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Show THE ZEPHYR APRIL 1990 cowboy and sheepherder had fatal consequences. It was a period of extreme drought Turner's range had already been "sheeped many times during the winter. On that day, Charlie Glass was riding near the Turner ranch and came upon a Basque sheepherder by the name of Felix Jesul. There was an exchange of gunfire, and shortly thereafter, Charlie Glass rode Into the Turner ranch and reported that he had killed Felix Jesul In After being arraigned and charged with second degree murder, Charlie Glass was released on a $10,000 bond paid for by Turner and other cattlemen. When Charlie came to trial, the District Attorney unsuccessfully requested a change In venue, maintaining that an existing feud between cattlemen and transient sheepmen would prohibit a fair trial. With the motion overruled, Charlie Glass went to trial the following November. After a week of testimony, Charlie Glass was acquitted on one ballot It was rumored that Turner paid a fair amount of money to defend Charlie Glass, money which Charlie Insisted on repaying by deeding his homestead and Improvements to Turner. It would not be unusual to expect that there was a great deal of sympathy for Charlie Glass. Not too many years earlier, a man who had killed defending his range would have been treated to a round of whiskey, rather than a possible Jail sentence. It would also not have been unusual to expect that the relatives of Felix Jesul would seek their own revenge. That, too, was an expected part of the tradition of the western frontier. After his acquittal, Charlie Glass continued to work for the Turners and other cattlemen In the unregulated borderlands. In 1934, three years before Charlie's death, the Taylor Grazing Act gave the Secretary of the Interior the right to control the number of permits, season of use, and range boundaries of the public domain. Both the Utah Wool Growers Association and many local cattlemen are reported to have expressed their support of the Grazing Act Part of the basis of their sentiment seems to have been the belief that winter ranges were being compromised by outside mlgratlonal operations. Following the route chartered by the Forest Service, the regulation of public land moved Into the federal self-defen- PAGE 19 1 THE SHOP se. sector. On February 22, 1937, almost 16 years to the date after the fatal shooting of Felix Charlie Glass sat In on a big poker game In Thompson. A ring of white hair showed Jesul, familiar sweat-stainhis underneath Stetson. His passion for poker and drinking had ed It was the fate of many old-tibegun to take the place of his days on the range cowboys. After several passes of the bottle, someone suggested that Charlie drive over to Cisco to get In on a big poker game there. In the company of Andre Sarten of Grand Junction and Joe Savoma of Montrose, Charlie got Into a pick-u- p truck and drove off. An hour later, Charlie Glass was dead of a broken neck. The Basque sheepherders, suffering from minor scratches and bruises, claimed that their truck had overturned Just outside Cisco. The fact that the two Basques were cousins of Felix Jesul, or that the road to Cisco was straight and free from any snow or Ice, did not seem to Influence the coroners Inquest Into the death of Charlie Glass. The death was ruled to be a drunk driving accident Many of Charlie's old cowboy friends maintained that the Basque herders were responsible for Charlies death, that they got Charlie drunk, loaded him In their truck under the pretense of a poker game In Cisco, and then killed him, using the truck roll over to disguise the murder. "Maybe, reflected one Moab resident "things would have been different If Turner had still been alive, If Charlie hadn't been as deep Into drinking and gambling by then, but people let It go. There were rumors, but nobody did anything about me Now Features Many of Moabs Finest Artists and Craftsmen potters: Andrea Winters David Evans Jeff Vicker Ottis Weight Kathy Knight Glenna Ruby Peter Haney (consultant) artists: Page Holland Catherine Hamilton Jodine McIntosh It" David Evans Charlie Glass, the Infamous Black cowboy, was dead. While southeastern Utah would continue to boast some of the largest livestock companies In the United States, the tradition of a cowboy with a gun would take Its place In history. The battle of the range continues and Is complicated by Increasingly complex management Issues. But the battle, like the land over which It Is waged, will never quite be the same again. silversmith: Donnie Dale handcrafted furniture: John and Jerry Lillibridge Kevin Tangreen etched mirrors: Dottie Swazey batik Kathy Knight welcome jeepers 33 No. Main 259-862- 3 |