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It is nearly time
that the gang located in the San Rafael mountains was thoroughly
broken up. The “Robber’s Roost”, while having a very romantic,
wild west sound, gives the portion of the State in which it is
located a reputation not calculated to attract the wealthy but timid
homeseeker or investor. The gang is believed to include Kofford and
Mickel, the murderers of Sheriff Burns of San Pete county, Walker,
the desperado who nearly fatally wounded Sheriff Tuttle of Emery
county, and a choice collection of other murderers and horse-thieves
from various portions of Utah, Arizona, and even New Mexico; and it
is about to, if it has not already, receive a welcome addition in
the persons of the robbers who stole the Pleasant Valley Coal
company’s money the other day; one of whom is believed to be
“Butch” Cassidy, one of the men who robbed the Montpelier bank.
The robbers
occasionally make a sortie into the valleys and drive off valuable
horses or cattle, hold up whomsoever they may suspect of possessing
any loose coin, and terrorize the entire community. The local
authorities are utterly unable to cope with them, and every posse
sent after them meets disaster. They are strongly entrenched in a
country which nature has rendered almost impregnable, and it would
take a large force to surround and capture, or disperse and prevent
them from reassembling.
The
P.V. Coal Co. has offered a reward of $1,000 for the return of its
money, and an equal sum for the capture of the thieves Sanpete
county has a standing reward of $750 for the capture of Kofford and
Mickel; Emery county is willing to pay $250 for the capture of
Walker, and it is quite likely the gang numbers among its members
many other men for whom rewards are offered. The Governor is
considering the propriety of augmenting these various rewards by the
offer of a substantial (unintelligible) for the capture, dead or
alive, of Kofford and Mickel, and the aggregated rewards may tempt a
sufficiently large posse to make the attempt. For any resident of
that part of the country to join any unsuccessful attempt, however,
would be to sign his death warrant, as the outlaws are particularly
vindictive, and he would be a marked man.
The
“Robber’s Roost” should be regulated to the realms of memory,
if it takes the entire civil and military force of the State to do
it. The fact that such a den exists in the State, no matter how
remote from the principal business centers, will have a deterring
effect on the influx of capital and visitors, and it should be wiped
out. The counties adjoining the infested district pay their quota to
the support of the State government, and if unable to cope with this
trouble alone, should receive the necessary assistance. |
