Mel McFarland
This story could be happening today, not just 100 years ago, as
is the case.
I have not found the exact spot where this story took place, but
it was either Woodland Park, Divide or Florissant. The details were
not fully available in the old newspapers, so I will tell it as if
it were Woodland Park.
On Midland, many of the shop owners noticed, at first, that
there were a number of new people in town and several of them acted
more suspicious than some of the regular customers.
At that time, there were things going on up in the Gold Camp
that had brought some pretty scary individuals into town. The State
Militia was even brought in. One explosion at a railroad station
had killed several miners and wrecked the building. Several mines,
and even the railroads, had found evidence of sabotage. The camps
up in the district were putting troublemakers into locked box cars
and sending them off to Kansas and New Mexico. This got rid of some
of them, but not all.
Were these “new” people a part of that or was it something else?
Nothing irritated the business owners more than when things started
coming up missing. A few families even started missing bits of
laundry on the line!
Some simply thought thefts were committed by the bums who passed
through town regularly. These bums would show up and offer to do
odd jobs. Many were paid in meals or cast-off clothing. After their
visit, some things usually came up missing.
The town marshal did not know where they were coming from, but,
after a while, the reports started becoming more regular and he
made a stronger effort to watch the problem.
It did not take long to search the regular spots along the
tracks and under bridges where scoundrels tended to congregate. As
he was tracking a couple of the possible individuals, he spotted
their hideout. Once he was sure he had an answer, he called Cripple
Creek for reinforcements.
A couple of days later a deputy arrived and both of them set up
a vantage point to watch. Sure enough, they had a busy
candidate.
The spot they had scouted out was being used as a home and had
plenty of items that could be identified. The culprits were well
trained and it looked like they had experience in their game. They
had a lookout on watch 24 hours a day but had become so secure in
this spot that they usually slept most of the night. Late the next
night more help arrived via train. Railroad owners were quite eager
to help since their property was involved.
As quickly and quietly as possible the train crew put locks on
the door of the box car the criminals were using and hooked it to
the train. Soon the car was heading for Colorado City with its
contents of loot and miscreants.
These folk were given the full treatment on their arrival in
Colorado City. The police were waiting as the car was pushed into a
shop building. Once inside, with the shop doors closed, the
unveiling came. There were at least four men and several women in
the car.
This group got a free ride to Cripple Creek. The car was then
returned to Woodland Park where residents lined up to claim the
contents.