Indiana daily times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1914-1922, 1921-05-27
FAMOUS WOMAN,
DEFER OF EARL,
DIES IN DENVER
MOUed on to NobLenadn'S Hunt.
ing Preserve and 'StGked
OUT Claim.

DENVER, May 27.--Mrs. John J. Man
ford, who gained fame half a century
ago by her determined and successful
smoking OUT from the Estes Park re-
was known to thousands of American
tourists who have visited the Rocky
Mountain National Park, is dead.
She succumbed to a surgical operation
in a Longmont (Colo.) hospital, and was
buried in Loveland, Colo, last week.
As Miss Flora Shoemaker, Mrs Man
ford abandoned a prosperous dressmak-
ing business in Denver, In the early T0s,
to become a "squatter' on land in the
Estes park region that Lord Thomas
Wyndham, Earl of Dunraven, had at
tempted to acquire as a hunting pre-
serve"
Lord Thomas made his first visit to
the Estes park region, now the Rocky
Mountain National Park in 1872. He
was so delighted with the country that,
a few years later, he started a Campaign
to secure title to the entire countryside
and keep 1t as vast estate upon which
he and his friends Of English nobility
could hunt big game.
1t was charged in some quarters that
a number of men were hired to homestead
the region and turn their claims over to
the Earl. He secured, it is said, title to
more than 5000 acres before the Fed
eral Government learned of his lordship s
plans, and moved to check them.
Learning from an inside source that
Uncle Sam was preparing to contest the
Earl of Dunraven's claims, and that the
territory might be thrown open to new
entry. Miss Shoemaker closed out her
modiste establishment and went to the
park,
After carefully scrutinizing the estate"
of Lord Thomas. Miss Shoemaker Sc
lected a particularly beautiful tract on
the west bank of Fish Creek, just Op-
posite a palatial hotel and casino that
the foreign nobleman had erected to
house his visiting friends. Miss Shoe
maker quietly fled q homestead entry
on the tract and pitched tent for her
temporary home.
tremendous protest was voiced by
the English colony against this inva-
sion, and some threats are said to have
been made upon the young woman's life.
She defied the Earl and his guests, and,
purchasing a rife and a goodly supply
of ammunition dared" any one to GUST
her.
For weeks following, Miss Shoemaker
was subjected to numerous petty annoy
ances. She was unable to hire men to
build her house or do any work about
her claim. Undaunted she started the
arduous task of shaping with her own
hands log cabin. Several night attacks
were made on her lonely shack, but the
intruders were driven away when she
opened up with volleys from her rifle.
At the end of a few months, Miss Shoe
maker had completed a log home. and
also built substantial fence around
most of her property, under the noses
OF the protesting Englishmen.
The plucky "squatter's" determine
ton and success inspired others and
soon new settlers began to stake out"
claims on the land desired by the Earl
Of Dunraven, contesting his title to the
property. They came so rapidly and in
such numbers that Lord Thomas lost
hope Of holding the domain, relinquish-
Ing his claims and leaving the country
forever.
The Manfords have operated a chain
Of cottages for the benefit Of tourists
for the past few years