Daily capital journal. (Salem, Or.) 1896-1899, 1897-12-21
CURRY COUNTY VENDETTA.
Other Side Of the Coolidge Shooting Al
fafr

Other Side Of the Coolidge Shooting Al
fair
THE JOURNAL prints below som
statements giving "tLe other side" -
the CuOlidge-Van PelJ vendetta II
/ Curry county. It. is frum Langlois
Curry county Repprter.aud does fuller
/ justice to the accused than has beef
done.
THE VENDETTA IN CURRY"
The vendetta ia Curry county, Or.
has ended rs such yenceitas usually
eDd-"Curly" COOlidge' has been car
ried out OF the county corpse. The
Van Pelts, who had been fighting
with Coolidge, seem to belong To the
Tennessee mountains, or sUme PAL u oi
the world less civilized than Oregon. -
RosebUrg Review.
The reporter copies the above for
the purpose OF showing Curry county
readers the extent Of the outside
ignorance wbicn prevails concerning
the situation here. The facts in brief
are, that there is not now and has not
been any vendetta in Curry, and that
there is positively no evidence that
the Van Pelts had anything whatever
TO d. with the killing of "Curly"
Coolidge. The members Of full seven
families besides the Van Pelts had all
the provocations for assaulting Cool
dge and his imported bully, Smith,
that the Van PeltS could have had
They had been fired upon from am
bush b. Coolidge and his band, many
Of them narrowly escaping with their
lives, while they we're peaceably fish
ing 10 public river. And the story
at empted to be palmed off upon out.
side readers that the Van Pelts were
in revolt, defying the authorities. has
been falSehoUd pure aud simple These
people came forward and surrendered
To- the Sheriff upon the arrival of that
Official at Chetcu. They are all in
custody now, without being confined,
and give the authorities no trouble
whatever. The Blakes, SBodgrasses,
Hughes, and other people down there
who had twice been murderously as
saulted aud shot out of the river with
Winchesters in the hands of Coolidge
and his lawless cohorts, are all, with
the Van PeitS. lawabiding people,
and all and every one of them resent
the imputation of constituting
vendetta" in Curry.
The only vendetta in Curry" was
composed of a miscellaneous aSsorC-
iltBN Va kihfls Ddu anu
people, WHO, assuming to be deputy
ronsIa bles. went upon the rampage,
lawles>'y and recklesSly "holding up"
people Of all degrees and conditions,
not sparing those of the weaker sex.
Tncy even foraged across the line
into California and held up little
girl on her way home with some fish
in sack which she had been sent by
har ma nnrnhQGn. IhnU O.
sailed the little creature with coarse
epithets. aud compelled her at the
of their Winchesters to throw
up her hands. They also broke into
houses and committed acts of waste
on both sides of the line. They pre-
tended to be hunting for the Van Pclts,
but tnuk precious good care not 10
find them And that this statement
of the case is true, is evidenced by
the fact that, after Sheriff Turner ar
rived upon the scene, he soon had
them ali in custody.
Salem papers have been furnished
cooked up accounts of the Chetco
troubles by the COnlidges, OF Silverton,
studiuusly concealing the truth, be
sides Youchsating statements which
are absolutely and nOtoriOusly false.
For instance, the DAILY CAPITAL
JOURNAL is made to say:
The coroner was sent for and the
jury was out all night.
The substance of the verdict rem
dered, that 'Curly" Coolidge was
murdered by Charley Van Pelt. Bob
Van Pelt and Ed Hughes,a "a son-in-law
of the senior Van Pelt.
The truth of the matter is, the cCr-
oncr's jury could not, and did not
charge any person or persons with the
killing. We trust that The JOURNAL
will correct the above statement; and
also the other statement in the the
sane account of the matter, that the
Coolidge interest owned the fishing
right in the river at the point where
claimed in the statement published
by it. Mr.. r. d, Hume owns the en-
tire north shore, and the south
shore was owned by San Francisco
party when the COolidges acquired
thei! Interests at Chetco, and Subse.
quenliy sold it to other parties, and
the same is owned and has always
been owned under title deeds adverse
to the COoidges.
And it was not the Van Pelts, but
Mr.. F. II. Blake, an old and respected
business man of Chetco, who was
fshi in the river under lease of
the privileges from Mr.. Hume, and
whose working force, including the
SnodgraSses, was shot out of the river
by Coolidge in person, aided by his
hired gang from SilyertOn.
The best people down in the Vlcin-
ity of ChetcO are OutspOken in con-
demnation of the Coolidge interest
for having made two murderous as
saults upon people peaceably and
legally fishing in the river, and say
that the expected followed.
After the Coolidge crowd shot Mr..
B.ake's fishing crew out of the river
the second time, (from ambush on
Hume's bluff on the north side) Mr..
Flake sought to recover his seine and
other pr perty, and was assumed by
Coolidge that he would be shot if he
attempted it,. We were told that
Coolidge said tc Blake: Il have a
man that | can hire for $25 to kill
you"
Blake, SnOdgrasS, Hughes and
Others were tishing under lease from
Mr.. Hume, who owns the bluff side OF
the river, and similar right from
the owner of the lide frontage on the
opposite side. Twice they where
assaulted with murderous purpose