“We don’t. We can arrest based on the wanted poster. The sheriff of Laramie County Wyoming Territory is Seth Sharples. He worked with us capturing or killing the rest of the gang. He can have warrants wired here before you feed these two a delicious jail lunch. All we have to do is recover the money stolen from Wells Fargo and give you a receipt for it.”
“How much?”
“They left northern Wyoming with eighteen thousand, five hundred. We don’t know what they have spent on food, gambling or women since. We don’t think much, because they only spent a few days running on the trail and it was real wilderness without even a trading post along the way.”
“You all going to carry it all the way back to San Francisco?” the detective asked.
“No, we will turn it in to the office here. They will transfer it back by stage and train.”
“So, we could just take the money to the Wells Fargo office here in Denver and get a receipt for it?”
“Yes. But the office is closed and we don’t know where to get the agent in charge. His safe is probably on a time lock. So, it would have to be held until eight o’clock tomorrow morning when he gets in. The time locks probably don’t expire until nine or so, but we have to count it a couple times anyway,” Sarah said.
The department had a police carriage with seating for six and the detective, Sergeant Enos Purdue, elected to use it to get the five of them to the address. They could squeeze an extra two prisoners in, the size of the three Denver detectives notwithstanding.
Purdue arranged the timing to arrive at the address at midnight. The house had some activity. It appeared to be a cross between a rooming house and brothel, so people were arriving and departing more than normal for the time of day.
They parked the carriage around the corner and went in fast and hard.
“Older man with cigar and partner with strong hillbilly accent? What room? Murder warrants!” Pope said to the clerk.
“I can’t,” the clerk began. Purdue slapped the copy of the wanted poster on the desk and flashed his Denver badge.
“The damn room number now, or you get arrested for subverting justice!”
“First room top of the steps,” the terrified man said.
The two big Denver detectives were already climbing with surprising speed. Before Pope and Sarah topped the landing, they heard the door being crashed in.
“Denver Police! Don’t move!”
Awakened from a deep sleep by giants with shotguns, the two fugitives froze in their beds.
They were quickly manacled and moved aside, while the two Wells Fargo detectives searched the room. A carpet bag under Black’s bed contained a large amount of cash and coins. There were some silver coins, but most were gold.
Pope removed a .45 Colt single action from under Hazeltine’s pillow. He held it up for Sarah and the other detectives to see.
“Here’s our murder weapon. We have a bullet removed from the body. I can ballistically tie it back to this gun,” he said for the benefit of the Denver detectives. Pope knew the ballistic matching started by Hume was in its infancy, and few other agencies knew about it. Sara recovered a Colt Navy cap and ball revolver from under Black’s pillow. Though technically obsolete, the percussion cap and cylinders loaded with loose powder model remained popular. Even Hickok carried two as late as the mid-1870’s.
She noted its details and turned it over to the Denver detectives, it having no relevance to Wells Fargo’s case.
Pope approached the night clerk.
“Does Soapy Smith own this place?” The man nodded.
“Get word to him to come by the Wells Fargo office after nine this morning and claim his reward,” Pope said.
The seven with the fugitives luggage, climbed into the police carriage and drove to Denver Police Headquarters.
Sarah did the honors arresting the two. The arrest may or may not hold up in court after extradition to Wyoming, but it worked to get them held and extradited.
The chief was more receptive to the two Wells Fargo detectives once he saw the article in the Denver Republican, Daily Spur, and Weekly World newspapers. It credited his department with the arrest of two suspected murderers, train and stage robbers, and rustlers wanted in Wyoming. The only mention of Wells Fargo was “Detectives Pope and Watson of Wells Fargo assisted the Denver Police in locating the fugitives.”
After multiple counts, they recovered eighteen thousand two hundred seventy-four dollars. Wells Fargo was out only four thousand seven hundred twenty-six plus the detectives’ expenses. Hume would be happy to report the success of the case to his leadership.
Pope wired Sheriff Sharples in Cheyenne and advised of the arrests and requested he have an extradition order sent to the Denver Police Department. He received a prompt congratulations and acknowledgement.
“I suspect the extradition of Black and Hazeltine will be pretty fast. Everybody who has to touch the case has lunch together daily at the Cheyenne Club. When Wyoming becomes a state, all they will have to do is make the Club the new state capital,” Pope said to Sarah, somewhat tongue in cheek.
“Well, it surely helps us. One or both of us will have to testify at their trial and probably at the gang members trials, too. I am wondering if we need to secure rooms in Cheyenne for a while?” she asked.
“We’ll see what Hume says, but I think you are right on the money.”
They spent the next two days creating and handwriting a report on the entire case for the chief detective. It was seventeen pages upon completion. Parts could be used to jog memories during the upcoming trials.
They sent an executive case summary by encrypted telegram. Instead of US Mail, they elected to send the detailed written case summary via Wells Fargo express pouches. They were faster.
The following day, they received a coded telegram from James Hume.
It advised them to temporarily base in Cheyenne. Due to the growth of population and financial impact, Wells Fargo needed a much larger office. They were to work with Byron McCarthy on the security aspects of the site selection. Once the site was selected, they were to assure proper security was built into the building. Security included safes, door locks and wire security for the telegraph equipment.
McCarthy received several sets of plans for offices in the new size range. Company Superintendent Pridham was the sender. The security drawings and specifications were included and were to be passed to the detectives for review and assistance.
The detective’s part in the process was corroborated in his documents.
Hume sent the two detectives the security checklist he used on new offices, including the new San Francisco dock office. It had been replaced after being blown up. Pope, a San Francisco detective at the time, had solved the case.
This, Hume assured them, would fill in their time waiting for and testifying at the series of trials for the suspects they had apprehended.
6
The prosecutor, sheriff, and judge met the next day. They scheduled individual trials for each gang member on stage, train, and cattle theft. Rufus Black was charged with the same in addition to accessory to attempted murder and accessory to capital murder. Cletus Hazeltine was charged with the same as the gang members, plus attempted murder and capital murder of one passenger during a robbery.
The prosecutor decided to seek three years for the first part of the gang which broke off due to violence. He sought five years in prison for the second set of gang members who stayed with Black and Hazeltine. For the two captured in Denver, he sought twenty-five years for Black and death by hanging for Hazeltine. All were to be jury trials.
A local attorney offered to represent the gang members pro bono. Black and Hazeltine hired a separate attorney.
The prosecutor subpoenaed Pope and Sarah to answer questions about the evidence which led them to the gang in its various iterations. He said they could expect to get questions about the members they shot, though neither would be charged. Pope would answer ballistic questions in Hazeltine’s
trial about the .32 and .45 bullets from the jehu and a robbery passenger tied back to Hazeltine’s two revolvers. Sarah would testify about gaining possession of the .32, as would the gun store owner who took it in trade from Hazeltine.
The prosecutor assured the Wells Fargo detectives and sheriff the cases were sure wins for the Territory. Because of the questions about both detectives killing gang members, Wells Fargo retained counsel for both Pope and Sarah.
The trials were set to begin in a week. Though separate trials, the gang member series of trials would be preceded by the prosecutor setting the stage with time and crimes and the apprehensions. No individual gang member trial was anticipated to take more than half a day.
Pope hired a photographer to take cabinet card-type representations of the two guns and separate comparison photos of sample bullets fired in the presence of the sheriff and deputy with the bullets removed from the two victims.
The photographer said this type printed on card stock would be easier to pass among the jurists than ambrotypes or other media currently in use.
The charge for shooting the Wells Fargo train shotgun messenger would be based purely on his testimony identifying Hazeltine. His would was a pass-through and no bullet was recovered. Ballistics would prove Hazeltine’s shooting of the Wells Fargo jehu with the .32 and murder of the passenger with the .45 Colt later.
The two detectives worked with McCarthy and a building coordinator from San Francisco to locate and obtain a site for the new Wells Fargo office.
As there was no lot available to build a new office, space was obtained on the ground floor of a three-story hotel. The space had been occupied by a large mercantile which had moved out of the immediate downtown area to a developing shopping area several blocks away.
The current office was now cluttered with plans and notes about walls being moved, a vault being installed, steel security doors on the vault room, and wiring for the telegraph.
This type work represented a welcome change to the detectives. They were used to frequent travel, danger and searching for clues. This was a part of Wells Fargo to which neither had been exposed.
Having run a county tax office, Sarah was accustomed to the administrative duties associated with inside work. Pope had been a cowboy and a policeman. He was not architecturally inclined, other than planning security measures. He admitted something frankly to Sarah after several days of looking at plans and talking with contractors. He admitted he found it extremely tedious.
The series of trials began, and each testified about the events, using their drawings of crime scenes. They spoke about the apprehensions and the resisting arrests which led to shooting.
Pope’s first ballistics testimony was on the murder of Eb Carson. He convinced the jury the man who he had winged in the scalp at the ranch’s gun was the gun used to murder the rancher.
Neither the prosecutor nor defense counsel made any effort to question the need for deadly force. Once the trials for the two sets of gang members finished, the attorney from Wells Fargo declared his responsibilities had been fulfilled. He chose to stay on to watch the two major trials and the ballistics testimony. The latter was something seen for the first time in Wyoming jurisprudence. Pope’s use of the actual bullets and statements proving they came from Hazeltine’s gun.
As recommended by the prosecutor, the first half of the robbers each received three years in prison. They were the ones who broke off to avoid violence. The half who stayed received five years in prison. These were considered light sentences for men who robbed trains and stages and who rustled cattle. Clemency was given for cooperation and later testimony in the Black and Hazeltine cases.
The exception was the man who killed Carson. He received a death verdict.
The clerk of the court called the case for Rufus Black the following week.
Pope was the first witness.
After being sworn and identifying himself to the court, he was asked a series of questions.
“Detective Pope, how did you come to identify the defendant as a suspect in the robberies?”
“When Detective Watson and I examined the scenes of the stage and the train robberies, we looked for clues. Ideally, we wanted to find the same clues at each scene to tie the robberies to specific people.
We consistently found these cigar butts at scenes. They had a distinctive tooth pattern. It was consistent with someone biting down on the end of the cigar on the right side of his mouth. There was a raised area between molar indentations. It showed the smoker had a missing molar. It was the second one back on the right. If you examine Mr. Black, you will find he is missing the molar I just described.
Further, the cigars are expensive and an odd brand out of Key West, Florida. Not popular cigars found at merchantiles. They were sold only in specialty stores.
We found where a man meeting Mr. Black’s description bought a seventy-five dollar box of these same La Rosa Española cigars at Smith store in Laramie.
Mr. Smith did not have his name, but he gave us a description closely matching Mr. Black. And, he is here in court today to make a positive identification,” Pope ended.
Black’s attorney cried “Objection! It is not up to a witness to identify or predict the testimony of another witness, Your Honor!”
“Sustained. Prosecutor, do you have any more questions for the detective?” Getting a negative response, the judge turned to the defense attorney, who nodded in the affirmative.
“Detective Pope, are you schooled in dentistry?”
“No.”
“Then, how is it you can look at a cigar butt and predict the dental situation of the man who smoked it?”
“Years of studying clues based on logic.”
“How old are you?”
“Twenty-seven.”
“How long have you been a detective?” the attorney asked.
“Six years. Five with San Francisco Police Department, one year studying under James Hume at Wells Fargo, one of the world’s most respected detectives.”
“And those years give you the ability to predict the teeth of a suspect?”
“In this case, yes,” Pope said with confidence.
“I seriously doubt it!”
The prosecutor interjected.
“Objection! Your honor, the defense is defaming a highly respected detective taught by the best. As you will see from forthcoming ballistic testimony in the next case, Detective Pope is a top investigator with the newest technologies.”
“Sustained. Counsel, do you have any more questions?” He did not.
Smith, the owner of the tobacco store was called next. He testified about selling the expensive box of cigars to Black and identified him in the defendant box.
When pressed about how people bite down on cigars, he gave expert testimony validating Pope’s tooth mark claims.
Both wounded jehu Berenson and the wounded shotgun messenger identified Black at being present, but in the background of their respective robberies.
Several gang members were called to acknowledge Black was the leader of the robbery and rustling gang.
The Denver police sergeant was called and described the arrests of Black and Hazeltine in his city. He told about the officers finding over eighteen-thousand dollars in cash and gold coins under Black’s bed.
At four o’clock in the afternoon, the jury was sequestered to render a verdict. They returned after forty-five minutes with a guilty verdict. The judge had considered the sentencing well before this and sentenced Black to twenty-five years in the prison in Joliet, Illinois.
The trial of Cletus Hazeltine was scheduled to begin the following Monday at nine o’clock.
1882 Cheyenne was not unaccustomed to shots being fired in the middle of the night.
Shots in a snow covered streets at midnight were perhaps odd. But these shots were odder yet.
They were preceded by a dynamite blast.
Pope rolled his shoulder out from beneath Sarah’s head as she stirred. He was already pulli
ng on pants and shoes as she sat up in bed.
“What was the noise?” she asked groggily.
“An explosion of some sort. Then, shots.”
“Which way?”
“I’m not really sure. But it seemed to have come from the direction of the courthouse and jail,” he said.
“Damn!” she cursed.
“My thought exactly. I will investigate. No need for you to get up and get dressed. I’ll be back soon.”
“You sure?” Sarah asked.
“I’m sure, honey. Back shortly.”
He ran down the stairs and onto the street. A few people were running down towards the courthouse.
Snow was falling. The streets had previously been covered. More was falling on the packed snow. Pope went as quickly as he could without slipping.
By the time he got to where people had congregated, his suspicions were confirmed. It was the courthouse. More specifically, it was the Laramie County jail which had been hit.
The Durant Steam Fire Company was in the same building and was already putting water on the small fire started by the explosion.
He saw Horatio Akin.
“Horatio! What happened?” he yelled from the crowd. The chief deputy turned angrily, but smiled relief once he saw who yelled.
“Pope! Jail break. I have one jailer down and two beat up. Hazeltine is gone, as well as a couple of drunks who were there and a chicken thief. The jailer is still deaf from the explosion. But he said some ‘hillbilly’ sounding guys, including an old one, blew their way in the door with dynamite. They seemed to target getting Hazeltine. He left with them. The others just ran out the opening and scattered.”
Pope shoved his way over to Akin.
“They must have had horses,” he began. Akin nodded affirmatively instantly.
“Any direction of travel?”
“Down 17th. I don’t know anything else. Thank God we moved Rufus Black to prison this morning!”
“I’ll get my gear and try to roust the livery for a horse. I will get on their trail while you round up a posse, alright?” Pope asked.
Wyoming Shootout (Gun For Wells Fargo Book 2) Page 11