Los Angeles herald., 1909-10-11
TO CAPTURE WILLIE
BOY, DEAD OR ALIVE
SYSTEMATIC MAN HUNT BEING
ORGANIZED
Sheriff Will Ask Supervisors for Suf-
ficient Money with Which to
Follow Indian Through
Desert Wastes
Especial to The Herald.l


SAN BERNARDINO, Oct. 1O.-1f the
plans of Sheriff John Ralphs of this
county, who is to lead the reorganized
posses again into the dreary wastes in
pursuit of Willie Boy, the Indian mur-
dereT, materialiZe within the next few
days the most systemized expedition
that c er sought to run a criminal to
earth in the desolate region on the Cal
ifornia deserts and miles from ciViliza-
ton will leave prepared to bring back
the fugitive either dead or alive, even
though the chase extends over hun
dreds of miles of rugged and deserted
country into which the murderer could
flee from the scene of his last stand
among the rugged volcanic peaks bor-
dering the San Bernardino range on its
desert slope.
Tomorrow before the board of super
visOrs of the county the sheriff will ask
that sufficient funds be donated to out
fit the expedition as well as to provide
Tor a reward. Not in years has a man
hunt stirred the people of both this
and Riverside county, and there is but
little doubt that the money needed to
meet the large expense of conducting
the chase in the forsaken regions in
which Willie Boy has chosen to defy
the pursuers will be forthcoming and
the posses at once again headed after
the murderer with sufficient supplies
to warrant prolonged siege.
Depots to Be Established
None but the most hardened men and
horses, accustomed to the desert re-
gions, will be taken in pursuit of the
Indian, and at frequent points in the
country in which Willie Boy is now hid
ing and in which the officers believe he
.1sY =,
will be distributed and to which the
parties can drop back to replenish their
supplies.
Pack animals will follow the mounted
posses in order to enable the officers
to push on instead of being
forced to turn back for water and feed
for their animals without which they
cannot maintain the pace of the fugi-
tive.
The officers were tellingly handi-
capped by the lack of sufficient sup
plies during the first hunt as they
trailed the murderer into regions where
it was impossible to take the wagons,
and it was frequently necessary after
they had followed the trail but a few
miles for part of the posse to turn back
for supplies, and in this manner it was
at numerous times divided as was the
case when the trailers finally came
remainder of the party being twenty
five miles distant with the then emptied
supply wagon and endeavoring to head
him off from the south, where it was
thought he was striking.
Week Since Trail Was Found
It was week ago today that Sheriff
Ralphs and his posse picked up the
trail near the scene of the murder of
the girl, after riding for two days
across the desert from Daggett, and
for six days they existed with but little
food and sleep, over fifty miles from the
nearest telegraph station, In their en-
deavor to take the murderer, only to
be forced to give up the hunt when the
fugitive was almost within grasp, and
with one of their best officers badly
their horses shot and without
supplies return to prepare for the re-
organization of the hunt.
Since numbering the old Indian, Mike
the father Of the girl whom
he abducted, Willie Boy has not been
seen by a white man. Fleeing before
the Riverside posse he was never
sighted, and killing the girl five days
later he kept on in his flight to the
almost inaccessible desert regions in
which he was raised and is thoroughly
acquainted. Following. the receipt of
the advice of the murder of the girl,
in this county, the San Bernardino Of
fcers took the field, but although hunt
ing the fugitive for nine days, trailing
him back and forth over the rugged
hills and wastes for nearly 300 miles, he
was never sighted, and even though he
a portion of the party, firing
thirteen shots into the ranks of the
pursuers, he was not once seen in his
fort of rocks and brush but a few hun
dred yards away.
Sheriff Ralphs and his party from
Daggett to this city during the nine
days of the chase Travelled for over
300 miles in the most rugged regions of
the state, trailing the ever-feeing muir
derer from point to point.