The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1908-11-01

bandits and follow it across the valley
in a southwesterly direction TO the foot
hills Of the Rockies. where the trail
disappeared. the rocky ground leay-
ing no trace footprints.
From this point on il was to be
matter OF luck and guesswOrk / be-
/ lieved my men had made for Telluride,
Ouray, Silverton or some other mining
camp, but ! was not rash enough TO
venture guess a. to which il might
I be at that stage Of the game. These
camps, with their rough. shifting popu-
/ latiOn. offered capital retreats for GRIM
inais, and from past experiences knew
/ that. my three rogues would, in ali
probability. remain in one of these
camps until the excitement from the
robbery had subsidized. and then make
for civilization to spend their money
For three days l drifted at random
/ through the mountains, following trails
and paths. for there were no roads, en-
deavOring to pick up some clew or find
the place where my party had spent
the first night after the robbery. The
I holdup had occurred about noon. and.
| by hard riding. the three highwaynen
could penetrate some ten or twenty
miles into the fastness OF the noun
tains before it became too dark to trav-
el further. II was out of the question
for any one to advance through that
region after dark. I hoped TO find the
place of their camp. and felt sure I
would do so by persevering.
Late the third afternoon | stumbled
on the ashes of a campfire, aud close
beside il. among the frs and collars, /
found where horses had been tied. This
was what | had searched for, anil felt
sure that | would here find something
of value. | camped a short distance
from the place SO / would not disturb
II, leaving my examination until the
next morning. when I would have
good light IL then being too dark to at
tempt such a thing.
That night by the light of my
campfire | read again the report of the
robbery as given by the train hands
Near the last Of 1T was the account of
the sleeping car porter who related,
with evident grief, that he had been
relieved of s6.15 in silver. and that the
bandits had rified the liquor cabinet OF
the buffet. taking with them all the
whisky and a few bottles of the rarer
and stronger wines
Early next morning / examined the
deserted camp of the highWayTnen.
There was nothing but a burned-out
pile of ashes and charred sticks and a
few empty bottles. The bottles gave
the ciew for which I searched. The
highwaymen had certainly made their
camp here. Each bottle bore the label
of the sleeping car company, and some
Of them were the diminutive TASKS of
which 1 had drunk one on the trip from
Denver. There was not a scrap of pa
per anywhere else to be found
Elated with my success, l made a
survey of the country and discovered a
half-obscure trail leading farther into
the mountains. l took up this trail
and followed II as best ] could until
nightfall. Often I lost it, and scIne-
times spent an hour or more casting
about to pick IL I'D again, as I have
seen hounds baffied on the trail of
fox. About 3 O'Clock that afternoon
found something that made my eyes
sparkle. Shattered into a thousand
pieces was the remains of one OF the
small whisky bottles on a large fiat
rock beside the trail where il had
doubtless been cast in a playful mood
induced by its contents. Among the
fragments I found the label of the car
company.
ut was the dry season. and this was
in my favor. for no rains came to obIit-
crate the trail. For five days ! followed
the bandits across the hills and through
the valleys. verifying my route from
time TO time by fragments of broken
whisky bottles along the way, and at
the places where they had camped for
a night. The buffet car must have been
well stocked. for 1 found many bottles |
In this journey.
The trail eventually came to a we'll |
beaten road, which, from my map, |
learned was the stage and mail route |
from Montrose, the nearest railroad |
point To Ouray, then a rather insignif- |
icant mining settlement 1 lost no time |
in getting to Ouray, for it was impos-
sible to trail my men along this road
and I was SIRE fbaU had haoda6 for
the mining camp.
Two days were spent at Ouray with
out finding a trace of the three men, |