The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-04-12
HE SHOT SEVEN LYNCHERS.
RANCHMAN GIBBS KILLED -FOUR
AND WOUNDED THREE.

He Had Been Acquitted of Murder.
But His Colorado NeighbOrs he
lieved Him Guilty and Set out 10
Lynch Him-He RepuIsed Their At
tack ON His House, Which They
Fired, ana Then Took Horse.
From the New York sun.
"Once 1 took Greeley's advice to 20
west" said New Yorker who is fond
Of relating his experiences Of a not I'M
varied life, as he began his favorite story.
II want to say in parenthesis at starting
that Punchs advice to those about to
marry-Don't'-is the better counsel now
adays to give young men who are think
ing of following the star of empire II
is money. not men. that the west wants,
and If a man can't get along in the east
he cannot in the west, for there the strug-
gle for existence is even fercer, because,
while there are fewer contestants, there
are proportionately fewer prizes But to
my story:
1T was during the two years ] was
in Colorado came back. by the way as
poor as / went having while there got
less for my labor and paid more for liv-
ing than l would have here-that / shook
hands with a man who, a few hours
before, had killed four men and winged
three others. The handshaking took
place in the Denver jail, but the man
wasn't there as a prisoner. Quite the
contrary. In place Of being forclbly de-
tanned there, he had requested admit
lance. He preferred the Jail to a hotel,
as the more secure lodging. place, for the
avengers Of blood were behind him.
The reason he was not prisoner was
because the men he had killed and wounded
were lynchers, whom he had shot in self
defense. They had set out to lynch him
for a crime for which he had been pris-
oner In that very jail before he was fairly
acquitted. This was the murder of IA
ranchman whose ranch bordered one he
had near the Divide, as a low spur of the
Rocky mountains jutting out into the plain
not far from Colorado Springs Is called
He and this ranchman were on bad terms,
and he was said to have set his enemy's
barn afire, and 10 have shot him in the
light of the flames from an ambush in
an irrigation ditch. His trial resulted in
his acquittal because IT couldn't be
proved that he had fired the fatal shot.
but the murdered mans friends declared
that there had been a miscarriage of JUS
tice, and openly threatened a lynching.
Their threats didn't deter Gibbs-that
was his name-from going back to his
home as soon as he was liberated, but
after his arrival he took good care that
MS repeating flue ana smaller firearms
for use at close quarters were in good
condition every night before he went
TO bed, and he slept with his clothes on
He didn't have to walt long for the lynch
ers. He had not been home three days.
when, late one night, he was aroused
by loud rapping, evidently made with
the butt end OF a gun on the door of his
adobe house. He knew the time had come
He was alone in the house, for his wife
had gone TO her fathers, as he was I'M
willing that she should share the danger
of the attack he expected, and his cattle
man also was away, a fact which the
lynchers doubtless knew
What do you wantY he asked as
in the darkness, he grasped his gun, which
with his two reviewers, was at his bedside
Is that you, Gibbs?' said a. voice.
which he recognized in spite of an at
tempt of the speaker to disguise it, as that
of a neighbor who had been especially
outspoken in threatening to lynch him.
Your wife is sick, and her father told
me to come over and tell you. / have al
ready saddled your horse
Removing a plug which stopped UP a
loop-hole made in the door for just such
occasions as this, Gibbs looked out Peer
ing cautiously he saw grouped around the
door about dozen armed men whose dark
forms were slhouetted against the sky
Before he could make movement, the re-
moVal OF the plug was noticed, and the
foremost man fired a revolver at the loop
hole and missed by hairs breadth.
Before Gibbs could return the fire the
lynchers withdrew out Of range at each
side Of the door. The walls Of the house
on all sides were perforated at intervals
with loopholes, and Gibbs began at once
to remove the plugs Of those commanding
the positions of the lynchers. This was not
noticed by them, for they were busy pre-
pairing to assault the door with the trunk
of a young cottonwood tree which thew
had cut down for use in case they should
fail to lure Gibbs from his house. With a.
yell eight of them rushed at the door with
the battering ram, while the others COW
cred with their rifles the point of attack
The door was of stout timbers, fastened
at top, middle, and bottom with iron bars
1t Withstood the shock, although the wood
splintered and the frame in which il was
encased trembled.
Another, boys, and she'll give wav.
said the man who had spoken 70 Gibbs. his
voice no longer disguised.
Before the attack could be repeated
Gibbs got to work. With his revolver he
shot the nearest of the men at the batter
ing ram, through the loophole in the door
The man fell. badly wounded Hardly
stopping TO take aim, Gibbs fired again
and again he brought down a man The
lynchers dropped the cottonwood trunk
and sought shelter at the sides OF the door,
out OF range, as they thought of Gibbs
weapons. They had recl1oned without the
loopholes IN the adobe walls. One lyncher
stopped directly In front OF lo0phole and
hardly "a foot from the wall. He fell dead
a second later with bullet through MS
body. Another was wounded before the