Show IDM + + A QUIET DAY IN CREEDE + J > W y > tO < y < > f < > f < > f < r < > f < r + < > + < X DEATH OF THE MAN WHO KILLED JESSE JAMES WILD EVENTFUL EVENT-FUL HISTORY BY CY WARMAN 1 Copyright 1897 The S S McClure Co It was a quiet day in Creede camp in the morning of the summer of 92 Most of the miners were away in the hills many of the gamblers and others of the nightshift were still sleeping though it was now 4 p m A string of burros laaen with heavy loads of boards which they were about to drag away up to the Last Chance stood dreaming in San Louis avenue and haying hay-ing their pictures taken by the writer Some fishermen with long cane poles thrown over their shoulders were trailing trail-ing out at the lower end of the town in the direction of the Rio Grande A string of heavy ore wagons was coming com-ing down the mountain from the Amethyst Ame-thyst mine The brake on the forward wagon gave way when the team was nearly down to the foot of the hill and I instantly the heavy load shot forward j and the poor animalsthere were six I of thembounded away in a mad effort to keep out of the way of the heavy load The wheel horses appeared to understand that they were expected to hold the wagon back and they did what they could but the force of the i great wagon threw them off their feet I and when they fell slid them along the rocky road to the foot of the hill I grinding and crushing their legs under c I DEATH OF BOB FOBD BEHOVING THE BODY I the wheels and when the wagon finally final-ly stopped they were both dead All this happened just above and in full view of the town so that many of the people saw it and heard the poor animals cry almost as a human being would cry for help while they were being run down and killed by the ore wagon A moment later the crowd which had collected to view the wreck had its attention at-tention diverted by a baby burro that now came reeling down the principal street with a well developed jag and a gait on like Rileys Wabbledy calf Some hoodlums had given the I burro beer and he was as drunk as a man > I A sorrylooking young woman was working the hops and saloons on the shady side of the avenue She carried I a long sheet of writing paper upon which she asked people to put their names and opposite their names the amount of their subscriptions One of the girls had died the night before and this money was asked in order to pay some one to diga hole at the top of j the hill and to hire an express wagon to haul the girl up there When the woman came to the Leadville dance hall she entered and was greeted sadly sad-ly by another woman who stood over behind a low railing which extended from the end of the bar to the front of I the tent fencing off a little space which served as an office for the proprietor and the woman who was a silent partner part-ner in the firm The visitor pushed the paper over toward the mana small sallowlooking man of 32 who was ever fidgeting and glancing at the door of whatever house he happened to be in The man glanced down the column saw Soapy Smith 55 and as he hated Soapy he immediately raised him five gave the woman the money and wrote just under his name and the 10 Charity covereth a multitude of sins Then he passed out from behind be-hind the bar and began walking slowly slow-ly to the rear end of the long room The woman with a sorry face and the long white paper passed out Upon the threshold she met a man in miners clothes and even as she turned to look at him a very short man rode up to the door of the tent and handed a doublebarreled shotgun to the man at I the entrance As the minerlooking I man entered the tent with the gun the woman with the paper turned as if she would follow him for she feared that the stranger might do violence reluctant I re-luctant as she was to believe that a I man in a refined mining centre would resort to the use of so clumsy not to say unconventional a shootingiron asa as-a shotgun Hello Bob called the man with the gun and as the keener of the dance hal turned he raised the weapon and let go both barrels The shot without scattering entered the throat of the victim and carried his gold collar button out through the back of his neck The report of the shotgun started the whole camp and as the Leadville was directly opposite my hotel I rushed over and was almost the first man in the place Oneman had preceded me and as I entered he came out and shouted Bob Fords dead At the moment I entered the only person in the room was the insignifi cantlooking woman ii > the little office She was weeping She knew me as the editor of the morning paper and at once began to pour out the story of Bobs virtues He had planned she said to do much good Yes said I It is reported that he intended to kill off the entire Chronicle force Including the editor Yes I know she went on hurriedly hurried-ly for the place was filling up rapidly but he didnt mean Ithe told me so he didnt have It in fur you all a little bit But say she continued waving a hand in the direction of the corpse and her eyes filled with a fresh flood of tears just to think they should shoot him with that kind of a gunit just breaksmy heart and she leaned lW = w fiNiI1 t i I her head upon the bar and wept bitterly Presently she lifted her head dried her eyes and continued Why Bob wouldnt uv killed a coyote coy-ote with a shotgunIts a coward gun When he killed Jesse James the braves brav-es man at ever lived an the deadest shot he dud it with a 45 an ef hed a come down to clear out the Chronicle I Chron-icle which he wouldnt hed uv come with his two hans an his sixshooter an hed ahad you all jumpln thu the winders an scootin fur th willers fore yer could uv raised a ban Well said I glancing toward the rear of the room to make sure he was I still there Bobs all right Hes a i good fellownow I I I had known Ford He was the first I man to whom I was introduced upon my first visit to the camp He had been our guide and had shown Judge Rook er and me the camp by candlelight It i was upon this occasion that T noticed his nervousness If a man came in and left the door open Ford would slip back and shut it If there was a mirror mir-ror over the bar he always kept his eyes on it not to see himself but to observe those who passed to and fro behind him In a pleasant way I asked him if he was expecting someone He answered smiling sadly that he was always expecting ex-pecting some one He had saved his life once in Kansas City by looking Into a mirror A friend of the man he I had murdered entered the room saw I Fords face in the mirror and instantly instant-ly reached for his gun Ford lifting his glass saw the man and the moment I mo-ment their eyes met the man weakened I and passed on My friend the judge i from force of habit I presume began I to question Ford about the killinG of Jesse James and the fellow told us I that he had been led to believe that i if he killed James whose friend and i messenger he had been he would be > the greatest man in Missouri That meant a great deal to this boy of 22 for outside of Missouri there was little worth striving for And then to justify jus-tify his cowardly act he related that it had been planned by James that a I bank should be robbed shortly and j Ford had been told that he was to enter the bank with James who would quietly shoot hini as he had begun to mistrust the kid All this Ford pretended to believe He was confident that he would have been murdered in a little while if he had not put a bullet through Jesses back while he was hanging a picture Kelly the touch citizen who removed re-moved Ford seemed strangely cnough to regard the killing of this man much as Ford had looked upon the killing of Jesse James Ford was an open enemy of society and only a month before his death had closed all the business houses and put the camo to bed at 9 pm The morning paper had suggested that Ford be informed that he would be expected in future to refrain re-frain from shutting up the town leave the camp or be hanged just as he pleased and for that he swore he would kill off the working force from the editorinchief down to Freckled Jimmie the devil However Kelly was wrong He was condemned even by Fords enemies for his cowardly act just as he public had disapproved of the murder of Jesse James All agreed that the removal of Jesse would facilitate the movement of trains in Missouri and that Fords death would add much to the peace and quiet of Creede Camp but JID man admires a coward So Kellv was arrested ar-rested and later when he Ian up against Judge now congressman Bells equity mill he was surprised to receive a life sentence in the uen On the morning of the day following the killing a half hundred poople assembled as-sembled in a storeroom where religious services were held Thev brought Fords coffin and placed it upon a bench and then the preacher got up r 1 = m r T SCENE IN SAN LOUIS AVENUE CREEDE and preached a funeral sermon He was I not very enthusiastic I thought but he had a tough client and a hard case i He took for his text if he could be said to have taken anything the line I which Ford had written upon thc white paper Charity covereth a multitude of sins and made the most of It When he had flnishe1 tn eprecs wagon backed up to the door they put the dead man in and the wagon vound away up the trail to a level spot above the town where the unwept and unfortunate unfor-tunate cirl had been buried the day Ford died where all about wen new I made graves where gambler Joe Simmons Sim-mons and Slanting Annie slept sde by side I The autumn winds blow bleak and chill The sighing quivering aspen waves About the summit of thehlll t Above the unrecorded graves I Where halt abandoned burros feed I And coyotes call and this is Creede |