Durango semi-weekly herald., 1902-05-22

like men. They made no reply but
kept up firing at the house. The
house was built of small pine logs and
they soon had knocked out the chinks
and the bullets came in thick and fast
The crowd was concealed so that we
could not see any of them. Pretty
soon Richard was wounded in the
head and I then fortified myself in
the house by getting under bedstead
and piling all of our bed clothing
around three sides of it. The side next
the door l left open. also the door,
as there was open ground on that side
and the firing came from the other
three sides of the house. My wife
then stepped out to the corner of the
house and asked If the sher-
if was there; if he was. she
hoped he would stop the shooting. as
Richard had been killed They re-
piled that II we didn't stack arms thev
would kill us ALL and then fired four
shots at her before she could get into
the house. two bullets striking the
corner of the house and very near hit.
ting her. The sheriff stuck his head
her. and bullet struck him in the
forehead. knocking his brains out
Escape From the House.
The firing was kept up all day un-
til sundown. My wife. Richard, Louis
and myself were in the house. told
the boys we would have to run for it.
as they might crawl up to the house
and set 1t on fire. and thus burn us
out. | didn't think they would kill
my wife until they had killed us. We
ran out the door and had to run
across a level bottom, about a quarter
of mile, to get to the river bank.
They fired at us all the way across
the bottom, Louis had four bullet
holes in his clothes and Richard
had seven. We afterwards learned
that there were forty-eight in the
crowd, and, all. told, twenty-seven of
them lived in the valley. Nine Mexi-
cans. who had come there looking for
work, had been armed and pressed
into service, and the rest were cow
boys who did not live in the valley
They threw up breastworks five miles
above where | lived while the fight
was going on, to make people believe
the Indians had killed my family and
they We're fortifying against them.
There had not been an Indian in the
valley since the previous fall
The crowd had tied Riley's hands
and left him at their fortification
intending to kill him as soon as they
had killed the rest of us. After we
escaped they left and turned Riley
loose, and he came home and stayed
with his mother that night. The rest
of the boys and myself stopped at the
river bank TO rest, and started for Par
rot City. Riley overlook us the next
morning before we reached our des
tnation. The crowd had told him to
notify me that If l agreed to leave the
country they would give me a thous
and dollars for my ranch and would
also help him get my stock. He got
the stock and they sent a man with
with him to see what / would do.
told him that | could tell him
in a very few words-I was 60
ing to hold that ranch. and if they
wanted any more fighting to come
over there and and they could have
all they wanted. They never got a
warrant for my arrest.
Indicted and Convicted.
La Plata county was attached to
San Juan county for judicial purposes
at that time, and the county was or
ganized in the spring of that year. In
the summer the county commissioners
appointed me road overseer. Court
convened in August, and myself and
family tried to have the whole outfit
indicted by the grand jury. They got
wind of it, put together all the mon
ey they could raise, bought out the
grand jury and got an Indictment
against me for manslaughter. | was
granted change of venue to Lake
City and there they bought out one of
my attorneys, and the judge and jury
sat on the case two days and two
nights. During this time the outfit
had stationed man in the water clos
ct with money. and he succeeded in
buying the jury and they brought in
a verdict of manslaughter against me
On the day ! was sentenced, there
were 400 persons who signed peti
tion for me to get pardon. All the
, men in San Juan and La Plata coun
ties signed it, and there were sever
attorneys. besides the prosecuting at
+ torney and the jury, who signed sep
arate petition. There were petitions
) sent from Iowa from different coun
{ ties where had lived for twenty
! years back. Altogether there wert
r $500 names. They are on record II
the Office of the secretary of state.
4 An Honest Man.
= When | was sent to prison my wiz
D and sons went back and stayed OF
A the ranch till ! came back. After
came back all the thieves left the val
D ley but five or six. / never had any
Y thing to do with them. | stayed on thu
e ranch five years and sold it for $4,000
e and gave my wife half the money.
/ then moved to Oregon and came bacl
{ to Colorado inside of year. hay
n lived in San Juan La Plata and Nor
e trose counties fifteen years. CLAIM
t to to be an honest man, in spite OF tn
G fact that 1t has been reported in thi
I. county that | killed the sheriff OF Sa
n Juan county for following me TO
/. killing n band of horses, or the publ
e cation in Ouray and Dallas paper