The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1902-10-04
THOSE MURDERS AT Ell TrEmpo

bad been all ever the frontier we looked
ior good yarn Here : his story: .--
tsss a lsew one IN saH AHteBIo. dub
bsng IL uader O Callahan. and very anx-
icus Tor show, beesuse VAS q younE
nan then. The .to~n's record up TO eAat
tine lad led me ID think il ives 8 soSd
Lace ior game, smart detective 10
nlaAe reputation Well. ore day the Old
I man called me up and asked re how
Ike To spend a feH weeks Il Zsvalla
I county, adding that dye murders had
! seen committed ia as many Neeks ard
thai the authorities aaa offered 4 reward
q 80 and would pay M salary and ex-
penses While 7 was al work on The case
h.s suited Eny book 20 a nicely. and I
started FOR II Tempo tbs town IN which
he murders had been done. Il sits upon
. The hish bank OF the little Isona river
about forty niles above the junction Of
! tnat stream with 10 FriO. and. al that
early period was enjoying a Passing boom
OF account Of some n6w gold diggings %
! the vicinity It's a pretty hard matter
( 10 keep secret your identity or business
n small town Ike that. and I hadn't
been there 4 day when ! was pestered
almost to distraction By the theories
hints and ''clews" of frierdsIy citizens
/ By putting all the evluence together l
was able to satisfy myself of the follow
( ing facts: Each OF the five bod!rs had
: been thrown into the river At the same
/ point shslf OF rock high above the deep
and rocky chasm CT the river bed. the first
two had been thus disposed Of while the
I river was dry, and 50 their bodies re-
NAMED. maugleu bur recognizable IN the
/ sand al the base of this precipIce. Two
/ o. the other bodies had been found lodged
/ against rocks or willows lower down. hay
! ing been carried along by the current.
! One the latest vic.rrfi had been discover
! cd clingr.g with a death-grip 10 a pro-
] Il =.
! water. but the head and trunk well out
I &C the stream.
+ All of the victims had been strangers in
( town, the bodies had al been stripped Of
their valuables. and the slight evidence
! al hand convinced me. of course. that
! each had been murdered Cor money. The
contradictory evidences were considerable.
! For instance, I couldn't understand why
/ the robber ard murderer, be he ever 50
I daring. should Persist in disposing OF the
/ bodies always at the same place and in
/ the same manner. To be sure. there were
n" houses in sight. the spot was remote
! from any Travelled road and the town
was about three niles distant The town
marshal and the sheriff both of whom |
was sure had expended their best efforts
told me that in two out Of five cases. in
which the cOrpses had been promptly
found. traces Of hoof-prlnts, seemingly
Ok two or more horses, were plain IN the
hard sand about the place. They had fol-
loved these traces pretty easily back 10
town. but there had lost track of them I'm
the trafnpled streets. There had been no
sign of wagon or buggy wheels and the
Inference was plain that the horses en-
ployed had been ridden and not driven
/ worked quite a while about the town.
| hoping for some more tangible theory
upon which to exert my ingenuity. but
was at last driven hepelessly back upon
Il
first thing to do was to find the horses
naturally devoted my first attention to
the only livery stable in town. The sign
over the door was DALEY & Bragg"
but | soon found out that Bragg was the
sole owner. and that Daley had drowned
himself in the river about two months
before my arrival The surviving owner
o. the barn was promising subject for
my Inquiries. because. being an unsocis-
lie and somewhat nerose fellow. he had
not heard Of my arrival and was indis-
posed TO ask Embarrassing questions az
we'll as grOuchy about imparting any in
formation. I told him that l was an in
valid from the states. and that ! wanted
t. ride horseback every day while I was
in FL TEMPO Having made arrangements
with him. ! cautioned all those who knew
me to refrain from noticing me.
! had an IDEA that the horse which had
already visited that lonesome rock OF
death would, if ridden into the neighbos-
hood and permitted to go where he liked.
revisit the familiar destination OF previ-
Gus journeys. To this end I gall0Ded
about every day. ending my trips near the
cliff and changing horses as often as
bragg's forbiGding temper would permit.
BY lounging about the barn / began to
know most of the horses. and one day 1
chance question directed al the half
witted negro hostler disclosed the identity
Of the proprietors favorite saddle horse.
That quickly suggested IN inquiry as to
which horse Daily had used, and the an
swer was as easily given. But it was
II. vain / tried TO engage either of the
likely looking animals Bragg insisted
that he wouldn't hire Jason TO his own
brother and as for "Top-Gallant" Dali
leys horse. I was convincingly informed
that nobody could ride that animal in
day time except its late master IN other
words, Top-Gsllant. quite mannerly and
gentle after dark. was AN outlaw" a
bucking. plungins. runaway broncho dur
ing the day.
To make long story short then. tried
out every animal in that barn with no
results until ] was down to Jason and
Top-Gallant. None OF the others showed
any desire to visit Death Rock. and
chung to my theory now only because
none other presented itself and because
] still hoped TO &c; a mount upon the
forbidden pair. A. last however Bragg
with 4 banker who was TO advance the
money. went down 70 the Nuces Valley
IN a double team blackboard 20 buy some
stock. l hribed the negro hostler to let
me have Jason. swore secrecy. promised i
20 ride out the alley and keep away from
town. and finally got away towards the ]
object Of ny daily rides. But this time
the experiment worked. Jason no soone- /
felt the slack rein that he pricled up his /
ears and trotted quite 10 the verge of .
the Bloody shelf above the river This
seemed like something significant and get /,
7 could hardly convince myself that there I.
as any sensible way 20 apply IL.