| Show SAN JUAN r A fight for law and order by y A alberta R lyman non i the people of the defenseless log foitag Bluff became gradually aware elhat at they had settled lri in a denot denor thieves not eniy only lad had their country country 4 been mapped and infested infests gy by despe a pa irate ate aen men aut but the tide ot re rene neade gadesi s rose higher each year e ar what were vere they to do dot these people calletto called tto hoist the dior pea peace ce in I 1 discordant with put outlaws laws the gun man of the hills had nothing to lose like a hungry hunga wolf volt he sought whatever he might ue bour our he had little or 01 no properly to think and no wife or children to deter him from the most Ile desperate sperate measures the toller toiler of the fort had no business to lo to flou risha dunand gun nd a level with thieves he hail had cespon land band obligations and loved ones to consider his was a mission af pf if peace bowin to win by peace to make peace prevail in III tills this howling wilderness it was up builders bull buil deis of the fort AO to be 10 brave without a gun to wield that super bravery which wins more and greater greatel battles and proceeds oa ot safer measures to more enduring foundations of peace peace than were ever wd laid by force right here consider Is it the brave nian man who has the gun arun and Is its ills gun guil a sign of coura courage ge or a proof of bowar dice the blustering blowhard of the six shooter and the cayuse would of roum course miss understand the conservative policy of the fort ile he must banter the quiet settlers if they had the timid temperament tem he judged them to ko have lie he would ride over them despoil des them and mock at their cries cals at the best this fort was but a fly in his soup persisting liere here at tile the very doors of san juans hideouts these men who scorned to consort with fugitives would surely betray them to the law whenever possible therefore they would dhalle challenge the metal of the colony frid ilen its people away or overawe them into submission and make the country a thiefs real paradise there was a clatter of hoofs a jingle of bf long spurrs and the two camps rode into town with as much display as possible they wanted a dance they demanded a dance hie women and girls were to come com out ami aid join them in the waltz and tj the to qua quadrille alle in the old log meeting house the aie bishop and the leading men told them there crould be no na dance 0 yes they would dance declared pared these men of the spurs threat ening and protesting and elpe expecting t in g their numbers and the glitter 0 of f belr to call forth a favorable answer i v e r but from the bishop or his Ao spokesman kesman they heard it if firmly repeated there will be no dance 11 they fumed around all evening pleased to notice timid women conteh and children peeping at them from dors and windows and when it became dark they rode away at furious gali gait firing their pistols pistol a in a great gibat dis display play of noise and light abight what answer should be made to pile insult should bluff people sll sit quietly by while anyone imagined they had been frightened A man from bluff appeared at it one of the camps next net day lie he carrier carried no gun and he was not angry neither yas was lie at all afraid they re regarded gardel him wondering what advantage he had in the w way a Y of legal writ or concealed weapon n youre youie a brave lot of fellows he told them if your shooting frightened anybody it waa avas the little P bilgren or some old person sick and nervous and you ought to get big satisfaction out ot of it and regard yourselves as a arc special caal breed of courageous men it was a one man tune to which they had never listened before and their first impulse was to punish it as an affront but no man had tho the sand to lead out against it add aad tile the speaker continued it ever I 1 saw bunch of cowards its right her here they stole side glances one at another 0 C the truth Is might mightier ler than double barrel shot gun doys boys ventured one of the gunmen in a rather lather meek tone 1 I believe mr i Is right light I 1 never so sa wit in just that way before I 1 about tills this time too the men of the camps were given distinctly to understand that if they did any more shoot ng ing in bluff somebody else would also shoot not to make a noise only abt to register theli their protest in a way never to he forgotten foi gotten I 1 it never happened happen pd again that wa was 8 the introduction of the outlaw element elemen t to the he force foice which was going goin to well them out in san juan yet it was an introduction only the two were ivere tu to I 1 live side by side and Pt ruggle with each other for years to come them were to meet under many and various circumstances and times were ahead when law and order would look like a lost cause in southeastern southeast em utah 1 let it be remembered le that to 1880 there was no san juan county just a wild region where filnor vior dint dial canos reigned in a sweet solitude the builders bull buil deis of bluff had to make or bauge to her be made the machinery of a county framing that I 1 lach no vi t it its necessary offic officers erm and c rj is pud program liaa iasa a amali matter con COIL pared to tile task of setting it in motion and making it function where no suh such thing had ever bee known where there was no county there was vas no law no taxes anait and ft was up to the youthful organization to assess and collect where such a performance was engrel entirely y areat great herds of cattle had found their way into the east eastern erzi side of this tax ax free region and their owners resented the idea of being assessed two young men from bluff went ou to the camps representing the new gad made co country what snort snorted edthe the indignant WOE cattle men iv with etli long airings of unprintable you think your going to make us pay taxes were going to assess everything declared the boys from bluff and when the time comes were to collect every cent ceni oi of it they hi collected let no one imagine it was easy and aad let no one tall fall to recognize it as a tremendous precede n for or the coming of the law right night here we shah shall pause to say the two young men inen were lemuel H redd kedd jr and kumen jones 0 the wee avee little county bet afloat filly or ni more years eis ago on such p water had to bo be manned by an unusual calibre ol oc backbone bath hono it called for resolute citizens for fir firm in officials and for foi strong brave men here and holding adding no position but that in which fate placed them thein by virtue of theli their splendid individuality dropping for the present what might come next in logical order lei u us s consider another phase of it with this country so peculiarly ready to become a nest neat of outlaws it Is interesting to speculate on ju just st what it would have been it if no settlement lad had been maa made later at some other place could not have lave met the situation as it did I 1 at that Place and time II if it had not been for or bluff its it E pan P nicular time its pati particular cular place and its uncompromising it doom promising policy for light 1 san juan would have lave been a real robbers roost to menace the comfort the of tile western states if the rising ilsan tide ode of 0 desperados dei despe rados ado lad had found no post tive opposition right at the mouth of their den they would have lave made a thiefs thief s kingdom to be cleaned up only at tremendous tiemen dous cost the poverty stricken ilcken st little colony colons trembled at the hug lieness of the casid before them the range was vas stoc by men having little sympathy foi fo I 1 their ideals men icho lie employed tin ill outlaw element thus making I 1 the couil conn try a more atti attractive active place for them I 1 that colony could not fight it out I 1 with the dash and defiance which the fire of youth might demand but II if they could get gel control of the he range they the believed they could put their hell job over 1 1 it mail abma boy tile the writer heard the 1 of I mn Ivi wishing shing for fo cattle tind ami nhep to tile iville le C country and hu tt ot llcy e y wanted to be rich possibly they yiu y lid iu but they hey had a much greater object in view vi pectin working to this ob jenive active by slow gi and i plodding p defrese they boug ht t out one concern after enother a er tl 1 illel filled the country their heir cattle and sheep eating out of 0 inake every nook and torner corner antl and 6 a poor place to tilde belth er did in they y employ poy the man mail without a past pas as soon as ile he came in blurt bluff was always ys ballat hat night might be called a dry camp so far as its re sources source went it cost more than it yielded in return NO people boulo have chosen and maintained that place pace for anything but religious religion con vict v evictions ions and a place maintained for a ay py other e mild could not hav been equally potent for law and order ordel according to to rogal NV jabson babson the I 1 0 1110 motive tive kiako rich tl T little colony on ihn sin lit ain n pu sued rued their cherished annl nl b lecamp ecamp lie file t tw with ne ile excel I 1 ill I 1 for I 1 heir rl alze ze west if f the alas Is r few ew to towns ars of their she had better homes than theirs they hail had no law suits no trouble among them selves and they fol formed med fin an ideal cen ter from fod alch law should radiate to to tile the bild ald region around them |
