Incidentally the judge de l' tailed the facts, with much glee, about tn
 cause of the recent so called Indian outbreak SS They were as follows: One forenoon there al l. rived at Langtry a ranger and a cowboy X; who announced to his honor that they wer q, going over into Mexico, about half a mil W away, to hunt deer and turkeys They dran
 considerable before starting, and shortly afte
 arriving on the Mexican side of the rive '. they discovered q wild Apache buck abou O. l9 years old They immediately drew dow 5s upon him, disarmed him, and, contrary t y every principle of international law betwee n, the two republics, forced him to come wit 1e them to the American side.
 le Tho Indian could speak neither English no