Omaha daily bee., 1903-06-05
THREE KILLED BY COWBOYS
Desperate Fight Takes Place Near St
Francis in Kansas.
WIRE FENCE is CAUSE oFTRoUBLE
Father and Three sons Are Killed
and n Fourth Son So Badly
Hurt that lie May
Die.

ST. FRANCIS, Kan, June 4-Authentic
reports received tonight from the scene of
last nights tragedy in the south part OF
this country indicate that the Dewey cattle
men went to the Berry cattle ranch and
killed:
Z. M BERRY. owner OF ranch.
A. ]. BERRY.
G. a. BERRY.
They fatally wounded;
E +. Berry.
And seriously wounded:
Sam Berry.
All of these were sons of r. NJ. Berry.
The Berry version of the matter is that
three Of them were working in the field
and two of them at the house. unarmed,
when gang Of the Dewey men, with
Chauncey Dewey at their head, rode up and
deliberately attempted to kill them all.
Dewey alleges that they went over to get
water tank that belonged to the land;
that the Berrys opened fire on them and
that they did the killing in self-defense.
There has been bitter feeling between
the Berrys and Deweys ever since the
Deweys invaded the country. About two
years ago the Deweys commenced to ac-
quire title to all the land they could in
the southeastern part of this county and
| the adjoining corner Of Rawlins, Sherman
and Thomas counties. The Berrys arc
among the few who have stayed with their
| homes, and have been in continual litiga-
| ton. 1t is said that Chauncey Dewey and
two of his men, Mcbride and Wilson, did
the shooting. The coroner's jury finds that
Chauncey Depew. from behind sod wall.
killed one OF the Berrys and mortally
| wounded another, and that the Berrys were
/ unarmed.
| The tragedy resulted from the ever pres
\ ent fight between cattle and ranchmen in
| this section of the country. The Deweys
! belonging to a rich Chicago concern.
They own thousands Of acres of land.
Sheriff McCulloch wires from Atwood that
he has Dewey and his men under arrest.
Cause of the Trouble.
LINCOLN, June "A special from
Superior. Neb., gives the story Of the fight
at st. Francis, Kan, between the Berry
| family and some cowboys.
| Land had been taken by old man Berry
as a homestead. The fences of the cattle
company interfered with his passage to
and from the roads. Wire cutting on the
part of the Berry family in order to get the
| shortest possible road to town is said to
have been the original cause of the trouble.
The cowboys had threatened to kill the
family.
The fight resulting in the three deaths
| came after a recent trip of the Berry
family to town. The father and four sons
were returning to their homes. Eight miles
from their destination they stopped to cut
their way through wire fence The cow
boys came upon them just as they COM
pleted the work. The Berrys mounted
quickly and the cowboys fired.
The oldest boy, John, was wounded, but
stayed in his saddle. The farmers had the
freshest mounts and soon were out of ac-
curate rifle range The cowboys kept W
a scattering fusilade of shots.
Arriving home the Berrys did not think
they had been pursued all the way and
they were in front of the house when the
party of cowboys rode up the hill a few
yards to the north. The shooting began
Immediately. Two of the Berry boys were
killed before they could reach their rifles
The old man and the other two boys got
inside the house.
| There were about twenty cowboys and
they started on the gallop for the house
intending to fire 1t and burn the defenders
out. The old man and the boys attempted
to escape from the other side of the house
and were shot down in succession.