Show KNEW BEN TASKER HOSS thiea AND MURDERER J L Rell liei chet small kleu tac co iger ben bell s gai gal g stole sc me of the lie rencher sl beep THIS HAPPENED 66 56 YEARS AGO mr air J U rencher 79 years ot of age this march knew ben tasker fifty six 3 ears cars ago mr air rencher s fataei had a farm on the east side of the valley and ben s farm was on the west not tar far from desert spring on the way to pioche the rencher s had sheep ben had customers in pioche for chop off them out of Ren rencher chers s band of about 3 head they missed a number of them then this happened a second tin e and mr J U rencher then a young man of about twenty three was put with the herder tc help guard them and to prevent an othel theft on the second visita tion they drove oft off about head rencher went around the herd in lin les and finally he picked up the trail where two men and a dog and two horses led out from the herd quickly getting arms for himself and the man they started in pursuit rencher had a pretty good pistol but his companion had a much interior inferior old cap and ball on they way they went over to a ranch house and got some more men in the party and on tl ey went intent to get their sheep back wiy out on the valley floor they saw t dust of the herd moving to ward ben tasker s ranch and after it they went urging their horses to their best they overtook the out fit and saw that it was truly the two men the two horses the dog and their own sheep which they re by the brands they rode on past as they were scared seared to tackle operations then and there they went directly to ben dens s ranch where they were met by the versatile and wily ben to whom they told their troubles that some one had run of with head of their sheep they had trailed the thieves there they were even now coming toward the house ben s protestations to help them were effusive why of course he d help help an honest man any time have you got a gun we can have why all I 1 ve got around the house Is an old shot gun and no shells tor for that replied the faith lesi les ben but in the mean time as the boys talked here filed up among them about a dozen of the toughest looking hombres you ever sot an eye ion on belts loaded with cartridges big in holsters thumbs nervously hooked in overall tops and milling around advantageously waiting and watching had Ren rencher chers s little out tit fit bit oft off a mouthful of trouble it would resulted in being cleaned oft off the map pronto ben s gang was ready for em the men with the stolen sheep saw as soon as rencher s men came up with them that the gig was all up so they beat it disappeared and here was the dog all alone nosing them home to ben s corral ever missed any before asked the astute ben yes would you know em persisted the wily rascal some ot of em I 1 would well tell you what we 11 do planned the master mind we ve got men here and they lounged closer fellows trail em down well we 11 go out and capture those no said rencher I 1 didn dian t come here for men I 1 came for sheep well then tell you what we 11 do III move my sheep and yours can have the corral his purpose was says rencher not to let us see the sheep in that corral tor for surely some that had been stolen before v ere in there and he didn dian t want me to recognize them the lure to coax us oft off tailed failed so now it was necessary to get the sheep out of the way here some of you move our sheep out yonder and give the boys the corral hurry and oft off sent part ot of the armament weight ed down with the portable cannons on their belts ben gave us supper and pressed us light hospitably to stay and sleep in doors with them was ben den good to you youa I 1 iskel oh terrible good free and hos bitable almost forced things on us to throw us off the track he ile sure treated us well did everybody es specially pec lally ally it he was liberal with other people s things after supper my companions and I 1 insisted on sleeping with the sheep and went vent out to the coiral and lied bed ded down on our saddle blankets by corral gate one sleeping it if he was able to while others watched and off we took no chances saw some time during the night the two fellows came in who had run off the sheep tor for we saw them dis next morning but we were n i bothered and also of course I 1 iw the tile dog oh that dog runs an anywhere where and runs wild he had just in oft off said ben when I 1 men cloned that I 1 recognized the animal after break feast ben got us all started off men and sheep but his own sheep far out away from sight we got on our way and all the arm ed men watched us closely for fear of surprise with the guns and hoi hol on all ready they were right handy in case something got started we got back with our sheep was ben dens s family living then ben was living with a man a woman who was his mistress and a little mulatto girl about five years old twelve armed men inen were around the place his crew likely as tough looking dev ils as ever cheated a follows I 1 think the woman s name was liz where did ben den kill nate han son that was in that country nate was an honest farmer used to visit my father s place often lived on the way toward st george ben den was selling fresh meat at pioche and nate was losing beeves I 1 guess the trouble grew out of that what were you doing then mr air rencher I 1 was hauling grain to father had a dandy grain farm we raised lots of it and pioche was a good market road agents were busy those days so we twe never went but in parties so that we would have men enough to protect one another I 1 never got held up but know of others that did the road agents would get the drop on a man hold him up and frisk him of what he lie had the commonest method of torture to make a man disclose where he had hid his money was to tie te to victim victims s hands with a lariat and then put a whip handle in the knot and twist his thumbs they got one man I 1 knew and be gan torturing him but the tae man tor for a long time would not give in fi nally when he could endure the pain no longer h jerked from his tormentors and his tied hands to his breast as he hissed here damn you and they reached in his shirt and ook took his wallet pioche was a red hot den of iriqui ty y those days gamblers stool pig eons shooters hangers on A tough crew many a time has our crowd looked back as we left to see if it any tough nuts were trailing us to get our dough we took no chances hat that we could avoid |