DEPARTURE OF THE THIRD REGIMENT.
The third Regiment Colorado Volunteers, left Camp Weld on the fifteenth of March, for the theatre of war in Missouri. The regiment was not full, and being afterwards mounted and consolidated with the Second Regiment, took its number, and did valiant service in the cause of the Union.
HON. AMOS STECK ELECTED MAYOR.
On the fifth day of April, Amos Steck was elected mayor of Denver city.
On Thursday, April 16, the prize fight between W. M. McDonough and James Raffle, $250 a side, came off in the monster pavilion near Parkinson's ranch, about a mile and a half below the city. Eleven rounds were fought, lasting twenty-five minutes, when Raffle's seconds threw up the sponge in token of defeat.
This notable and disastrous event in the history of Denver took place on the morning of the nineteenth of April, 1863. The fire was discovered in the rear of the Cherokee House, then standing on the lot now occupied by the Fillmore Block, and being on the spot where the drug store, second door from the corner of Blake and F streets, is now situated. The alarm was given between the hours of two and three o'clock in the morning, and in less than two hours the heart of the city was a blackened waste, the flames springing across the streets, and consuming the frame structures, rich in rosin, like tinder. From Wazee to McGaa streets, and from Cherry Creek to Tootle & Leach's store on Blake street, all was a mass of charred ruins, excepting only the fire-proof houses of Messrs. Brendlinger, Laflin, Smith & Co., Jones & Cartwright, Ford & McClintock, A. E. & C. E. Tilton and P. S. Pfouts' brick store on F street, now occupied by L. F. Bartels & Co. The flames leaped the streets at the corner
Early in the month a company was organized to sink an artesian well in Highland. Indications for success in this kind of an enterprise, are very flattering, as all ordinary wells, when sunk to a level with the bed of the Platte river, furnish inexhaustible supplies of water. The company in this instance, failed to carry their works to a successful conclusion, but little time or labor being given it. Its estimated cost was $1,200.
Building went on rapidly during the very fine weather that prevailed in the month of February. The new M. E. church, the finest religious edifice in the Territory, reaching the height of its walls. A large brick block on Blake street, next to the Fillmore block, was also completed, and huge piles of brick and other building material encumbered the streets and side walks in various parts of the city, preparatory to extensive and substantial improvements. Added to this there was a general thrift and activity in all business departments.
Saturday night, February thirteenth, at about nine o'clock, James D. Clarke, pay clerk of the United States Branch Mint, stole from the safe of that institution, a sum
The third session of the Colorado Legislature convened at Golden City on the first day of February. Twenty members present. An organization was effected on the second day, and the message of Governor Evans--one of the best executive documents that the Territory has yet produced, was received in joint session on the day following. On the fourth day a joint resolution adjourning the honorable body of lawmakers, to meet at Denver the Monday following, was adopted. The same course has been pursued with remarkable unanimity, by all subsequent sessions of that body, showing, that although Golden City is the Capital of Colorado in name, yet Denver is that place in reality, and possesses all the advantages in business and location, that should permanently make her the capital of the Territory. Colorado has had three capitals in her career as a Territory, yet the sittings of her Legislature, with but a single exception, have all been held in Denver.
The third session of the Colorado Legislature adjourned
sine die, at twelve o'clock, midnight, March 11, making forty days that body had served the public, enacting many wise and just laws for the general good an prosperity of the country.
In accordance with a proclamation of his Honor, Mayor Steck, the twenty-second of February was celebrated with great ceremonies and rejoicing, Messrs. Langrishe & Dougherty generously tendering their theatre for the assemblage. This celebration was held under the auspices of the Denver Council, No. 2. U. L. A., and consisted of appropriate music, an oration by Hon. S. S. Harding, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Colorado, the reading of Washington's Farewell Address, by Henry C. Leach, Esq., winding up in the evening with a grand ball at Blake & Williams' hall.
Under the charter granted by the Legislature for the Colorado Seminary, the board of trustees held their primary meeting on the fifteenth day of March, 1864. The whole board was present, constituting the full quorum of twenty-eight persons.
FOURTH CLASS--A. J. Gill, W. D. Pease, J. G. Vawter, J. Cree, A. B. Case, O. A. Willard and J. M. Chivington of Denver.
This noted event in the history of Denver, commenced at midnight on the nineteenth of May, 1864. Professor Goldrick gave a somewhat verbose, yet withal, truthful account of the affair in the Commonwealth, on the twenty-fourth inst., five days afterwards. The flood having totally destroyed and carried away the office building and material of the Rocky Mountain News, on which paper the Professor was employed, accounts for his version appearing in the Commonwealth. We adopt the text without change from its peculiar style, as it shows the rare versatility and genius of the writer: Transcriber's note: There are instances of old style spelling and exclamation (!) and question (?) marks appear within sentences throughout this account of the flood of 1864. They are not errors, but are carefully reproduced just as they appear in the book. "About the midnight hour of Thursday, the nineteenth instant, when almost all in town were knotted in the peace of sleep, deaf to all noise and blind to all danger, snoring in calm security, and seeing visions of remoteness radiant with the rainbow hues of past associations, or roseate with the gilded hopes of the fanciful future--while the fullfaced queen of night shed showers of silver from the starry throne down o'er fields of freshness and fertility, garnishing and suffusing sleeping nature wither balmy bright- ness, fringing the feathery cottonwoods with lustre, enameling the housetops with coats of pearl, bridging the erst placid Platte with beams of radiance, and bathing the arid sands of Cherry creek with dewy beauty--a frightful phenomenon sounded in the distance, and a shocking calamity presently charged upon us. The few who had not retired to bed, broke from their buildings to see what was coming. Hark! what and where is this? A torrent or a tornado? And where can it be coming from, and whither going? These were the questions soliloquized and spoken, one to the other. Has creation's God forsaken us, and had chaos come again? Our eyes might bewilder and our ears deceive, but our hearts, all trembling, and our sacred souls soon whispered what it was--the thunders of omnipotence warning us "there's danger on the wing," with death himself seeming to prompt our preparation for the terrible alternative of destruction or defence [sic.]. Presently the great noise of mighty waters, like the roaring of Niagara, or the rumbling of an enraged Etna, burst upon us, distinctly and regularly in its sounding steps as the approach of a tremendous train of locomotives. There was soon a hurrying to and fro in terror, trying to wake up one's relatives and neighbors, while some favored a few who were already dressed, darted out of doors, a clamorously called their friends to climb the adjacent bluffs and see with certainty for themselves. Alas, and wonderful to behold ! it was the water engine of death dragging its destroying train of maddened waves, that defied the eye to number them, which was rushing down upon us, now following its former channel, and now tunneling direct through banks and bottoms a new channel of its own. Alarm flew around, and all alike were ignorant of what to think, or say, or do, much less of knowing where to go with safety, or to save other. A thousand thoughts flitted o'er us, and a thousand terrors thrilled us through. What does this mean ? where has this tremendous flood or freshet, this terrific torrent come from? Has the Platte switched off from its time-worn track and turned its treasure down to deluge us? Have the wild waterspouts from all the clouds at once conspired to drain their upper cisterns, and thus drench us here in death? Have the firm foundations of the Almighty's earth given way, and the fountains of the great deep burst forth on fallen men, regardlwss of that rainbow covenant which spanned in splendor yon arc of sky last evening? Is the world coming to an end, or a special wreck of matter impending? These, and thoughts like these, troubled the most fearless souls. Now the torrent, swelled and thickened, showed itself in sight, sweeping tremendous trees and dwelling houses before it--a mighty volume of impetuous water, wall-like in its advancing front, as was the old Read Sea when the Israelites walked through it and volcano-like in its floods of foaming, living lava, as it rolled with maddened momentum directly towards the Larimer street bridge and gorged afterwards rebounding with impetuous rage and striking the large Methodist church and the adjoining buildings, all of which it wrested from their foundations and engulphed in the yawn of bellowing billows at [sic.] they broke over the McGaa street bridge. Like death, leveling all things in its march, the now overwhelming flood upheaved the bridge and the two buildings by it, Messrs. Sharles [Charles?] & Hunt's law offices, in the latter of which C. Bruce Haynes was sleeping, whom, with the velocity of a cataract, it launched asleep and naked on the watery ocean of eternity, to find his final, fatal refuge only in the flood-gate port of death! Poor Haynes! Your summons came, but 'twas short and sudden, after and not before you had "wrapped the drapery" of your humble couch about you, and had lain down to "pleasant dreams." Precipitately and in paroxysms the tempestuous torrent swept along, now twenty feet in the channel's bed, and bridging bank to bank with billows high as hills piled upon hills--with broken buildings, tables, bedsteads, baggage, boulders, mammoth trees, leviathan logs, and human beings buffeting with the billowcrests, and beckoning us to save them. But there we stood, and there the new made banks and distant bluffs were dotted with men and families, but poorly and partly dressed deploring with dumb amazement the catastrophe in sight. The waters like a pall were spreading over all the inhabited lower parts of town and townsite. Nature shook about us. The azure meads of heaven were darkened as in death, and the fair Diana with her starry train, though defended by the majesty of darkness all around her, and by batteries of thick clouds in front, looked down on shuddering silence dimly, as if lost in the labyrinth of wonder and amazement the volume of the vast abyss into which we all expected to be overwhelmed. Next reeled the dear old office of the Rocky Mountain News, that pioneer of hardship and of honor, which here nobly braved the battle and the breeze for five full years and a month, regularly without intermission or intimidation, and down it sank, with its union flag staff, into the maelstrom of the surging waters, soon to appear and disappear, between the waves, as, wild with starts in mountains high, they rose and rolled, as if endeavoring to form a dread alliance with the clouds, and thus consumate our general wreck.
heaven or sunk, shattered in sand banks between her and the States.
"Fierce as ten furies, terrible as hell." Great God ! and are we all "gone up," and is there no power to stem the tide was asked all round. But no; as if that nature demanded it, or there was need of the severe lesson it teacheth to the citizens of town, the waves dashed higher still, and the volume of water kept on eroding bluffs and bank, and undermining all the stone and foundations in its rapid course.
taking tree or solid sheet of water, thereafter thence, when the roaring of the raging elements, exemplification of the Almighty's voice and power, will tell their only funeral knell as calamity's sad corpse on sorrow's hearse is carried to its watery grave, with a watery winding-sheet and and melancholy moonlight for its shroud! Verily, "the Lord giveth and taketh away," yet "shall mortal man be more just than his maker?" For about five hours, up to daylight, the floods in Cherry creek and in the Platte were growing gradually, spreadind [sic.] over West Denver and the Platte bottoms in the eastern and western wards of town, divided by Cherry creek, and bounded westerly by the then booming Platte. For squares up Cherry creek, on either side of its old channel, and along to its entrance into the Platte, the adjoining flats were inundated, and the buildings thereon made uncomfortable if not unsafe by the amount of water carpeting their floors to a depth of from one to five feat deep. Blake street was covered to a foot in depth in water with mire, and the basements of many of its stores were solid cisterns of muddy water. From the Buffalo House to the site of F street bridge, on the East Denver flats, was one shining sea of water. Most of the settlers had to leave their homes and household goods, and made up town to escape the inundation. The same was the case with the majority of the citizens on the west side also. There it was still deeper and more dangerous, and there, too, it proved more destructive to the residents and residences.
niture and fixtures to float down the flood. 'Twas here that the most sever and serious losses and privations were encountered. 'Twas here, West Denver, along Front street, Fifth street, Cherry street, and Ferry, as well as all over the streets of the southwestern bottoms, that the gallant officers and men of the Colorado First, together with several of the citizens, showed their timely presence and their truly great assistance, rescuing families from their flooded homes, and removing them on horeseback and otherwise, to distant dwellings high and dry.
old time bed, and breaking another farther north, by undermining the bluffs, and excavating and upheaving old alluvial mounds without ceremony. Now this celebrated creek resembles a respectable river, with a prospect of a perpetual, flowing stream throughout the year, instead of selfishly sinking in the sands some miles above, as heretofore. Its having defined its position and established its base for future operations, will prove a good thing to the town eventually, notwithstanding it falls heavily on hundreds for the present. For a few days previous, there was an abnormal amount of rain at the heads of Cherry creek and Plum creek, along the water-shed range of the divide, so much so that it terrified tillers of the soil, and threatened their cultivated fields with failure. On Thursday afternoon it rained there incessantly, so that the natives knew not whether the cistern clouds had lost their bottoms, or had burst asunderal together. It would shower hail-stones as large as hen's eggs one hour, and during the next hour it would literally pour down water-spout sheets of rain from reservoirs not over two hundred feet above, while a few minutes more would wash the hail away, and leave four feet of water on the level fields. And this ponderous downpouring was so terrible that it instantly inundated and killed several thousand sheep and some cattle that were corraled at ranches in the region. This phenomenon will plausible prepare us to believe that the "dry cimarron" beyond Bent's Fort, the Ocate, the Pecos, and large but partially dry aroyas of New Mexico were formerly what the "exaggerating" mountaineers have heretofore assured our infidel minds were but stubborn matters of facts. Even at this present writing, and in our own immediate neighbor hood, it will not be believed what startling changes have been made by the alluvial developments of last Friday, unless you have your auditors accompany you to the theatre of the tempestuous flood, on Cherry creek and elsewhere, so that seeing becomes believing. The spirit of departed day had joined communion with the myriad ghosts of centuries, and four full hours fled into eternity before the citizens of many parts of town found out there was a freshet here at all! Whether it was caused by "deep sleep falling upon men," or by the concentrated essence of constitutional laziness, there were many made aware of the awful risk they ran by sleeping sluggard-like, after frequent rousings, not only later than the hour of dying twilight after the advent of the goddess of the morning, but even after Sol's bright beams had dispelled the dark and shown the awful escapes that all had run from the delugic danger, Some sons of men and women will not be made to move unless folks, Gabriel-like, will blow a trumpet through and through their ears, bedress them in their beds, and bewilder them into the belief that an ocean of old rectified poison will encircle them if they don't start!
stance, for whose satisfaction this cursory sketch was scribbled. The fortunate finding alive of the you man Schell after buffeting the billows for three miles, the heroic and happy escape of Martin Wall, after encountering the distress of a deck passage on the jail roof for and equal distance, and the remarkable presence of mind and power of perseverence [sic.] show by the colored woman, Mrs. Smith, while tossed on the waters with her family of five children for a couple of miles, afterwards effecting a safe landing place for them and her till morning, are deserving the pen of an Irving to only do them justice. The perilous condition of Mr. Wm. N. Byers and family, also, together with the considerate coolness displayed by them while dangerously surrounded, would deserve no less congratulatory mention than the kind efforts of Gov. Evans, Col. Chivington, and those skiff-constructing soldiers would demand a corresponding complimentary one. Of the various persons who proved themselves kind and humane to assist, it would be invidious to individualize, where each did all he could. The number of persons drowned, as well as the amount of property, real and personal, that was lost and damaged has been variously estimated by varying approximations. Some think there has been about a million dollars worth of goods and property laid waste and lost, in the city and the country surrounding, and between fifteen and twenty lives lost, or at least that many persons started Statesward via the Platte. Not knowing for certain the number of transient folks in the town, or those in the upper ranches, who are missing, we will waive expressing an opinion at present on the latter, but doubt not for a moment that a few hundred thousands worth of loss and damage was sustained by our merchants and citizens of town and country. The following are the fatal effects, as far as heard from up to date: C. Bruce Haynes, late of the Quartermaster's office, Gumble Rosebaum, clothier, Otto Fisher, (four years old), Henry Williamson, who herded stock for General Patterson down the Platte, a woman and two children from up Cherry creek, a woman and two children from Plum creek, and a Mr. and Mrs. I. R. Tyson and two children. August Metz, of Blake street bridge, who was carried along with the torrent eighteen miles to Henderson's Island, is the only person found whom we have yet heard of. Among the heavy sufferers in property are Byers & Dailey, publishers of the Rocky Mountain News, who lost their entire all, with the building and the lot it stood on, A. E. & C. E. Tilton, house, lot and $6,000 worth of goods damaged; also, F. A. Clark, Gen. Bowen, Wm. McKee, Mr. Charles, Messrs. Hunt, Metz and others, lost all they had in store or office, together with the buildings, and sand substracted lots on which they stood. Esquires Hall & Kent lost nearly all of their office books and papers. The probate records, city records, commissioner's court and the city safe itself, all, all are gone, and whither the deponent saith not.
Several sacks of flour which floated down the Plate, have been discovered lying high and dry on sand bars, four to six miles from the city; also, may things that were given up as lost, were yesterday found, and free from damage by the action of the watery element or by the (far worse) action of the wandering thieves that practiced prowling around for days past, seeking what they might pick up and pilfer. In some of the storages of town there was an amount of clothing and dry goods drenched, so that the owners might materially make more money selling it by the pound avoirdupois, than by the yard-stick lineal measure. But we must beg an apology of our distant readers, for our tediousness this time, and will conclude this column with the following, as Men are mere cyphers in creation; at least, the chattels of the elements, and the creatures of circumstances and caprice. While worldly fortune favors, they think of nought but self, care little for the laws of nature, and care less for nature's God! Providential warning will alone affect them, when their well-being and their wealth are affected at the same time. As "the uses of adversity are sweet," so the interpositions of the Almighty are found eventually salutary and gracious. That the great clouds and eternal fountains are the Lord's, and will obey his fixed laws forevermore. That his kind purposes are as high above our selfish comprehensions, as are those of the physician above the understanding the infant he inoculates. Had we continued thickly settling Cherry creek as we commenced, and thoughtless of the future, see what terrible destruction would have been our doom, in a few years more, when the waters of heaven, obeying the fixed laws, would rush down upon us, and slay thousands instead of tens!"
put a stop to all building on the treacherous sands of Cherry creek, and as West Denver being on the lowest ground suffered most, it subsequently led to the abandonment of many of its business houses, the proprietors establishing themselves in new places in the east division of the city, which rapidly acquired prominence and importance. Many frame residences for the three years following the flood were removed from the west to the east division of Denver.
The trustees were divided by lot into four classes of seven members each, to hold their respective positions for one year, first class term of service to close on the first day of July, 1866. These classes were arranged in the following order:
FIRST CLASS--C. A. Cook, of Denver, Milo Lee and J. B. Chafee, of Central City, Lewis Jones, of Montgomery, A. Widner, of Boulder City, W. A. H. Loveland, of Golden City, and J. B. Doyle of Huerfano County.
SECOND CLASS--Robert Berry, of California Gulch, J. T. Lynch, of Summit County, E. Scudder, J. H. Morrison, Warren Hussey, J. W. Smith and D. H. Moffat, Jr., of Denver.
THIRD CLASS--H. Henson of Park County, Governor John Evans, S. H. Elbert, W. N. Byers, R. E. Whitsitt, A. Steck and H. Burton, of Denver.
Messrs. John Evans, J. M. Chivington, J. G. Vawter and W. N. Byers were elected as an executive committee for the ensuing year. O. A. Willard was appointed business agent, and Amos Steck was chosen President, S. H. Elbert, Vice president, D. H. Moffat, Jr., Treasurer, and W. N. Byers, Secretary of the Association, to hold their respective offices for the current fiscal year.
Prompt and active measures were immediately taken for pushing the work on the Seminary building to an early completion, and from that time we may date the birth of this school, so honorable alike to the city of Denver and the country of which it is the metropolis.
Before this a few moments, one of the proprietors, Mr. J. L. Dailey, and four of the young gentlemen employees, who had been asleep in the building, awoke to realize the peril of their critical situation, and without time to save anything at all in the whole establishment, not even their trunks at their bedsides, or watches on the table-stands, they fortunately escaped, by jumping out of a side window, down into the eddy water caused by a drift which had formed against the building, and thence by the aid of ropes and swimming, struck the shore, on the instant of time to see the sorrowful sight of their building, stock, material, money, all, even to the lot on which it stood, (for which all $12,000 would have been refused a few hours previously), uptorn, and yet scattered to the four winds of
Higher, broader, deeper, and swifter boiled the waves of water, as the mass of flood, freighted with treasure, trees, and live stock, leaped towards the Blake street bridge, prancing with the violence of a fiery steed stark mad:
The inundation of the Nile, the Noachian deluge, and that of Prometheus' son, Deucalien, the Noah of the Greeks, were now in danger of being out-deluged by this great phenomenon of '64.
Oh ! it was indescribably and inconceivably awful to behold that spectacle of terrible grandeur, as the moon would occasionally shed her rays on the surges of the muddy waves, whose angry thundering drowned all other noise, and to hear the swooping of the death angel as he flew o'er the troubled surface, suggesting the idea of death and destruction in the wild tumults of the torrent!
Previous to this had gone towards the ocean-like delta of the creek and Platte, the Blake street bridge, General Bowen's law office, , Metz's saddlery shop, F. A. Clark's and Mr. McKee's stores, the City Hall buildings and jail, together with Cass & Co.'s adjoining brick emporium, all with a speedy disappearance in the current stateward bound, and with not a few people as passenger aboard. Now we see a youth, white with wan despair, a a child stiff in the cramps of death popping his head up stories high on the river's surface, only to be struck senseless by an over-
Scores and scores of the families from Camp Weld, along down the foot of Ferry street and thence southwesterly to the old site of Chubbuck's bridge, were surprised in their sleep, and surrounded by an oceanic expanse of water from the overflowing Platte. Many found their floors flooded from three to six feet deep with water before they knew it, or had waking warning to escape for their lives, and gladly leave the frame structures and their fur-
During this time, which lasted a few hours, commencing about daylight's dawn, the scenes of sorrow and of suffering should have been seen to be appreciated, to draw forth due gratitude to the rescuers for the self-sacrifice they showed. Many of the families, women and children, had to flee in their sleeping habiliments, having neither time nor inclination to squander in search of their "good clothes." Thanks and remembrances eternal to all of those active, noble souls on the several sides of town who worked from the noon of night to next noonday assisting the sufferers and aiding the citizens in all good efforts and good works.
'Twas not till daylight that the chocked up Cherry creek completely spread itself and formed independent confederations, one stream running down Front street, deep and impetuous enough to launch a good-sized building from its foundation; another down Cherry street, conclusively gutting the street and blockading the dwellings' doors with "wood and water" up almost to their very lintels. On Ferry a lively river flowed, five and more feet deep, with a current strong enough to make a Hudson river steamer hop along its waves. The Ferry street and F street bridges fell early in the flood, and the erosions in the estuary at the latter entirely changed the river's bed, forming a new cycloidal channel nearly an eighth of a mile to the westward. The same freaks were exhibited by Cherry creek during its twelve hour lunacy, leaving the
To show how prolific they are of prophets, it is only necessary to cite the hundredth part of the number of those people who volunteered to inform the public the day after the flood, that they had prognosticated a few days previously, every particle of the things that happened; full well knowing, as they generously informed us, that there was a freshet coming just about the time it did! Prophetic souls, how envious you do make us, and how fortunate your were in not building your new houses "on the sand!" Were it not that knowing this aforetime, you probably have pre-empted them ahead of us, we would immediately take up a mill site and go ground-sluicing on the creek, considering you are all "in with us" in the "dividends!"
Of the thousands and one incidents, actual and exaggerated, that have been borne on the breeze of rumor since the flood, we shall mention here but few, since they would not prove of any special interest to our readers at a dis-
In the country, Messrs. Gibson, Arnold, Schleier, Lloyd and Stoner, ranchmen, and scores of others, lost stock, and had their well-trimmed farms desolated into wastes of sand and gravel. D. C. Oakes lost his saw mill, part of which was impelled down the current for a few miles. Messrs. Reed, Palmer and Barnes lost, collectively, over four thousand sheep off their ranches up Cherry Creek.
There have been portions of the heavy machinery of the News office found fast and deep in sand-bars, several miles down the Platte. The strangeness of the fact of machinery moving so far distant in a watery current, will be lessened by remembering that[the water loaded with hail and sand made bodies float whose specific gravity in the clear element would have immediately fixed them to the bottom of the stream.--ED.]
One good effect of the flood was the washing away of all that remained in the shape of hostile or sectional feeling between the east and west divisions of the city. It also
The proprietors of the News office bought the office material and subscription lists of the Commonwealth and resumed the publication of their paper in about a month after the inundation. Their office was opened in the Murdock building, on Larimer street, now owned by Deitsch Brothers and occupied as a billiard room by Count Murat. Here it remained until the erection of the News building, near the corner of Larimer and G streets, in the fall of 1866, where the office is now permanently located.
This event, which occurred about the middle of June, create and intense excitement in Denver. The family lived on Running creek, about twenty-five miles southeast of the city, and were barbarously massacred by a strolling party of Cheyenne Indians. The mangled bodies of the poor victims were brought to Denver, and nearly all the inhabitants viewed their savage mutilation. While the public mind was wrought to the highest pitch by this evidence of Indian hostility so near their own doors, occurred the celebrated
This reign of terror came in the night, on or about the nineteenth instant, and originated from the headlong arrival of a man from a point some ten or fifteen miles east of the city, on what is known as the cut-off road, reporting that a large party of hostile Indians were driving off the stock, and massacring the settlers in the vicinity he had left. The individual in question was frightened nearly out of his wits, and succeeded in imparting his own fears to the
citizens to such a degree that a complete panic of terror was the result.
The bells throughout the city rang the alarm, and heads of families with their charge en dishabille, rushed through the streets to the brick blocks and various fire-proofs, for safety from attack or fire, supposing that the savages were right at hand, and woul immediately proceed with the work of destruction and massacre. The scene beggars description. Prominent among thses places of refuge was the Fillmore block and the United States Branch Mint. Into these buildings the women and children, and those men whose fears made them too cowardly to face the supposed danger, were hurried, many of them in a state bordering on nudity, and in mind almost lunatics with terror. A guard was placed around the city which was regularly relieved during the night, and early in the fright, the armory, now occupied as a school house, in West Denver, was opened and the arms distributed promiscuously to the distracted men, very many of whom were in such an excited frame of maind that they could not for the time being have told whether the gun went into the cartridges or the cartridge into the gun.
In the general alarm every place that could be thought of, and some of them of the most absurd description, were chosen as hiding places. Wells, cisterns, dark alleys, and even empty store-boxes, on that night, held their palpitating, terror-stricken inhabitants, and although a well armed man is considered a match for a dozen of the savages, it is believed that two hundred Indians, had they entered the town on the night in question, would have put the whole population to flight, so suddenly wild and fearfully intense was the agony of prevailing fear. It will not do to say that all the citizens of the city participated in this excitement. Very many refused to credit the story of the frightened man who raised the alarm; but these persistently remained in their homes, not using their cooler minds, as
they should have done, to allay the feeling of fear prevailing among their neighbor[s].
By the middle of the night, this terror wore off, and squads of armed men were sent scouting the surrounding country. These parties finding no trace of an enemy, the city soon resumed its usual business-like tranquility, and, as is usual in such cases, the most fearful boasted loudest of their individual prowess on the night of the great "scare."
A regularly elected delegate convention for forming a constitution for a State organization met in Golden City on the 3rd of July, 1864, and adjourned to meet in Denver, on the day following. This body framed and adopted the document for which they had assembled, adjourning on the 11th instant.
The Constitution was submitted to a vote of the people on the second Tuesday in the following October, but owing to its being saddled with candidates for the various offices under the State organization, was defeated.
Clarke, the robber of the Mint, of whom former mention has been made, was re-captured at a stage station, beyond Laporte, Colorado, on the 16th of July, by Deputy Marshal Farnum, and safely lodged in jail in Denver on the day following. The puerile actions of this man in his attempted escape made him a object of pity and derision. Nearly all of the treasure he had stolen was recovered, and after lying in jail several months he effected his escape, not great pains being taken to recapture him, his absence from a country without a prison for his deserved punishment being deemed sufficient security against all such imbecile offenders.
Indian troubles began upon the Platte route about the middle of July, and continued with increasing lawlessness
and devastation down the road until the ranches from Denver to Fort kearney were most of them destroyed and many persons murdered by the ruthless savages and the base of supplies for Colorado almost entirely cut off. Very few trains, and those only strong and well armed dared to venture over the dangerous route, thus virtually putting a stop to the great overland trade and causing an exorbitant ris in privisions, that was severely felt by miners and the unfortunate poor.
In the latter part of july, 1864, a party of guerrillas organized themselves in the South Park and proceeded towards Denver, robbing the mails, stealing stock from the ranches, and waylaying transient travelers. They expressed a determination to come to Denver and pillage the city, saying that they were to be reinforced by a large party at the foot of the mountains.
This band of robbers who claimed to be rebel soldiers, some of whom boasted of having taken part in the Lawrence, Kansas, Massacre, by the notorious Quantrel, were under the leadership of a noted desperado named Reynolds. They were surprised in camp in Platte Cannon, on the evening of July 3th, by a party from Gold Run, under command of Jack Sparks, and retreated without firing a gun, leaving all their plunder and the dead body of one of their number, killed in the attack, in the hands of the victors.
During the expected appearance of this band, the citizens of Denver labored under a great excitement, owing to suspense and anxiety as to the whereabouts and doings of the marauders.
Shortly after their dispersal, five of the band were captured and met their deserved death at the hands of their captors. Among this number was a brother of their leader, Reynolds.
Quite a number of small bands of guerillas and bandits were operating at this time in southern Colorado. Paramount among these was that of Espinosa, one of the worst,
if not the greatest and most cruel murderers ever known in America. He was hunted down and Killed by a party of miners organized for that purpose. His skull is in possession of a person in this city. The history of the cruel exploits of this celebrated bandit do not belong to a work of this kind.
During the latter half of the month of August, 1864, Denver was the theatre of a great Indian excitement. The constantly accumulating hostilities and murders by the savages of the Plains having cut off communication with the States kept the citizens in a state of suspense bordering on distraction.
Colonel Chivington was then in command of the military district of Colorado, and at the urgent request of the prominent business men of the city, proclaimed martial law, forbidding the opening of any houses of trade, except the dispensaries of medicines for the sick, and allowing only grocery and provision stores to be open three hours each day. All trains and wagons were prohibited from leaving the Territory. This strenuous measure was resorted to, in order to secure a sufficient enlistment of men for protection against the Indians, whose maraudings and devastation had already made the country almost uninhabitable, and who were expected in sight of the city almost every day. Every ablebodied male citizen of the city and country over the age of sixteen years, was obliged to enrol [sic.] himself in the militia for the common defense, and many of these were employed in the construction of block houses on the outer limits of the city, to be used as a cover in the event of attack.
At the same time the foregoing events were taking place, the Third Regiment Colorado Cavalry, was rapidly being filled up and made ready for the field. The regiment was enlisted to serve for a period of only one hundred days,
in a campaign against the Indians. Indeed, it was for the purpose of filling up this regiment with the requisite number of men, perhaps more than anything else, that caused the proclamation of martial law. The exploits of this fine body of men, and the gallantry of their officers, will find a fair page and a clean record, in the history of Colorado. It is sufficient to state, that the regiment has been shamefully abused, for doing the very thing required at their hands--crippling the power of the most numerous and hostile tribe of the plains which Colorado had to fear, and who, without doubt, had their outrages been let go unpunished, would soon have become bold and strong enough, by being re-inforced with other hostile bands, to have massacred the citizzens [sic.] and burned the city of Denver.
SCARCITY OF LABORERS--THE CROPS.
The recruiting for the service against Indians, absorbed most of the floating population of the city and country. This made a great scarcity of laborers, and the farmers, for want of help, were quite late in harvesting their crops of which there was a great yield, considering the number of acres cultivated.
The Board of Directors for the District of East Denver, announced the opening of a free school on the sixth of September, 1864, in a building on G st., between McGaa and Larimer. Miss Cooper was engaged a principal of this school.
On Sunday, the eleventh of September, 1864, in the afternoon, the citizens of Denver were startled by a tremendous explosion. A workman in M. L. Rood's gun shop, accidentally discharged a gun, not knowing that it was loaded. The fire from the piece ignited the powder in three or four open kegs, and the result was an instantaneous demolishment of the building and adjoining premises. Fortunately but one man was fatally injured. The shop was one of a long row of low, wooden buildings, standing
on the east side of F, between Larimer and Holladay streets.
AN IRRIGATING DITCH FOR DENVER.
A company organized and incorporated under the name of "The Capital Hydraulic Company," for the purpose of bringing a ditch from some point up the Platte, to run on the high land east of Denver, and water the city, made a survey of the proposed work, and found, that by tapping the river at the mouth of Plum creek some twelve miles above the city, they could bring water so as to reach the desired level, with a descending grade of five feet to the mile. This important work is now completed in its excavation, to a point south of the town, and nothing remains to be done, except building an aqueduct to convey the water across Cherry creek, when the city will be reached and trees, shrubbery and gardens can be easily and successfully cultivated. The ditch is not less than seventy feet above the city, so that by a system of pipes, the water can be passed into the upper stories of any of the buildings.
About the same time with the foregoing, work was being actively prosecuted on the mill-race and irrigating ditch of Messrs. Whittemore & Co. This ditch leaves the Platte river at a point some six miles above Denver, and attains an altitude capable of irrigating a large amount of excellent arable land, before reaching the fine mill building of the firm named, in West Denver. This was the second flouring mill built in the city, and is, perhaps, the best establishment of the kind in the Territory. The first mill was built and is owned by Mr. J. W. Smith, and is situated on lower ground and to the north of the former. Messrs. Whittemore & Co. have, besides the power at the mill, two falls in their ditch, as yet unimproved, capable of running extensive machinery. Over these falls the water passes in wooden flumes, to prevent the washing away of the soil.
MARCHING OF THE THIRD REGIMENT.
The Third Regiment was soon filled up to the necessary quota, and after a short period of drill in Camp Evans, near Denver, were scattered in small squads throughout the Territory, for the protection of various points. An urgent appeal for assistance against threatened Indian hostilities, being received from Fort Lyon, in the southern part of the Territory, the regiment was ordered into rendezvous at Bijou Basin, about eighty miles east of south from Denver, and put under marching orders for the post named. This march was made in very cold and disagreeable weather, neither men nor animals being well provided with food or shelter. Arriving at Fort Lyon late in November, the officers in command received intelligence of the whereabouts of a large party of Cheyenne Indians, believed to be hostile. Early in the morning of a subsequent day, the gallant regiment surprised the treacherous and cowardly foe in their village or camp , and an attack was immediately ordered. The Indians fought stubbornly from the outset, bet their resistance was vain against men who had suffered so many deprivations on account of savage violence, and, who too well knew the treachery and cold blooded cruelty of their merciless foes.
The attack was made in that characteristic style, which has marked almost all successful engagements of pioneer troops against Indians--every soldier fighting pretty much on his own account, without much regard to order or symmetry of the line of battle.
This action was fought on the twenty-ninth of November, and resulted in a total rout of the band of Indians, who were almost annihilated by the infuriated soldiers.
The loss on our side was trifling, while that of the Indians was variously estimated between three hundred and five hundred warriors. In the lodges of the enemy, according to subsequent testimony, was found ample evidence of their hostility, the reeking scalps of white persons murdered on the great overland route,
hanging undried on their lodge poles, while large stores of plunder from trains they had waylaid was found also.
Immediately after this battle, the Third Regiment returned to Denver, and their term of service having expired the men were disbanded.
This battle subsequently became a theme of great discord and ill-feeling, one party claiming that the Indians were friendly and under the protection of the general government, notwithstanding the evidences found of either their hostility or that of some other band with whom they held too intimate a relation. The other party stoutly maintaining that those who made cause with the Indians, were actuated by a desire to trade with them, as great fortunes were made thereby, and that no matter what hostilities the Indians might commit, they deplored retaliation as it dropped their commerce. It is not for this writer to say in this work, which party is in the right.
In January, 1865, the Indian tribes of the Plains became more troublesome than ever before. The overland route from Godfrey's ranche [sic.], now called Fort Wicked, to a point not far west of Cottonwood Springs, was entirely devastated and laid waste by the savages. The coaches dared not run--the telegraph line was destroyed, and no trains might venture over the interdicted ground. This stage of things, entirely cutting off communication between Denver and the States, continued throughout the month of February.
Urgent appeals were made to the general government for the protection of the great overland trade, but the necessities of the country, thus shut off from its base of supply, would not admit of the delays necessary, before the United States troops could arrive and drive off the Indians. Supplies and provisions raised to famine prices, and the poor of Denver were reduced to such a strait, that an idea
of a descent upon the provision stores of the city was seriously entertained.
Colonel Thomas Moonlight, was then in command of the military district of Colorado, and the exigency of the case requiring it, martial law was proclaimed, and a regiment composed of six mounted companies of militia, was required to be immediately enlisted for a term of three months, to re-establish communication with the States.
FIRST COLORADO MOUNTED MILITIA.
Two companies of the six that constituted this regiment, were enlisted in Denver, and commanded, respectively by Captains J. Bright Smith and "Red"Clark. As fast as the companies were filled up, they were mustered and sent out to the scene of the late troubles. The men, who were thus hurried into the field, were poorly supplied with arms, ammunition and clothing, which articles, many were required to supply themselves with, in addition to the horses they rode. Arapahoe county generously gave a horse to nearly all who volunteered in this service from Denver. The men were stationed by companies, at various points along the Platte valley laid waste by the Indians, and immediately rebuilt the telegraph line, also afforded good and safe escorts for the coaches, so that communication was fully re-established, and the Indians left the route altogether. Government troops took the places of the militia in April, and the regiment was sent to Denver and mustered out, each receiving Territorial scrip at the rate of one dollar and fifty cents per day for their services. There being no funds in the treasury for the redemption of these promises to pay, most of them have been bought up by speculators, at a cost from one-tenth to one-half of what their face demands.
In April, 1865, Hon. George T. Clark succeeded Hon. H. J. Brendlinger as Mayor of Denver, after a spirited and
lively electioneering contest. Under Mayor Clark's administration, the city grew in prosperity greatly. This state of things was due, in a measure, to the cessation of all impediment to trade and travel across the plains, and the natural progress of a city of the age and growth of Denver.
On the first day of May, Professor Goldrick resigned the chair of associate editor of the News, and was succeeded by the present incumbent. Shortly after this, a new daily morning paper, called the Gazette, professing to be Democratic in politics, was started in the city, F. J. Stanton, editor and Proprietor.
ANOTHER ATTEMPT AT STATE ORGANIZATION.
In the fall of 1865, a convention of delegates, elected by the people of the Territory to draft a constitution for a State organization, bet in the People's Theatre at Denver, and drafted the document. This constitution was subsequently submitted to a vote of the people and adopted. Elections in accordance with its provisions were then held, a State legislature elected and senators chosen to represent the new State in Congress. Hon. John Evans, late Governor of the Territory, and Hon. Jerome B. Chaffee, President of the First national Bank of Denver, were chosen as senators under the provisions of the State constitution. Hon. George m. Chilcott was elected member of Congress.
The crops in Colorado fell short in their yield, on account of the ravages of grasshoppers in the spring and summer; these insects, in countless billions, passing from field to field, and devouring every green thing in their course. This ravage made business dull in Denver in the fall of 1865, as the high prices for provisions prevailing throughout the season, prevented extensive operations in the mines, of which Denver is the base of supply.
Prominent among the many fine buildings added to the city this year, is the National block, a very large brick,
standing upon the corner of F and Blake streets. It derived its name from the First national Bank, which occupies the corner rooms of the lower story of the building. Besides the bank, there is a store-room on the Blake street front, and two additional store-rooms on the F street front of the block. The former is occupied by Milo Smith & Co., and the latter by Thos. S. Clayton, and Partridge & Morrison. The officers of the bank in 1865, were Hon. J. B. Chaffee, president, and Hon. Geo. T. Clark, cashier. The latter retired from the bank in 1866, and his place was filled by Hon. D. H. Moffat, Jr., one of Denver's ablest and best business men. Mr. Chaffee, is one of the present senators elect for Colorado, at the last effort at a State organization.
The Territorial Legislature convened early in January, 1866, in Golden City, and, as usual, adjourned to Denver. This body passed an act forbidding gambling, under heavy penalties, and preventing any municipal authority of the Territory from sanctioning the same either by ordinance of license.
Previous to this law, the pernicious practice of gambling was conducted in the most open and shameless manner. Large rooms, splendidly furnished and provided with excellent music for the allurement and enticement of the victims of the art, were kept open night and day, on the principal street of the city. At night everything that could add attraction was resorted to in order to seduce miners and strangers into the toils of the scores of blacklegs who were the habitues of these resorts. Wines, liquors and cigars of the rarest vintage and most costly brands, garnished the splendidly furnished bars, while the best musical talent of the country was employed in entertaining with vocal and instrumental melody, the crowds of customers drawn together by these allurements. Around the walls of the room were ranged the tables of the gamblers, each tempt-
ingly displaying its piles of new and shining bank notes, beside the implements of the nefarious trade, and presided over by a smiling demon, under those blandishments there lurked a heart that considered all men his prey, and which measured humanity only by the capacity of a pocket-book and the means of getting possession of its contents. Besides these houses, of which there were two located on Blake street, the city had half a dozen or more private club rooms, where large sums changed hands nightly at the games of "faro" and "monte." The abatement of these public hells, and the closing of most of the private club rooms, proved a great blessing to the city.
At the municipal election held in April, 1866, Hon. M. M. DeLano, the present incumbent, was elected to the mayoralty, and to the general satisfaction has he and the present board of alderman discharged the duties devolving upon them.
During the year 1866, three new bridges were constructed by the city; two of these are thrown across [the] Platte river, one at the F street crossing and the other at the outer limits of West Denver at the old Chubbuck crossing. The third bridge is built over the Larimer street crossing on Cherry creek. These bridges are all substantial structures, founded on piles.
DENVER AT THE CLOSE OF THE YEAR 'SIXTY-SIX.
The improvements made in Denver during the year 1866, more than doubled those of any preceding twelve-month since the foundation of the city. F, Blake and McGaa streets were graded, adding greatly to the beauty and general appearance of the place. The name of the last named street, by an ordinance of the city council, was changed to Holladay. Further improvements in the grading of the other streets of the city, are also preparing for, by the Council, the tax for so improving Larimer street, having been assessed and collected.
NEW BUILDINGS--THE POPULATION.
During the year about three hundred new buildings were added to the city. Very many of these are fine palatial brick structures, and the net cost of the whole number foots up to a sum exceeding a half million of dollars. A census taken in the beginning of the present winter, sums up the resident population of the city at four thousand souls. The transient population at the opening and close of the mining season in the spring and autumn of each year, adds about two thousand to these figures.
In the farming regions of Colorado, all of which, as yet improved, recognize Denver as their leading point of trade, during the year 1866, there were constructed one hundred and thirty-six miles of irrigating ditches, at a cost of one thousand dollars per mile. In the land office, at Denver, for the ten months ending November 1, 1866, the entries of public lands amounted to two hundred and fifty-one thousand acres, exceeding the entries for the same time in 1865, one hundred and eleven thousand acres. These lands, under the existing United States laws, could only be taken by homestead or pre-emption claimants, and, therefore, were for actual settlement. This shows, conclusively, that the improvements of the country had only kept pace with those of its. metropolis.
Upon the mines of precious metals existing in the mountains of Colorado, all the hopes of its settlers have been based. For the past two or three years, the yields of treasure have been small, compared to the great extent and known richness of the mineral fields. This is owing to the diminution of the laboring population of the country by the late war for the suppression of the rebellion, and the consequent high price that all kinds of necessary supplies and provisions commanded during the war, the "Indian troubles," and the natural falling off in the farm products of the Territory, made by two successive crops, in 1865 and 1866,
being destroyed, or nearly so, by grasshoppers. To all this may be added the fact that the war attracted the capital of the country, so that there was little inducement to use the same in mineral development. Most of the gold ores of the country are peculiarly obstinate, so that not only skilled labor, but improved methods for the working of the same must be resorted to, in order to effect the separation of all, or nearly all, of this precious metal from the peculiar combinations in which it was found. Of silver ores, many veins of great value, and whose ores may be easily worked have been discovered within the past two years. Notwithstanding all the difficulties mentioned, the shipments of gold and silver from Colorado for the year 1866, more than doubled those of 1865, and are now very perceptibly on the increase.
COPPER, LEAD, IRON, COAL, PETROLEUM AND SALT.
Of copper and lead there are extensive and exhaustless _eines, assaying the richest percentage of those metals, but the price of labor and transportation prevents their being worked at present. In the valleys at the base of the mountains, are vast beds of coal and iron, as yet but little developed, since the wants of the country do not, at present require a large supply. Petroleum abounds in springs in various parts of the Territory, and a well in southern Colorado is now producing twenty-four barrels of crude oil daily. No great amount of search or improvements of known oil lands had been made. Salt sufficient to supply the demand for home consumption, is now manufactured in the South Park, and other salt springs, unimproved, are known to exist in various parts of Colorado.
The climate of Colorado is what an inhabitant of the temperate zone would pronounce delightful. The summer and fall is balmy and pleasant on the plains, with but few very hot and sultry days. High winds prevail, but are not of long continuance, usually lasting but a few hours at any
one time. Winter generally sets in late and lasts well into the spring, as much snow frequently falling in April as in any other month. In the mountains the settler can find at almost any season of the year, such a climate as he may desire, depending only on the altitude he may choose. The soil of the Territory is wonderfully strong and productive, raising the finest garden vegetables ever grown in the world. Of grain crops, wheat, rye, barley, oats and the other cereals, grow with an exuberance unknown in the best producing States of the Union, and give yields per acre that are so astounding in their magnitude that the writer dare not try the credulity of eastern readers by giving facts and figures. Corn, except of the early or flint varieties, is an uncertain crop in the northern portion of the Territory, the short season not always permitting the larger kinds to mature. In southern Colorado, however, extensive fields of the best and later varieties of this grain are successfully cultivated. There is no certainty in any crop without the land be irrigated, as rain seldom falls and may not come at the time when necessary for the life of the cultivated fields. An irrigated farm possesses the advantage that the farmer can give his crops water whenever it may be needed, so that such a thing as a drouth [sic.] making a failure in farming is unknown.
The natural advantages of Colorado as a stock country are without a parallel. Th grass of the plains is of the richest nutritious quality, and the cures, in autumn, like hay, retaining all its nutriment through the winter, so that stock, unless snows come so deep as to cover this nature-provided hay, need no ther feed, but will keep in excellent order and condition throughout the winter. The grass-fed beef and mutton of the Territory may safely chalenge the markets of the world.
The application of the foregoing facts in relation to the mining and agricultural resources of the country, bear so
directly upon the city, with whose history these pages are engrossed that no apology for their introduction here is needed.
[The following chapter of events occurring in Denver the last six months of 1860 was mislaid by and amanuensis, and failed to appear in its proper place in the body of the work. Its importance justifies its publication here, and should another edition of the book be published, this chapter will be inserted it its appropriate place.--J. E. W.]
On the 12th of July, 1860, began in Denver a series of murders and inhuman outrages. The first act of violence was the shooting of Stark, a Mexican negro, by Charles Harrison, a gambling desperado. The negro died of his wounds on the 21st. No arrest was made.
The next act in the bloody drama was by a drunken desperado named James A. Gordon, who entered a house of ill-repute on Arapahoe street, and deliberately shot down the barkeeper, a young man named Frank O'Neil. He subsequently recovered from the wound. This occurred on Wednesday evening, and on the Friday evening following Gordon went into the Denver Hall, and shot twice at "Big Phil," a low character and loafer, fortunately without injury. From thence Gordon went to the Louisiana Saloon, on Blake street in the bed of Cherry creek, where, after destroying some of the furnishings of the bar, he set upon John Gantz, the barkeeper--knocked him down, and, holding him by the hair, succeeded in shooting him through the head, after ineffectually snapping his pistol four times. Gantz died immediately. Gordon succeeded in making his escape for a time, but a few months afterwards was arrested in New Mexico, by Sheriff Middaugh, and brought to Denver, where he was tried by a people's court, found guilty of murder in the first degree, and executed on nearly the
same spot where Gredler had suffered the extreme penalty of the law for a like offense.
At the same time these bloody outrages were being committed, the community was infested with horse thieves, whose depredations were of almost daily occurrence. A party in pursuit of Gordon, come [sic.] upon three of these miscreants, one of whom, Jesse Ogden, made his escape; and other, named Frank Milligan, was drowned in attempting to swim the Platte river, while the third man, Samuel K. Dunn, was captured, tried and sentenced to receive twenty-five lashes in public, after which he was required to leave the country within twenty-four hours.
The Rocky Mountain News, in its issue of July 25, denounced the outrages of these desperadoes, and took the liberty, usually accorded the public press, of saying some very plain things concerning the murder of the negro Stark, by Harrison, which so exasperated the ruffian crew that they made an attack upon the News office, which was entered by an armed band of them, headed by the notorious Carrol Wood, on Tuesday morning, July 31st. Being completely armed, while the employees of the office were not prepared for such an assault, the villains had it all their own way; and Mr Byers, the senior editor, was taken by them and forced to go to the Criterion Saloon and account to Chas. Harrison for the article published concerning the murder of the negro. Arriving at the Criterion, Harrison, not entering into the sport of his fellow ruffians, who were making terrible threats and brandishing their pistols, ready for use upon the unarmed victim of their outrages, quietly spirited Mr. Byers out at a back entrance. To this interference Mr. Byers doubtless owes his life, as his assailants were intoxicated and ripe for any bloody work, no matter how cowardly in might be. As soon as Wood and his companions discovered that their victim had escaped, they returned to renew the attack upon the News office, taking a
position behind a log building about ten rods from the office, where a council of war was held and a sharp watch kept upon the approaches to the place in the hope of getting a shot at Mr. Byers. No one appearing, Geo. Steele, one of the ruffians, mounted a horse, and, riding past in front of the office, until he reached the bridge west of the building, turned and fired two shots into the same, without, however, doing material damage. Two shots were in return fired from the office, one of them, by John L. Merrick, taking effect nearly under the arm and passing through the body of Steele. The desperado did not fall from his horse, but rode rapidly through various streets, pursued by and excited crowd. Finally, near Bradord's corner, now the Planters' House, the villain received a second shot from a weapon in the hands of Thomas Pollock, Esq., which brought him to the ground. He died at the City hospital during the afternoon.
ARREST AND TRIAL OF CARROL WOOD.
As soon as the firing commenced upon the News office large crowds of infuriated populace rushed to the rescue, and Carrol Wood and his confederate fled. Wood was subsequently taken and the voice of the assembled masses was almost unanimously given in favor of his immediate execution. Better councils prevailed, however, and a people's court was held. Eleven of the jury were in favor of hanging the prisoner, but by the eloquence of Judge Purkins, the feeling in favor of such a measure was quelled, and Wood was required to immediately and forever leave the country. The prisoner thanked the people for their lenity [sic.] and promised that the lesson he had just received should last him through life. He then departed from the city, but failed in his promise of reform, as, during the late war, he became a noted and bloody leader of rebel bushwhackers in Missouri, and, in the summer of 1865, was killed by a confederate in a drunken brawl in Texas. Chas. Harrison subsequently left the country, and entering the rebel service, was killed.
The first U. S. mail arrived in Denver on Friday, August 10th, 1860, and was hailed with joy and delight, as all __d matter heretofore received came by express, and the most exorbitant rates were charged on delivery. W. P. McClure was postmaster, and had just removed to a new office on Larimer street, previous to the arrival of the mail.
About this time Mr. Langrishe, the present popular manager of the Denver Theatre, arrived in the city from Fort Laramie, and made arrangements for opening a theatre early in the month following, renting the Apollo Hall for that purpose.
Messrs. Coleman & Moore commenced the publication of the daily and weekly Mountaineer, the office material arriving on the 25th inst. The place of publication was the second story of Graham's drug store building, corner of F and Larimer streets. The Mountaineer was Democratic in politics, and its proprietors both subsequently became somewhat noted as rebel officers in the recent rebellion.
At this time the population included in the limits of the proposed Territory of Jefferson, numbered about sixty thousand souls. Denver having one-tenth of that number. The city officials having done nothing in the way of perfecting and efficient city government previously, a meeting of the citizens was held in Apollo Hall, on the evening of the 21st of September, to hear the report of a committee appointed at a previous meeting, which adopted it, after making some slight amendments. The committee who drafted this instrument were Messrs. Wm. Larimer, _ John Hughes, C. A., Cook and A. Jacobs; and it was
resolved at this meeting that the constitution be submitted to the voters of the city for adoption or rejection, by an election held on the first Monday in the following month. At this election, one thousand one hundred and sixty-two votes were polled, of which number one thousand one hundred and twenty-two were for the constitution. The following officers were duly elected at the same time, in accordance with the provisions of the constitution: A. C. Hunt, Appellate Judge; A. H. Mayer, Clerk; I. H. Gerrish, Treasurer; N. Sargent and D. P. Wallingford, Judges of the Court of Common Pleas; Thos. Pollock, Marshal; D. C. Oakes, J. N. Taylor, Wm. Dunn, C. A. Cook, L. N. Tappen and J. M. Broadwell, Councilmen.
OPENING ENTERTAINMENT OF THE LANGRISHE TROUPE.
The Langrishe troupe gave their opening entertainment at the Apollo Hall, on Tuesday evening October 3d. A large and attentive audience was present, and at the first performance the management laid the foundation of their since well-earned popularity.
On the fifth of November, W. P. McClure successfully resisted the city authorities in attempt to arrest him for an assault upon, with intent to kill, O. J. Goldrick. McClure was postmaster, and, notwithstanding his position and influence, his unjustifiable conduct at this, and other times, prove that he was a desperado. Entrenching himself in the postoffice, with a few friends, he boldly defied the officers of the law, who submitted to such terms of settlement as he chose to dictate.
THE LEGISLATURE--FIRST TELEGRAMS.
The legislature, for the provisional government of the Jefferson Territory, met in Denver on the twelfth, and adjourned to meet in Golden City.
On the thirteenth of November, the first telegraph dispatches were published in the News. They were delivered at Fort Kearney, and from thence forwarded to Denver
by the C. O. C. and P. P. Express Company, thus bringing the city from two to five days nearer the States, in the matter of news.
Sunday, the second of December, there occurred a most brutal fight, near the Denver Hall, between Andrew Goff and James Cochran, in which the former received a terrible punishment, so severe that his life was despaired of. This was followed, shortly, by a fatal shooting affray at the "Criterion," in which Charles Harrison mortally wounded James Hill, who died the day following. Harrison was arrested and tried on a charge of murder, to which he plead "not guilty," and was acquitted.
On the fourteenth of December, 1860, Richard Doyle was killed by Patrick Kelley. This murder occurred in the "Club House," an eating and drinking establishment, kept by the murderer and his victim, in company with a third party, name McDermott, on the corner of F and McGaa streets. Kelley was tried before the city appellate court on a charge of murder, but as the homicide grew our of a row, and it appearing in evidence that the accused was guilty only of manslaughter, the judge construed the law under which the court acted as granting jurisdiction only in cases of murder in the first degree, and so instructed the jury, who returning a verdict of "not guilty, as charged in the indictment," the prisoner was set at liberty.
TRAIL AND EXECUTION OF PATRICK WATERS.
On the same day of Kelley's trial by the appellate court, Patrick Waters, was tried by a people's court, for the murder of Thomas R. Freeman. This murder was committed on the thirtieth of November, about two miles below Fort Lupton, on the Platte river. It appearing in evidence, and from the confession of the prisoner, that the deed was done in cold blood and premeditated, Waters was found guilty in accordance therewith, and executed, by hanging, on the
twenty-first inst. The gollows on which this man suffered the extreme penalty of an outraged law, stood on the side of the Platte, opposite Denver, near the F street bridge.
The close of the year 1860 found the following denouminations, each with a place of holding religious services, in Denver: M. E. Church, M. E. Church South, Episcopal, Presbyterian and Roman Catholic. The last named denomination opened their new church, at the corner of F and Stout streets, for the first services, on Sunday, December 30. A large congregation was in attendance. Two Sabbath schools, numbering about forty scholars each, were also in a flourishing condition.
Peak Lodge, I. O. O. F., was instituted on Monday, December 24, holding its regular meetings on Monday evening of each week. This lodge is now extinct, and in its stead flourishes Union Lodge No. 1, of the same brotherhood.
Many of the citizens at this time became restive under the license tax they were obliged to pay by ordinance of the city council. The proceeds of these licenses constituted a fund to pay for street improvements, etc. Citizens' meetings were held denouncing the license system, and pledging each other to resist the payment of the same. Under these circumstances, the council, at a meeting held January 16, 1861, passed resolutions favoring an equitable tax to be levied on property-owners for the liquidation of expenses of city improvements, authorizing that the same be submitted to a vote of the citizens, on the twenty-first inst. At this election the total number of votes cast was 677. Of these, Denver, E. D., cast 421, and Denver, W. D., cast 256. The result was largely in favor of the tax., there being 508 votes for that measure.