| News reached Price late
Friday evening of the killing of the notorious outlaws, Butch
Cassidy and Joe Walker, and the capture of Leigh and Thompson,
members of the Robber’s Roost gang, by Sheriff Allred’s posse
which left here on Sunday, May 8.
The members of
the posse leaving here were Sheriff C.W. Allred, Pete Anderson, J.W.
Warf, J.M. Whitmore, Geo. Whitmore, Jack Gentry, Jim Inglefield,
Billy McGuire and Jack Watson. When in the vicinity of Lower
Crossing, Sheriff Allred sent McGuire and Inglefield to Lower
Crossing with dispatches. Joe Bush of Salt Lake and a rancher named
Coleman of Lower Crossing returned to the posse with McGuire and
Inglefield. In the box canyon of the Price river below Lower
Crossing, the trail of the outlaws was found. Here also was the
bunch of Whitmore’s cattle which they had stolen and also one of
the outlaw’s horses.
Sheriff Allred detailed
members of the posse to drive the cattle back to the range and to join
them in Range valley (unclear). With the balance of the posse
Sheriff Allred followed the trail north into Range valley, where
they were told that Walker and Cassidy had not been seen. Believing
that this information was given purposely to mislead, Sheriff Allred
pressed the rancher into service as guide, and in a short time were
on the trail which led down the Range valley and crossed the Green
river. After crossing the river the entire posse remained in the
canyon until nightfall. Sheriff Allred was pretty well satisfied
that they were close to the outlaws, and knowing that the latter
would have some of their members on the outlook, deemed it wise to
continue under the cover of darkness. Led by the rancher they
continued across the hills until about 13 miles (unclear) was
covered and the vicinity of the robbers was reached. Here the posse
dismounted and, wrapped in their blankets, awaited the approach of
dawn. About an hour before daybreak they remounted and rode within a
short distance of the camp, when they again dismounted and proceeded
to within ? (unintelligible) yards of the sleeping outlaws.
Mr. Allred then called on them to surrender, as did also Pete
Anderson and J.M. Whitmore, and who told the outlaws they were
surrounded by 100 men. Cassidy and Walker immediately began firing
and the other two men threw up their hands and begged for mercy.
Cassidy and Walker after emptying their revolvers started to run.
Walker fell about sixty feet from the bed with
(unintelligible) a bullet through his head and another pierced his
heart. The battle took place in the Book Cliffs about 45 miles north
of Thompsons Springs. With the dead bodies packed on a couple of
horses and with the two captured outlaws, the trip to Thompsons
began, which point was reached late Friday evening.
Governor Wells was
notified by wire of the capture. The party left Thompsons the
following morning and reached Price at 7:10 a.m. A big crowd had
assembled to see the remains of the outlaws.
At the
inquest a large number of witnesses testified to the identity of the
outlaws, and in accordance with testimony the jury’s decision was
that the dead bodies were those of Butch Cassidy and Joe Walker. The
bodies were prepared for burial on Saturday evening and placed in
common wood coffins, and on Sunday were buried.
Joe Walker was said to
have come from Texas some seven years ago and remained here doing
ranch work and riding the range. Later he went to Huntingtou
(unintelligible), where he was employed at Day Bre’s
(unintelligible) sawmill. Being a good rider, and handy with a gun
he was soon again among the cow-punchers. During the summer of 1865
(unintelligible) his criminal career, so far as Utah is concerned,
began. Under the influence of liquor he attempted to hold up Price,
and in some way managed to elude the officers. Fearing arrest in
case he returned to Price, he joined the cattle rustlers who
rendezvoused in the eastern part of Emery county and who have
fattened off the cattlemen of Eastern Utah. About fifteen months ago
an attempt was made by the officials of Carbon and Emery counties to
arrest him for horse stealing in an encounter with Walker and a pal
in the San Rafael area (unintelligible), Sheriff Tuttle
(unintelligible) received a bad gunshot wound in the thigh, supposed
to have been done by Walker.
Walker has led gangs in
raids after cattle and horses, and was much feared by ranchmen.
As to the identity of
Cassidy there is a great divergence of opinion. Sherrifs Allred and
Tuttle with several others claim the body to be that of Butch
Cassidy beyond a question of a doubt. Doc Shores of the R.G.W. and a
noted criminal hunter, and others are equally positive that it is
not Cassidy. Time alone will settle the dispute.
The two outlaws
who surrendered to the posse claim the names of Thompson and
Schultz, and are probably Wyoming cattle rustlers. They were lodged
in jail at this place under heavy guard.
Thompson and Schultz
claim that the dead man said to be Cassidy was known by them in
Wyoming by the name of John Herring.
In the event of Sheriff
Allred’s posse failing to capture the outlaws Sheriff Tuttle with
a posse from Orangeville was south of the Book Cliffs to intercept
them. Sheriff Wilson of Grand was also notified to cut off escape to
the southeast, but failed to show up.
The Price boys who were
in the posse smiled when Jim Bush got his work xxx
(unintelligible) on the Salt Lake reporter. Joe is smooth of tongue
and has a supreme amount of unadulterated gall. Sunday’s Tribune
says.
Bush says the melee was
of very short duration. When he dismounted it was just 6 o’clock.
The bandits were surrounded after a walk of 100 yards or more, and
the battle fought six minutes later.
The two bandits fired
eight or ten shots. Some of the posse say the bullets whistled by
close to them, but Bush says he wasn’t paying any attention to
that detail of the performance. He was only looking after his own
rifle and the bullets in its chamber. The shooting was all done at a
distance of about twenty-five or thirty yards.
Members of the posse say
that “Bush the Brave,” did not show up until after Walker and
Cassidy had been killed. It is very probable that Bush was at a very
safe distance when “He was only looking after his own rifle and
the bullets in its chamber.” It is also very likely that Bush was
not as much concerned about the flying bullets as he was to preserve
his cowardly hide. The credit for the capture is due solely to the
Price boys, every one of whom were at the front pumping lead into
the outlaws. Windy Bush is all right in an interview, and the Salt
Lake reporters are soft snaps.
Sheriff Ward of
Evanston, Wyo., reached Price on Sunday night for the purpose of
identifying Cassidy, the latter having served a term in the Wyoming
penitentiary while Mr. Ward was warden. On Monday the body was
exhumed, and an examination made. When seen by The Advocate reporter
Mr. Ward stated positively that the body was not Butch Cassidy’s.
On Tuesday Schultz and
Thompson were taken to Castledale for a preliminary hearing. They
were guarded by a xxx (unintelligible) posse.
Jack Gentry, Billy
McGuire, Peter Anderson and Jim Inglefield reached Price on Monday
with the band of horses which were in possession of the outlaws.
They reached here with 21 (unintelligible) head, four having given
out on the trip to Price. The band is above the average Utah horse.
_____
CASSIDY
AS A COWBOY
Pat Ryan, the well known
mining man, upon whose ranch Butch Cassidy rode about eight years
ago, stated to a Tribune correspondent that when as a young man the
fellow gave no signs of the desperate career he subsequently
adopted, but that on the contrary he was quiet and inoffensive. He
was the elder of a large number of children that had been born to
very poor parents and while he was hard on the horse on which he was
mounted, that was about the only offense for which he was rebuked
when he was in Mr. Ryan’s employ. The first real violation of the
law on his part of which Mr. Ryan had any knowledge was when he
stole a saddle with which he escaped. One taste of lawlessness
appeared to completely overcome him, however, and from the saddle he
entered into cattle stealing with a confederate whose real name was
Cassidy. The latter disappeared and young Parker after that took the
name of Cassidy.
“One of the most
cold-blooded and heartless members of the gang by which the country
was infested about the time Cassidy was beginning his
apprenticeship,” says Mr. Ryan, “was Tom McCarthy. On one
occasion he, with a
confederate, was tracked by two officers to Ketchum’s
(unintelligible) ranch, where they were overtaken. Officers and
fugitives ate supper at the same table that night and breakfasted
together the following morning. The officers were both known to the
fugitives and when the breakfast was disposed of the latter made it
known.
“We don’t propose to
make that trip back over the desert,” said McCarthy to the
officers, “but will give you a start.”
Thereupon the officers
were relieved of their animals and of their money and for sixty
miles they footed across the desert to Frisco. Cassidy at a later day fell in with McCarthy and they became very
close friends. |