Show atoe th 0 life L i fe IN in d ahnes of OMI rr LAL aal aan 3 N I 1 the story of a frontier and a great frontiersman editors note in recounting his many experiences peter dillman confused the dates of 0 the tracy lant gan gaar of outlaws a they were caught in browns park colorado in 1897 our account of 0 mr dillemans Dill mans lifo life has gone into the twentieth but we are turning back time to retell the highly tolor tul u atory to V 7 of the hunt and capture capaul 0 of a d des gang of outlaws known as the tracy lant ka killers browns park in northwestern colorado which peter dittman visited often in tho the early days when ho he carried the mall mail had become a veritable robbers roost it was infested by the powder springs gang and was a stopp lili od place tor for organized bands of crooks and murderers as they plied their nefarious trade through montana colorado wyo ming utah ubah and new NO mexico butch cassidyy Cass idys wild riders thel the hole in the wall gang lant andl and trasy tracy and all other outlaws wile ato went on oil the trail stopped at some time or another at browns park the re realon ion lent itself well to the purpose of men hiding from tile the law it Is mountainous and densely covered in cedars making makin it easy to evade pursuit 1 the capture of tracy lant johnston and bennett in browns park in tho the birly spring of 1898 lie he der of valentine hoy by iloe hoe outlaws while he be was a I 1 deputy sheriff the lunching lanchin lyn chin ching of bennett the subsequent daring escape of lart lant and ciany from lie routt county jail and later the pitkin county jail where i hey were taken tor for sare safe keeping ng and the conviction of johnton is one of the most thrilling lagos in the history of northwestern colorado and also had a di act bearin bearing on the lives of the people in eastern utah in the rosso rose for lant and johnston were several vernal men amon amona them peter Dill dillman mail in february r 1898 warrants were issued in browns park for tho the arrest of one johnston and bennett accused of kilting cattle and disposing of the meat to 0 o persons operating a copper mine and nd smelter on douglas moun mountain tain in in that vicinity charles W neiman sheriff of routt county had heard of the men and knew them to lo be killers takina no chances he went to craig where ethan fo forch ali n his assistant sheriff joined him and they proceeded to browns park picking up on he way boyd caulin who be hevel johnston had stolen rev stal ial head of liti cattle the headquarters tor for the expedition searching car ching for johnston and dennett bennett lett was to be the basset ranch at the lower end of brownd park when neiman and his two companions were within about en ci railei of the basset ranch they spied three men on horseback hor ecat distance ahead of them the men were armed had bad pack borscs and showed no desire to be overtaken when it became apparent to them tint they were followed fol owed thoa left tile tho road and struck out across a high bluff to dou laa ia mountain it was late in the jevning and ill al hou hausli ii neiman felt sure these were outlaws he decided to give up the he chise chase fo for the ni ht continue on to bassets baskets Bas sets to tako take up the trail at dawn the three nien men in aeo eo e o harry tracy david lant and P L johnston the latter being one of the men for whom the sheriff had a warrant the other two men lie he had never heard of lant and tracy had served a prison sentence at the utah state prison and hart bad escaped in the tall fall of 1897 they made their way to vernal then to powder s arid n owns park where they kit apt BenT iett and johneton JohnF ton well mown known cattle rustlers rust lera and killers vo pointer pointed nut hiding places to them ahem Ilo inett WB known amona ho he cowboys a JUB bennett yr or his li in the ho following incident durar the previous winter one of the nien men had taken ill with and a or er was sent to the town of dag baff a 13 i for a doctor answering Answer An swerin inz the um rum mons a doctor returned to the hideout and did all he could for the sick man hut but to I 1 no ct avail 10 V the outlaw died A short ti tine later the gang an known as the powder Sorl Tirs pan gang made n raid on the town of basti filled up on w whiskey biskey and the village shooting nr and threaten iiii hir the citizens someone riling terl the doctor who attended trier dead companion be han ban ed and S 4 T S 1 N pete dillman he vaa immediately brought forth and warned to prepare for death A drunken grinman suggested giving ivin the doctor a trial so a court was set up at which bennett presided as judge before the execution took place somo other escapade was underway and the he doctor was forgotten about but bonnett bennett had a nickname which never left him hi m it nias ft as after dark when neiman vaughn and fornham ar ahoi at bassets baskets Bas sets ranch they found there ei mr basset an old trapper and a youn fellow by the name of strang stran supper was prepared for the visitors and no questions were ask asked ed in the land of outlaws no resident olther cither asks for or gives information during the meal i tho the officers were given an account t ot of an event that had been causing a ai considerable n sid erable excitement in the park johnston had bin bir tally itally murdered will string a brother of tho the boy at the basset ranc i the killing took place at tho the north end of the park on the byomin of the border line siro sarco time a posse of wyoming sheriffs had been huntin the v aion an fn the murde or with no result they had bad lost track of himat powder springs and sores some 0 of I 1 them hid hd gone back homo home the more feinan heard tiie more he believed one of the three men lie had seen was jorin john ston lie told soung stang st ang ot of tile the men and together r they rounded up several more men to begin the chase the following orning morning r among them r verc ere Lo thompson jim mcknight william pigeon ab da bassett and valentine hoy this amso ass took to the trail at daylight and hy by noon ran acids tracks of the fuZi fugitives tives every thin showed thle the outlaws had made a hasty departure leaving horses bedding and comp camp supplies iles they had seen elen the officers and had hurled hurdled hur led to lafety abandon abandoning inz but n i little flour which one of thern them hid hd taken along their camp was at the he foot of douglas mountain and directly above was a craggy cliff filled with eaves caves and rimrock it was an admirable place tor for defense almost impre impregnable when held by armed men but the officers were also playing a site same for they knew their quarry was nas with crit food or blinkers blink ets or horses and their escape from the country was impossible when night fall came the officers took the outlaws horses blankets and provisions and went back to the bieselt ranch the gunmen not knowlan what to do and be becoming comini cold and hungry made their way to green river descending into the gorge eore at ladore canyon but buethe tl e west walls of the sopo abc B steep them could not scale them 30 10 they followed loll fol ofed loed down the river on the ice fee after miles of wery trave linc they ame rame r to where the wo oro or o ra noved fokin the current into a bolln boil in attract arp ventin ire fee to tn forn for n tho the fai wore were tr appod they lot ot through and there was was 1 normn felt to do lint but to their steps and face the officers they returned fo the he c cave ve they had ald trip ray ony lip before fore but chare cliar er their ir minds mindi and wien day broar if i t 1 pit boldly bolah up tip tho mountain tho th officers arri arriving vinz tr it mornin were were thrown off th lh trail binti by the ler din 0 o the river followed tiia to th the catarich belore fiby y rf api iyer had bad doubled ba hark alc when they returned to flip arrs tracks leading up the hill bill the ascent was too steep tor for horses vaughn and bassett wore were lef left t as a lookout guard and a couple more to watch the horses while nelman neiman hoyi HOY and pigeon started up the slope the men spoke only in whispers and had their guns cocked for or instant use they wore were following the tracks up a narrow gulch and presently came to a ireat grea t rock which would have barred further pi pros 0 resa rosa along the path they were traveling had it not been split apart leaving a crevice just wide elouth enough for a man to crawl through here tracks scattered and a little fire to one side showed them whore where the brimi nals were hiding nelman neiman who bad been in the lead stopped to inspect the camp and valentine troy hoy walked ahead to the crevice in the ock lock some twenty feet away immediately two shots boomed out and hoy on the snow which raD rapidly idly turned crimson with his hie lifes blood the to curling curll nc smoke from behind the rock showed that the hunted men had been driven to bay there and with every advantage were intent on murdering murder ln a 11 who advanced the rest of th the party being exposed to full gun eun sight ducked behind trees and rocks slid and there waited over an hour facing the enemy hidden bidden finally realizing the fugitives were once without food and shelter tile the men slipped from their biding places one by one and made their way back to the others who had gone on and not waited realizing it was certain death to scale the cliffs in pursuit of these ten ren who would sooner or later be starved out 0 of f hiding nelman neiman decided n give ive up tile the chase tor for the night returning to casseus bassetts Bas seUs ra ranch D ell they met vaughn comin in search of them ire he told or of further developments he and Bs tot et had been left on a hish high look out point to watch over the countryside they spied a comin toward the toot foot of the mountains and as ho he aelred he tired fired three quick shots and waited for in aa answer receiving ro reply he repeated the sli 1 n nal R and n 11 I 1 au vau vauhn and basset r rode ci 0 up p to him lie he was judge bennett who had bad been pent fent by the other three tor for sim plies gaii vauhn lin and babl decided to dupe him and VA posed as a cowpuncher or and biset ft hom abom bo be knew invite I it hi to spend the evenin it at V 1 ranch bennett w ii without FI nd returned to ranch with dartt Da Das sett tt dut but louhr presumably wont went in another direction his business hf hastened to the detective A aa warned him and hurried wit him to bassett bassets Basa Bas ets sets ranch arriving ahead of bassett and dennet bennet two men were stationed just inside the door and when bennett stepped inside they were beside him at a sharp command bonnett bennett throw up his hands he was a shackled and made a prisoner nelman neiman was now confident that the men he had been pursuing were johnston and the to tv o escaped prisoners from the i utah penitentiary ho he therefore sent word to vernal to the alio ho iff aft of uintah county williamr Wll Willi larr arr pig pou made the ninety mile tair to vernal trav elinT all night early the next morn mornant int b ir browns tark park the hunt bunt wis was ie ic t awod fornham was leftin th tb bunk house at the ranch t guard dij judge bennett the arif oner who was lying shackled it th thi 3 floor ile he was a boo r to PO the time away and abou nuon noon looked up into the faces of two masked men pressing guip against him silently one coverse the officer while the other slipped a burlap bag over tl the e heart head of 0 hennett bennett other masked mer me appeared iipp cared and unloosed unlooked un loosed the prisoner carrying him out aft about ten minutes the man holi ins ing the bo gun on fornham bekc I 1 out our and disappeared fornhan waited some little time aliv walked to lo the door and looked out it was a quiet peaceful day not a soul vas in sight and nut a sound could bo be heard T to 0 the h hl K h crossbar above t the it ga gar t bennetts body was hanging or the rope his face covered with the bag the law ot of to frontier had been meted out bi t tills cattle rustler rustier and kille in the meantime in vernal P large poso poso nas as being biln ortin izad some twenty five men had sta eta ted eastward toward diamond mountain and peter dillman ww wa among amon thorn them to be continued Contin aed |