| Show THEFT FT OF BERRIES IN PARK CIT CITY i LEADS TO VIOLENCE AND DEATH BY STAN TAGGART Outdoor Editor I 1 was shown sho an old Savage r at Paul Beards Beard's museum IS 16 months ago which according to tc Paul was used by the main character In this areas area's most col western adventure I became curious In the follow Ing lug six sli months I t Talked with a dozen or so old timers old who had participated 1 a ted In the Incident spent a day In Randolph reading year 63 old aId court records j drove twice to Salt Lake City to search through 1895 11 9 newspapers When I finished this pet project last winter I found that I 1 had before me ir a unique uni que account of nineteenth century J delinquency and primitive Jul justice EI Eliminating all but the most relevant relevant re reo re- re levant details ls heres here's what happened hap hap- On a balmy summer day In 1895 1995 year old Patrick S. S Coughlin and his hi year old friend Fred George hitched their they horses horles to a rail on Park City's main street street and moved off to seek ek a bit of excitement Moments later one of them stole a small box of strawberries from froma a Chinese peddlers peddler's cart As AI they galloped away the pranksters turned In In their saddles and nd laughed at the frantically ll pursuing pursuing pur pur- suing peddler left behind in their dust ch chattering excitedly and lInd gesticulating wildly Witnesses on the Street that afternoon af af- were but mildly amused and Who among them could have suspected that this minor incident th was was was' to trigger a achain achain achan chain chan of events send i young ung Patsy Coughlin arid and his his c companion mp on on a seven day nf that through gh a a of file fate It was to a would scatter bitter bewildered posse posse- men all over the northern halt half of Utah and into bordering states states- providing the quiet Mormon communities com corn with their most colorful conversational topic since the Civil War Coughlin and George had been in several sl similar scrapes and gut suf suffered I little consequence consequence How However ver when their friends item m of Sheriff Harrington's inc I l u uto to clamp down time the lm boys became worried Coughlin borrow a a i of f his bis cousins hor eV which h h he helped f feed ed and tt ie frightened d duo j- j galloped ll p d daway away Ito to an unoccupied n. n uno sheep s PJ 7 cam camp In Crandall Cra Canyon i 1 Sheriff Harrington and deputy deputy dep dep- uty Williams ams trailed the b boys ys to th the r Hideout arriving there the following fl day The er d die considerable le dl tan tame tance t Short rt of of the camp camp and anti Ha called called to his this ex- ex farm farmhand Patsy Patsy Coughlin to to come o out out t into Int the open There was no answer answer r. r Someone began shooting and several rounds were exchanged within the minute Sheriff Harrington's liar Har rington's ringlon's rifle become jammed i and he and Williams leaped onto their horses A bullet smacked into Harrington's saddle horn and fragments fragments' of ot lead cut deeply into I his Ms face and ear The lawmen spurred their mounts and made a hasty husty retreat toward Park City Frightened and b be bewildered e w wilds II d ere red d Coughlin and George me mechanically mechanical mechanical- ly Iy saddled their mounts then rode swiftly down Crandall Canyon An hour later at Wanship they purchased rounds of tion Then they hastened on down Weber Canyon to up Chalk Creek and by dark had topped the Wasatch The fleeing troublemakers crossed the railroad tracks at Wasatch Station Station Sta Sta- tion and goaded their wear weary blowing blow ing horses northwest At 9 pm p.m. they met met a Mr Crane who was riding toward Wasatch and leading a second hors horse They tried tiled to talk Crane into a horse trade but be he made the excuse that the ones he had belonged to toa toa toa a friend The d' d on and and n-d' n shortly afterward ha happened upon a s small shack Its tin roof root brightly i reflecting the moonlight The deserted de de- slab pine structure located on the Bluegrass s Ranch at the head of Duck Creek Greek had been formerly occupied by Ernest Palmer Palmer Pal Pat mer met a rancher of that area It had now been ab abandoned for several several sev sev- eral oral months however Coughlin and George unsaddled died and released their horse hone Then they dragged wearily Into the shack leaned their loaded rifle against the wall and crawled onto the straw mattress of a crude ke bunk Three miles away at Wasatch j I Crane related his hla experience with the young strangers to James Calverley N N. E E. Dawes William Taylor and Echo's Constable Parry Tarry Stagg The four men had been searching for the Park City horse thieves for several hours Upon hearing Cranes Crane's account they rode to Evanston for ammunition ammunition am am- I and supplies Shortly after after after af af- af- af ter midnight a wagon carrying the four clattered up Evanston's E Front Street and disappeared Into the darkness toward Bluegrass Ranch and the sleeping lawbreakers ers At 1 30 am a.m. the horses Crane had described were spotted In a moonlit field a short distance from tram Palmers Palmer's shack and ard the searchers reasoned that the horse thieves had holed up there for forthe forthe forthe I the night Calverley and Taylor held up upon upon upon I on the brow of the hill hili while Stagg and Dawes moved In to I take up more effective pol I After fifteen minute of silent movement Dawes Dawe was wal lying down behind a post 96 98 yards from the shack In a direct line from Ita Ito only door and I window Stagg now covered the theother theother other side of the L Ia a afla fla flat rock about a hundred h yards yards' 1 distant It a sea If 01 s At daybreak Taylor who had had be become unbearably b. b thirsty Ji c crept to the ne nearest rest water wate a spring a spring I hardly hardly 60 50 yards in in ont font of of tier the 6 shack u Ck As As Ael aylor t leaned over t the I spring Dawes Dawes' could see that that t X j l i I ii l I I shack hack door was opening slowly Unnerved he fired Into it Taylor dived for cover as Dawes and Calverley opened up a fusillade at atthe atthe atthe the shacks shack's thin walls Hugging the ground Taylor joined In the wild cro crossfire from behind a small mound of dirt Patsy Coughlin returned the fire shooting out the window whenever possible while George laid on the floor and alternately loaded their rifles fir first t bullet hit t the e post which sheltered Dawes Ills s second e c con o n d dInto thumped into the socket of Dawes' Dawes felt arm and angled through his body Probably even before Dawes was struck while the Wyoming men wildly razed the small wooden structure with their bullets bullets bul bul- lets a slug of unknown source killed Echo's Constable Parry Stagg Down to but one cartridge apiece and realizing their thel partners part ners had been hit Taylor and Calverley fled to their wagon and rode away Patsy Coughlin emerged from hit his riddled shelter shelter shel shel- ter and walked cautiously toward toward toward to to- ward Dawes who was sprawled out beside the post pot Dawes groped feebly for his rifle which was wa a couple of feet from him but warned him not to raise It Coughlin ran for some water returned and washed the blood I From the wounded mans man's mouth Ele He then gave Dawes a drink of the he Ice cold springwater Coughlin I had lad known Constable Stagg all his life and was shocked and saddened saddened sad sad- to discover that he had been killed by his fellow officers' officers reckless crossfire A bullet after passing through the he shacks shack's wall had inflicted flesh lesh wounds on both of Fred Georges George's thighs Coughlin I ed most of or the lead with his packet pocket pocket poc pac ket ket knife It required almost an hour forthe tor for the boys to catch their strayed horses Defore Before leaving the they picked up Stagg's Winchester and ana ammunition ammunition am am- belt overlooking o a 44 H revolver which was lying partly under tInder him The boys left lert SUgg's SUggs sliver silver watch and 1275 cash un un- touched Then then took li ea es' rifle and revolver gave tJ him moie mure wale ate and changed Ills his position 1 mailing him to rest reet hauae e COI cow com n the thu dying man good-bye good the mounted quickly quick ly 1 soon disappeared over o a knoll north northwest w st st. i Calverley and Taylor reached Evanston with their account l 1 and angry men sprung Into acI ac ac- I tion Hastily forming a posse j the Wyoming citizens rode out outto outto outto to Palmers Palmer's hack shack sprayed It with a round lead barrage then cautiously moved down to find Stagg and Dawes Dawes' Dawes bodies The Wyoming searchers calculated calculated cal cal- that Patsy Coughlin and Fred George now had rounds of ammunition but felt feltI I confident that they would be beI captured within 24 hours I Their hell by now theorized one optimistic cowboy In Salt Lake City upon the reception re- re re reception of several shocking railroad railroad rail railroad road Sheriff Harvy Hardy at once set about summoning summoning summon summon- ing the aid of available officers That afternoon he and four deputies deputies ties traveled to Evanston on a special Union Pacific engine The morning following the shoot-out shoot one hundred men moved out of Evanston comb the country country country coun coun- try west of Palmers Palmer's Shack Another Another An An- other group rode north scattering out to search the Rich County n meadows A third band of man- man hunters struck a false trail and rode off to Soda Sp Springs Idaho while a fourth party heeding a rumor galloped away on a wild goose chase south o 0 of Evanston This last group returned at noon I 1 then headed toward Lost Creek To the southwest at Morgan a at fifth posse was forming and planned planned plan plan- t ned ned to join in the manhunt that I afternoon II Coughlin and George ate ale that I day at a sheep camp on Monte MonteCristo Cristo then rode on down the I canyons to Huntsville Hunts where they stole two fresh tresh mounts There were three scattered reports of i the boys In Ogden that day one from a grocery store one from Irom a newsboy and the thc third from a blacksmiths blacksmith's shop Toward evening Captain Silvey and a large largo posse made an extensive search of Ogden's surrounding area combing the countryside as asfar asfar asfar far south as the Davis County Countyline line Upon their return to Ogden late that night Silvey reported We Ve found but one trace of the desperadoes They had crossed the sand ridge and were going south at ata a tv tremendous pace That night Salt Lake Police Pollee Headquarters r received e eel v e d word that a pair of rough looking boys boy had passed through Kayn Kays Kay n vII Ie at pm p.m. They we riding tiding toward FarminGton it- it cording to the excited exalted caller Shortly afterward Headquarters ers era received a telephone call calf from a Mr McKaig at It Farmington Farming Farming- ton McKaig reported that hi his hla daughter watching from tram an up upstairs upstairs up stairs window had seen lIeen two dd- dd Continued on Next Page Pagel |
