Show I fr flMf - Hill Beachey dreamed " by Howard Earle J W I J) - V) I Cftyu iff) 1 L fY (M " - that his best friend had been assassinated but how could he prove the crime? o ne October night in 1863 Hill Beachey was pulling away but he caught a glimpse of the awakened from a horrible nightmare He four men's faces and recognized them as the ruffians he had seen leaving Lewiston shortly after had dreamed he was in Montana's Bitterroot Mountains and had seen a man split Lloyd Magruder Beachey shouted for the driver to stop skull with an ax and toss his body into but the wind drowned out his voice a deep ravine Beachey was sure the men were running away Beachey tried to brush the dream aside but it with Magruder's gold and told his dream to all who would listen But they laughed at him and tormented him until he told his wife about it said Magruder - wasn't dead Someone from Elk Maggie Beachey rebuked her husband and pleaded with him to forget it City had reported that Magruder's wife had received a letter saying he wouldn't be home for "Lloyd Magruder has been murdered" Beachey insisted angrily "and I won't rest until I track another week or 10 days down his killers" Beachey was one of the first settlers of Lewiston morning a wagon train was sighted coming One Idaho He had come there from California with down the old Nez Perce trail Everyone Magruder who started a general store in Elk City thought it was Lloyd Magruder and rushed Magruder was Beachey's closest friend The Elk to meet him but it wasn't the storekeeper The City merchant had come to him in July saying he wagonmaster said Magruder had left Montana was taking some merchandise 300 miles to miners ahead of him and should have reached Lewiston a on Grasshopper Creek in Montana and would reweek before turn in a couple of months "That's it!" cried Beachey "Magruder is dead! That was not unusual in 1863 Merchants often Murdered just as I saw it in my dream" took wagon trains of merchandise hundreds of He went to the governor of Idaho Territory and to miles over trails mining settlements But ever persuaded him to issue requisitions on the Pacific since Magruder had hit the trail Beachey had states and territories calling for the return of the feared his friend was in terrible danger wanted men to Lewiston for trial Beachey's fears increased a few days after MaBeachey himself set out to track down those he left he when saw four of the town's worst believed had murdered Magruder He hurried to gruder ruffians set out on the trail Beachey was sure-theWalla Walla and found the quartet had left four were out to get Magruder after he exchanged days before for Portland He pushed on toward his merchandise for gold dust Now with MaPortland traveling on foot horseback in stagedue had back come the disturbing nightcoaches rowboats and riverboats gruder mare which he couldn't forget At each stop Beachey learned the men were just A few nights after the dream Beachey remained ahead of him Everywhere they were losing heavlonger than usual at his stagecoach office He saw ily at cards but they always seemed to have plenty a tall man his coat collar pulled high and hat brim of gold dust low to hide his face four tickets In Portland he learned the men had sailed for riding purchase for Walla Walla Wash San Francisco two days before They had told of Beachey rushed outside just as the stagecoach plans to sail for New York or South America An Ma-grade- r's y other steamer wouldn't leave Portland for 10 days The nearest telegraph line to San Francisco was Yreka 400" miles south over mountain roads Beachey traveled the 400 miles in less than four days using every type of conveyance available He telegraphed a description of the four men to San Francisco police with a request to hold them In San Francisco Beachey found the quartet detained on an old robbery charge He hired an attorney to represent Idaho Territory and the legal barriers finally were cleared Then he hired special guards and returned to Lewiston with his prisoners Once home Beachey realized he had no real evidence Magruder was missing but there was no proof that he had been murdered He made a final desperate attempt to wring a confession from the men who were being held under heavy guard Four nooses were erected intervals the men and one by one at one-howere led from their quarters The last of the prisoners William Page an old teamster was near collapse when the guards called for him He thought the others had been hanged Beachey told Page he believed him less guilty than the others and that he still could save himself by turning state's evidence As they approached the nooses Page poured out the grisly details of the murder of Lloyd Magruder Magruder's head had been split with an ax in the Bitterroot Mountains and his body tossed into a ravine where it was covered with swirling snow — just as Beachey had dreamed the crime After a fair trial three of the quartet were hanged for the murder of Lloyd Magruder Page was let off because he took no actual part in the slaying but little more than a year later he was killed in a drunken brawl As for Hill Beachey residents of Idaho Territory never doubted him again ur Family Weekly September 28 195$ 7 |