Adventure Magazine Cover — page 185: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

promising ground on both slopes’of the range, having landed there Thanksgiving Day, 1878. = . The fight at'the ‘“‘Double Dobe’”’ did not take place there, but on the East side of the San Louis, and Curly Bill was not in it at all. A man by the name of Jack MacKenzie. and partner had stolen the cattle in Mexico and had crossed the pass. and left the cattle to rest up, thinking he was safe. But the Mexicans followed and rounded up the cattle and started back for Mexico. MacKenzie and partner ‘appealed to some of the vaqueros working for Billie ~. Land and a few others that happened to be there, raising a crowd of eight men, good riders, fair shooters, took to the trail, caught up with the Mexicans and after a running fight lasting- several hours recovered the cattle and drove them back, and there was not a man on MacKenzie party LSO the robbery of the Mexican smugglers took place in Skeleton Cafion and was arranged ~* executed by Ike Clanton and Flying Cloud 4s. Green). It was a train of 70 animals and 30 icans. The Mexicans cut off a lot of pack and se a run for it with their best treasure, but ten . dozen mules were killed. Reported at the time eral Mexicans were killed, but we never found y. There were eight men in the Clanton ‘arty—I knew them all. All told they only got 2,000 “Dobes,” one small bar of gold, sold a Tombstone for $800, and couple of kegs mescal. : ; ‘THE killing of old man Clanton or, more properly speaking, the Billy Lang party, where five ‘men out of party of seven were shot in their blankets. I know all about it as I was one of the party of twenty-two who went down and brought four bodies back to Gray’s ranch, made the boxes and buried them on round knoll or hill between Clanton’s and Gray’s ranches. Their names were old man Clanton, Billie Lang, owner of Cloverdale Ranch, Dick Gray, Jim Crane. The fifth man could not be found at the time of our visit, so we went back the next day, found him by the vultures and threw a blanket over his face and_piled a lot of rock on and I expect was never disturbed by man after. His name was Chas. Snow. The killing took place in a little sparsely wooded flat near the head of Cafion Bonito, very close to the Mexican border, and was on the 13th day of August, 1881. Lang was taking 100 head of beef cattle to Tombstone. After the killing, all ‘Lang’s and Clanton’,s cattle (Gray had none) were rounded up and driven over to the San Pedro, and later, passed through the Tombstone market. - In my time all the longhorns stolen in Mexico were sold at San Carlos Indian Reservation for food for Indians. $5 a head was the ruling price. * MY BROTHER picked up Curly Bill (Wm. Borscius) in the street when he was shot by his chum “Black” Jim Wallace and carried him into our tent where we nursed him until he fully re- covered, which was about one month. He then took trail to look for Wallace. Bill was not mean or bad, unless drinking whisky; when he got about so drunk, got mean and then some. All these incidents came thick and in fact starting X The Camp-Fire . i 183 ® | in April with the Skeleton Cafion hold-up, in July the MacKenzie fight, and Aug. 13, 1881, the. Lang killing. There were 35 Mexicans in that. Billie Byers, one who was shot and left for dead, went back to Leavenworth, Kansas. I don’t know when he went. It is many, many years since I met any of that part of 22. Billie Lang’s brother, John Lang, lives in California, 50 rfliles from Banning, a hermit prospector. I KNEW all the Earps and all about why they killed McLowery and Billie Clanton as I carried a verbal message from Virgil Earp to them. ~ It would be cal ultimatum now, and these were the words: ‘“Tell the boys everything is off between us, and when you come to town you will have to fight.” : -— ‘They would not believe it and laughed at the idea. But next time they rode in, late in Fall of 1881, they were killed. The Earps played . fair and square in that matter and I know. The noma Pee warned and should have been on their guard. In your “Stories of the Old West” the data is pretty close to being correct (published in Dtc., 1918, in Saturday Evening Post). The killing of Bud Phillips was done by two out- siders, Billie Leonard and Jim Crane. Leonard was killed a few months after in little mining camp of Eureke, New Mexico, by the Hasslett brothers and they were killed after by Jim Crane and two or three friends, and Crane got his along with Billie Lang and Clanton. \ | Take it all in all, 1881 was certainly quite’a lively and interesting time through S. E. Arizona and S. W. New Mexico. I hope you will pardon me for butting in, but as I was sort of mixed up in a lot of that trouble or his- — tory making epoch, thought I would put you right about some of the data. I like your articles and oe and read them, every one I see.—W. B. CKS. ce more information as to, Nellie Cushman of Alaskan fame: Oakland, California. I have additional information concerning Nellie | Cushman that may be of interest. A party of us went up as far as Dawson last Summer, leaving Vancouver June 23, 1921. Nellie Cushman was aboard (the Princess Royal). She had been “out- side” for a year or so, and was going in, to remain at least a year. She left us at Dawson intending to go on up the Koyukok River, Alaska. I believe it was to Bettles. We all found her an original and capable woman.—H, H. Crane. Various Practical Services to Any Reader In the last issue-of each month are» ;, printed in full the friendly services of pat .Adventure toreaders: Free Identifica- tion Card in eleven languages (metal, 25 cents); Mail Address and Forward- ing Service; Back Issues Exchange; Camp-Fire Buttons, etc. comicbooks Ca ee co “ es . 7 ‘ : a —— 4 “~ — a Sor