The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1909-06-20
TALES OF THE LAST FROM I IEFF2( I"1i2@s s5s5 =! )!

Editors note: Francis Reno, who has
written these "reminiscences of his early
experiences IN the west, comes or q Ien =
lily OF pioneers and fighters and is related
to Maj. Reno of Custer massacre 1ame'
His earlier years We're spent in the tur-
Inoil of frontier lie In Arizona, where he
Sas sasr iSs some a eepSy sPes marrha
Tucson, His efforts In enforcing the Snl-
nese. exclusion act on the Mexican DOT
der have been highly comnended ny ,.nS sns
Washington authorities. and recognlZeu
by the Highbinders, who placed pIlce
OF $4,000 on his head. which stands today
OF Int years he has held q hlgh,!y ,rors+ re-
bank protective associations In the onlted
States. and rs superintendent OF It's se-
cret service has established an enV,apts
record OF SUCCESS In running down pank
burglars. These stories are confined 10
his earlier experiences in the west. ths
scenes OF which are laid IN arizona aie
New Mexico near tho Mexican border.
The Last Frontier. which until recent
wears was wild and lawloss, and where
the typical bad man" Of pioneer days
made his last stando
IT was in the year 1902, during my
term Of Office as United States mar
snail in the territory Of Arizona, that
the seven members Of gang of ban
dts who had long terrorized people
in that section Of the country and the
adjoining territory of New Mexico,
their previous daring exploits COM
pletely in the shade. The notorious
performancc in question consisted OF
holding up the entire community OF
tho town OF Sumner, New Mexico, at
the muZzlcs Of their guns. robbing the
United States postofice and Staying
in cold blood an unfortunate bystander
who did rot obey quickly enough to
please them when ordered to ''throw
up his hands
Sumner is the only oasis in large
desert of rolling barren mesa, many
miles from the nearest railroad and
reached only by stage. Although, as
might be expected in a region OF TINS
kind. there were q good many desper-
ate characters roaming about. men
who would hesitate at nothing when III
came 10 executing reckless couPs by
virtue of which they annexed easy mon
ev, Sumner had yet been extremely
fortunate IN being free from the depre-
dations Of bandits. And thus 1T foi-
lowed that the majority OF the lnhnpi-
tants had become imbued with 3 splrit
of self.confdencc and belief in the
never-failing luck of Sumner that was
destined to receive 4 rude and une&-
pected shock, For in the early hours
of bright January morning the Dold
members OF the Cook Massagee gang
rode openly into tho town, cowed the
citizens al the muzz]es Of their guns,
plundered right and left at their ieis-
ure, ond galloPed away asai1n, gan, ~ .aa
In the end they were rounded up ana
captured, and it fell TO my lot to get IN
custody the person of George Cook,
who was considered the ruling spirit
ar the band. Cook. however, was sui
len and close -mouthed fellow. who re-
fused to give any account OF the eX-
ploits of himself and companions. Mas
sagee proved to he OF more piiaplc
mold. and it was from his lips that the
following confession was obtained,
after he had been safely lodged IN the
iail at Albuquerque: e.,
t'I left Jacksboro, Tex, with my
brother John, who is two wears young
or than I am. We each had a horse
and drove about slxty-hVe miles 10
Montague county, Texas, where we
separated. John gong back home ana
wall counties in Texas. After working
six weeks on COW ranch, l drove
farther west with two friends we
drove about month. going 200 miles,
camping on the way, and arrived IN
Tucumeari, \. NJ, about the first Of
September, where ] stayed two weeks
before getting work on the railroad
for fvc weeks. ] rested mp four days
Mt the Childress ranch, three miles
from JnIlDFdtlY lh'u NNht W '"' |
Moore ranch for three weeks, after
which / worked nine days In restau-
rant at Tucumcari ] then drifted back |
TO Moore s ranch, where ] met George
Cook. Henry Hawkins. Witt Neil, Pot
ter, John Smith and Frank Isbell-the
gang. including myself. who pulled off
the Fort Sumner job. We left Moore $
ranch about : P. m. on the slst Of
r;Go haci1oc cir
shooters in the crowd. Before l joined
the gang they had executed a success
full robbery at Revuelto, where they
had secured lot of cartridges, enough
TO last them for bng time, so that
we were well-heeled with everything
needed for good campaign.
"Wc first headed for Spikes ranch,
about twenty-five miles, reaching there
in the night. On the way we stopped
of some cowboys, aud had supper there.
That evening John and Dick Spikes
had been shot and killed BIZ posse of
citizens from Tucnmcari. Fred Spikes
was wounded in the fight and taken
prisoner to Hereford. Cook and Haw-
kins went over to the Spike house
while the rest Of US waited about 200
yards away. When orr pals came back
they told us what had happened to
would have revenge. as the Spikes
were old mates of his and had worked
with him on several jobs. We then
went to Web Adams's ranch, about
twenty-five miles east, arriving there
at three o'clock in the morning.
Adams set us out n lunch and we left
for Cormick s ranch, four miles away,
getting there at daybreak. We then
went over eight miles to Camp No. Q,
which belonged TO Cook, Hawkins, Muir.
ply and Neil. These camps were dens