The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1902-03-24
IeNoBLE END OF a BAD MAN.
Frank MeCarty. Devil of the
Plains" Killed by a Camp Boy.


(Kansas City starr
We'll, sir, Frank McCarty was the
quickest man with a gun I ever knew
on the plains" volunteered John Nc
Cune Of White Church, Kan. McCune,
Edmund Cox Of Tonganoxie, Kan, and
Jim Cox of Oklahoma were holding d
love feast in Wyandotte county last
week and living over again the old
days when they were wagonmasters
for the government, taking outfits with
supplies to the army posts over the
Santa Fe trail.
Frank Was known by everybody on
the plains in the early Sos" said Nc
Cune, and he was a man to attract
attention, even if one didn't know his
reputation. Six feet two and 20 pounds
Of bullying Irishman. peck marked,
dark as a Turk. with betting eye
brows, big black beard and a Roman
nose, his very appearance was defiant.
AS he was hellion from Hellionsville
they called him the Devil of the
Plains and he deserved the title. He
was always in the saddle, with two big
navy guns in the holsters that he was
always ready to use with little excuse
or none. It's safe to say he had killed
a score Of men-white men-we never
kept a record Of dead Indians in those
days.
'McCarty had trouble every trip to
get an outfit, for all the men knew he
was a killer and wouldn't hesitate to
shoot If anything went wrong. The
company knew it, too. but it couldn't
afford TO get along without him: he
could make longer and quicker drives
than any wagonmaster on their lists.
And as long as he saved the cattle the
company didn't care if they did lose
a man or two. But old Frank met his
Waterloo in '63, in the Cimarron noun
tains. on the trail TO Mexico He died
with his boots on. but not from a bull
let He was killed by a camp boy with
an ak.
Frank had started out from Leaven-
worth with thirty men and a big lot Of
supplies, and was getting along reason
ably well-no sign Of hostile Indians.
and no necessity for shooting one of
the men to make him work faster. The
train pulled up one night on the side OF
one Of the foothills of the Cimarron
mountains. The teams were unhitched
and all the men got busy putting up
tents and preparing TO go into camp
for the night. There was one young
fellow in the outfit who had never been
on the road befcre-a mere boy he was.
besides being a tenderfOOt. We called
him Dicky, though 1 never knew what
his full name was or where his family
came from. Dicby was pounding tent
pins at one side of the camp when
Frank yelled out to him to drive up
the mules. The boy DELAYED long
enough to drive another pin. He didn't
know the old mans peculiarities. Frank
opened fire on him and Dicly started
to run, still holding on to the AK. Frank
ran after him. shooting at every step.
and how he missed the boy I don't
know. Dicky turned the corner Of the
tent and stopped suddenly, and when
Frank came up with him the boy
buried the poll Of the AK in his head.
Frank fell and died without uttering
sound.
This happened just at supper time,
and all the crew were in the camp.
They had heard the shots and most Of
them had seen Dicky WELD the ak.
They gathered around the boy and
gave him three cheers. and carried him
on their shoulders to the camp fire.
After supper they wrapped Franks
body up in his blankets, carried il uD
on the mountain side and buried it."
There's a bit more to that story
which you seem to have forgotten and
which I ought to know said Ed Cox.
Il was in a party several years after
that with some Of Franks old crew.
and passing along the trail we decided
to pay a visit to Franks grave The
coyotes had dug up the bones and scat
tered them over the hillside. We had
no trouble Identifying them as the rem
nants Of Frank McCarty-we found the
skull with the poll Of the ak still buried
in it. One Of the men, I think it was
Black Jack Evans, picked up the
skull, looked at it and then said he
needed a candlestick for the little
games they were going to have on the
way home. He set the skull face up,
in which position it was balanced very
nicely by the head Of the ak sticking
in it, and put candles in the eye sock
cts. And all the way back to Leaven-
worth, Kan, those fellows played
poker around that skull in one OF the
wagons or around the camp at night"