Show S AN JU N A den of f thieves 1 1 By Albert R lyman it would be interesting to know jutt when the quiet cism discovery ery of 0 thle san huun region was first whispered spere as a welcome welcom 6 secret among thieves pt the rocky hocky mountains of course cour ild ibis his region legion would not br be so highly prized as a sure retreat while abend ance of wild cou country surrounded I 1 it t I 1 pa on all sides but there came a time when most faraway and at the same bame jame time the handiest hide put between texas and oregon even bea before 4 0 re the coming of 0 thu tho white settlers it had begun to be evaluated and used as a realm beyond itlie the law after the year 1880 the country around lacound it began to be settled up while san juan continued more or less wild for that matter matter it 11 Is still more moreN wild than otherwise the prince wilder wilderness ot of the spite ot of the ley few towns and roads loads along its eastern side j with people settling in the surround ing territory teni tory this south eastern corner of utah anva was sought more and more men who to get safely outi of sight eight ty The great charm from alieh point ot of view ws was ot of all the men who fled better belter to this maze of 0 f rocks nong none nv were re brought back the safety of jaa san juan became the pt pet apic arbila around d many a solitary camp fire and 1 maps of its trails and passes found choice place in panniers pan and bags the people in the little log tort fort ai at bluff supposed they knew more about the rocks to ia the west of them than anyone kne knewt io on h the outside but that thata idea was ivas adio t ob sharply revised into the fort one evening rode twe stra strain 91 piers flers from colorado or new mexico by talking horse trading and keeping thor ears open they got an idea where ahey would find the choicest horsey or of the settlement seti settlement lement and they dc departed Par teI when they got ready without arousing unfavorable suspicion days or weeks later when some ene cne from the tort fort went fo a look for the horses in butler wash no horses borses could be found this Is the beg beginning ining of a ali thrilling rilling affair abfal r but we must gallop ovir over it to get abester a bertei view of 0 tills dell deil of thieves those two ge leswith geis with the horses from bluff haw just where to go and ami they waited be behind litile tone one safe land then 1 1 ehlend another to dispose of whoever might pursue them and saw BOW no onu one behind till they reached reached halls B crossing on the colorado Coloia do river they were never bi ought brought back the pursuing party sadly and maln painfully fully over the hundred miles to bluff bearing a desperately wounded companion and it began to be known that the great western we stern brotherhood ot of thieves had a sanctum of security in san juan county utah tile the tact fact wa to be emphasized in loss of safety in loss of property and loss of life till one should be lett left in any doubt about its reality again ahr three ee stragglers blew la in froin nowhere and found shelter from the tha autumn winds in the camp of the he L C cattle company tom pany alie gene pene ous ioui nid ild foreman bill ball promised them work in the spring and lie he fed them and their abru the winter when ahm spring came they rounded up the best of his saddle horses a and headed for trails and passes shown sl ioviti on OIL their secret maps dail ball and ami his rid rs in lot hot pursuit called on the nien to help bring thin back A strong posse run ruil 1 f I fora ti nol fail n the fresh trail but alas 11 0 ey cy towards tow aids the den from which no thief filter was to be brought bi ought back under linder attest anest tor for years to come it was a 1 light fight of three against many yet a one fight and the three had it thy the temptation Is strong to dwell louger longer on what happened but we must curb the impulse what concerns us now la is that all three made their getaway get away slick and clean the posse brought back the body of bill dail ball and burled buried it in the little cenie tary at bluff and a furious army of his friends took up tile the trail resolved on revenge what came of it that was I 1 than forty three years ago and neither one ot of tile hie three has yet been appie j headed bended for mu murdering dering their benefactor and friend interesting echoes have bave drift eyl back from their fading trail echoes which would make spicy reading it Is of interest intel est to note the fact that in their flight they scorned to fol foli low liaw the road rand left by the pioneers buts but i crossed the precipitous solitudes of lower grand gulch where the lers tilot a crossing impossible imposible Impo sible they lifey made e their retreat in hi great safely over trails they had no doubt decided before they stopped at the li C camp A hundredth part of this outlaw tory story cannot be mentioned in a chapter of this this length it canot banot tell af f the men man who arrived from nowhere alt all fuss fusard e dup d up with avith excitement t tr disappear in abo night time and nt n vr rr aw heard ot or agle the boyi who alo murdered sheriff Sh riff burns bums in san pete county are reported to have called at a certain camp camp in san juan county a few days dayi later when it became known who they no one could find them one day a horseman came in great a haste baste down the san juan lie he urged life beady eyed pony into a feeble gal lop I 1 for lie he must reach the famous camou 1 rocks locks at all hazzards hazz aids from somewhere beyond new mexico lie he fad I 1 been riding neck or nothing night and and id day he met a navajo ona oni i dapper hayase here old hoy boy were were i going to trade horses he declare motioning the exchange with his hands hand I 1 i and jerking out his six shooter to give the transaction necessary dispatch i nhe change was accomplished in III no time farther faither down toward tow aids bluff another change with no delay omit ithe abe details but remember the man from east of new mexico exico Nl stayed u un n 1 molested in san juan county till he went leisurely on to answer the lure luiei of adventures farther west the big cow outfits of the county count always had in their employ from aiom one to lo ten men with no known past nind mid IV wise I 1 be people never enquired whence they caroe came or 01 why one belloy wa ft as known here by r no 0 other name naine than tha polly others were shorty kid 0 or r california and some answered to names that would look strange in print A rider of the texas outfit declared declai ed one morning at the roncone cabins that hat lie he made the tide ride froin texas in just five lays days trading finding of course couise loi for a fresh horse as a necessity ed it f followed 0 that if men inen came on oil tile lun un they would go tile the same way wai taking along whatever vei served purpose the coming and going 0 at certain men became creque fie quent aej then systematic thieving and esclon age went forwar il night and day alth ali I 1 a relay lelay of men and a program pr oRiani whether or not they alip belonged to what mint as spoken of as the robbers roost gang they pretended pie tended to prospectors cattle buyers buei 1 tow tourists ests or 01 secret si sivler vico wn anil and tile the hills were lousy with mystery tracks appeared on klio ti trails fails tracks made between the tha dusk and tile the damn you might find strange footprints foot prints leading out of and back into tile grass brass and rocks rocha where they could not be followed or you might discover a deserted camp in it 0 hidden bidden corner something was moving unloving in ill the hie night or deep in the underbrush sometimes you linew k new that eager eyes watched your movements and your top horse disappeared as Is if lie he had bid evaporated you wanted to give his price to know nhat had become of him your camp caknip lell but a few hours was robbed by hands that matured from tile the solitude and reverted buck back to v i Se Pilling nonexistence some of tile the men who sought refuge in san juan maintained a high standard of honor while they stayed even tile they went promptly on as soon boon as the voice or of outraged justice became 1 enry eary of calling them some who came found the se cuilty so re they made no effort to go on helping heaping obscurity on their trail behind they iley lived and died in san sall juan some of them lived as hermits in it a remote corner others sought tile the society of men and proved to be likeable fellows tills may not yet be a i model of law enforcement cement but it tanks ranks with etli otter other counties 0 of the union Conel derin ho how it is peculiarly adapted to t 0 ile he a rendezvous for foi tile the outlaw element i or of tile the i vest pet and how hov long and how ho 1 V smoot otlY lily it served that dial pu poe pose it i 1 goes without saying that a heroica beroid I 1 effort elloit lias hns been made to rna make it e it a ai good 18 it Is some of tile llie movements and a few of the men who ho brought this about will figure in next chnaler clia |