The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1906-04-02
GETSAWAY
Partner Of ssScotty" Was Warned
in Time.
SheriR's Posse Reaches Cave
After Great Hardships.
NOT LIKE A SYBARITE.
Retreat in Death Valley Simply
Furnished.
Story of the Trip Over Mountain
Wilderness.
NOT LIKE A SYBARITE.


says: Sheriff Ralphs and party ar
rived here at noon today after a fruit
less trip into Death Valley in search
of BIZ Keyes.
Pearl won the race at the Funeral
mountains. At Cave Springs the wa
gon broke down but Pearl pushed
ahead on mule back. crossed the swol-
len Arsnagosa river and met the rene
gade at some point in the mountain
fastnesses.
Warned in time. the crafty half
breed left Scott's cave. crossed the
highest ridge in the Funeral noun
tains between daylight and dawn. and
when the sheriff's party reached the
cave Keyes had been gone for over
twelve hours.
Sheriff Ralphs was badly handi-
capped by a lack of knowledge of the
country and it was only by accident
that he stumbled on the burro trail
which led him to SCOTS camp in the
canyon.
1t was impossible to follow the fugf-
tive on foot and there was nothing to
do but return to Daggett- For the
time at least, Keyes is safe from FUR
Their pursuit He was expecting trou-
Bile for since the shooting at Windy
Gap he has been hiding in the noun
tains heavily armed.
The sheriff's trip was not altogether
without results. for he met J. j. Haru-
gan in Death Valley and HartIgan
who was an accidental witness of the
aunbuscade says he can positively
identify Bill Keyes as the man he saw
running away from the stone barri-
cade after Warner Scott was shot
This is the first definite testimony con-
Meeting Bill Keyes with the actual
shooting
AS soon as Sheriff Ralphs arrived
here he was informed that Pearl was
on his way to give Keyes warning.
Pearls Statement.
Pearl told a friend in Daggett that
st. Clair, Owen and Warner Scott had
been talking too much and that unless
he could reach Bill keyes and get him
out of the country it was all off with
Walter Scott. Pearl secured man
named Brockington, who has been
prospecting in the Death Valley coun-
try for over year, and started FOR
the valley. by the way of Cave Springs.
The sheriff went by the way of Wind
gate Pass.
I'VE reached Windgate Pass on
Wednesday afternoon said Sheriff
Ralphs. "and there we found the
abandoned provisions thrown down by
the side of the trail. Half the stuff
was covered with tarpaulins and some
of it was just piled up in the pass
II
dumped out in a big hurry We found
a valise marked Walter Scott, which
contained a shaving outfit and some
reading matter and there were seven
pack saddles full of canned goods and
other provisions. There had been no
team through the pass since the
shooting.
From there we pushed on into
Death Valley where We began to feel
the natural disadvantages of the coun-
Tn 6ffx =
whore from ten to thirty miles for
water and we could not carry more
than enough to last US two days.
Thursday our water supply gave out
and we had to drive fifteen miles to
Rennett's Wells for another supply
Friday we found our hay running low
and we had to go forty miles to Fur
mace Creek ranch where we bought
two bales and turned back.
On the Track.
ssIn all this time we found nobody
who could tell US where SCOTS camp
was located. Saturday night we reach
ed Salt Wells and went into camp
Sunday morning McNabb crossed
Death Valley on foot and found an old
wagon track leading down the cast
side of the valley at the foot of the
Funeral mountains. Later, we found
a place where several burros had
crossed that wagon track L made out
the tracks of seven burros travelling
packed and the trail was fresh. The
fact that we had passed seven pack
saddles in Windgate Pass convinced
me that we were on the right track at
last
I'VE followed the burro tracks on
foot and they led US into the widest
and most inaccessible canyon in the
range The entrance is marked by
three hills of black lava and it Is di-
rectly opposite Windgate Pass on the
other side of the valley. It was q
steep. hard climb for nearly five miles,
the trail growing more difficult with
every step.
AT last we reached the first cave
and there showed back under a sh ely
ing wall of rock. we found the same
provision we had seen lying beside the
trail at Windgate Pass One hundred
yards further UP the canyon and at
the top of q cliff We found a similar
cave and in this cave we found Walter
Scott's famous bath tub. There was
folding chair there, too, but nothing
to bear out the story that Walter
Scott had been living like a Sybarite
in the Funeral mountains. Both caves
were bare of anything like furniture.
Two prOspectors we're camping in
the lower cave and from them we
learned that after dark on Saturday
night. three men came there with
seven burrOs The pr0spectOrS claim
ed that they did not know any Of the
men. The supplies we're hurriedly
cached and the three men went away
again. They would not talk beyond
passing the time Of day and as It was
very dark the prospectors said they
could not tell what they looked like.
Over the Mountains.
1.-The burro trail back tracked for
half a mile and then went straight up
a steep ridge into the high mountains.
We had all we could do to follow the
trail on foot. as it wound along
series of backbone ridges with cliff
for a wall on a sheer drop OF 500 feet
on the other side. At no place was
the trail more than a couple of feet IN
width and nothing but a burro could
have followed It. Bill Keyes went
over that trail in the dead of night
during a rainstorm and he took the
burros with him. We afterward
laarrad from the 11rosnectnrs that the