The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1896-02-08
AN OLD MAN HANGED
Benjamin Radcliff, the Triple Mur-
derer, Pays the Penalty.
HIS WAS AN AWFUL CRIME
To Avenge a FancIed Wrong He
Arms himself and Opens Fire
Upon Three Innocent
School Trustees
speciaI pispateh to the Standard.

Special Dispatch to the Standard.
Canon City, Col, Feb. 7.-Benjamin
Radclin, the triple murderer. was
hanged in the execution house OF the
penitentiary at sos o'clock tonight.
The white haired man, standing six
feet in his stocking feet, looked like a
patriarch. as he was led from the cell
To the room I'm which the state main
tains the peculiar apparatus by which
all murderers committed to death
hang themselves. when the death
warrant was read to the old man he
never ninched. and was the coolest
among 10 assembled by law to witness
the hanging, stepping on the trap
that started the machinery In motion.
lie declared that he acted I'm self-de-
fense in defending the honor of his
family. Not since the day of his crime
has Radclin either by word or sign
given evidence that he was sorry for
killing the three innocent men. There
was a great crowd assembled outside
the walls OF the penitentiary at the
Sime listening for the sound of the fall
ing weight which was TO tell them that
Radclin had been sent to his Maker
His neck was broken by the twitch and
death was instantaneous.
Benjamin Radcliff's crime was one OF
the most terrible ever chronicled in Col
orado, and was one that has seldom
been equalled. on the morning of May
6. 1895. he shot and killed three men
constituting the school board of Park
county. and still thirstiuE for blood,
born of revenge, he went out upon the
high road in search of other victims,
whom he fancicd had wrongcd him. II
was premeditated murder. and with
out a parallel I'm the annals Of crime
in the western states. His victims were
Samuel Taylor, l.. +. MCCurdy and
George u. Wyatt Before killing them
he told them that they had slandercd
him, had wronged him and his family,
and unable TO bear the disgrace any
longer, he was determined that they
should die. The crime was committed
in a little log school house ten miles
from jefferson, a point about 80 miles
from Denver. In the mountains.
Radclif was a peculiar man. He
never allowed his children any privi-
leges, and his daughter, nearly 20 years
OF age. has not been more than II miles
from her home since the day of her
birth, and seldom more than two or
three. Radclin had quarreled with the
school board, first because he did not
wish to send his children to school
The board insisted. and County Super
intendent Miller decided that they must
attend school, or RadClin would be
compelled to show cause in court. Then
he objected that the school was too far
away-tiVe miles-and he would not al
low his children 10 go SO far. and IL was
at this point that the fancied scandal
appeared. Somehow, no one knows
how. some person, whose name cannot
be learned. and who refuses to come
forth. stated that Radclim's daughter
was in a delicate condition. and that he
Cthe father was the author Of her ruin.
There is no positive statement that this
remark was made, yet II was rumored.
Women talked about II, and IL became
a story and flew from mouth TO mouth
and finally Mrs. Joseph Crockett wrote
letter 10 Radclim and told him that
Taylor had made the statement. Rad
cliff had quarrelled with his neighbors
for years; he had often said that he
would Kill this man or that one II IL
were not for his children. who needed
him, and when this statement came u
him. he decided to Kill, not only Taylor
and McCurdy. whom he believed 10 be,
for some reason. the men who origina-
ted the story, but Wyatt. and County
Superintendent Miller. and half a dozen
others against whom he held grudges.
The school election would b. held on
May 6. and II was a contest in which
everybody in that district had taken d
personal interest, because IL involved
the eleciion uf the old board, or a new
one, and one favorable 10 RadclfI. one
that would place school house near
his ranch. and everybody would be
there. lie calculated everything to a
nicely. the time II would take for the
various enemies Of his 10 reach the
place. and then he found that they
would all reach the place, and then he
found that they would all. without eN-
c-ption. reacu IN" school house be-
tween the hour of $40 a. M. and 1880
a. M. and he determined in his own
mind that they would have % die. J..
r. Crozier. a neishhor. he especially
marked out. and he would have killed
at least FIVE and perhaps eight people
Il IL hal not been FOR one o.rcumstdnc-
it ralned on the nirnt of May 8. and
the roads were 50 heavy thar Miller.
who lived al Fair Play. could uo-
reach the school house. and Cr1zier dii
not get 70 the school house until after
noon.
At $3.50 O'Clock Radcln mounted
horseback, a Winchester rifle atrIzs
his shoulder, appeared on the rpad b--
low the school h1lSa. m. came from
the hills and knew nothing ~ the cone
DIXON OF the r-lcs below. He travelled
over rock roads. the others Were dirt
and now deep with mU4 and covered
with in-waShcs He stopped and
watched the members OF the school
board enter the log house. and a. io.ap
o'clock. with some show c. Impat.euc-.
h- ASKED some men working on the
road II ehey had seen any body else -n-
ter They had not and at .uat hour
ne rode up % the house. h.tehed mis-
h0rse. ana r-tle in hand. .nt-r.l What