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ОглавлениеTALES
OF THE
COLORADO PIONEERS
BY
ALICE POLK HILL.
DENVER.
PIERSON & GARDNER,
1884.
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1884, by
ALICE POLK HILL,
In the office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington.
TO
JUDGE WILBUR F. STONE,
GENERAL BELA M. HUGHES,
HON. ALVA ADAMS,
AND
GENERAL FRANK HALL,
Who have taken a prominent and active interest in the material progress of Colorado, and by many little acts of kindness have given an impetus to my efforts,
THIS BOOK IS INSCRIBED,
WITH EVERY SENTIMENT OF ESTEEM AND REGARD.
PREFACE.
Sept. 13, 1883, Colorado completed the first quarter century of its wonderful history—the Nation’s youngest child; and very large and frisky for her age.
The barnacles held a reunion on that occasion, and it occurred to me while at the banquet, and listening to the toasts, that incidents in the lives of the brave people who
“First spied the country out, and pioneered the way,”
Might make an interesting book, and now was the time to do the work, when the stories could be gathered from the lips of those who had taken part in the “ First Act,” over which the curtain had just dropped.
Scholarly iconoclasts have annihilated William Tell and his apple by showing that no mention of them was made in Switzerland ’till about two centuries after Tell’s supposed time. The story of Romulus, Remus and the wolf, that so charmed us in our impressible and sympathetic years, is now a fable.
I solemnly avow that the tales herein related are— “ told as they were told to me! ”
If I have succeeded in reviving some pleasant recollection for the “ old timer,” beguiling the weary traveler or interesting the general reader, my aspirations have, in a measure, been reached. If I have betrayed confidence or told anything that I ought not to have told—I will graciously accept all apologies.
THE AUTHOR.
CONTENTS.
_____________
CHAPTER I.
Gold—Argonauts of ’59—The Dutchman who was Hanged—Auraria—St. Charles—Cottonwood Trees. . . . .17
CHAPTER II.
A Retrospect—Coronado—The Name Colorado—The Purchase from France—Capt. Zebulon Pike—Climbing the Big Mountain—The Mistake in Distance—Politeness of Pike and Pursley—Land-Grabbing—Fighting the Indians with Howitzers—Col. Long—Fremont—Discovery of Gold .................................................... 20
CHAPTER III.
Denver in ’59—After Dinner Politeness—Newspaper Window Shades. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .24
CHAPTER IV.
Stampeders—D. C. Oakes Buried in Effigy—If He had Only Thought—The Sorrowing Pilgrim—Rogues Patches ....... 27
CHAPTER V.
Salting a Mine for Horace Greeley—Young Man, Go West—An Expensive Shave. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .29
CHAPTER VI.
Stories Heard at a Pioneer Dinner—The Wind Wagon—The Wreck—The First Issue of the Rocky Mountain News . . 32
CHAPTER VII.
The Odd Fellows’ Lodge—Wolfe Made an Odd Fellow—Riding the Goat—The Foot Race……………………………. 37
8 TALES OF THE COLORADO PIONEERS.
CHAPTER VIII.
A Tale of Horror—An Exciting Coach Ride…………………41
CHAPTER IX.
Reminiscence of a Freighter—He Dined on Beans—They did not Wait to Attend the Funeral—Nick-names—Attacked by Indians—We had a Pass……………………………………….44
CHAPTER X.
A Bloody Duel—Great Excitement—A Fight it Must Be—Stone’s Death……………………………………………………..50
CHAPTER XI.
The Attack on the News Office —Carl Wood Banished ...54
CHAPTER XII.
The Killing of Gantz by Gordon—Gordon’s Capture—The Trial at Leavenworth—A Violent Mob—The Trial in Denver by the People’s Court—The Hanging…………………………57
CHAPTER XIII.
The People’s Court—A Startling Divorce Case……….......61
CHAPTER XIV.
Uniting Denver and Auraria—An Odd Place of Worship—St. John’s Church in the Wilderness…………………………….63
CHAPTER XV.
The Territory of Colorado—Receiving the Governor—Colorado Loyal—An Incident Cited by Judge W. F. Stone—The First Victory in the War for the Union…………………65
CHAPTER XVI.
Half of Denver Destroyed by Fire—The Great Flood—The Bath Tub—Viewing the New Topography…………………..69
CONTENTS. 9
CHAPTER XVII.
Indians on the War Path—A Drive for Life—Bravery of Lee Ayres—The Escort to Denver……………………………….. 71
CHAPTER XVIII.
The Great Indian Scare of ’64—The Dry Goods Box Rose up —A Guard Placed ’Round the City—How the Scare Originated—She Shoots a Stump—The Marriage in a Fort ……………………………………………………………………….79
CHAPTER XIX.
The Reign of Terror Along the Platte—Capturing Spotted Horse……………………………………………………………….85
CHAPTER XX.
Mounting the Third Regiment—Battle of Sand Creek—Col. Chivington’s Speech......................................................87
CHAPTER XXL
The Cost of Provision—Irrigation in Its Infancy—Hired Help— The Coming of the Railroads…………………………92
CHAPTER XXII.
We go to the Mountains—Argo—Conversation with a Ranchman—Golden—He Won the Race—George West’s Duel ………………………………………………………………..94
CHAPTER XXIII.
The Changes of Time—Black Hawk—The Bobtail—The Prospector from the Emerald Isle—The “Switch Back”—Hal.’s Coasting Story…………………………………………..101
CHAPTER XXIV.
Central—The Stepping Stones for President Grant—A Lynching………………………………………………………….106
CHAPTER XXV.
Sunday Excursions—Fourth of July……………………....111
10 TALES OF THE COLORADO PIONEERS.
CHAPTER XXVI.
The Bonanza Tunnel—A Ghost Story -Buying Specimens . . ……………………………………………………………………..115
CHAPTER XXVII.
A Lunch at the Junction—The Ride through Clear Creek Canon—Idaho—A Party who had been to Chicago Lakes ………………………………………………………………........ 117
CHAPTER XXVIII.
Colorado’s Pioneer Bishop—His great Work—His Death …………………………………………………………………..... 121
CHAPTER XXIX.
Georgetown—Green Lake—Expensive Fish—Don’t be Afraid—The Expert’s Story…………………………………...126
CHAPTER XXX.
Gray’s Peak—The Tip-top View -Legend of the Mount of the Holy Cross—The Storm………………………………………..129
CHAPTER XXXI.
Return to Denver—Meet the Mining Expert again—Many a good Mine Spoilt by Working it—Georgetown a great Place to get a Pocket full of Rocks—The Old Man of the Mountains ……………………………………………………………………..133
CHAPTER XXXII.
Touring in Colorado—Greeley—No Whisky Saloons .... 137
CHAPTER XXXIII.
The Massacre…………………………………………….139
CHAPTER XXXIV.
The Six Days’ Siege………………………………………….. 144
CHAPTER XXXV.
The Rescue by General Adams……………………………..147
CONTENTS. 11
CHAPTER XXXVI.
Boulder—Novel Divorce Case—Building the First School House —The First Coal Oil Lamp…………………………..155
CHAPTER XXXVII.
The South Park Road—The Mining and Industrial Exposition— Circle Railway—Rogue’s Burying Ground—The Old Stage Coach—Platte Canon—Miraculous Fish Story—Meeting an Old Acquaintance……………………..158
CHAPTER XXXVIII.
Platte Canon—The First Families of Denver—In the Observation Car—Robbing the Stage in ’64……………..166
CHAPTER XXXIX.
Como—Naming Fairplay—Legend of Fairplay—A Church Dedication—Anecdotes of Father Dyer—His Experience in Carrying the Mail……………………………………………….171
CHAPTER XL.
Take the Cars for Breckenridge—The Attractive Corpse—How Gold was Discovered in Breckenridge—The sudden change in Temperature………………………………………. 180
CHAPTER XLI.
Breckenridge—A Sad Narrative—Judge Silverthorn—A Heart’s Secret—The Beggar…………………………………..182
CHAPTER XLII.
A Ramble over the Mountains—The Old Man and his Young Wife—Duel with Hatchets—A Duel that was not a Duel— The Presentiment……………………………………………….187
CHAPTER XLIII.
The Stage Ride—The Cow Boy—A Pathetic Story—A Fire in the Mountains…………………………………………………. 193
12 TALES OF THE COLORADO PIONEERS.
CHAPTER XLIV.
Early Mining in the San Juan Country—The Experience of Hon. Charlie Hall—A Pioneer taken for a Tenderfoot.….200
CHAPTER XLV.
Leadville—Chapin Bought the Turkeys—The Men who Discovered the Carbonate Belt………………………………206
CHAPTER XLVI.
Twin Lakes—A Learned Lawyer—One at a Time—Backing up a Minister—Running the Gauntlet……………………..209
CHAPTER XLVII.
The Pioneer Life of Mrs. Augusta Tabor…………………..218
CHAPTER XLVIII.
The Editors take a Vacation—How one got into Trouble—Starting a Western Paper……………………………………..229
CHAPTER XLIX.
Grand Scenery—Anecdotes of the Bench and Bar—The Angry Mexican…………………………………………………..236
CHAPTER L.
A Latin Phrase Explained—Buying a Wedding Ring—Furnishing a Character—The Eloquent Lawyer—She was Permitted to Leave the Stand—In Contempt—The Orthodox Attorney ………………………………………………………….245
CHAPTER LI.
Gunnison—The Gunnison Bank. . ………………………. 252
CHAPTER LII.
The Hon. Richard Irwin at a Party—The Surprise—A Queer Courtship—Lo, the poor Indian. ................................. 254
CONTENTS. 13
CHAPTER LIII.
A Western Funeral, as told by Mr. Charles Shackleford …………………………………………………………………….259
CHAPTER LIV.
Scenery along the Arkansas—Royal Gorge—Canon City—A Visit to Gov. Rudd…………………………………………….262
CHAPTER LV.
Canon Twice Settled—Religious Trouble—A Marriage by the Justice ……………………………………………………269
CHAPTER LVI.
The Hunt………………………………………………………274
CHAPTER LVII.
Pueblo—Bessemer—The State Insane Asylum—The old Tree—Fort Pueblo…………………………………………..278
CHAPTER LVIII.
A Good Trade—Juan Chiquito’s Lookout……………..281
CHAPTER LIX.
Dick Turpin—A Resurrection—The Face at the Window …………………………………………………………………. 286
CHAPTER LX.
Thomas T. Tobin—The Espinosas—The Capture……..290
CHAPTER LXI.
The Lover’s Leap—The Poem……………………………… 293
CHAPTER LXII.
Alfred Packer—The Cloud—Arrival of the Mail—The Worn Traveler—His Story—The Friend Perishing by the Wayside —Relief—Arrival of Packer………………………………….295
CHAPTER LXIII.
The Confession. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .301
14 TALES OF THE COLORADO PIONEERS.
CHAPTER LXIV.
Colorado Springs—The Artistic Choir — The Suspicious Old Lady —“He has got Religion”—Manitou—Catching the Mule …………………………………………………………….307
CHAPTER LXV.
A Camping Party—The Stalled Team—“ One Soft Foot ”—“It’s a Bear”—Bugs — Mosquitoes—The Deserted Town—The Candy-pulling—The Sunrise…………………………312
CHAPTER LXVI.
Jimmy’s Camp—Jim Baker—Landmarks Knocked Away—The Names of Rivers—The Pioneers’ Pride………………316
Perchance the living still may look
Into the pages of this book,
And see the days of long ago
Floating and fleeting to and fro,
As in the well-remembered brook
They saw the inverted landscape gleam,
And their own faces like a dream
Look up upon them from below.
—Longfellow.
“ Who so shall telle a tale after a man,
He moste reherse, as neighe as ever he can,
Everich word, if it be in his charge,
All speke he never so rudely and so large;
Or elles he moste tellen his tale untrewe,
Or fienen things, or linden words newe.”
—Chaucer.
TALES OF THE COLORADO PIONEERS.
_______________
CHAPTER I.
GOLD.
A large proportion of the explorers, adventurers, pilgrims, prospectors and colonial “tramps” that, since the days of Noah, have marched away to establish settlements elsewhere, have been driven to it by some unpleasantness at home.
Colorado was to some extent an outgrowth of the great financial crash of 1857. Time-honored houses had reeled, tottered and gone down in the overwhelming business convulsion of that period, and men were ready for any venture which gave even faint promise of rebuilding their ruined fortunes, when Green Russell, a Georgian, returned from Pike’s Peak, bearing “tidings of great joy.” He had found gold.
The Old Testament, from Genesis to Malachi, makes frequent mention of gold and silver. Abraham “was very rich in cattle, in silver, and in gold.” Solomon, the great king of the Hebrews, had portions of his temple “overlaid with gold.” The followers of Moses made a golden calf and worshipped it. Even before the recital of the creation of woman, the existence of gold is mentioned. Genesis 2 :12 reads: “And the gold of that land was good;” but we are not told who discovered it. However, all peoples in all ages have found it to be a good
18 TALES OF THE COLORADO PIONEERS.
thing to have in the house. It’s the fulcrum that moves the world; it buys everything, even a husband or wife.
When Green Russell exhibited his buckskin bag of shining dust to the men who had lost their all, it caused a wild, indiscriminate rush to the new Eldorado, embracing good, bad and indifferent; the educated and illiterate; the merchant, the speculator, the mechanic, the farmer, the gambler, some of every kind—a sort of human mosaic, marshalled under a banner which bore the forceful if inelegant legend, “Pike’s Peak or Bust.”
A journey from the Missouri river in those days occupied from six to seven weeks. Wagons christened “prairie schooners,” drawn by the contemplative ox and the patient mule, supplemented by the “foot and walker line,” were the only means of transportation. Pullman sleepers were unknown. There were no settlements on the way, no opportunity to procure supplies for man or beast, save at the occasional stations of Ben Holladay’s overland stage line to California. It was genuine courage that prompted the pioneers to such a journey in the face of approaching winter, for the plains, covered with snow and infested with hostile Indians and wild beasts, like the Clashing Islands that closed after the Argo and her crew of heroes, would cut them off from any communication with home or friends for months—years, perhaps; they knew not how long. It was by the help of Medea, who was found at the end of the road, that Jason captured the golden fleece. A few of the Argonauts of ’59, thinking “a bird in the hand worth two in the bush,” took their helpmeets with them. They were not painted society belles or light-brained coquettes, but women of good practical sense and moral and physical strength. They had
GOLD. 19
no time or worsted to waste in
making deformed cats and dogs;
but their husbands’ garments were
models of “crazy patchwork,” and
they practiced “wood carving”
twice a day, at the morning and
evening camp-fires.
There were no “Mother Hub¬
bard ” gowns in those days.
“Picture,” said Judge Stone, in
his address to the Barnacles, “a
pioneer woman in a ‘ Mother Hub¬
bard’ gown, sailing around a win¬
dy camp-fire, or climbing in and out of the hind end of a
prairie schooner! No; our pioneer women had no such
‘loose habits.’”
Unfeigned joy filled the hearts of the weary and travel-
worn pilgrims when, with eager, wistful gaze they des¬
cried in the distance the everlasting watch-towers of the
continent, that marked the gold fields the} 7 were seeking.
They pitched their tents under the cottonwood trees on
the west side of Cherry creek, near its junction with the
Platte, about twelve miles from the base of the Rocky
mountains, and called the settlement Auraria—after an
unimportant mining town in Georgia—with the belief,
that in the mountains they would soon make their “pile”
and return to their homes to live forever afterwards in
affluence. For not one of the many thousands who came
cherished a thought of building a permanent home here.
Apropos is the story of the Dutchman who was hanged
for stealing. (Hanging was the punishment for all dev¬
iltry in those days.) Before adjusting the noose he was
20 TALES OF THE COLORADO PIONEERS.
asked what he had to say for himself. With a quavering voice he said, “I come out mit de spring to stay mit de summer and go back mit de fall, but now I tink I vill stay all de vile.” He was duly planted, and warranted to remain as a “permanent settler.”
The same winter the town of St. Charles was located on the east bank of Cherry creek. It was afterwards called Denver, in honor of Governor Denver, of Kansas, this part of the Territory being at that time within the boundaries of Kansas.
Those cottonwood trees became a focus for the converg¬
ing rays of immigration, and the foundation for the “ Queen City of the Plains” was laid without knowing it. Therefore it may be said, Denver was not premeditated— it just happened. And now that it is “ flourishing like a green bay tree,” the pioneers love to sit under its wide-spreading branches and tell how it was planted and grew —talk over the days that “tried men’s souls,” and laugh over the customs that were new.
Many of the tales told are more like the “Arabian Nights” stories than matter-of-fact history, as will appear in the course of our narratives.
________
CHAPTER II.
A RETROSPECT.
Colorado had no distinctive position on the maps at that time, although the country had been explored as early as 1540 by Francisco Vasquez de Coronado, who was sent out by the Spanish Viceroy of Mexico to glean information respecting the northern possessions claimed
A RETROSPECT. 21
by that sovereign. Tradition tells us that he went in search of the seven cities of Cibolla, that were supposed to be situated in a peaceful, luxurious sort of “Happy Valley of Rassalas,” enclosed by huge mountains of solid gold. History, however, gives no record of his having discovered the key to the suspected treasure vaults.
The name Colorado has been by some mistakenly sup¬ posed to be a corruption of Coronado; but, on the con¬ trary, it is a common Spanish word, from the verb colorar, to color, usually to color red, and means colored red, ruddy. It is a name frequently applied to rivers, mountains and localities in Spanish America, where the prevalence of red rocks and soil constitutes a characteristic physical feature of many portions of the country.
This portion of our continent was a sealed book for nearly three centuries after Coronado; and was generally designated the Great American Desert. In 1803 the United States purchased from France the immense territory known as Louisiana, the price being fifteen millions of dollars—one of the largest real estate transactions on record.
In 1806, Captain Zebulon Pike was sent with a party of Government explorers to ascertain the resources of this new acquisition. They camped where Pueblo now stands. On the day of their arrival the Captain and a few of his company started out with the idea of scaling the Big Mountain, as they called it, and returning the same evening. When night closed around them they found themselves at the foot of Cheyenne Mountain, and the next day toiled to the top of it. On reaching the summit, the Big Mountain appeared to be as far away as when they first began. The enterprise resulted in igno-
22 TALES OF THE COLORADO PIONEERS.
minious defeat. They returned to their camp almost famished, and with their feet frozen; thereby, possibly, adding to the vernacular of the West the term “ tender¬ foot.”
Their mistake in the distance, caused by the rarified atmosphere, probably originated the story of the two men who started to walk to the mountains from Denver before breakfast. After tramping what seemed to them an unconscionable distance, one suggested to the other to proceed slowly, while he returned to Denver for a carriage. When overtaken by the friend, in the carriage, the pedes¬ trian was sitting on the bank of a clear running brook, scarcely more than a step in breadth, deliberately taking off his clothes. On being asked why he did not step across, he replied: “I’ve got the dead-wood on this thing now; you don’t catch me making a fool of myself by trying to straddle this stream. It looks but a step, but it may be a mile for all I know; so I shall just take off my clothes and prepare for swimming.”
Every one who has ever heard of Colorado or set foot in it tells that story.
But to return to Pike. He did not take to himself the credit of being the first explorer of Western Louisiana, but accords the honor to one James Pursley, of Bardstown, Ky. Pursley, with amazing generosity, credits it to Pike. The politeness of these gentlemen is without a parallel in history. Had they known the importance the country was destined to assume, half a century later, it would, no doubt, have taken coffee and pistols to decide the question of precedence.
Pike subsequently indulged quite heavily in a kind of appropriation peculiar to the West, called “land-grab¬ bing.” He crossed the Sangre de Cristo Range into the
A RETROSPECT. 23
San Luis Valley, and built a fort on the Rio Grande del Norte, claiming the land in the name of the United States, for which he was taken prisoner by the Spanish soldiers,
but afterwards released. It is
said he was the first to fight
the Indians with howitzers
strapped on the backs of don-
keys. When the fire was
touched to them and the pow-
der began to fizz, the donkeys
whirled ’round and ’round
like a mammoth Japanese
pin wheel, while the men hugged
mother earth so closely as to
leave a deep imprint of their
forms, which can be seen to
this day, by the aid of a dou¬
ble, back-action microscope of
extraordinary power. This
is supposed to be true, be¬
cause you can generally tell where one has been lying.
And then the ebbing wave of time threw a mist over the country for fourteen years more. In 1820, Col. Long was sent out to explore. He discovered Long’s Peak, which was named for him. At least this is the historical supposition, but a Colorado barnacle tells me that this peak is so called “ because it takes long to climb it.”
The curtain went down, and was rung up again in 1843, when General John C. Fremont passed through on his way to the Pacific. Soon after the great migration to California commenced, and Colorado became the gateway to the land of gold, her own treasure still sleeping, to startle the continent when its morning should come.
24 TALES OF THE COLORADO PIONEERS.
In 1858, gold was discovered near the present site of Denver, and with the discovery began the first chapter in the history of Colorado.
__________
CHAPTER III.
DENVER IN ’59.
From records and statistics of the past twenty-five years, and conversations with the pioneers, I gathered the fol¬ lowing stories :
In 1859, immigration rolled into the country with al¬ most unexampled rapidity. Stretching far out over the plains, was an apparently interminable procession of white- topped wagons, moving, it seemed, at a snail’s pace, many bearing the inscription, “Lightning Express,” “Pike’s Peak or Bust,” “Root Hog or Die,” “From Pike County to Pike’s Peak,” etc. Strange vehicles of all sorts crawled on the trail to the golden shrine. One pushed a wheelbarrow laden with supplies, and, it is said, took a boarder to help defray expenses. Another packed an ox with tools and provisions, and when weary and foot-sore from walking, swung himself to the creature’s tail as an aid to locomotion. Many made the journey in pairs, with handcarts, alternately pushing and riding.
Denver seemed a second Babel. The arrival of teams, the loud cracking of whips, shouting of voices, and the sound of the builder’s hammer, made “confusion worse confounded ” of tongues and matter. Dwellings and bus¬ iness blocks—shanties—rose with marvelous rapidity.
DENVER IN ’ 59. 25
The prevailing style has been graphically pictured by the pioneer poet, Greenleaf:
“Inspect we this, built ‘fifty-eight,’ by one of bluest blood;
The logs are all square-hewn, and chinked and plastered o’er with mud;
The roof of poles, o’erspread with brush and what you’d call dirt-shingles;
Its chimney square—stones, sticks and mud artistically mingles.
The earth had been well hardened down to constitute a floor;
They hadn’t got to windows yet—’twas lighted from the door.
’Twas furnished in Auraria style, and that the very best,
Comprising four three-legged stools, a table and a chest;
The dishes—the prevailing style—were tin ; when meals were o’er
What cared he for hot water? ’twas a step beside the door,
To scoop of dirt a handful, and to pluck a wisp of grass,
Some skillful passes, lo! each plate would shame a looking-glass!
That’s how he washed the dishes; next he seized each knife and fork,
And found the ground a substitute for rotten-stone and cork.
When, late at night, he stretched himself on skins of buffaloes,
No couch of down held tenant yet who suffered such repose! ”
Entertainments of various kinds were given, and, though in primitive style, were thoroughly enjoyed. Mr. Fred. Salomon’s dinners, as related, '‘took the shine off of everything.” He was considered the most punctiliously polite man in the settlement, a reputation fairly won and well preserved, as the following story will attest. His was a bachelor’s home, with a bona fide ground floor, and furnished with pine table and three-legged stools. On one occasion he gave a dinner to his lady friends, and it was a meal that would have delighted the most fastidious epicure.
After the repast, the ladies, thinking it time to take their leave, requested Mr. Salomon to bring their wraps. Instead of protesting against the brevity of their stay, he instantly complied with their request, saying, “Certainly,
26 TALES OF THE COLORADO PIONEERS.
ladies, certainly; I will with the greastest of pleasure.” When the force of his speech dawned upon him he hastened to apologize, at the same time nervously searching for his handkerchief to mop his perspiring brow. It was long before he heard the last of his after-dinner politeness.
I remember hearing him say that the bachelors of ’59 used newspapers for window shades, and as soon as one became a Benedict, the papers were replaced by curtains. If that is the rule to-day, Mr. Salomon still has newspaper window shades.
“There are stranger things in heaven and earth, Horatio,
Than are dreamt of in your philosophy,”
and Fred, may yet retire behind the curtains before his hair is entirely gray—before he comes to dye.
Clothes will wear out, and the pantaloons that were made to do in a pinch were marvels to those who had not become accustomed to the ways and means of the far West.
“Oft were their breeches with old flour sacks mended,
In which more truth than poetry was blended.”
Buckskin was the fashionable material for all new suits. They were whanged together with leather strings by the miners themselves. Mrs. Crull, then a tailoress, had fol¬ lowed the tide of emigration, with the hope of earning her bread at the trade, found her occupation gone, and turned her shingle to read:
CHAPTER IV.
STAMPEDERS.
Many of the new arrivals were mere surface deposits, having come with Utopian ideas in regard to the wealth of the country, expecting to find great nuggets of yellow metal lying around loose, and streams burdened' with liquid silver. These romantic fortune-seekers soon returned East, anathematizing the country and declaring Pike’s Peak to be an unmitigated swindle, and under the inscription, “Pike’s Peak or Bust,” was written, in larger, blacker letters, “Busted, by Thunder.” The plains for six hundred miles were the theatre of a restless, surging wave of humanity. D. C. Oakes had published a pamphlet, describing and lauding the country. It was the means of inducing many to emigrate. He had returned to the States, and was on his way back with a saw-mill, when he met the stampeders. They said he had “sworn deceitfully”—in other words, had told outrageous falsehoods, which they spelled with three letters, and they threatened to hang him and burn his mill. He met them bravely, by stating the fact of his having invested every dollar he was worth in that mill, which ought to be proof conclusive of his faith in the country. They gave him his life, but had the satisfaction of pelting him with execrating epithets. A little farther on he came to a new- made grave, and on the headstone, which was the storm- polished shoulderblade of a buffalo, was written the fol¬ lowing epitaph:
“ Here lies the body of D. C. Oakes,
Killed for aiding the Pike’s Peak hoax.”
27
28 TALES OF THE COLORADO PIONEERS.
Mr. Oakes has not yet crossed the range, but still lives to tell of being buried in effigy, and says he felt rather shaky, for “ let a bear robbed of her whelps meet a man, rather than a fool in his folly; ” and they are certainly convinced by this time that they were, to put it mildly, egregiously mistaken.
One of these returning pilgrims, a wag in his way, in¬ formed his friends at home that nothing but unpardon¬ able ignorance stood in the way of his making a fortune in those days. If he had only given the subject a thought he would have known, of course, that domestic animals are always scarce in new countries; but he did not think, and it was another and a wiser man who was foresighted enough to bring hither a cat which he had taught to fol¬ low him. The cat easily sold for five dollars, and then it followed its master and was sold again and again, as the story goes. The returned pilgrim always insisted that if he had brought out a load of cats in his emigrant wagon, he would have made his fortune. He also told a story of one of their party who turned back. He was a man of family, and what is commonly termed a “great homebody,” but he had a thirst for wealth, and he, too, started for the new Eldorado. It was not long before he became very homesick, and one day when they arrived in their wagon at a town on the outskirts of civilization, where it was hoped letters from home would be found awaiting them, finding none, the poor man withdrew to a secluded spot and “lifted up his voice and wept,” so loudly that his companions at a distance heard, and hearing, were filled with great alarm. It sounded to them like the voice of some terrible monster of the plains. One of the party, gifted with more bravery than the rest, sug-
SALTING A MINE. 29
gested that it might be a buffalo calf; whereupon they traced the noise to its source, to the relief of all concerned, except the mourner himself. By common consent, the afflicted man was granted permission to leave the organization. “He stood not upon the order of going,” but went at once, and remains at home to the present day, a very contented being, with no desire ever again to roam to the “far ends of the earth.”
The army of “go-backs” grew greater than the advancing host, and they did many a tale unfold, declaring there was not a thimbleful of gold in the country; it was all a delusion and a snare. They warned the brave and bold who pushed forward to beware of the man who had buckskin patches on his pants; he was a thief, a liar and a villain; he was here, there and everywhere, like the Scriptural adversary, “seeking whom he might devour.” Forewarned is forearmed, and the pilgrims harassed their minds devising how they would avoid this scoundrel of the Rockies. “ Lo and behold,” said my informer, “upon our arrival every man in the mountains wore the confounded rogues’ patches.”
___________
CHAPTER V.
SALTING A MINE FOR HORACE GREELEY.
In May, 1859, a lone prospector pushed his way into the mountains and made a trail to the now famous Central City region, which until then had “slumbered like a sleeping child.”
“And gold he found in ample store.
But not the solid form it wore;
Twas in the rock, where sweat and toil
Must delve it from its mother soil.”
30 TALES OF THE COLORADO PIONEERS.
Gregory Gulch was the name given to the new find. It continues to be a great treasure-house of precious metals. This discovery gave the country another boom.
Horace Greeley, of the New York Tribune, had been making a trip through California and Nevada, and was on his return to the States when he heard of the gold strike in Colorado. He determined to feast his eyes on some of the “paltry stuff” that was creating such a furor throughout the land.
When he arrived in Denver he was received with all the honor that the infant city could command. He said he didn’t intent to be deceived in this matter, that seeing was believing, and he wanted to wash out some of the dirt himself. So the men put their heads together to see how they could “come it” over the old gentleman. They themselves were satisfied as to the richness of Gregory Gulch, it was no intention to deceive, but Solomon says “there is a time for all things,” and they wanted a “good one” on Horace Greeley. So they sent a message to the camp that Horace was coming, and to salt a mine.
The boys took down an old shotgun and fired gold dust
into a hole for all it was worth.
Bright and early the next morning a spanking team was rigged up, and the distinguished gentleman started for the gulch, accompanied by some of the most plausible, entertaining and versatile talkers of the country. They escorted him over the diggings, related all the interesting events in the history of its discovery, showed him specimens of the dirt and the pure gold that had been washed out. Mr. Greeley’s soul was in arms, and, eager for the task, he called for a shovel and pan, rolled up his sleeves, and went down into the pit. They gave
SALTING A MINE. 31
him all the necessary instructions as to the process of panning, and looked on with palpitating anxiety.
Mr. Greeley was an apt scholar, and put his dirt through like an adept in the art. It panned out big. All the bottom of the pan was covered with bright gold particles. They slapped him on the shoulders in regular Western style, and told him to try it again—which he did—with the same success. Then he gathered up his gold dust in a bag, and said:
“Gentlemen, I have worked with my own hands and seen with my own eyes, and the news of your rich discovery shall go all over the world, as far as my paper can waft it.”
Mr. Greeley left, believing he had made a thorough test. As soon as he reached New York he devoted a whole side of the Tribune to an ecstatic description of the camp, headed with large, glaring type, such as “bill-stickers” use. The report was read all over the country, and caused a great rush to the land of promise. Those who had the fever took a relapse, and they had it bad. It was a raging epidemic, and spread faster than the cholera in Egypt.
He shouted into the ears of the over-crowded East until the welkin rang, “Young man, go West!” It was his glowing articles and earnest advice about “going West” that caused the first great boom in Colorado. The honest old man went down to his grave ignorant of the joke that was played upon him.
Count Murat, a barber, who, in honor of his royal blood, was dubbed “ knight of the strop and razor,” also figured conspicuously in the editorial correspondence of the Tribune. While in Denver Mr. Greeley sat under the
32 TALES OF THE COLORADO PIONEERS.
graceful manipulations of this tonsorial artist. The Count, feeling he would be distinguished by a notice from the great journalist, and also wishing to impress him with the liberal product of the gold fields, and the corresponding ability of the people to throw away money, accomplished it by charging the famous editor two dollars for a single shave. It is said that ever after Mr. Greeley regarded barbers with suspicion and aversion, and ceased to patronize them.
_________
CHAPTER VI.
A PIONEER DINNER.
Finding my interest in the old timers, a friend, whom I shall call Hal., anxious to assist me in acquiring infor¬ mation, invited me to a pioneer dinner. After the feast the following stories of the early days were told:
THE WIND WAGON.
“It was the happiest day of my life,” said Captain Cutler, “when I took my seat in the ‘prairie schooner,’ bound for the New West. A world of care rolled from my shoulders. Sheriffs, constables, and bailiffs were left behind, and I could commence life on a new page. My sentiments were similar to the immortal Byron’s:
‘“With thee, my ox, I’ll slowly go,
* * * * *
Nor care what land thou bear’st me to,
So not again to mine.’
“It was somewhere about the middle of August. The delicate blue of the sky was unblemished by a cloud, and the weather was superb. I had become wonderfully fas-
THE WIND WAGON. 33
cinated with the comprehensiveness of the country that lay stretching in airy undulations far away like a billowy ocean that nature, in a capricious freak, had caught and held with immovable firmness. It seemed to me that nothing could be so grand, so romantic.
“One clear, crisp morning we were, as usual, up with the sun and moving along at a quick gait for ox teams. Lulled into peace and good-will towards all mankind, by the soothing, cradle-like motion of our wagon springs, I threw my head back for a day-dream.
“The flow of my fancy was soon interrupted by a member of our party calling out:
“‘Hello! the moon is giving the sun a hot race this morning. Look; yonder she comes, just above the horizon.’
“‘Give us a rest,’ said another, in a sort of raillery; ‘you
must have been drinking something that’s turned your
head. Say, where do you keep your jug?’
“But the cast-iron earnestness on the features of the alarmist caused us to crane our necks and look—and then we looked at each other, each one seeming to doubt his own sanity. For we saw something rising upon the horizon that certainly looked like the moon; but, knowing it to be the wrong place for that luminary at that time, our minds were soon disabused of the supposition.
“It began to assume a greater proportion, and moved rapidly in our direction. We stopped our wagon to view the phenomenon, and conjecture as to the character of the bird, beast or created thing that was coming toward us.
“‘A cyclone.’ one suggested.
“Another said, ‘a mirage.’
3
34 TALES OF THE COLORADO PIONEERS.
“Another thought it was a sailing puff of dust.
“’I have it, said old Neptune Holman, who had been to sea; ‘it’s a ship turned loose on the prairie, begad.’ .
‘“It’s too many for me,’ said the driver; 'I give it up.’
“Indeed it was an apparition to us, to all intents and purposes; a thing of enchantment and awful mystery. I am not sure but some of the boys were a little scared. I didn’t more than half like it, myself. The suspense was not long.
“ As it gracefully
approached us we saw
that it was what was
called in those days
a “wind wagon” — a
wagon fitted out with
sails and rudder like
a ship. Our party
had never seen a
wind wagon before,
though some of us
THE WIND WAGON
had heard of them,
and the beautiful floating thing just took our hearts along with our optics. There was a fine breeze, and it moved along with the swiftness of a locomotive. The sails were full set, and one man, whom we recognized as W. N. Byers, sat at the rudder, while G. M. Chilcott, David H. Moffat, Jerome B. Chaffee and George M. Pullman occupied chairs inside and were engaged in a game of cards. They puffed their cigars with an air of abandon, ease and comfort. As they passed, they raised their hats and mingled their voices in the negro song:
“’If we get there before you do,
We’ll tell ’em you are coming too; ’
THE WIND WAGON. 35
“Following it up with, ‘Go it, boys, we admire your pluck. Going to Pike’s Peak? There’s gold there; perhaps you will get some. Ta-ta. See you later. An revoir.’
“And the strange white-winged thing whirled away so rapidly that it seemed to vanish in mid-air.
“Their hilarity oppressed me, and had a general depressing effect upon our whole party.
“‘Think they are making themselves very facetious over nothing at all,’ said Tom.
“‘I can’t see the fun,’ said Bob Hudgins.
“‘Perhaps it is the effect of the light air,’ suggested Bill Wilson.
“Our spirits went down more and more. Conversation stumbled and blundered, and at last came to a dead stop, except now and then a rugged word thrown out at the toiling ox. We were all put out; that was plain to be seen. The dust was deeper, the oxen slower and the sun hotter than it had ever been before, and the melancholy desert seemed to have no end. All the world was running away from us. Would there be any gold left at Pike’s Peak when we should get there? Or would the fellows in the sail wagon get it all? Envy was gnawing at our heartstrings. But we went on in our slow way, reproaching our unlucky stars in severe language.
“The next morning we were in a more tranquil state of mind, and had not gone far before we came to a sudden and unexpected halt. Our way was blockaded—in short, our high-flyers were wrecked. It was such a wholly unlooked-for disaster that I was completely nonplussed. That they might come to grief, I had never taken into account at all. It seems their wagon was no good except on level ground and smooth roads. They had underta-
36 TALES OF THE COLORADO PIONEERS.
ken to cross a ravine, which was their ruin. The wheels struck the bottom, the sails snapped off, and the card players and cigar smokers of the day before were sitting on the bank in deep dejection. The aspect of things had changed.
“We took the men and their plunder (which was the office material of the Rocky Mountain News) on board, and all of us came on together to look for gold.
“Now, that is a thoroughly characteristic story of the early days,” said the Captain, complacently.
“Is it all true?”
“Certainly; don’t you believe it? Why, that is how it came about that J. L. Merrick got in ahead and issued the Cherry Greek Pioneer twenty minutes before the Rocky Mountain News. Byers & Co. bought the office of the Pioneer, and its publication was suspended. The News, under its capable and hopeful editor, held its own through evil and good report. It is still flourishing, and may justly be considered the pioneer paper of the State. It worked faithfully to build up the country, for which it was cursed by the malcontents, who gave the editor the reputation of being the biggest liar in the West. Now that his prophecies have all been fulfilled, Mr. Byers can exultingly say, ‘I told .you so.’”
“You started on that journey in August, 1859, and the Rocky Mountain News was issued on the 28th of April, the same year. How------”
“Oh, you ought not to be so particular about a little thing like that. Exactness in names and dates often spoils a good story.”
CHAPTER VII.
THE ODD FELLOWS LODGE.
“I can tell you an all-fired funny thing,” said Mr. George Clark, his face cheery with smiles, as if inwardly enjoying the story he was about to relate. “The first Odd Fellows lodge was established in Denver December 24th, 1860. There was a scarcity of members at the beginning, and two of them went out recruiting. They wanted men who would work for the glory of the cause, who had plenty of money, and disposed to be liberal with it. So they tackled Wolfe Londoner. They knew him to be a leader in all the societies to which he attached himself, and what was better still, it never hurt him to strike his pocket-book. At first he refused, but they finally over-persuaded him.
“The lodge was located over a grocery store approached only by an outside flight of rickety stairs. The landing was sheltered with rough boards. This became the resting place of a loud-smelling goat owned by one John Martin, who kept a livery stable, and because of the offensiveness of the creature it was often ordered away in a forcible and energetic manner. The groceryman also scented out the hiding place of the vagrant animal and pelted him away. Living, as it were, between two fires, the goat was constantly on the alert and ready to jump and run at the least indication of hostile approach.
“At the next meeting of the lodge two of the faithful and earnest workers buttonholed Wolfe. They said they would soon make him an officer; that he would look
37
38 TALES OF THE COLORADO PIONEERS.
handsomer than General Tom Thumb in the uniform of the order; that he could pay his dues and attend the meeting only when he chose. Which Wolfe thought was letting him off' lightly, for he was not the man to shirk the payment of dues or fines, still he felt a little nervous about climbing the slippery pole and riding the goat. However, he reflected:
“ ‘ I can but perish if I go,
I am resolved to try,
For if I stay away I know—’
“ The persistency of these fellows will make life a bur¬
den to me.
“ So, with an exultant member on each side, he directed his steps to the lodge. They laughed and chatted gaily to keep his courage up for the initiation ceremonies. As they approached the stairway the goat, evidently thinking it his old enemy, the grocery man, went down the stairs with a plunge as if just expelled from a cannon, taking the center man on his back. Wolfe ‘caught on,’ so to speak, and waving his hand said:
“ ‘ By Chaos! this is gallant sport,
A league at every breath;
Methinks if e’er I have to die,
I’ll ride this rate to death.’
“The two guides grew pale and looked unutterable things at the fleeing quadruped as he dashed up one street, down another, darting around corners and shooting through alleys.
“Soon a crowd of small boys, that would have done honor to a circus parade, followed in the wake, but Wolfe kept strongly in the lead. When they reached a corner occupied by a large drug store, the goat, dazed by
THE ODD FELLOWS LODGE. 39
the light, made too short a turn and went right through the show window, pitching Wolfe by a double summersault amid the wreck of matter and the crash of glass.
“When the clerk asked ‘why all this celebration,’ he said ‘it’s in honor of my being made an Odd Fellow. It was worse than Gilpin’s race. I would prefer taking my initiation in installments if it was not so odorous.’ The goat walked off looking dejected and forlorn. Wolfe paid the damages, purchased some liniment and a bottle of rose water, and made for home in double-quick time to wash up, for the air was redolent of him. He entered by the back way, sent his suit to the steam dyers, his linen to the laundry, and deliberated seriously about dropping himself in the cistern for a quiet bath.
“After much scrubbing and fumigation he was again presentable; but his clothes were a total loss, for the steam dyer thought he must have caught some contagious disease, and so made a burnt offering of his suit; while the laundry was converted for a time into an undertaking establishment and had a burying in the back yard.
“Next morning when the earnest workers came poking around, he assumed an air of offended dignity and said he had been made a victim of a base conspiracy. He folded his arms on the back of a chair and rested his chin on them after the style of Raphael’s cherubs, and asked—
“ ‘ Where do you fellows expect to go when you die ? ’
“Now,” said Mr. Clark, “that will break the monotony of your book and make it vastly more entertaining.”
“For freshest wits I know will soon be wearie
Of any book, how grave so e’er it be,
Except it have odd matter, strange and merrie,
Well sauc’d with lies and glared all with glee.’ ’’
40 TALES OF THE COLORADO PIONEERS.
A FOOT RACE.
“That brings to my mind a foot race,” said Mr. Rich¬ ardson, “that came off between Kendrick and Adams in the early days of Denver, though I don’t know that it will bear comparison, for it’s all truth and no poetry; but at any rate you shall have it. I was ranching at that time on Bear creek, and had a neighbor who claimed to be an M. D. He was the dude of those days and took to himself the airs and privileges of the species. His favorite apparel was a black cloth suit, white vest, in the buttonhole of which was looped a massive gold chain; his shirt front was always immaculate, and his cravat as white as a clergyman’s. His boots reflected like a mirror, and he wore his plug hat tipped to one side like the leaning tower of Pisa.
“One of his peculiarities was the Partihgtonian use of big words. He was standing one day quietly contemplating his cabin, and said it looked well enough on the exterior but he was not at all pleased with the intestinal arrangements.
“The Doctor became deeply interested in the aforesaid foot race. He claimed that Adams was his intimate friend; he had known him before coming West, and whispered to me as a profound secret that they were going to throw the race in Adams’ favor—‘it was a dead open and shut, Adams himself was the informer.’
“The Doctor immediately set about betting his effects —even his watch and chain, finger rings and stove-pipe hat, and seemed to look forward with contented ecstacy to an opulent pile ready for use.
“When the competitors went upon the ground, the gamblers had gotton wind that Kendricks intended to
A TALE OF HORROR. 41
allow Adams to win the race. They surrounded Kendricks with drawn revolvers and told him to win or die. It was a race for life then, and he moved his legs with a concentrated and desperate energy. The result was, all who bet on Adams lost.
“ The next time I saw the Doctor he w T as sitting on a bench in front of his cabin, spoiled of his jewels, stirring butter in a tin cup with a spoon. He said, ‘ I’ll be tetotally cosmographied if that foot-race wasn’t a hyperbolical swindle.’”
____________
CHAPTER VIII.
A TALE OF HORROR.
“I was in the first coach of the Leavenworth and Pike’s Peak Express Company,” said Mr. Barney. “It arrived in Denver on the 7th of May, 1859. The supply wagons were sent on ahead, locating the stations, and every twenty-five miles they would drop a tent, a stove, and a cook. At that season of the year the twilight is short, so when we drew up at this station for supper it was quite dark. When I entered the tent I saw the most soul-sickening sight that my eyes ever rested upon, and the flickering light of the candle added intensity to the horror. At first I thought it was a ‘spirit from the vasty deep’—a ghost or hobgoblin from the great unknown. I felt sick—it is real weakening to feel one’s self in the presence of the—departed—no, the returned dead.
“The poor man, from starvation, was reduced to a living skeleton. Rip Van Winkle himself could not have looked more ghastly.
“ He was in the last stages of exhaustion when an In¬ dian found him and brought him to the tent. After he
42 TALES OF THE COLORADO PIONEERS.
was refreshed with food and stimulants he told his sick¬ ening story.
“ Three brothers set out from Illinois in a one-horse cart for the gold region. From Leavenworth they took the Smoky Hill route. Guided by incorrect ideas of the distance, they were poorly prepared for the hardships of the journey, and their provisions gave out before they were half way. They killed their horse for food and loaded their cart with it, taking time about in the harness of the slaughtered animal. It was tedious, and their strength was rapidly going. When the last piece of flesh was gone they sat down in despair to die, for they had wandered away from the trail in search of water, and had no hope of being found by a human being. One sank faster than the other, and when dying requested the surviving brothers to live upon his flesh and try to get through. He died, and they commenced their cannibalistic feast—ate the body, and again saw starvation staring them in the face. Another died, which furnished food to the remaining brother. He said he had even crushed the skull and eaten the brains.
“Mr. Williams, conductor of the Express, after hearing the story, had the Indian pilot him to the spot, where he found the bones of the one who died last, and buried them.
“ We took the miserable famished creature in the coach to Denver. His body regained health and strength, but his mind was gone. He remained always an imbecile. The citizens of Denver made up a purse and sent him to his friends in ‘the States.’”
“FIRED OUT.”
“ Speaking of coach rides,” said another pioneer, “prob¬ ably the most exciting, for those engaged in it, occurred
“FIRED OUT.” 43
in one of the ‘down’ coaches between Denver and Leav¬ enworth early in ’60.
“Among the passengers were the late Louis F. Bartels, of Denver, two brothers by the name of Boyd, and a German.
“ We were camped at Alkali station with our freight outfit. The coach drove in about 4 a. m., and stopped for breakfast. We saw, from our camp, the passengers alight, go in to their meal, and afterwards take their seats in the coach and start off. When opposite our camp a firing commenced in the coach. The passengers bounded out and prepared apparently for action against a foe who was inside. The driver dismounted, opened the coach door (which had been closed by the party inside) and instantly received a slash in the face from a huge knife. The passengers who had been ‘fired out’ returned the compliment with ‘overpowering politeness,’ and in a few minutes all was over.
“They drew their victim from the coach, with sixteen bullet holes in him, but yet alive. They then strapped the body of their dead friend on the top of the coach, and after dressing the wounds that had been inflicted by the desperate murderer, as best they could, the coach rolled on for the East.
“ The body of the dead man on top of the coach as it pulled into Cottonwood Springs, caused the arrest of the whole party, and developed the facts that after leaving Alkali station the strange passenger suddenly drew a revolver and shot the man Boyd immediately in front of him in the face, killing him instantly. He then wounded another before being seized by Mr. Bartels, who turned the muzzle downwards, and the remaining shots went
44 TALES OF THE COLORADO PIONEERS.
through the bottom of the coach. When released, he drew a large knife, and the frightened passengers got out in tumultuous haste. Upon this statement they were allowed to proceed. The strange passenger died soon after being thrown from the coach, and was buried by the side of the road.
“It was learned subsequently that the man had lived in Denver, and being suspected of cattle stealing was ordered off by the vigilance committee. He took the first Coach for the East, and the probabilities are that his fright unsettled his mind, and he had attacked what in his delirium were his foes. His name was never learned, and perhaps his friends in the East, or over in ‘Faderland,’ are still awaiting his return.”
CHAPTER IX.
REMINISCENCE OF A FREIGHTER.
“Twenty odd years ago,” said Mr. G., “supplies for all the country west of the Missouri river were furnished by wagon trains, and the Pawnees, Sioux and Cheyennes were the lords of the public domain. In order to avoid trouble with them, it was necessary for the freighters to gratify their whims, and occasionally feed them when they came about the camp, especially if in any considerable number. We often had to resort to ‘ways that are dark’ in order to get even with them. I was camping once with my freight trains down on the old overland route, and just about dark a band of Cheyennes, numbering probably thirty or forty, and headed by a venerable dilapidated looking sub-chief, came trailing over the
REMINISCENCE OF A FREIGHTER. 45
country and pitched their tepees directly across the road from us.
“The chief immediately called to pay-his respects and beg a little tobacco, as his ‘teeth were very sick.’
“It being late to receive, we were not again visited till next morning about ten o’clock, when a large, fine buck came over, very hungry, ‘a good friend of the whites,’ and would like ‘something to eat.’ We cast around for some little delicacy for him in the way of bacon rinds, wagon grease, etc.—but the larder was empty. We were about to send him away unfed when one of the party thought of a camp kettle containing about a gallon of boiled beans that had soured before we could use them, and which we had forgotten to throw away.
“He rustled around and set the spread for the innocent and guileless child of the desert, and by signs and lingo, earnestly cautioned him not to get away with all of them as we intended to warm them over for dinner. The red man had ears but heard not, and stolidly devoured those beans with an appetite of an anaconda. Then offering profuse thanks for the elegant repast, and wiping his mouth on the skirt of his Prince Albert, he withdrew to his tepee with the grace of a Chesterfield. After an hour or so we were aroused from our afternoon nap by a thundering rumpus. For a moment I was uncertain where I was, and what the deuce was going on. There was a terrible commotion at the Indian camp. The old chief came rushing over and charged us with having poisoned the bean-eater, and said he must have some whisky at once to save his life. We protested that he was not poisoned, that he had been gluttonous and had eaten a gallon of beans. We handed the old man the
46 TALES OF THE COLORADO PIONEERS.
bottle containing about a quart of ‘valley tan’ whisky,
and intimated that if he drank that all down, the beans
wouldn’t get a chance to kill him. He looked at the bot¬
tle as if suspicious of its contents, and tipping it to his
lips, put himself outside of perhaps two-thirds of the
compound, and then pulled out for the sick bed of his
brother.
“The howling increased, and with the screeching of
the squaws and barking of the dogs, produced a veritable
pandemonium.
“When the twilight shadows were stealing over the
broad plains, Mr. Lo, who so shortly before ate at our ta¬
ble, a welcome guest, passed in his chips and went over
to the majority, a victim of the seductive sweetness of the
‘ Bostonian’s pride.’ We did not wait to attend the
funeral lest the infuriated Indians might wipe us out at
‘one fell swoop,’ like MacDuff’s chickens. So while they
were forgetful of all else save their dead brother, we
thought it prudent
‘To fold our tents like the Arabs
And silently steal away,’
Leaving them alone with one good Indian.”
“One story of a kind produces another,” said Mr. M.,
“and as this gentleman has brought up the subject, I’ll
‘ keep the stone rolling’ by relating a reminiscence of my
own. In the early days on the plains, it was customary
for freighters to go by some nick-name; their most inti¬
mate acquaintances in many cases knew them only by
such names, and I doubt not many a poor fellow lost his
life there, whose real name was never known to his fron¬
tier acquaintances, and whose people advertised in vain
for news of his whereabouts. I was forced to think ser-
REMINISCENCE OF A FREIGHTER. 47
iously of this nonsensical habit in a fight we had with the Indians at Big Springs, down on the Platte. I was known to my associates as ‘Yank Smith,’ and if I had fallen there my people would never have known what became of me. During the fight I vowed to myself that if I came out of that alive I would reveal my real name. When it was over I forgot all about it, and to this day those old associates remember me as ‘Yank Smith.’
“We were camped at Big Springs, resting our stock after an all night’s drive to get out of the reach of the military post, having slipped by in the night. The order of General Pope, then in command of the department, required all trains to be composed of not less than forty men, well armed, and to avoid being held to await others to make our crowd answer the ‘regulation’ size, we made it a practice to steal by in the night when the guard was having his dream of home, or his game of poker with the landlord at the ranch hard by. The party was composed of old White, his three sons, Dick Robinson and myself; Sim White was down at the river watering a mule, his father, the two other sons and Dick Robinson were playing poker under the wagon. I was looking on. Sim halloed to us that Indians were coming.
“Looking away to the bluffs, a mile to the south, we saw them coming, and from the dust they made there seemed to be at the very least a million of them, and every Indian ten feet high. Old White looked out from under the wagon and satisfied himself they were sure enough after us.
“He turned his cards carefully face downwards, and said to the boys, ‘ don’t disturb that hand; we will have it out after we get through with the redskins.’
48 TALES OF THE COLORADO PIONEERS.
“On they came; but the distance was great, we had ample time to secure our animals by tying them to the hubs of the wagons, and get our guns ready for action before they were upon us. As they drew near we found there were only thirteen. They tried the old dodge of presenting the butt end of their guns, saying they wanted to ‘swap.’ ‘You’ll get no swap here but lead, you thieves,’ said Old White, and immediately opened the fight by blazing away. The Indians at once fell back, firing as they did so, and for two long hours they kept up a running semi-circular fight, never still, and continually firing, always lying on the opposite side of their horses from us.
“We could do nothing but shoot at their horses, in hopes of killing them and then killing the Indians when dismounted; but they kept on the go so that it was only occasionally we could hit a pony.
“After a two hours fight, with no loss on either side, Dick Robinson asked me for an old musket I had in the wagon, which my mother had taken from one of John Morgan’s men while attempting to plunder the house during his raid through Ohio.
“ We had, during our trip over the plains, occasionally taken that old gun down and rammed a charge of pistol balls down, until we had about six inches of a load in it. I advised him not to attempt to fire it, but he said he was determined to kill that old chief. I gave it to him with the admonition to shut his eyes and say his prayers before pulling the trigger. But he fearlessly walked out towards the old scoundrel, who also advanced, each eyeing the other.
“ When about seventy-five yards apart, both raised their guns at the same instant—and both fell.
REMINISCENCE OF A FREIGHTER. 49
“ The chiefs horse started off with a gallop, and the In¬ dian, being a very large man, broke the strap with which he was tied on, and fell to the ground near where he was shot. We saw the blood fly from Dick’s face and the gun bound away out of his hands, but he quickly jumped to his feet, wiped his face, grabbed up the old musket and ran as only a long-legged Missourian knows how to run, for the corral. The musket had kicked, and the hammer had torn away a ‘chunk’—as he said—of his cheek.
“Upon the fall of the chief, the Indians made a rush to secure his body; but we kept up such a continuous fire that they could not get near it safely. Dick then proposed that as he had killed him, if we would charge on them and drive them back towards the south side of the corral, he would go out and get his -scalp.’ This we did, and Dick bounded out with an old butcher knife, and in less than a minute he sat himself across old Lo, and we could hear him tearing the scalp away. When the Indians saw what he was doing they made a desperate charge and drove us back, but not until Dick had secured the prize from that Indian’s head.
“The loss of the scalp of their chief seemed to be a signal for retreat, for without any apparent order or sign from any of them, the remainder rode rapidly off towards the river, and disappeared among the hills.
“The trophy justly belonged to Dick. He stretched it and tacked it on the hoop of a keg, and from there to Fort Morgan, despite our entreaties and protests that it would certainly invite our destruction should we meet a large war party, it floated from the mast of his ‘prairie schooner.’ We were stopped of course at Fort Morgan by the commanding officer, who, I believe, was a brother of
4
50 TALES OF THE COLORADO PIONEERS.
Phil. Sheridan, and directed to go into camp until a proper number had collected to come within the order of the De¬ partment Commander. Dick suggested that as we had a pass, pointing to the scalp floating over his wagon, we ought to be permitted to proceed. The officer directed us to move on, which we did with our colors flying, and fortunately had no further molestation on the trip.”
“ Were there any duels in those days?” I asked.
CHAPTER X.
A BLOODY DUEL.
“Yes, there was a bloody duel among the old-time romances. I remember it as though it was yesterday,” said
Judge Bennett.
“ It was the 7th, not the ides of March, A. D. 1860, when there occurred a most sanguinary encounter or affair of ‘honah,’ between two citizens of the Territory. Dr. Stone, Judge of the miners’ court in the Mountain City District, had been a member of the Legislative Assembly. Hon. L. W. Bliss was Secretary, and at the time acting Governor of the Territory.
“ There was no woman in this case, but money, the ‘ root of all evil,’ according to respectable authority, did have something to do in the primeval cause of the quarrel, and wine warmed up the blood and caused the latent heat to escape.
“ The affair grew out of some personal language used by the former against the latter. As I remember it, Dr. Stone had drawn his pay as a member of the Legislature during the first and only session of that body that ever
A BLOODY DUEL. 51
met, which was in the fall of 1859. A Provisional Gov¬ ernment had been organized, with It. K. Steel at its head. The Territory was then called Jefferson. The Dr., after having sold his pay warrants, publicly repudiated the Territorial organization. This action, by a member of the Legislature, was quite annoying to the other officers of the Territory, and particularly so to the sensitive Secretary.
“ Bliss and Stone were together often; were jovial, free hearted, fond of a joke and a drink, and up to this time were the best of friends.
“On the evening before the 7th of March the Secretary, Lou. Bliss, as he was familiarly called, had invited to his private rooms at the hotel a dozen or more gentleman friends, to break a few bottles of wine with him. While they were making themselves merry with the attractive host and the generous wine, Dr. Stone, who had come down from Central that day, stepped into the room unbidden and took his seat among the convivial party. The call was inopportune, for the party had just been discussing his repudiation of the Territorial organization.
“Shortly after Stone came in glasses were filled all around and Bliss, rising, said: ‘ Here’s to the man who got Iris pay and then repudiated the government and left his friends.’ Dr. Stone understood the remark to be aimed at him, as in fact it was. Fire shot from his eyes, and without taking his wine, he and a friend who came in with him immediately withdrew.
“The friend who had retired with Dr. Stone soon re¬ turned with a note bearing a challenge to mortal combat. Bliss immediately accepted.
“ Being the challenged party, according to the code he
52 TALES OF THE COLORADO PIONEERS.
had the choice of weapons, and chose double-barreled shot-guns, loaded with ounce balls; distance, thirty paces; time, afternoon of the next day.
“The place selected was on the bank of the Platte river near Denver.
“ There was no secrecy, for there was no law against duelling, nor, for that matter, against any other form of murder, except that in the absence of statutes the inhab¬ itants of the western border of the Great American Desert were ‘a law unto themselves.’
“The town was full of excitement over the impending duel. People conversed in whispers and exchanged glances full of meaning. Some said Bliss would not fight, that he was a Northern man and hadn’t the nerve. Others said Dr. Stone was from Harper’s Ferry, and would make Bliss fight or back squarely down. Others again averred that Bliss would fight, and was sure to hit his man; that he was rehearsing for the combat, and was a crack shot. He had at the ‘word ’ shot the figure of a man at thirty paces distant full of holes, from the crown of the head to the knees, hitting the figure every time where he said he would.
“And so the gossip, went on, until the opinion became general that Bliss’ superior skill would brace him up for the conflict.
“ Not knowing the precise hour, I watched to see the crowd start, and then followed, thinking possibly I might stop the fight by reasoning with the parties on the ground.
“When I reached the appointed place Dr. Stone had just arrived in his carriage, accompanied by his seconds and surgeon. Shortly after came Bliss, walking and carrying his shot-gun carelessly on his shoulder. He was
A BLOODY DUEL. 53
dressed in a dust-colored ‘ Raglan’ coat, and impressed me at the time as though he was, as near as might be, following out his habit of bird hunting.
“He mingled in the crowd, talking and chatting with his friends and acquaintances with as much apparent ease and composure as though the occasion was but a Christmas shooting match. Dr. Stone walked with his surgeon apart from the crowd, looking pale and highly wrought up.
“ I began to counsel peace and compromise, but no one seemed to think a peaceful settlement could be effected. Some told me I had better keep still, or I might get hurt.
‘ They had come there to see a fight, and a fight it must be.’ So, thinking prudence the better part of valor, I concluded to remain and witness, for the first time in my life, a duel.
“ In about twenty minutes after the parties reached the place, the distance was measured off and guns loaded— one barrel each. The toss-up for the word was won by Stone’s seconds. The belligerants were placed opposite, with left side presented each to the other, guns down in hand. The signal was— one — two — fire — stop. The firing was to be done on or between the words fire and stop. Either principal firing before the word fire, or after the word stop, was, by the terms of the code, liable to be shot down by the seconds of his antagonist.
“The principals being ready, the seconds in their respective positions, each armed with a Colt’s navy revolver, cocked and in hand, the word was given in a loud clear tone. When in quick, but due time, Stone fired first, without raising his gun to his eye. Before the word stop was uttered Bliss fired and Stone fell to the ground with
54 TALES OF THE COLORADO PIONEERS.
a heart-rending cry—‘Killed! 0, my God.’ He was pierced through the pelvis from hip to hip. Bliss, unharmed, except by the stain of murder on his soul, walked away, his face pallid and distorted with misery—it having been his intention not to kill, but to inflict a slight wound that would merely disable the doctor for a time.
“Stone was carried to his room and lingered for several months, wasting to a skeleton long before he expired. Bliss was never quite himself after the death of Stone, and soon drifted away.”
Thus ended the stories at the pioneer dinner.
CHAPTER XI.
THE ATTACK ON THE NEWS OFFICE.
In July, 1860, a series of murders were inaugurated by the desperadoes who infested Denver during the spring and summer. The News dealt vigorous blows against them, and bravely condemned the killing of a negro named Starks, by Charlie Harrison, one of the worst of the outlaws. Harrison sought the editorial sanctum to rehearse the whys and wherefores, claiming that he killed Starks in self-defense, and exhibited his pistol covered with hacks, which, he declared, were made by Starks’ bowie-knife in the struggle between them. The subject was then dropped to the mutual satisfaction of the News and Harrison.
Carl Wood, however, who delighted in bloodshed and violence, and who exercised a sort of despotic influence over his confederates, summoned them to his support, and one morning suddenly appeared in the News office and threatened to “clean it out.” Approaching the senior
THE ATTACK ON THE NEWS OFFICE. 55
editor, Mr. Byers, he seized him by the collar and com¬ manded him to go at once to the Criterion saloon and apologize to the proprietor, Harrison, for the offensive edi¬ torial. He emphasized this order by flourishing a large navy revolver dangerously near the editor’s head.
Wood was informed that the difficulty with Harrison had been settled satisfactorily to all parties concerned, and an apology at that time would not be in order.
The appearance of these armed desperadoes in the News sanctum caused great uneasiness among the employees. A few printers in the composing room were for showing fight, but, unfortunately, they were not armed.
Mr. Byers stated his willingness to be escorted to the Criterion saloon by the ruffians, and so went with them. Wood walked close by his^ side, occasionally shoving his Deringer under his nose, asking him how he liked the smell of gunpowder, and playfully threatening to blow his brains out “just for luck.”
Arriving at the saloon Harrison corroborated the state¬ ments made at the office, that all was quiet between him¬ self and the editor, and urged that the matter be dropped. While Wood and his friends were filling themselves with liquor at the bar, Byers succeeded, by a ruse of Harri¬ son’s, in escaping through the back door and returned to his office, which, during his absence, had assumed the appearance of a hastily improvised arsenal. The employ¬ ees, apprehensive of another visit from the desperadoes, had armed themselves and prepared for a siege.
When the escape of the captive was made known, Wood and his riotous friends, armed with double-barreled shot-guns, mounted their horses and drew up for consultation at an unoccupied log house a few rods away from
56 TALES OF THE COLORADO PIONEERS.
the editor’s office. They evidently realized the necessity of being cautious.
To George Steele, who was full of drunken bravery, was entrusted the honor of reconnoitering the enemy’s camp. He advanced to the steps of the building, and peered long and earnestly, but could see nothing—all was as still as the heart of the dead, yet at that very moment he was covered with a dozen rifles from within. Standing awhile as if debating in his own mind the course to pursue, he returned to the log house, but soon appeared with a pair of heavy dragoon revolvers strapped around him. When in front of the building, he whipped out a pistol and fired into the sanctum, but no one was wounded, nor was there any response. He then put spurs to his horse and sped like the wind over a condemned bridge that reeled and rocked under the clattering hoofs of his horse. Gaining the opposite bank, he rose in his stirrups and turning, fired again, but the bullet passed through the building without harm.
A signal was then given to the News men, when they opened fire upon him from their windows. His coat was completely riddled with buckshot, and he staggered in his saddle, but did not fall. He rode rapidly to a brothel where his mistress lived, informed her of his wounded condition, and then dashed away to the Highland suburbs. A man by the name of Tom Pollock followed in his wake, and shot him from his horse.
There were flying rumors, that Byers had been killed, and in a few minutes the streets of Denver were filled with armed men. Search being instituted for Carl Wood, he was apprehended, just as he reached the door of his cabin, and compelled to throw down his arms and surrender.
THE HANGING OF GORDON. 57
The trial which ensued occupied three days. All business was suspended, and Judge H. P. Bennett, always a faithful and earnest advocate of the people’s cause, did great credit to himself on this occasion.
It was decided that Carl Wood should be banished from the country on pain of death if he returned. He was provided with a fleet horse, led out on the prairie and given the word “go,” which he obeyed without any unnecessary delay.
CHAPTER XII.
THE HANGING OF GORDON.
The damp morning newspaper so often brought tales of blood, that a “man for breakfast” became a common expression.
The killing of Jacob Gantz by James Gordon in July, 1860, created the most intense excitement that ever agi¬ tated the public mind.
Gordon was subject to periodical sprees. On this occa¬ sion it is said he was crazy drunk. He entered a saloon, and seeing Jacob Gantz seated on a keg in a corner, politely and pressingly urged him to take a drink. While standing at the bar, Gordon lifted his glass, sneeringly viewed Gantz from head to foot, threw the whisky in his face, struck him with his pistol and shot him dead. In the darkness he made his escape to Fort Lupton. The Fort was surrounded by his pursuers for twenty-four hours before he came out. At sundown the gate was thrown open and Gordon, mounted on a fleet horse, and a pistol in each hand, plunged through the crowd and disappeared in the gathering darkness.
58 TALES OF THE COLORADO PIONEERS.
Weeks passed before he was heard of again. He wrote a friend to sell some property and send the money to him at Kansas City. The letter fell into the hands of W. H. Middaugh, acting as the people’s sheriff, and who under¬ took the dangerous mission of capturing him.
Taking the coach to Leavenworth, he intercepted Gor¬ don on the high prairies, within sight of the line of the Indian Territory, whilst he was lying on the grass by the side of the trail, holding his horse by the bridle and al¬ lowing it to feed. When Middaugh read the warrant for his arrest, a death-like paleness covered his face and every nerve seemed to tremble.
He was taken to Leavenworth, where a single half-hour’s trial was held, and, in mockery of justice, he was acquitted, on the plea that the deed was committed outside the jurisdiction of that place, notwithstanding the long-asserted authority of Kansas to the contrary. A violent mob gathered around the house, however, with the avowed intention of hanging him. He placed himself under the protection of the Mayor.
The wildest excitement prevailed. The seething, angry crowd surged to and fro, and, as night came on, bonfires were built, which threw their lurid light far out over a scene at once weird and fearful.
Infuriated men armed with muskets, revolvers and knives, were sending up the fierce demand: “ Hang him! Hang him!”
Mayor McDowell expostulated with the rioters, and made several speeches urging obedience to the law.
The ruling spirits at last agreed that Gordon should be delivered to Middaugh. The scene that ensued was in¬ describable. The brave officers gathered around the pris-
THE HANGING OF GORDON. 59
oner. They were forced- by the frenzied crowd into a narrow, rocky glen. Several times a halter was thrown around the neck of Gordon, and as quickly cut by an officer. Darkness closed about them, and the howls and oaths of the mob made a din that was fearful.
The prisoner begged to be hung, shot, anything to put him out of his misery.
He was bruised and lacerated; every shred of clothing torn from him; nothing left upon his body but clanking chains. Middaugh at length carried his prisoner through the storm, and on the 28th of September they reached Denver.
Intense feeling began to manifest itself. The crowd which met them soon adjourned to a grove to organize a court, for they intended Gordon’s trial to be in accordance with law and justice. Judge H. P. Bennett, who sat far off with his back to the crowd, was nominated as prosecutor for the people, but he declined, saying the the Judges appointed would control the jury. If they would appoint a new set of Judges, he would prosecute. The request was acceded to, and the Judge was chosen for the prosecution with a deafening yell. He arose and stated that it would require some time to collect his evidence, and requested the trial to be adjourned until the next morning at nine o’clock. He urged the people to let right be done, though the heavens fall. He said, “the trifling of one of the highest tribunals in the land with the life that is now in our hands, has turned the eyes of tens of thousands in the States towards Denver, where no law of the great American Union claims jurisdiction. Let us temper justice with mercy, and let no mob or unlawful attempt interfere with the ‘ People’s Court.’ ” Even
60 TALES OF THE COLORADO PIONEERS.
after this ardent address, an attempt was made during the night to rescue Gordon.
The next morning they entered upon the trial. Gordon was allowed every advantage that could have been accorded him by the highest and best regulated court in the land. He was supported by able lawyers, who labored faithfully in his behalf. The verdict, “guilty,” was rendered by twelve of the most respectable and responsible citizens of the country, and the sentence of death passed by the court and endorsed by the assembled hundreds. He was given time to make temporal and spiritual preparation for his unhappy end. Petitions were circulated for a reprieve, but without success. If to be hanged was inevitable, he wished no delay, for there was no reprieve from his conscience.
From the depths of his misery thoughts came thick and fast of his misspent life, of the alluring woman who placed the red wine to his lips and led him to ruin—of the life he had taken—of the horrible death before him— of the hopes, prayers and tears of his gray-haired mother. In the words of Byron’s “ Manfred,”
“ Though thy slumbers may be deep,
Yet thy spirit shall not sleep;
There are shades which will not vanish,
There are thoughts thou canst not banish;
And to thee shall night deny
All the quiet of her sky.”
On the following Saturday, October 6th, as the sun was sinking behind mountains shrouded with mystic light, Gordon was led to the gallows. Rev. Dr. Rankin, Sheriff Middaugh and a few others, mounted the scaffold with him. Prayer for the doomed was offered, during which
PEOPLE’S COURTS. 61
Gordon knelt and the vast assemblage stood with uncovered heads. At the close he said, in a faltering voice:
“Gentlemen, you who have been my friends and en¬ deavored to obtain a reprieve for me in the hope of secur¬ ing my banishment from the Territory, I thank you from the bottom of my heart; I thank the ladies and gentlemen who have visited me during my confinement, and been so good to me. Speak of me kindly to my mother. Oh, if some good friend here would shoot me! But it is all well—good-bye. Mr. Middaugh, remember to fix the knot so it will break my neck as soon as possible. Oh, God have mercy! ”
And thus ended the career of one who had many friends—but the people were inflexible in administering justice. Truly the “way of the transgressor” is hard, and his sins will find him out.
CHAPTER XIII.
PEOPLE’S COURT.
Kansas failing to exercise judicial authority over the region, the Solons of the place were called together in the fall of ’60 to draft a code of laws suitable to their needs; and organized a tribunal which they dignified with the title of “People’s Court.” They elected a mayor, judges and city council, levied and collected taxes, and performed all the functions of a legally constituted city government. J. C. Moore was the first mayor. Major Downing was the first judge. In looking over the archives I found a record of very startling divorce case. A wife’s petition for divorce, and the husband’s quit-claim deed of her, of which the following is a true copy:
62 TALES OF THE COLORADO PIONEERS.
DIVORCE—JUDGE HOWARD’S QUIT-CLAIM DEED TO HIS WIFE.
}
MARY E. HOWARD, In Court of Chancery,
Plaintiff, Denver City
vs. Jefferson Territory
JOHN HOWARD,
Defendant.
PETITION FOR DIVORCE.
To the Plaintiff in the above entitled action:
Whereas, having been citied through the press at Denver,to appear before one Judge Downing, of the above entitled Court, to show cause why your prayer to be divorced from me should not be granted:
I, the defendant, hereby state (waiving my own oath in the premises) that I don’t know any such cause whatever, and, therefore, confess the corn. And said defendant, as Judge of the Canon City District Court, enters a decree in your favor accordingly ; and in order to relieve you of any embarrassment in the matter, I have executed and send you herewith attached as part of this answer, a quit-claim deed
of all my right, title and interest whatever in you, leaving a blank to be filled up by the name of the party-grantee, by whom you may in future be claimed under squatter title. Hoping you will fully appreciate my good feeling in the premises, I hereby attach the said deed, as follows, to wit:
Know all men (and one woman) by these presents, That I, John Howard, of Canon City, of the first part, do hereby give, grant, bargain, convey, and quit-claim, all my right, title and interest in and to the following (un) real estate, to wit: The undivided whole of that ancient estate known as Mary Howard, (the title to which I acquired by discovery, occupancy, possession and use,) situated at present in the town of Denver, Jefferson Territory, together with all the improvements made and erected by me thereon, with all the rents, profits, easements, enjoyments, long suffering and appurtenances thereto in anywise appertaining, unto-of the second part, to have and to hold unto the said-so long as he can keep her, without recourse upon the grantor or endorser.
In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and seal, this, the 24th day of Jan., 1861.
[seal] Signed, John Howard.
Signed in the presence of A. Rudd, clerk of District Court.
Per WILBUR F. STONE, Deputy.
CHAPTER XIV.
SCHOOLS AND CHURCHES.
Denver and Auraria were separated by Cherry Creek, at that time a very insignificant stream, which had a flow of water in the spring, from ten to twenty feet wide and about six inches deep. The “high water” continued two or three months, after which it diminished to a silvery, thread like current. The rise and fall of the stream was considered of so little consequence that houses were built close to the water’s brink, and many in the channel itself. Two flattened pine logs with a rough board railing, formed a foot bridge from bank to bank, where Larimer street now crosses. A flour barrel had been sunk at this point, which supplied the citizens with water.
Rivalry between the towns ran high. Society was full of “envy, hatred, malice and all uncharitableness.” “Are you a Denver man or an Aurarian ?” was the one absorbing local question.
On the last week of March, 1860, the citizens held a mass meeting and passed the following:
“Whereas, The towns at and near the mouth of Cherry creek are, and of right ought to be, one; therefore, be it
Resolved, That from this time Auraria proper shall be known as Denver City, West Division, and we hereby authorize the board of directors to change the name on the plat accordingly.”
At the close of the year 1860, there were sixty thousand people in the Territory, and Denver had a population of about four thousand. Even at this early day the young metropolis was fairly supplied with the three great
63
64 TALES OF THE COLORADO PIONEERS.
forces of civilization, to wit: schools, churches and news¬ papers. The pioneers liberally encouraged religion, mor¬ ality and education. With Whittier they believed:
“ The riches of our commonwealth
Are free, strong minds and hearts of health;
And more to her than gold or grain,
The cunning hand and cultured brain.
Nor heeds the sceptic’s puny hands,
While near the school the church-spire stands,
Nor fears the blinding bigot’s rule,
While near the church-spire stands the school.”
The first voice of
one preaching in the
wilderness was that
of George Washing¬
ton Fisher, a Meth-
odist minister, who
was kindly tendered
a saloon to hold
divine service in.
The house was filled
with the old and
young, the giddy
and sedate, the pious and the dissolute. The good man took his stand in front of the bar, and preached from the text, “Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money, come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come buy wine and milk without money and without price.”
Behind him were bottles and glasses in glittering array, and placards adorned the walls,reading, “no trust,” “pay as you go,” “25 cts. a drink.”
LOYALTY. 65
The minister gave a kind and loving lecture, presenting Christ as the cup and the loaf to refresh the Christian soldier and guide him to the new Jerusalem.
Even those who were inclined to laugh at the incongru¬ ity of the scene, bowed in holy reverence to receive the benediction.
Rev. J. H. Kehler arrived in Denver from Virginia on the 17th of January, 1860, and established St. John’s Church in the wilderness.
One gloomy, stormy Sunday morning there were only two persons in the church, Mr. Amos Steck and Col. J. H. Dudley. They thought of course they would be dismissed without a sermon, but Father Kehler, equal to the situation, selected the text, “Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there will I be, in the midst of them,” and thereupon preached an excellent sermon.
CHAPTER XV.
LOYAL TO THE GOVERNMENT.
In the spring of 1861 the Territory of Colorado was organized. President Lincoln immediately appointed William Gilpin its first Governor, in recognition of his services as an explorer of the “great West.” The people of Denver set about to receive their distinguished executive with every manifestation of pleasure and respect in their power.
To Judge H. P. Bennett was assigned the honor of mak¬ ing the reception speech. To give greater tone to the affair a platform was erected in front of the Tremont house, West Denver, where the reception was to be held,
5
66 TALES OF THE COLORADO PIONEERS.
and a large anvil, in lieu of a cannon, was loaded for a welcoming salute. In due time the Governor and his escort, in a spring wagon, which was newly painted and gaily decorated for the occasion, drew up in front of the orator. The Governor thrust his hand in the breast of his closely buttoned coat and assumed, from force of habit, a dignified and striking attitude.
Bennett had prepared a real old-fashioned spread eagle speech, full of solid rhapsodies on our Italian climate and exhilerating atmosphere. But, just as he had launched out with “fellow citizens,” the cannon went off, whether by accident or in a spirit of mischief, was never known; but it certainly did “ spread itself ” in the effort to make its presence known, and gave the speaker a mightier “send-off” than was expected or desired. The enthusiastic crowd scattered in every direction, and the orator was so stunned that he forgot what came next, or what he was there for.
This, mind you, occurred about the beginning of the war. A majority of the people of Colorado were loyal to the Government. A better illustration cannot be cited than that related by Judge Wilbur F. Stone: “Soon after the Territorial organization, two young men, who had been working for a miner at Gold Run, in Summit county, stole a large quantity of gold dust from their employer. They were pursued, captured, brought back to the gulch, tried by a ‘ miners’ court ’ and sentenced to be hanged. In the meantime A. C. Hunt, then United States Marshal for the district of Colorado, learned of the affair while passing through Park county in charge of some prisoners, and at once dispatched to me a warrant for the arrest of the culprits, sending me, at the same
LOYALTY. 67
time, a commission as deputy to execute the warrant. I was then at Buckskin Joe, in Park county, and mounting my horse rode with all speed over the range twenty miles to Gold Run, which I reached just as the crowd of nearly a thousand miners had gathered to see the execution.
“Under a pine tree two graves had been dug, and beside them was placed a wagon upon which the two condemned criminals were standing with ropes noosed about their necks and fastened to a limb of the tree above, looking down upon their open graves, and waiting the signal when the wagon should be drawn from under them. A hollow square of men, with loaded rifles, inclosed the wagon.
“ I jumped upon a pine log and harangued the crowd, urging them to allow the prisoners a trial in the Territorial courts. The people feared an -escape and were inflexible. The crisis had come. Suddenly breaking through the guard, and leaping upon the wagon, I claimed the criminals as my prisoners.
“Instantly every rifle of the guard was leveled at me. Snatching the warrant from my pocket I held it up, showing the seal and the American eagle on the corner, and commenced in a loud voice to read the formal printed mandate of the warrant. ‘The President of the United States to the Marshal of Colorado, greeting: You are hereby commanded to take the bodies of—’ I got no farther with the reading than this, for those words were no sooner uttered than a voice in the crowd shouted: ‘ Boys, we can’t resist the President of the United States. Hurrah for Abe Lincoln! ’ The crowd echoed the cheer, ‘ Hurrah for Abe Lincoln ! ’ A serio-comic mixture of the sublime and the
68 TALES OF THE COLORADO PIONEERS.
ludicrous. Immediately the guns of the guard were brought to a ‘present arms.’ With my camp knife I cut the ropes which bound the prisoners, pushed them before me through the crowd, remounted my horse, and, accompanied by a single assistant—a staunch fellow named Bill Burdett, who is now a faithful guard at the State penitentiary at Conon City—marched back across the mountains in the night, by a lonely trail, and sent the prisoners to Denver, where they were tried, convicted and sentenced to a term of years in the penitentiary at Alton, Illinois.
“And so were the foundations of law and order laid by the pioneers. When they were without Territorial organization each separate community was an independent sovereignty, with a democracy as pure as was that of Greece, and a republic as potent as was that of Rome.”
Soon after the Governor’s arrival in Colorado, he issued a call for a regiment of volunteer troops, with which to hold the Territory for the Union. In a few weeks one thousand men from the mountains and the glens rallied around him, in appearance a motley concourse, clad in all the odd fashions ever seen in a new and mountain district, and armed with such guns as the Governor had been able to purchase from individual owners—old rifles, shot-guns, old muskets, and anything, indeed, that resembled a firearm. But the loyalty and courage of these men saved the Union cause in Colorado and New Mexico, and well earned the uniforms and approved rifles with which they were afterwards supplied at Fort Union. Pressing southward, they met Sibley’s force and drove it back into Texas. This is claimed to be the first decisive victory won by the Government in the war for the Union.
CHAPTER XVI.
FIRE AND FLOOD.
On the 19th of April, 1863, one-half of the business part of Denver was destroyed by fire. The alarm was given between the hours of 2 and 3 in the morning, and before the town was fairly aroused, the flames had made such headway that all effort to extinguish them seemed unavailing. The most that could be done was to save the contents of the burning buildings.
The loss of property by this fire exceeded two hundred and fifty thousand dollars, and embraced the principal business portion .of the town. Before the wreck of the burnt district was cleared away, while the ashes were still hot and smoking, the work of rebuilding began. The new structures were principally of brick, and the indomitable energy that characterized the pioneer caused a fine city to spring up, Phoenix like, from the ashes; and commercial transactions soon resumed their former bustling activity. Most of the losers in that fire are the prominent business men of Denver to-day.
The Cherry creek flood began about midnight on the 13th of May, 1864. It swept away a number of buildings and drowned fifteen or twenty people.
Said a lady: “ I heard a terrible sound rolling through the air, like a discharge of cannon. I threw open the door, and beheld a gigantic wave, like an approaching Niagara, reflecting on its crest the light of the moon. At first it was slow and majestic in its movements, then it came faster and faster, mounted higher and higher, tear-
69
70 TALES OF THE COLORADO PIONEERS.
ing up solid soil until it held in suspension nearly half its volume in sand. Trees were toppled down, houses fell and everybody rushed in fright away from the mad torrent.
“After the sorrowful tales were told and the gloom wore away, we found much to laugh at. One lady awoke her husband and asked him to get up and see what was the matter, ‘she heard a noise like the screaming of people.’ He said it was the wind and gave himself up to sleep; but she ‘refused to be comforted/ and aroused him again.
He said, ‘if I go to the door and look out, I suppose you will be satisfied.’ Stepping on the floor, he plunged knee deep in water; then, muttering a few crusty words about leaving the children’s bath-tub in the middle of the floor, he took another step, only to discover that something was radically wrong. They were saved from a watery grave by the gallant men on horses, who were dashing through the surging waves, rescuing families from their flooded homes.”
