The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1920-08-07
BY HARRY ROOT


Rawlins county has not only been
raising big crops the last several
years but it furnished the newspapers
with the details of a famous feud
| tragedy which resulted in the killing
of three men and the wounding of
fourth one. The tragic affair occurred
on the noted Dewey cattle ranch
owned by Chauncey F. Dewey, and
contained about a township of land.
A contract had been made with a
family named Berry to fence the land,
Dewey furnishing the wire and posts
and the Berrys doing the work. The
ranch was to be stocked with cattle
soon as Dewey could get them there,
| but failing to get them in the agreed
time, >the Berrys rented it to a Kan
sas City commission house. 1t would
appear there was no one living on the
ranch at the time so Dewey employed
/ G. E. Scott of Atwood, his foreman,
who together with several assistants,
went to the farm and made some
| improvement including the building of
| a dugout, corrals and other improve
| nents. In the meantime the COM
mission company put several hun
! dred head of cattle on the ranch to
J pasture, the Dewey men resisting this.
| Later several of the employees of the
| Kansas City firm were arrested and
/ the cattle elected. Afterwards Fred.
] Robertson, then of Atwood, now
United States district attorney of Kan
sas and Tully Scott, then of Oberlin,
now member of the supreme bench of
| Colorado, brought action in the Raw
Inns county court for the commission
| firm ordering Dewey and his employees
I off the land. They disregarded the
! injunction. Later on the Dewey cattle
arrived from Texas, 1000 head or
more. These lawyers went before
/ Judge A. c. T. Geiger and secured an
order for the arrest of w. j. Ratcliff,
/ n. L
| Chauncey Dewey and others, citizens
of Atwood, in all 17~persons. A man
named Hern, of West Virginia, who ac-
companid Dewey with the cattle from
Texas, announced he was ready for
trial, while the others demanded a
jury, which continued the hearing
! until a later term of court They
were all placed under a $500 bond to
j obey the injunction, and $3.50 bond
each for court appearance. They re-
fused to give bond. When Dempster
Scott, of Atwood, and a man named
Farmhouse, of Manhattan, came to To-
peka and brought an action of habeas
corpus in the supreme court for the
| whole bunch. When the case came
up for trial their contention that
Judge Geiger had no jurisdiction was
sustained, and they were discharged.
Three brothers, John, Ed. and Dan
! Berry came to Rawlins county. An
/ other brother also named Dan, was the
IdtneT OF the IlTSI three named ana
| was known as the uncle. The first
located in Rawlins county and the
fother one lived in Cheyenne. In the
mea ntime some of the Berrys had left
that section. but a son named Roy
remained. The Dan Berry who lived
in Raw1ins county had three sons
named Alpheus, Burch and Beech.
and there appeared more or less trou-
BILE between Dewey and the Berrys
soon as the Dewey cattle arrived At
one time a herd of cattle was shot into.
| and several were killed and wounded.
This was Charged to the Berrys, and
they were arrested, while some Of
| them leftc<he country. In the trans
/ action Dewey cl9 iTned he had bought
i of-the BerryS e windmill and water
tank. The feud kept getting more in
1 tense, and began to look that it was
! only question of a short time be-
fore the Berrys and Dewey came to-
H gether. 1t was in the afternoon of
| June 3, 1908, when the Dewey men ar
Il rived at the ranch for the property.
They found only two at home, but
soon two others came on horseback.
Shooting followed at once. Dan, AL
pheus and Burch-being killed, and
Roy was shot in the face. Three men
were arrested. Dewey. Clyde Wilson
and VIM. Mcbride They were held
a few days. and fearing violence were
taken to Colby. and meeting a COM
pany of the state militia wbo had been
called on account of the trouble,-they
were taken to St Francis. After the
preliminary examination was held
they gave bond fixed by the supreme
court The writer of this item was an
Atwood visitor the day OF the tragic
affair.
The first visit your correspondent