The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1903-06-21
ALWAYS TWO
SIDES 10 H
Ranchman Had Been Looking
for Trouble
BERRYS WERE DEAD SHOTS
Bad Blood Has Existed for
Last Two Years
BERRYS WERE DEAD SHOTS

Goodland, Kan, June 20-While Chaun-
cey Dewey, the Chicago clUbman, and his
two cowboy associates have the enmity
ard hatred OF most Of the residents OF
northwestern Kansas the feeling is not
so intense as ii was just after the kill
ing of the Berrys. The wild wave Of
excitement which swept over that county
at that time which gave rise 10 repeated
tales Of lynching has passed away and
in its place is the desire TO have the law
take its course.
There are several reasons for this, and
perhaps the chief one is that Mr.. Dewey
and his cowboys have submitted without
a murmur to the arrest and confinement
which has been imposed on them. When
Sheriff Mccullough of Cheyenne county
made the arrest with his handful of dep
uties not a cowboy raised his hand TO
prevent it although all Of these men are
attached 10 Mr.. Dewey and would die
with him in the last ditch were ne 10 but
give the signal. There are over fifty Of
these men who were employed on the
Dewey ranch and each one Of them is a
dead shot and a match for any body Of
like men In the whole western country.
There is. too. another reason which has
been in no small measure responsible for
the quieting of the public mind. The
more substantial citizens OF that country
were not the ones who talked mob and
lynching. They, for the most part, have
felt that there must be more behind the
affair than is apparent on the face. The
majority of these men know Mr.. Dewey
personally and he is one of the most
pleasant men TO meet that can be found
in the west. He has all the polish and
manners Of an eastern gentleman with
the bluff hospitality of the south. where
he was raised. and the open-handed gen.
crosby of the west. The men who have
met him on an equal footing have there
fore been loath to believe that he would
take a band of cowboys as a bodyguard
and. armed to the teeth. seek out de-
fenseless band OF men and shoot them
down from ambush. These men contend
that il is contrary TO all the rules in the
game 10 think that a man with Mr.. Dew
ey's training could be guilty of such an
act It is the opinion Of these men that
the lie or an insult was passed on the
fatal day when these men met, and that
IL then became a question to which
side could draw and shoot the quicker.
Thsi feeling has been gaining ground
every day and there are now many more
who would counsel against any covert
act or the part OF the disturbed element. !
J. B. Dyatt, one Of the most influential
men in and about Goodland. holds that
only half has been told. In speaking /
yesterday Of the affair he said:
'All Of us ranchmen in that part of the /
country have been looking for something 4
TO turn Up like this and the only thing
we feared was that it might terminate /
the other way. Had it been the other
side which lad shot the Deweys down 1 /.
would not have been surprised. They /.
were all dead shots. Why. that Burch I
Berry could take an egg. throw it far up /
in the air and shatter the shell before il I
hit the ground. He could do the same 4
wiki rife. Then, too. it is more reason |
able to think that the Berrys. whose Z
property was but little thing compared I.
with Deweys and whose education was /
az nothing to his. wound commit crime 1
like this. I do not mean to stand up for 4
Dewey and his riders if they are guilty. /
but I do think that they should have /
every show 70 prove their innocence OF I
this act of violence.
There has been bad blood existing be /
tween the Deweys and these Berrys for /
lie past two years. There have been !
threates and counter threats of shooting I
on sight. Each side went armed. but /
neither wished TO be the first to start ]
trouble, for all knew that there were men
on the other side who could shoot fast
and shoot true. Il is possible that some
Of Dewey's cowboys harassed the Berrys. /
but it is equally true that members Of the /
Berry family had cut the wire fences on /
the Dewey land and allowed their cattle. /
secured from no one knows where. 70
roam at VIII over the Dewey pastures.
The only question which remained was
which side would be the one 10 provoke
an open conflict
Ny opinion Of the affair is that there /
must have been something that day THAI
caused il. The Deweys went there 10 get
this tank The three members of the
Berry family. Roy, Burch and Beach F.
heard that Dewey and his men were al
the farm and went there 10 see what was
doing. The men met and the old wound
burst open again with the effect that one
man called another on the other side a
name which is unmentionabIe and used
only as term OF extreme disgust When
that word passes in the western country
and said IN anger there is but one thing
70 DO. This was known 10 both SIDES and
have no doubt that either one hesitsted. .
None OF those men were Of the kind that
do As we have heard but one side do
not think we should make a snap shot
Judgment. but wait until the whole thing 4
has been aired
IT'S a nasty business anyway and I
don't hsId Dewey guiitiess- he had no
business going 70 the Berry farm that
day. He knew. better than any one else. 7
how the Berrys feIt toward MIN. and Il
was his game TO give all the members II +.
that unfortunate family vide berth i 4
was his being there. n ny opinion. which T.
brought on the open rupture. and Rad h /
not been there Cheyenne county might 4
stiIl have a clean biH Of health