Durango semi-weekly herald., 1904-07-25
HOW JOE BUSH GOT HIS MEN

When man goes following horse
thleNes INTO the Blue mountains -
sad the old-limer. "he is either a fool
or has more courage than is apt to be
good for him Too many brave men
nave gone into that section looking
for criminals. and have had TO beat
hasty retreat or have never been
heard OF again. Charley Payne and
ms friends are getting into mighty
dangerous country. They want those
mules a lot worse than | would. IL
they were mine"
The crowd standing around concur.
red in these sentiments They had all
heard about chasing criminals In the
Blue mountains. and couple of them
knew something about 1t from expert.
| ence.
/. Ihe old'timer then went on to re.
late that Joe Bush of Salt Lake CITY
was the only man who had ever taken
a criminal ont of that famous haven
for refugees.
| You see" said he, "a stranger
cant get into that section anywhe, g
but what 1t is known all over. Now
take II in the case of these fellows
tracking the mule thieves. Charley
Payne and his friends may be going
down the canon all unsuspicious The
mule thieves may be only a little WAYS
ahead. and they would be looking out
continually for some one to follow
them. Like as not one of them would
drop behind once in n while to see if
there was anybody after them. Well.
when the found they were being trailed
| they would just hide behind the rocks
and wait for their pursuers to come
along and when they did come they
would have them. That's the way they
| do IT in case of that kind
= remember fellow came out there
from Grand Junction once. He
stopped at my camp and told me who
ne was looking for | sized him up
ana as | knew the outfit he was after
were pretty hard pills, | tried to talk
| MIN out of the notion But he wouldn't
turn back then. The fellows soon got
onto him, and one night they stole his
| saddle, bride and blankets and left
MN an outfit that Mike Tierney's
mules would be ashamed to wear He
had mighty fine saddle-must have
cost about sS5-and one of the boys
told him next morning that he'd bet
ter light out for home before they took
| the horse, and he lit all right.
But Joe Bush was a different kind
and then he was lucky. He might
| have tried 1t another time under diff
| ferent conditions, and his friends
would never have known what became
OF MIN. Several people here know Joe
Bush. He has been all over this coun.
| try. He had the advantage of know
ing the Blue Mountains and knowing
the people that lived there.
He arrived at my place one night
and stayed with me till morning. |
| was satisfied right away he was look.
ing for some one for knew there was
no other business to bring him there.
lie told me finally who he wanted, for
we mad known each other long time
| He knew about where to find them.
too. and he started out early the next
morning He was after two parties
who had been branding all the cattle
they could catch putting the Pole NJ"
brand on them. One of these parties
was John Gibson and the other was
Billy Bowen Gibson had cabin up
in the hills and had his woman with
him. Joe Bush arrived at his house
early In the morning. and saw Gibson
carry load of stovewood into the
house Bush ran to the door and went
IN. Gibson had gone on the other side
OF a canvas partition that divided the
room. Mrs Gibson was still in bed
Bush called to Gibson to come out,
saying he wanted him. Gibson swore.
and says; Who are your Bush
says. IN show you who 1 am and
just then Bush saw through the canvas
that Gibson was getting his gun-Gib-
son stood between him and a window
so he could see-so Bush just up with
his double-barreled sawed-off shotgun
and let Gibson have 1t. He struck him
in the left shoulder and made an awful
ugly hole-its wonder 1t didn't Kill
him. He could just see his shadow
through the canvas. and shot through
it.
He took him and loaded him onto
IA horse. and then he went over to
where Billy Bowen was staying. Billy
had been to Moab the day before and
got gloriOusly drunk and was sleeping
of the effects when 10 Bush found
him. He didn't stop to knock, but
Just went in and pulled that gun OF
his down on the man and then woke
him up. When Billy opened his eyes
he saw the gun and heard Bush saw.
i want you, and he didn't know at
first whether he was dreaming or not.
But Bush soon convinced him 1t was
no dream, and he shackled him and
put him on another horse. and then
hit the road for home. He took routes
that were not travelled any until he
got out Of the country, so he wouldn't
run onto any friends of the boys that
might make him trouble.
He got TO Salt Lake with them all
} right. and they were each given a
good long time in the pen"
|
A RETRAcTioN.
July Number Ladies' Home Journal.