The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-06-30
TOO MORAL FOR COMFORT.
BAD MEN ARE NOT PROSPERING IN
COLORADO THESE DAYS.
to the Credit of Equal Suffrage.
DesDeradOes who Have Come 10
Grief-Fnte of the Mccoy Gang of
TrnIn Rnhhcrn
From the New York Sun.


Train Robbers.
From the New York Sun.
Denver. Col. June 1O.-"Colorado is set
Ting down into sedate. easy-going. and
law-abiding ways" 1t was an old-timer
who was talking to a group of friends
in an uptown hotel. Il suppose that we
have more law-abiding people in this state
now in proportion TO its population than
many Of the eastern states with their big
cities full Of foreign heather. See the way
the officers nab train robbers; remember
how Ray Simpson shot the Delta bank
robbers full Of holes. And the Cripple
Creek riots resulted in the death Of
number of bad men. I tell you this state
/ is getting too civilized for comfort"
Your state is running too much TO
silver lunatics just now" hazarded an
eastern tourist.
My friend" was the quick response.
IF it were not for our civilization, that
remark Of yours would have been pretty
near your last on earth We use our
brains in studying the financial question.
! and If you were 10 do a little work in
that line you would not make such fool
remarks. Have you read Col" But the
| tourist had disappeared
| Train robbers are not such terrible
| Fellows continued the old-timer. They
are more reckless than brave, I see that
! one of the chaps who recently held I'D a
! train on the Florence and Cripple Creek
\ railroad was Taylor, the follow who acted
| as United States deputy marshal last
! summer during the American Railway
! Union strike, and killed a man in Pueblo
while Off duty, in a drunken fight in
I suNa =
/ and viii have good place at Canon for
/ term of years, l guess"
! Through Colorado railroads traverse
| a mountainous region where stations are
| far apart, few attempts have been made 10
hold trains up The hazard is too great.
Every time a band have undertaken to
! DO this they have been captured, killed or
! imprisoned. and the party scattered. Now
/ there is the Mccoy gang. The old man is
! lifer at Canon City, and two OF his gang
! are doing time at the government prison
| in Detroit. They took to train robbery
! only in desperate straits, but they robbed
! just one train.
'Old Dick Mccoy came from Missouri
many years ago and took up a ranch in
! the mountains above the Royal George
! in Fremont county. At the time Silver
! Cliff was booming. and two stage lines
from Canon City were doing a fourishing
| business. 1t was thought that Silver
Cliff would become a great mining center,
and ranch lands in the vicinity were con-
sidered valuable property. But when the
| mines played out and the people de-
! camped the ranchmen were left without
n market for their crops. The cost of
marketing grains, vegetables or fruits by
rail- was too great Stock raising was
about the only source of profit Cattle
could be driven out of the hills on the
| hoof Old Dick Mccoy went into the
| stock business, and though he was never
known to buy yearling mis- herd seemed
| to gain in numbers, and he managed to
make a comfortable living by selling beef
/ cattle at Canon City. Then it was dis
! covered that he sold beef to only one
| butcher in the town, and this man was
| his son-in-law
The stockmen concluded after awhile
| that Mccoy must BE stealing his beef sup
ply off the range, and they set a trap to
! catch him. One day a stranger was dis
covered by Mccoy approaching his cabin
! from the south. AS the man forded the
little stream which dashes over the stones
below the house, Mccoy shouldered his
shotgun and went down through the cor
raj to meet the man and prevent him COM
| ing too close to the premises, where q
| number of hides were drying in the sun.
The stranger said he was looking for
some stray cattle and had stopped to en-
quire If the McCoys had noticed any
wandering stock near their place. Nc
10Y returned q Sufly GENIAL. Inc Slrdng-
! er showed a disposition to remain about,
and, finally noticing the drying hides,
asked if he might inspect the brands on
them. This angered Mccoy and he OPP
ened a quarrel which speedily resulted in
the death of the stranger.
Mccoy placed the body Of the man in
his wagon and took it to Canon City. He
then proceeded to the sheriff and surren-
dered. The story he told was that he had
shot the man in self-defense This story
was corroborated by his son Tom. The
cattlemen suspected that their agent had
been the victim of foul play and they Sc
cured the services of a great criminal
lawyer to prosecute the old man.
The citizens of Canon well remember
that murder trial The entire country
with the exception of Dick McCoy's own
family, were convinced of his guilt, and
the greatest interest was manifested in
this case. The McCoys came in from their
mountain home revengeful in spirit and
loyal to the old man. He mortgaged his
| possessions to defray the expenses of the
trial, and prepared to defy the prosecu-
ton by his story of self-defense. The lit
tie court house was filed during the trial.
| Dick McCoy's two daughters sat beside
their father watching the proceedings
with painful earnestness and attention.
I Tom Mccoy was made q defendant with
his father There had been at a distance
from the scene of the murder an eye
/ WITNESS VINO naQ disappeared immaculate
ly after the shooting, and his testimony
was convincing.
"McCoys story of the murder was cor
! roborated by his son, and the women of
his household stood by him and furnished
additional testimony in his defense When
the attorney for the prosecution was re-
viewing the case, he made no further al
| fusion to the testimony of the daughters
than to relate a story of nun who receiv-
| ed the dying confession of a murderer.
The nun discovered that the dying man
was her brother. The man recovered, yet
the nun never betrayed the murderer to
the authorities. This tale the lawyer told
with graphic earnestness. and at it's con-
| clusion, turning to the two women sitting
| beside Mccoy, he said:
mo one will blame that nun for her de-
tense of her brother. She could not betray
him, even though she knew he was guilty.
Could your"
THE question was 80 sudden as to star
tie the women, and they nodded their
heads in token of agreement with him.
Then turning the jury, the lawyer con-
! cluded:
lyon have inst observed that these wO-