Shoshone journal. [volume] (Shoshone, Idaho) 1884-1931, 1910-07-22
CAPTURE OF TWO
HORSE THIEVES

4 -lcc, ssful piece Of trainng and
detective work eliminated We'd
nes,;y eve 1t the p H. Hughes
ranch cn HE Little Wood river be-
twe, h, shone and Riehfield when
Ben Lyle and Chas. Vale two pro-
fessional crooks were captured
with two stolen horses in. their pos
session.
The capture was made by Deputy
Sheriff Grim Of Contact, Nevada,
Deputy Sheriff A. f. Tage Of Jerome
Sheriff J. w. Wheeler of Shoshone,
Geo. rroWn and his hands who oc-
cupy The Hughes ranch, and gem
trman # Contact. Mr. Rowell, who
oW1cC ere Of the stolen horses.
Deputy heriff L. M Zug, and jail
er Clarence Wheeler also assist
ed in the trailing act.
Tie Two crooks stole the two
horses at Contact the night of Mon
day lest and struck out for Twin
Falls. Sboshone and the Brown
T; nch between here and Richfield
whore Rtn Lyle had worked and
was we'll acquainted. This is not
the Ben Lyle who is known to
many people in this vicinity, but
another man going under this name
Tuesday morning the horses were
missed at Contact and by after
pcon equity sheriff Grim and the
owner ef one of the horses hit
The Ira Cf the robbers and over
hauled them in Twin Falls We'd
nesday morning too late to stop
them. 4 phone was sent on to Tage
at Jerome who wired ahead to Sho-
shone
Wheeler and Zug were watching
for ne rol bers on Wednesday and
vixen lfey failed to show up by
llnucr time they sent Clarence
Wheeler cut to the Noched Butte
with HELD glass to try and To-
cate lhem on The road The jail
err sighted Two borsemen riding
Il gray ana a blown as lhey came
over The flNIJ to tie west Of the
Butte ana as tliry turned to the
east .hIct H. the sage brush with
the csldens intention Of missing She
shone he made direct for the Butte
to lof ate their course. One glimpse
he caught of them before they dis
appeared but it was sufficient to-
show that they were bound in the
direction of the Brown ranch. pass
ing to the east of the Brady sid
ing
When the Contact-Jerome. men
arrived in town, Sheriff Wheeler
joined them and headed direct for
the Brown and Hughes ranches
where he believedthe robbers would
stop and in this he was not mis-
taken. Geo. Brown and his hay
ing gang were busily engaged on
the Hughes ranch when the two
robbers rode up near quitting time
and engaged in conversation. They
were in total ignorance that officers
were hot on their trail. Only
few minutes later the pursuing pos
sc rode up and demanded a sur
'ender Vale gave up as he saw
10 chance of escape and thenumber
against him was too large to adj
nift Of a successful fight. Lyle,
however, knowing every foot Of the
ground, lodged behind hay stack
md leaped for the bank which
vas close at hand. Sheriff Wheel
r took shot at him and sent
,ullet into the right leg but only
a slight flesh wound.
several other shots into the thick
rush Of the river bank as the
obber entered it failed to reach
hr mark.
From the brush. Lyle secured a
mall log which he splashed into
be water as ruse and it work
d to perfection. The officers
houghl he had jumped into the RI
or and would make for the other
ide. Instead OF doing So he
neaked under the bauk through
he dense brush down stream and
ound a secure hiding place. i'll
he meantime thorough search
-ss kanf I'm bv All fhe members Of
he posse but to no effect.
Geo. Brown was once deputy
heriffaud is one of the best trail
RS in the country Taking Lyle'S
'ack from The starting point he fol
wed il step by step till finally
e was successful in locating his
ian. but il took nearly two hours
turn the trick