Killer of Sheriff Dunlap, Lewis rancher executed

Photo of the building containing gas chamber at the Colorado State Penitentiary in Canon City, in 1931, a few years prior to Otis McDaniels' long walk on Valentines' Day in 1936.

By Rob Carrigan, robcarrigan1@gmail.com

In my memory, folks around Dolores always called the steep gravel road descending into town "Dunlap Hill." It snaked its way up through the washes near the water tank above the high school, and track and football coaches used it torture sports teams into shape with intensity drills and such. You could hear the "Jake Brakes" of logging trucks dropping into town and the road itself continued on up over the hump, past the Pump Pasture turnoff, and Granath Mesa, Bean Canyon, Groundhog, on all the way to Norwood. Most of us couldn't have told you who Dunlap was, and only a few remembered a Sheriff had been killed a long time ago.

Sheriff William Wesley Dunlap was shot and killed with his own weapon when he was overpowered by two prisoners. Both prisoners were brothers responsible for the starvation death of an aged sheepman they had robbed, gagged, tied up, and then left to die in his cabin. Sheriff Dunlap was transporting the prisoners from Glenwood Springs to Cortez for a trial when they overpowered him in San Migual County, says Officer Down Memorial Page honoring police officers killed in the line of duty.

On February 14th, 1936, one of the subjects, Otis McDaniels was executed in the gas chamber. The other brother, Herbert, was sentenced to life.

"His calmness broken in the final minutes, Otis McDaniels, 30, was executed in the Colorado Penitentiary Gas Chamber for the shooting of Montezuma County Sheriff W.W. Dunlap," said wire clipping in the Clovis (New Mexico) News Journal, of Feb. 15,  1936.

"With the stoicism that marked his actions during the last two weeks, McDaniels sat in his cell and heard Warden Roy Best read the death warrant," the paper said.

"In the execution chamber as the white death fumes drifted slowly upward over McDaniel's body and toward his face, his composure broke. Teeth clenched and lips sealed, he held his breath after the first wisp reached his nose and inhaled sparingly when forced to."

"He required nine and one-half minutes before the three official physicians said he was dead. Ordinarily the procedure is over in a minute," said the Clovis News Journal report.

"It started on May 5, 1935. James Westfall, a 77-year-old man, was bound and gagged and died alone in his home. Herbert and Otis McDaniels had gone to his home to rob him. Thinking he would be found, they left him unable to free himself. After the capture of the pair of murderers, people in Dolores, Montezuma and La Plata counties were so incensed that talk of lynching became common," according to a history column in the Cortez Journal on Tuesday, June 4, 2013.

"To secure the prisoners, they were taken all the way to Glenwood Springs. A week later Sheriff Wesley Dunlap and his deputy, Lem Duncan, headed off to bring the two back to Cortez. When they reached Placerville they chose to follow the river and go by way of Norwood and Dove Creek," said the Journal article.

"They had gone only a couple of miles when they came across an overheated car. Sheriff Dunlap stepped out of his car to see if he could help and left his revolver on his seat. Otis was able to grab the gun and ordered the deputy to get out and lie face down. While Herbert stood with his shackled foot on the deputy's neck, Otis turned the gun toward the sheriff. Thinking he could talk Otis out of the gun, Dunlap started walking toward Otis. Otis however aimed at the sheriff and shot. The first shot wounded him but Otis was not through. He stooped down and placed the barrel of the gun behind the right ear of the sheriff and pulled the trigger," said the Journal history column.

Accordingly, Otis then told the frightened deputy to take off as fast as he could back up the road. After retrieving the keys from one of the sheriff's pockets, the McDaniels brothers removed their shackles, jumped in the car and took off down the road. The manhunt covered Colorado, New Mexico and even the border into Mexico. On the first day, there were 300 men combing the hills around Placerville, said the Journal history column.

According to reports at the time, rumors began to emerge, and on day two the men were seen at Dunton, Rico, Priest Gulch and down near Norwood. Knowing the men were armed and might even have a rifle with them, the order came out to kill on sight. On day five, men from Cortez, Rico, Dolores, San Miguel, Telluride and counties throughout western Colorado joined in one of the biggest manhunts ever staged in western Colorado.

"The two brothers were finally found on day 22. They tried to give false names but were found out and easily handcuffed since they had no weapons of any kind. They were taken to trial and found guilty of first degree murder for the deaths of Westfall and Sheriff Dunlap. Herbert was given an unconditional term of life imprisonment," says the Journal report.

On Feb. 12, 1936, Otis walked to the death chamber and fourteen minutes later was declared dead. He was the fiftieth person to be executed in the Colorado prison.

"Men Charged With Murder of Sheriff Will Be Arraigned"

A wire piece in the Craig Empire Courier, Aug 14, 1935, related some of the story of the trial in Telluride. Colo.

Aug. 12—(UP)— In a frame, weather-beaten building here, which represents justice In this district, two brothers, both, killers, will face one of two first degree murder charges. They are charged with having slain Sheriff W. W. Dunlap of Montezuma county and an aqcd Cortez sheepman James Westfall. The bnthcrs. Otis and Herbert McDaniels, will be tried in district court, here, for the slaying of Sheriff Dunlap and. If they escape the death penalty or life imprisonment in the state penitentiary, then they will bo tried at Cortez. Colo., for the murder of the sheepman. To people who knew the McDaniels boys by sight, few knew them personally, they appeared law-abiding citizens. They lived about 20 miles east of Durango. Otis, the older of the two who is 30 they knew was married. They also knew that Herbert. 20. was courting a 16-year-old La Plata county girl. He even had told a few persons his intentions of marrying her Otis was marked by prison terms in New Mexico and Utah. None knew of this, however, for it never was revealed and no one asked. Then on May 6. the body of Westfall, who lived not far from the McDaniels.’ was found dead in his cabin. He had starved to death. Also, ho had been beaten on the head and tied hand and foot. The cabin had been ransacked. Apparently robbery was the motive, authorities believed. The police then grew suspicious of the McDaniels boys and after considerable investigation arrested them. Police said they confessed to the crime, after their arrests. It was learned after the arrest that Herbert had married, and part of the money obtained from Westfalls cabin was used for the marriage license. Feeling ran high in the sheep country and for safe-keeping they were taken to jail in Glenwood Springs. Then came the day when they were to face arraignment or the charges Sheriff Dunlap and his deputy, Lem Duncan, went for them. On the return trip they stayed overnight at the Grand Junction jail, because of the long trip, then they resumed. Near Placerville the party came upon a wrecked automobile. Sheriff Dunlap stopped the automobile to investigate. While the the sheriff investigated the accident, Otis grabbed a gun from the automobile, according to Herbert’s story, and fired, killing Dunlap who begged him not to shoot. Duncan ran from the scene, the McDaniels brothers said, and they escaped. The two killers then fled into the mountainous terrain and managed to elude sheriff’s posses for 22 days. Their capture August 6 resulted when they applied for work near Guffey, Colo."

"Last Chapter in the Lives of Otis and Herbert McDaniel is Recorded by Officers" 

A Grand Junction Daily Sentinel article outlining Otis' and Herbert's criminal lives described them facing two trials:

"The brothers were tried in Durango and Telluride in two separate murder counts. The first was for the starvation slaying of James Westfall, aged Lewis, Colo. rancher. The second time, they stood before the Jury charged with the slaying of Sheriff W.W. Dunlap of Montezuma county," says the Sentinel.

"In the first trial, both were found guilty of first degree murder and sentenced to life imprisonment. In the second trial at Telluride, both were found guilty but the jury recommended that Otis die at lethal gas chamber in Canon City, and Herbert spend the remainder of his life behind bars."

"As the current Sheriff in Montezuma County, Colorado, and a Peace Officer here in southwest Colorado for 40 years, I learned about and have honored all who have made the ultimate sacrifice. After Sheriff Dunlap was killed, a plaque in his honor was mounted in a wall design in the Montezuma County Courthouse honoring his service, where the Sheriff's Office was once located. When I took office in 2015, I had the plaque removed and is now mounted for public display at the current location of the Montezuma County Sheriff's Office located at 730 East Driscoll Street in Cortez, Colorado, where it belongs for all who enter to view, know and remember," says Sheriff Steven D. Nowlin, Montezuma County Sheriff, in May 18, 2017 post regarding End of Watch Information on the national Officer Down Memorial Page honoring police officers killed in the line of duty.

Troubling questions still linger in Josh Maddux death

Mummified corpse was

discovered Aug. 7, 2015 

By Rob Carrigan, robcarrigan1@gmail.com.

Today, it might be labeled "The boy in the Chimney," or "the strange death of ... " in any number of different Reddit threads or "Unsolved Mystery" shows in the world-wide media coverage it has garnered over the years. I know my own photos have appeared in the Daily Mail in the UK and other domestic publications. But mystery, it remains, for the most part.

"Troubling questions still surround the shocking death of 18-year-old Josh Maddux, whose mummified corpse was discovered Aug. 7, (2015) deep in the chimney of a vacant cabin being demolished by workers," wrote my friend and boss Bill Vogrin, at the time, when he first reported it in his Pikes Peak Courier story.

Maddux had walked away from his Woodland Park home on May 8, 2008, and vanished.

On Monday, Sept. 28, Teller County Coroner Al Born ruled Maddux’s death an accident, saying the 6-foot-tall, 150-pound teen had slid down the chimney “Santa Claus-style.”

Three days later, Born reopened his investigation after the cabin owner, Colorado Springs builder Chuck Murphy, came forward with details about the chimney that he says makes the accidental death theory impossible.

Born’s re-examination also followed calls to his office from tipsters offering the names of people who allegedly had bragged about killing Maddux in the cabin.

After a two-hour meeting on Friday, Born and Murphy emerged with vastly different opinions of the case, agreeing only that no one will probably ever know exactly why Maddux died or how he ended up in the chimney.

Murphy remains convinced Maddux was murdered, either forced up the chimney alive, trapped there and left to die or he was killed in the cabin and his remains forced through the damper and into the smoke chamber just above the firebox.

Murphy hasn’t wavered from his immediate opinion after his workers made the chilling discovery Aug. 7 as they used an excavator to peel open the chimney, one of two in the century-old cabin.

Murphy, 80, said it was impossible for anyone to slide down the chimney because a “heavy steel mesh grate” was installed near the top of the chimney when it was built 25 years ago.

It was an addition to the original cabin, which was part of “Big Bert” Bergstrom’s notorious Thunderhead dining, drinking and gambling casino that operated from the 1930s-50s along Rampart Range Road on Woodland Park’s north side.

“It was a heavy wire grate, a wire mesh, installed across the chimney about one row of bricks from the top,” Murphy said. “We didn’t want trouble with raccoons and things getting in the chimney.”

Murphy was convinced the mesh remained intact and prevented anyone from sliding down the chimney.

But investigators didn’t see it when they responded to the call of the body because his crew had already tossed it in a truck.

“They were just gathering up all the steel, angle iron and things as part of the demolition,” Murphy said. “They had no idea the mesh had any significance.”

But there are even more disturbing questions, Murphy said, that debunk the chimney theory.

The mystery deepened further when investigators found most of Maddux’s clothing next to the hearth.

“He was mostly naked inside the chimney,” Murphy said.

“He was only wearing his thermal shirt. No pants. No shoes or socks.”

Murphy said it’s ridiculous to think the teen stripped down to just his shirt, climbed up on the roof, up on the chimney and slid down, knowing he’d be trapped.

He said Maddux knew he’d be trapped because there was a steel “Heatilator” insert in the fireplace.

And a large, heavy wooden breakfast bar had been ripped from a wall and dragged from the kitchen and placed across the front of the fireplace, blocking it.

“It’s a real conundrum,” Murphy said. “A tragic, terrible story.

“All I know is he did not go down that chimney. He got in the fireplace and went up. But why? I think it will remain a mystery. One of those sad stories.”

Born acknowledged the questions are compelling. But he concluded late Friday the proper cause of death ruling remained accidental caused by sliding down the chimney and becoming trapped.

Born said he likely died of hypothermia. Temperatures May 8-10 in 2008 dipped into the high 20s according to historic data at Weather Underground.

“We’ve come up with the most plausible explanation and it will remain an accident,” Born said. “He did come down the chimney. That’s our conclusion.”

But what about the clothes inside the cabin? And the breakfast bar blocking the fireplace? And the heavy steel grate blocking the chimney?

“We looked at photos and we talked to Chuck Murphy about his memory of the chimney’s construction and we took everything into consideration,” Born said. “And we still have no evidence of a homicide.”

Still, Born said there were not good explanations for all the questions raised.

“The furniture in front of the fireplace . . . we can’t answer that question,” he said. “It would have trapped him in the firebox. But there’s no evidence he was ever in the firebox or went up the chimney.”

As for the steel grate at the top of the chimney, Born said it could have disintegrated over the years due to rust and corrosion from creosote building up on it and the effects of rain and snow. Or a chimney sweep may have removed it.

“Nobody saw the metal mesh,” Born said. “We didn’t see it in any of our photos. It may have disappeared.”

And there is no explanation for why Maddux may have stripped to just a shirt, climbed the roof and dropped down a chimney he knew was blocked.

“This one really taxed our brains,” Born said. “We found his clothes just outside the firebox. He only had on a thermal T-shirt. We don’t know why he took his clothes off, took his shoes and socks off, and why he went outside, climbed on the roof and went down the chimney. It was not linear thinking.

“It’s a real puzzler.”

The coroner said the autopsy found no evidence of illegal drugs, although testing was made difficult by the advanced state of decomposition.

“We found no indication of drugs and according to the family, he was not into using drugs,” Born said.

To suspect a crime, Born said investigators needed to find evidence like duct tape or ropes that may have bound him or signs in the soot of the firebox showing footprints or other marks of a body being stuffed up it.

“It would take at least two people to move him into the position he was in, as neatly packaged as he was inside the chamber,” Born said. “If there were more people involved we have absolutely no clues.”

“Unless something else comes forward that would change the whole situation, that’s where we’re at.”

Others have come forward with names of suspects, including long-circulating rumors of a man who bragged he killed Maddux.

Born said police detectives confirmed the man had a history of violence and a long criminal record. In fact, he is in prison in Texas and spent time in jail in Portland, Ore., and Seattle and was in trouble in New Mexico.

But authorities can’t positively place him in Woodland Park when Maddux disappeared. The same is true for at least one other suspect, who Born said would be too small to have killed Maddux and disposed of his body in the chimney alone.

“There’s a lot of hearsay that ‘this person was the last one to see him’ and that kind of thing,” Born said. “But they can’t give me times and specifics. And we can’t generate stuff that goes back seven years. These theories could only make sense if it was multiple men involved.”

Born said all the theories and speculation are meaningless without evidence and facts to support them, leaving him with few choices.

“I know it’s not a natural death and I’m confident it’s not suicide,” he said. “My other options are an accidental death, homicide and undetermined cause of death.

“It is frustrating we can’t pin it down.”

Joshua Vernon Maddux, 18, vanished in May 2008 in Woodland, Colorado.
His remains were found in a cabin in Woodland Park by construction workers who were tearing it down. 
The knees were above the head and the legs dislodged, Courier reports said.

Police have ruled the death as an accident and suspect Maddux climbed down the chimney and became stuck. The cabin's owner said he checked on the vacant property occasionally and noticed a 'bad smell' - but thought rodents had died in there. 

Joshua's father said the teenager had experienced two 'difficult' years before he vanished due to the suicide of his older brother Zachary. Their sister Kate admitted she had been hoping Josh would 'return home to my father’s house at any time with a wife and small children.'




The construction workers who found the body said a large piece of furniture was blocking the fireplace, so Maddux would not have been able to access the chimney from there - or to have exit it from there.

The remains of 18-year-old man reported missing seven years ago were found in the chimney of an abandoned cabin less than a mile from his home - but the details of his death are likely to stay mysterious - Colorado officials said Wednesday.

The body of Joshua Vernon Maddux was discovered when contractors tore down the historic cabin - on a property called Thunderhead Ranch - in Woodland Park, Teller County. It had been empty for more than a decade.

Authorities had to use dental records to identify the remains as those of Maddux, who was reported missing in May 2008 but not as a runaway.

Maddux - who was tall and skinny - was probably trying to shimmy down the chimney when he got stuck, Teller County Coroner Al Born said.

There was a wood-burning insert in the chimney that, had someone climbed in from above, they wouldn't have been able to crawl back up, according to


They said the knees of the mummified body were above its head, and the legs were dislodged from the torso.

Maddux's death was ruled accidental, and there were no signs of trauma, Born said.

It appears to have been a 'voluntary act to gain access' to the building, he added.

However, it is unclear how long Maddux's remains had been in the chimney. 'There are going to be some questions out there that are unanswerable,' Born admitted.

Family members say Josh was bright, a talented musician and doing well in school, and they are not sure why he was at the cabin.

According to the Pikes Peak Courier, his older brother, Zachary, had killed himself two years before Josh went missing.

Construction workers were demolishing this cabin on Thunderhead Ranch, Teller County, when they discovered Josh's body in the chimney and called police.

Their father Mike, who spoke to the Courier after Josh's body was found but not yet identified, said: 'I got up one morning and (Josh) was there, then he just never came home.

'The next day he still didn’t come home. I called all his friends. Nobody’s seen him. Nobody knows where he is. I didn’t know what to do so I called the police. He went missing on May 8 and I called police May 13, 2008.'

It is not known if Zachary's death had any bearing on Josh's disappearance.

Mr Maddux, who has two daughters, Kate and Ruth, said: 'I buried his older brother two years before and it was so difficult on Josh. When his brother died, it pushed him over the edge. It was a big shock for the family and a big shock for Josh. He thought highly of his older brother.

'It’s tough as a parent. You try to raise your kids and when they get close to 18, you think they’re pretty much grown up, but they’re not. They still need a lot of help.'

He said the family had searched for Josh for years. Because he was 18 at the time he vanished, police said there was no reason to suspect a crime, so he was listed as missing.

Police suspect the slender Maddux (pictured in family photos) had tried to climb down the chimney of the abandoned cabin when he became stuck. His body had been there for seven years

Their father Mike, who spoke to the Courier after Josh's body was found but not yet identified, said: 'I got up one morning and (Josh) was there, then he just never came home.

'The next day he still didn’t come home. I called all his friends. Nobody’s seen him. Nobody knows where he is. I didn’t know what to do so I called the police. He went missing on May 8 and I called police May 13, 2008.'

It is not known if Zachary's death had any bearing on Josh's disappearance.

Mr Maddux, who has two daughters, Kate and Ruth, said: 'I buried his older brother two years before and it was so difficult on Josh. When his brother died, it pushed him over the edge. It was a big shock for the family and a big shock for Josh. He thought highly of his older brother.

'It’s tough as a parent. You try to raise your kids and when they get close to 18, you think they’re pretty much grown up, but they’re not. They still need a lot of help.'

He said the family had searched for Josh for years. Because he was 18 at the time he vanished, police said there was no reason to suspect a crime, so he was listed as missing.

Maddux's disappearance was not thought to be suspicious by the police, and they listed him as missing.

Josh's sister Kate posted an online tribute to her brother after his body was identified. She wrote on the News of Woodland Park website: 'Sometimes in life, our stories don’t have happy endings. I’m sorry to say that this is one of those stories...

'Since Josh was 18, it has been reasonable to assume he may have decided to leave town to start a new life. As one of his two older sisters, I have always chosen to believe that this was the case.

'I have expected Josh to return home to my father’s house at any time with a wife and small children so that they can meet their grandparents and two aunts.

'Josh has always been known for his musical and literary talent, so maybe we would find him playing music with a band on tour, or catch him writing successful novels under a pen name so that he could keep his preferred lifestyle of solitude in the woods.'

The cabin's owner, Chuck Murphy, said his parents bought it 60 years ago and his brother had lived there but it had been empty for at least ten years. He is turning the site into 32 single-family homes

She then explains the circumstances in which his body was found and adds: 'This is certainly not the outcome that the Maddux family and my brother Josh’s many friends and loved ones were hoping for. We are however eternally grateful for the opportunity to finally provide Josh with the proper memorial service he deserves and to finally lay Josh to rest.'

Meanwhile his other sister Ruth wrote: 'He was my best friend and he always inspired me to strive for greatness. Josh would tell me that one should never say anything bad about anyone else, ever, and I tried to be more like him.

'Josh was one of the nicest people I have ever met, and I am very proud to be his sister.”

The cabin's owner, Chuck Murphy, told area  papers that his parents had bought the property 60 years ago. It was formerly a homestead of the Thunderhead Ranch, which was infamous for illegal gambling and wild parties.

Murphy's brother used to live there before it was turned into a rental property, said Chuck. No one had lived there for at least ten years, he added.

He said he occasionally checked on the property and had noticed a bad smell but thought rodents had died in there. He did not think to check the chimney because of the piece of furniture blocking the fireplace.

Murphy, owner Murphy Constructors, was redeveloping the site into 32 single-family homes. The cabin was fully demolished after police finished their investigation into Maddux's death.

13 men killed in 1929 Colorado prison riot

Armed guards in prison yard in Canon City shortly after the riot. Harry M. Rhoads photo.

By Rob Carrigan, robcarrigan1@gmail.com

All over the world, 1929 was a pretty rough year for everyone. It was the established end of the Roaring Twenties. Stocks on Wall Street crashed.  The Crash was the beginning of  the global Great Depression. Additionally, the Influenza Epidemic continued to reach a large number of people, killing a total of 200,000 in 1929 around the world. Also in 1929, Herbert Hoover became President of the United States, and notorious Chicago gangster Al Capone was arrested. Here in Colorado, we were not spared that unfortunate year – when one of the bloodiest prison riots claimed the lives of 13 in early October then.

The headlines shrieked at the top of local, national an international newspapers at the time.

"End Early Today To Mutiny In Colorado Prison TWELVE WERE KILLED IN RIOTS AT CANON CITY, COL.  Guards Brutally Murdered And Bodies Thrown Out Of A Cell House
DAY AND A NIGHT OF HORROR THERE Convicts Surrendered After Four Leaders Ended Their Lives."

On Oct. 4, 1929, an Associated Press story in Sedalia Democrat, Pages 1 and 2, reported it this way:

"CANON CITY, Colo., Oct. 4.— One of the bloodiest prison mutinies in the nation's history, which claimed the lives of seven guards and at least five convicts, ended at the Colorado state penitentiary here this morning when the four ring leaders of the uprising committed suicide.

"Barricaded with more than 150 other convicts in cell house No. 3, surrounded by troops, police and prison guards, and hopelessly outnumbered, the ring leaders first killed a wounded comrade and then fired bullets into their own brains.
The other convicts then surrendered and were marched out of the cell house just at sunrise.
The mutiny left in its wake a list of twelve dead, and as many wounded, some of whom may die."

Other papers carrying the same version sub-headed "Disarmed and Slaughtered," and related what happened.

"Four of the dead were prison guards, disarmed and slaughtered in cold blood inside the cell house, to emphasize the convicts’ demand for unmolested freedom. Warden Francis E. Crawford, who declined all offers to parley with the embittered prisoners, was himself wounded during one of the attacks on the cell block.

The police response was described with qualifiers like "Resorted to Dynamiting."
"National guard troops and police details from four Colorado cities fired more than 7,000 rounds of ammunition into the convicts stronghold during the night. The battle was marked by two attempts to dynamite the cell house walls, one blast breaking all the windows, but failing to effect a breach in the masonry."

"The hero of the dynamiting attempts was a Catholic priest. Father Patrick O’Neill, who carried the bombs to the foot of the cell house wall, under cover of machine gun fire from the prison walls.
Three guards were killed at the outbreak of rioting yesterday and four more during the night. Those killed in the early rioting were Roy Brown, Walter Rinker and Elmer G. Erwin, John J. Elles, Robert A. Wiggins, Charles Shepherd and John W. McClelland were slaughtered in the cell house.
The convict dead included Danny Daniels, who led the rioting and acted as executioner of the guards; A.H. Davis, George (Red) Riley, James Pardue, and Albert Morgaridge, convict found dead in the prison yard," the reports across the country described.

"Pardue was wounded in the abdomen during the early rioting. Removed to cellhouse No. 3 by the other convicts, he was found this morning with a bullet through his head, fired by one of the other convicts to end his suffering," noted many accounts.

Three of the other ringleaders were found dead in the same cell, powder burns on their temples bearing mute testimony to shots fired at close range. The body of Daniels was in the doorway, sprawled half in and half out of the cell.

"The floor of the cell house, which last night served as the execution chamber of four unarmed guards, was slippery with blood. The bodies of Charles Shepherd and John W. McClelland, two of the slain guards, were found in the cell house bound hand and foot. Both had been shot through the head.
Close estimates fix the time of the suicides of the riot leaders at 4 am, but it was not until an hour and a half later, at daybreak when O.E. Earl one of the surviving guards made his way into the prison yard, that the attacking forces learned of the fact, entered the cell house and rounded up the prisoners," according to reports at the time."

"Earl said he was afraid to leave the cell house until daylight, for fear of being mistaken for a convict and shot by the watchers on the walls. With him and the cell house were John Pease and Lawrence Roche, who escape the fury of the convicts. Roche's sister, Josephine, secretary to Warden Crawford had remained at the prison all night, fearing each minute to see her brother's bullet riddled body tossed out of a window of the cell house, as the bodies of Ellis and Wiggins were tossed out.
Giving her brother up for dead, she had left the prison shortly before daylight. When she learned that he was alive, she collapsed. Gutted by fire, which destroyed the dining room and chapel and two of the cell houses and scarred by machine gun bullets and dynamite, the prison yard this morning was in utter ruin," described the reports.Marvin Duncan, one of the guards in the cell house, was carried to a hospital this morning stark mad from terror," described Wire versions.

 
"He was found locked in a cell and it was necessary to take off the door to get him out. He was at first thought to be dead, but examination revealed he was not even wounded. He saw Elles, the prison hangman, shot down and saw his body tossed out of the cell house window." 

In some cases, the wire reports even described the conversations inside, as the drama played out.

• He stood by while Danny Daniels asked Wiggins, another guard, if he had said his prayers.
• "Yes." Wiggins replied without emotion. "Where do you want me to stand?"
• He heard Daniels say "right where you are," and fired a bullet through Wiggins' head.
• He heard Daniels tell John Shea, another guard, to take Wiggins' body out to the warden and tell him that Marvin Duncan would be the next guard to die.
• That was at 9:30 PM. From then until he lost his mind, he expected each moment to be his last. Prison physicians said his condition resembled shell shock.
• 15 feet inside the door lay the body of one of the guards, murdered last night by Daniels, the convicts said. A few feet further along laid the body of Daniels himself, leader of the riot and known executioner of at least three defenseless guards.
• The entering men came also upon the bodies of James Pardue and Major Davis, other ringleaders. It was evident they had shot themselves, the shots that killed them having been fired at close range. The features of the dead mutineers were mutilated.
• The convicts had made provision for a long siege. In one of the cells they had stacked 25 huge loaves of prison bread. Two long butcher knives that might have been used as weapons were found nearby. Marvin Duncan was still alive when taken from his cell. He was removed to Holmes hospital. Previously Duncan had been numbered among the dead.

Inside the building, the bodies of Charles Shepherd and McClelland, guards held hostage, also were found. These two guards, it appeared, had been murdered when the rioting was at its height last night.
The penitentiary will need to be completely rebuilt. The inmates are being quartered temporarily in tents erected inside the prison walls.
Warden Crawford today estimated the damage to the penitentiary at between $300,000 and $400,000. All the cell blocks except number three in which the mutinous convicts were barricaded, were destroyed by fire, and number three is badly damaged he said. When the prisoners were assembled for roll call this morning, four were reported unaccounted for. Prison officials expressed doubt, however, that they had escaped. They were believed to be in hiding somewhere in the ruins of the prison yard.

For years, relatives with a connection to the participants, also told their story. Writer Gayle Gresham succinctly related the following on her blog on the 89th anniversary of the riot.

"Jimmie Pardue and Danny Daniels put their plan to escape prison into motion at around noon on October 3, 1929. Pardue shot and killed the first guard, Elmer Erwin, who was in the Crow's Nest. After taking Erwin's rifle, Pardue shot and killed Walter Rinker, who was on top of the administration building, and then shot and killed Ray Brown, who was in Tower 8. Guard Myron Goodwin was also shot, but didn't die until a week later on October 10," Gresham wrote.

"Pardue and Daniels held 11 guards hostage in Cell Block 3 for twelve hours. During this time, another group of 100 or so prisoners set a fire which destroyed Cell House 1 & 2, including the dining room, library and chapel, " she said.

"Daniels gave his demands to Warden Crawford for their release; Crawford, however, called in the National Guard. When Daniel's demands weren't met, he began killing his hostages execution style. He first shot guard Jack Eeles in the head and dropped his body from a window. Guards Walter Rinker and R.A. Wiggins were also killed."

"The Warden and National Guard tried several plans throughout the night to end the riot. 2,000 rounds of ammunition were shot into Cell Block 3. A charge of 150 pounds of dynamite was set off outside the wall of cell block 3, but the charge failed to bring down the wall. Finally, tear gas was dropped into the building and Daniels, seeing no way out of the situation, shot Pardue and two other prisoners who helped with the escape plan before turning the gun on himself at about 4:00 a.m. on the 4th of October," according to Gresham nearly a century after the riot.

"Reading through the newspaper reports of the riot, I can't imagine the fear and anxiety of having a loved one working in the prison. Margaret Brown's home was across the Arkansas River from the prison, within a mile of it. Surely, she heard the gunshots. Did friends gather with her at her home or did she go to a location where other family members of those who worked at the prison waited? One report highlights the plumes of smoke from the prison, the percussion of the dynamite blast broke windows in houses within ten miles of the prison, airplanes flew overhead day and night, and the constant gunfire throughout the night," she said.

One article in the Canon City Record shares the story of E.J. Hollister's family, "All through the terror-filled hours of the afternoon and night, they waited for word from their loved one - their husband and father... Each shot that rang out during that horror-filled night brought new terror, more heavy anxiety to Miss Grace Hollister, oldest of the three daughter, who waited in heart-breaking fear for news of her father." 

Hearses await the remains of the dead at the Colorado State Penitentiary in Canon City, after the riot in 1929. Harry M. Rhoades photo. Denver Public Library. Special Collections.

The Associated Press, also carried the narrative from prisoner's perspective a day later, under the headline "Witness Tells of Outbreak." 

The first eye witness story of the drama of horror which brought to an end the bloody prison uprising at the state penitentiary here early Friday morning came haltingly today from the lips of a terror-numbed convict who stood next to the cell in which Danny Daniels snuffed out the lives of three of his aides, and then his own.

• "Aye about 4 o’clock in the morning," said the convict, who desired to remain unnamed, "Danny, who had been walking up and down the corridor in cellhouse number 3, called Red Riley and A. H. Davis to him in the cell where Jimmie Pardue lay wounded. 
• "Boys’, he told them, ’we’re fighting a losing battle. What will we do?'
• "Pardue spoke up and said: ‘Danny, end it with me before the guards get me.’
• "Davis and Rinel agreed. 
• "The two stood up. Daniels went into the cell, shot Pardue in the head, then shot Davis and Riley in succession. They fell upon each other and lay in a pile. 
• "Then Daniels went outside the cell, walked up and down for a minute and then said ‘well, my pals are gone. The guards are all dead. I'll end it.’ 
• "He put the gun to his head and pulled the trigger.
• "All the while, Daniels was as cool as could be. All of his killings were deliberate and calculated. He talked over his killings with convicts, nonparticipants, in the cells.
• "Once he said: ‘We didn’t intend to kill a man when we started. If Short Irwin (the first guard) had not hit Jimmie Pardue when Jimmie told him to turn over the gun he had, we would not have done it. We had to kill Short when he resisted, and we didn’t care. I’ll kill every guard except one or two who have been good to me. Old Jack Shea is OK. He can go’. 
• Danny told Shea it was because Shea had once seen to it that a convict, deprived of his supper, had been fed. Danny knew about it, because Shea had Danny take the food to him. 
• "Danny told Shea it was that one act which saved his life.
• "Danny questioned each guard before he killed him. He told J. J. Eelles, the first guard killed in cellhouse number 3, that he was going to kill him because he had hanged so many condemned convicts. He fired four shots into his body.
• "Then he went along the cells and told the other guards that he could not do the same with them because he didn’t have enough shells. "You’ll have to get along with one slug,’ he told them, and then he laughed. 
• "His methods were cruel in the extreme. 
• "He said to R. A. Wiggins, the second guard killed: 
• " ‘Wiggins, did you ever hang a man?’ ” 
• "Wiggins said he had not. 
• " ‘Well, you’re next, anyway."
• "He did not call him out of the cell for fifteen minutes after that. When he did, he laughed and said: 
• 'Well, Wiggins, have you said your prayer?'” 
• Then he shot him.

___ From  The Ogden Standard Examiner; Ogden, Utah; 6 Oct 1929.

Some papers called it the worst prison outbreak in history. The Record Journal of Douglas County follows:

SEVEN GUARDS AND FIVE CONVICTS LOSE LIVES IN CANON CITY PENITENTIARY RIOT MUTINY ATMNON CITY AFTER NIGHT OF WARFARE , CONVICTS LEADERS END STRIFE BY COMMITTING SUICIDE Canon City . —War raged ia the Colorado penitentiary last Thursday night, where the most desperate prison outbreak in the countrys history claimed twelve lives. Militiamen laid down a machine gun barrage, while dynamite charges were laid which blew away the end of cellhouse No . 3 , where nearly 200 convicts were barricaded. Within this same cellhouse a firing squad of bandits bad slaughtered four guards captured as hostages In the outbreak that occurred shortly after noon Thursday. These same convicts had issued an ultimatum that, unless granted autos and freedom, tbey would kill six or seven other guards whom they had captured. Three other guards were killed during tbe fighting that marked tbe first outbreak , and five convicts met death in the mutiny Four other guards who had been lined up for execution escaped by toppling over and shamming death. .

"The massacre of guards started about 7 o clock Thursday evening. A few minutes later the attacking forces were horrified when a body was hurled from a window of Uie beselged ccllbouse . When the body was approached it proved to be Guard Jack J , Eeles , shot four times but still barely alive . He died as he was removed to a hospital . The killing of Robert A . Wiggins , second of the murdered men, was witnessed through a window by some ot the guardsmen. He stood before a firing squad. Sometime between 7 aud 10 o clock two other guards wero murdered—Charles Shepherd and John W . McClelland—but their bodies were neither hurled from the windows nor sent out to the leaders of the attacking forces . They were found after the surrender, lying on tbo floor of the cellhouse corridor. Above the figures of all others in the mutiny loomed that of the superkiller—Danny Daniels . Four times, either single-handed or as leader ot a firing squad, he killed helpless guards who had been seized as hostages."

Click on following to view old news reel footage of the riot:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SWFN29cIYG0

Blue Angels thrill Loveland spectators

Photos by Rob Carrigan, robcarrigan1@gmail.com

A Blue Angels jet made an emergency landing Saturday afternoon at the Great Colorado Air Show but the show resumed and went off without a hitch on Sunday. The Navy elite aviators thrilled crowds watching in the Loveland skys for days with practice runs and the first official performance in 19 years.
According to a spokesperson with the Northern Colorado Regional Airport, which hosted the event, the jet had a flat tire and made an emergency landing around 3:25 p.m. Saturday.

The incident was cleared and the airport reopened around 5:20 p.m., the spokesperson said.On Saturday according to a story by Max Levy in the Loveland Reporter-Herald:

"After the sixth plane landed early —Jake Hildy of the Loveland Fire Rescue Authority said both rear tires had popped during takeoff, though the pilot was unharmed — the crowd saw rare five-plane variants of some of the group's signature maneuvers. 
The airshow gates reopened at 9 a.m. Sunday.

Montezuma is poster child for boom, bust cycles.

"I wonder, sometimes, whether men and women in fact are capable of learning from history whether we progress from one stage to the next in an upward course or whether we just ride the cycles of boom and bust, war and peace, ascent and decline."

___ Barack Obama

By Rob Carrigan, robcarrigan1@gmail.com

Montezuma is perhaps the poster child for a Colorado silver boom and bust, small boom again, and bust, and then boom again. 

The population was 65 in 2010 according to the United States Census for Montezuma, Colorado.

The town of Montezuma was founded as early as 1865, following the discovery of silver in the vicinity of nearby Argentine Pass, and was populated by prospectors coming over the passes from nearby Georgetown.  Incorporation followed in 1881, with the local newspaper, the Montezuma Mill Run, publishing's first issue  in 1882. In that issue, the Mill Run described a town with two hotels, three stores, three saloons, two blacksmiths, a shoemaker, and restaurants and boarding houses.

The town is a former mining camp sitting at an elevation of 10,200 feet, just west of the Continental Divide, nestled among mountains with peaks that reach an elevation of 12,000-13,000 feet. It rests in the upper valley of the Snake River above the modern ski resort of Keystone in the Colorado Ski country.

Experiencing a slight revival in mining interest in 1940, it has remained  quiet since World War II. Five major fires throughout its history, including ones in 1949 and 1958 destroyed many of the historic structures, including the Summit House, which burned in the fire of Christmas 1958. Other fires in the 1970s and 1980s destroyed additional historic buildings and businesses, leaving the town with little current economic base. Currently, the town is experiencing a high surge of interest as the value of real estate in proximity to ski areas and with access to wilderness.

In 1890 — at the height of the Colorado Silver Boom — the population reached nearly 10,000, and had two stores, a post office, two hotels (the Summit House and the Rocky Mountain House), and a sawmill. It eventually had a smelter, which allowed local separation of the silver and lead ores, typically found together in the region. At the its peak, the mountainside around the town, located numerous mines on the Belle and Blance lodes and were operated by the Sts. John Mining Company, after which the nearby ghost town of Saints John is named. Saints John now consists of three cabins near timberline, at 10,764 feet.

According to the June 24, 1882 "Montezuma Mill Run," a prospector named Coley made prospecting trips through South Park in 1863. He went up the North Swan River, over Bear Pass, down along the west slope of Glacier Mountain, and past the site of the future Sts. John’s mine. Sts. John will be named after both the Baptist and the evangelist, as a result, Saints, not Saint. In 1863, Coley arguably made the first silver discovery in the Territory, although no one knew where Coley had been, until he returned from one of his trips. He had smelted his ore in a crude furnace, built on the site of his discovery, and when he returned to Georgetown and Empire, he showed his silver ingots.

"Coley’s discovery was reported to be on the slopes of Glacier Mountain and quickly it led to a slew of prospectors combing the high mountain valleys in that area. A few of the lucky ones made silver ore discoveries and formed a local mining district with their own mining claim rules. In 1865, M.O. Wolf, D.C. Collier, and Henry M. Teller camped in the valley below some of these silver claims and they, like any good pioneers, decided the location would be a good location for a town. The next thing they did was to start naming some of the surrounding mountains and in honor of the riches associated with last Aztec Emperor of Mexico, they also blazed the name Montezuma on a tree near Colliers tent as this would be a good location for a town," according to Mary Gilliland, in "Summit: A Gold Rush History of Summit County, Colorado."

Photo information:

1. A pack team in Montezuma taken in the early 1900s. Men and pack burros pose in Montezuma, Summit County, Colorado. The saloon behind them (Montezuma Pool Hall) is a two-story frame building with a false front; signs by the door read: “Anheuser Busch Pale Light Beer.” Photo courtesy of Summit County Historical Society and Denver Public Library photo archives.

2. Montezuma, Colorado, looking north: Lennewee Mt. in the distance at the right, approximate date between 1883 and 1885. Picture courtesy of Denver Public Library.

3.4.5. 6.

Photos of  recovering mining operations in Montezuma in WW II, including children of family now living in old hotel in ghost mining town now coming to life because of defense needs. Photos by Marion Post Wolcott,  September, 1941. U.S. Farm Security Administration/Office of War Information Black & White Photographs.

Northern Hotel hosts history, Old Town mystery

Tales of ghosts, phantoms, spooky happenings abound

By Rob Carrigan, robcarrigan1@gmail.com

If you listen to the local folks' stories and the ghost tour guides of Old Town Fort Collins, they will tell you about fire alarms and the spooky figures and happenings centered around an ancient downtown hotel. Even today residents will tell you of a ghost child who wanders the space there, or of mother searching, or of phantom Shriners, or of young women cut down in the prime of their youth.

It was the Northern Hotel, in fact, tabbed as the last place the Mata sisters were seen alive. The sister's bodies were discovered in late April, 1978.  Rosemary Mata, 21, and Julia Mata DeLosSantos, 24, were found beat to death on a rural roadside up Buckhorn Canyon, west of Fort Collins. 

"They paint a picture of the early days of the Mata sisters' murder investigation. They feature a sketch of a man a witness said was last seen with the women outside the Northern Hotel in the early morning hours of April 29, 1978," writes Erin Udell, in a story presented in the local "Fort Collins Coloradoan" about the news clippings and other information saved by a sister of the Mata sisters, on the 40th anniversary of the Mata sisters' death.

"They explain how Santos Romero Jr., the Fort Collins house painter serving two life sentences for the sisters' deaths, later appealed that conviction, claiming innocence."

But the history stretches back further, with tales of more supernatural occurrences. 

"Perhaps more history of Fort Collins abides in the walls and bones of the Northern Hotel than in any other downtown structure. Step into its elegant lobby with the wide, sweeping staircase and hear the echoes of history," notes local historian Barbara Fleming, at poudrelandmarks.org.

She offers the following timeline:

1873—Fort Collins does not have much to commend it—noted traveler Isabella Bird describes the town as “revolting…with coarse speech, coarse food, coarse everything,” swarming with locusts and black flies. Marcus Coon, seeing a brighter future, builds the Agricultural Hotel on Mason Street.

1877—Somewhat more settled and civilized, the town boasts electricity, a railroad line and a soon-to-open college. Englishman David Harris purchases Coon’s hotel, moves part of it to the triangular corner of College and Walnut where the true-north town meets the older riverside settlement, names it the Commercial Hotel, adds rooms, and charges $2 a night, $5 a week. The small rooms contain only a bed, a chair, a chamber pot and a stand for water. Guests are either men or respectable couples. Women don’t travel alone. Harris replaces the wooden building with the brick one that still stands. Though it remains open, the hotel faces stiff competition. Fort Collins is growing. The seat of Larimer County, it is becoming a commercial and industrial center.

1904—The hopeful spirit of the new century energizes the town, home of a new sugar-beet factory and a thriving sheep ranching enterprise. A consortium of businessmen buys the hotel, renames it the Northern, and develops an “elegant, imposing, first class” establishment, according to newspaper accounts. Wonder of wonders, each room has a telephone. Some rooms even have private baths. Across the decades, the hotel sees the town through the War to End All Wars, a devastating flu epidemic, the exuberant twenties, an oil boom that goes bust, and the Great Depression.

1940—Ace Gillette opens a restaurant on the first floor with a large ceiling dome in the center. Rumor has it that city leaders don’t like the dome because it echoes comments they don’t want overheard. The dome will be hidden for years. Post World War II—After frequently housing soldiers during the war, the hotel continues in its sedate way, its distinctive Art Deco façade marking the northern end of downtown. But the old lady begins to show her age. Over the years, Gillette’s restaurant closes, the type of hotel guests and tenants changes, and, along with the rest of downtown, the trend is downward. Then, in 1975, a devastating fire traps and kills a 90-yearold man on the fourth floor. Another resident is jailed on suspicion of arson. The “pearl of northern Colorado” has lost its luster.

2001—Resurrected and remodeled, the Northern becomes low-income housing for senior citizens. New tenants occupy the ground floor. Restored to its “Art Deco glory,” as author Tom Noel noted, the stately old building is now an outstanding downtown landmark. This beautiful, venerable structure has come full circle from its glory days.

Still some mystery about what happened

"Oh, uh, just one more thing." __ Columbo

Peggy Hettrick. In 1999, authorities arrested Timothy Masters for her murder and he was found guilty and sentenced to prison. In 2008, Masters was set free due to DNA testing results which pointed to another (unknown) suspect.

15 Larimer County murders remain unsolved

By Rob Carrigan, robcarrigan1@gmail.com

If you do good, perhaps good will come back to you.
But if you do evil, if there is any fairness in the equation, the measure will be returned.
Call it Karma or reciprocity, just deserts, what ever – you are gonna get whatever is coming to you ... or not. First, they need to figure out who, did what, to whom.

Locally, here in Larimer County, there is still some mystery in at least 15 high-profile, unsolved cases. Following are a few details on those murders, going back more than a century, as noted by the county coroner's office.

Larimer County "Open," unsolved cases.

1. Joseph Allen
Date Of Death (DOD): 07/03/1907

Fort Collins Police officer Allen was beaten to death by an ax, brick, or a large club on 07/03/1907 while on patrol in "the Jungles" area of Fort Collins, where Allen had been active in prosecuting numerous cases of liquor law violations. Allen's body was discovered in the middle of the road around 10 p.m. by a man who lived in the same block. According to the newspaper, the neighbor heard groans and believed they were coming from a drunken man. When Roy Kelley went out to look, he discovered the dying Allen. Allen's pistol, club, and knife were missing.
If you have any possible information related to this case please contact:
City of Fort Collins Police Services, 2221 Timberline Road, Fort Collins, CO 80525
Phone: 970.221.6540 (non-emergency), Police Sgt of Investigations: Mike Trombley mtrombley@fcgov.com

2) Frank Peak

Date of Death: 07/13/1915

Loveland Town Marshall, Peak, was fatally shot at age 35. His body was found draped over the railing on the east side of an irrigation bridge over the English Canal on Lincoln Avenue, south of 2nd Street. He was killed in a shootout with suspects who were never found. The case was re-opened in 1991 but is now inactive because all known witnesses are deceased. If you have any possible information related to this case please contact:
City of Loveland Police Services, 810 E. 10th Street, Loveland, CO 80537 Phone: 970.962.2260 (Investigations)

3) Steven Kirk 

Found: 06/25/1977

The decomposing body of 28 year-old Kirk was found in a camping trailer at the Ramada Inn, Ft. Collins. Kirk had been beaten to death. No suspects were named. Authorities suspect robbery was a motive.
If you have any possible information related to this case please contact:
Larimer County Sheriff's Department, 2501 Midpoint Drive, Fort Collins, CO 80525 Phone: 970.498.5100
Lieutenant of Investigations: Robert Coleman

4 & 5) Walter & Kimo Perry

Date Of Death: 03/12/1979

A 29-year-old father and his nine-month-old son were burned to death while sleeping in their Loveland home at 604 SE 8th St. Perry's wife, Gwendolyn "Joyce" Perry, escaped the fire. Police ruled the deaths homicides after evidence of arson was found.
If you have any possible information related to this case please contact:
Larimer County Sheriff's Department,
2501 Midpoint Drive, Fort Collins, CO 80525 Phone: 970.498.5100
Lieutenant of Investigations: Robert Coleman  

6) Morton S. Rosenfeld

Date Of Death: 05/19/1979

Rosenfeld, age 43, was discovered in a basement apartment at Windcliff Estates in Estes Park. Rosenfeld had been beaten to death. Authorities identified a suspect and that suspect failed a subsequent polygraph. However, insufficient evidence existed to prosecute. The suspect, no longer living in Colorado, was re-interviewed by LCSO investigators in 2003. He chose not to cooperate and therefore remains a suspect in this murder.
If you have any possible information related to this case please contact:
Larimer County Sheriff's Department,
2501 Midpoint Drive, Fort Collins, CO 80525 Phone: 970.498.5100
  

7) Donald Ova

 Found: 12/25/1984

A resident of the lower Poudre Canyon was taking a walk and came across the body of 32-year-old Ova. Ova was transient and lived in the Greeley area. He was last seen alive on Thanksgiving, 1984. He was led up a hill and shot to death, execution-style. A suspect was identified but scientific testing available 16 years later (2000) failed to conclusively implicate him and the Larimer County DA refused to prosecute for lack of evidence.
If you have any possible information related to this case please contact:
Larimer County Sheriff's Department,
2501 Midpoint Drive, Fort Collins, CO 80525 Phone: 970.498.5100
Lieutenant of Investigations: Robert Coleman


8) Peggy Hettrick

Date Of Death: 02/11/1987

Hettrick, age 37, was found in an open field on the west side of the 3800 block of Landings Dr., Ft. Collins, in the early morning of 02/11/87. She had been stabbed in the back. In 1999, authorities arrested Timothy Masters for the murder and he was found guilty and sentenced to prison. In 2008, Masters was set free due to DNA testing results which pointed to another (unknown) suspect.
If you have any possible information related to this case please contact:
Colorado Attorney General's Office,
1525 Sherman St, Denver, CO 80203 Phone: 303.866.4500
Peggy Hettrick Tip Line 303.866.5479 Attorney.General@state.co.us
Colorado Attorney General: Philip J. Weiser

9) Jessica Arredondo 

Found: 11/26/1988

Arredondo, age 21, was last seen on 11/25/88 when she dropped her boyfriend off at Neil's, a bar in Glendale, south of Denver. Arredondo's car, a red 1988 Mustang convertible, was found abandoned a few blocks from the bar at east 7th and Jackson, and appeared to have been involved in an accident. Witnesses said she had been abducted from the accident site by "several unknown male suspects." Her body was found on US 36 near Estes Park in Larimer County the next day. She had suffered fatal blows to her head. Investigation produced condemned killer Robert Harlan as a suspect. Harlan, the son of a Denver Police officer, now sits on Colorado's Death Row for the 1993 slaying of Rhonda Maloney, a Central City casino waitress he abducted and killed. Harlan was also found guilty of shooting and paralyzing Jacque Creazzo, the woman who tried to come to Maloney's aid. Harlan became a suspect in the Arredondo slaying after police interviewed his former co-workers at US West where Arredondo worked as an Information Operator.
If you have any possible information related to this case please contact: 

Larimer County Sheriff's Department, 2501 Midpoint Drive, Fort Collins, CO 80525 Phone: 970.498.5100, Lieutenant of Investigations: Robert Coleman


10) Anthony E. Mackey

Date Of Death: 08/12/1991

This 84-year-old male was being cared for in his home by his niece, Darlene Goddard, and her college-aged son, Kristopher Koetteng. The decedent had sustained blunt trauma to the central nervous system in a fall approximately 5 months prior to death. Since the fall, he was in deteriorating health and a downhill neurological course. Ultimately, he became totally helpless and bedridden with paralysis, aphasia, and loss of bladder and bowel control. Although there was initially no evidence of foul play, an autopsy was performed to document trauma related to the fall. A fractured hyoid bone and fresh bruising to the neck muscles was found at autopsy, indicating recent manual strangulation.
If you have any possible information related to this case please contact:
Larimer County Sheriff's Department,
2501 Midpoint Drive, Fort Collins, CO 80525 Phone: 970.498.5100
Lieutenant of Investigations: Robert Coleman 


11) “Baby Faith" 

Found: 08/24/1996

"Baby Faith" was a newborn who suffocated after being wrapped in a plastic garbage bag and left on the shores of Horsetooth Reservoir in Larimer County. Two young boys found the body. The identity of her parents remains a mystery.
If you have any possible information related to this case please contact:
Larimer County Sheriff's Department,
2501 Midpoint Drive, Fort Collins, CO 80525 Phone: 970.498.5100
Lieutenant of Investigations: Robert Coleman


12) Mary Lou Vickerman

Date Of Death: 09/13/1999

Loveland Police are searching for a hit and run driver who killed 61 year-old Vickerman at US 287 and the Orchards Shopping Center entrance in Loveland. Vickerman was sitting on her bicycle at 1:40 p.m. waiting to cross US Hwy 287 when a red Ford pickup, 1970's model with a white camper shell turned out of Orchards Center and slammed into her. Vickerman died of head trauma. The driver of the pickup, described as a white male in his late 30's or early 40's, did not stop.
If you have any possible information related to this case please contact:
City of Loveland Police Services,
810 E. 10th Street, Loveland, CO 80537 Phone: 970.962.2260 (Investigations)  


13) Renee Bina Munshi

Date Of Death: 10/06/1999

About 1 a.m., a vehicle struck and killed Munshi on South Taft Hill Road in Ft. Collins. Munshi was waiting for her boyfriend to return with help for their injured dog, who had also been hit by a car. Her boyfriend was gone about 10 minutes and returned to find Munshi lying in the shoulder of the road next to the dog. She was transported to PVH where she died later that morning. No suspects have been identified.
If you have any possible information related to this case please contact:
City of Fort Collins Police Services,
2221 Timberline Road, Fort Collins, CO 80525 Phone: 970.221.6540 (non-emergency) 


14) John Robert Miller

Date Of Death: 08/15/2003

Miller, age 56, was found lying in the 4200 block of US Highway 287 in Loveland around 2:30 a.m., the victim of a hit and run. He died of his injuries 2 hours later. A Larimer County Sheriff's deputy noticed Miller walking along the road and spoke with him at 01:30 at 37th and US Highway 287. Both Miller and the hit and run vehicle were thought to have been northbound; Miller was struck from behind. The driver did not stop to render aid. No suspects have been identified.
If you have any possible information related to this case please contact:
City of Loveland Police Services,
810 E. 10th Street, Loveland, CO 80537 Phone: 970.962.2260 (Investigations)

15) William Roger Connole, Jr. 

Date Of Death: 06/03/2015

Connole, age 65, was standing on the corner of St. Louis Ave and East 1st St. in Loveland at approximately 10:45 p.m. when a passing motorist pulled up next to him and fired a shotgun at him, killing him instantly. A vehicle was witnessed slowing near the decedent as he stood at the corner, but the actual shooting was unwitnessed and the perpetrator has not been identified.
If you have any possible information related to this case please contact:
City of Loveland Police Services,
810 E. 10th Street, Loveland, CO 80537 Phone: 970.962.2260 (Investigations)  

###

'Ghost town' Creede resumes activity for war effort

Thing of the past ...

Creede

Here's a land where all are equal—
Of high or lowly birth—
A land where men make millions,
Dug from the dreary earth.
Here the meek and mild-eyed burro
On mineral mountains feed—
It's day all day, in the day-time,
And there is no night in Creede.

The cliffs are solid silver,
With wond'rous wealth untold;
And the beds of running rivers
Are lined with glittering gold.
While the world is filled with sorrow,
And hearts must break and bleed—
It's day all day in the day-time,
And there is no night in Creede.

___ by Cy Warman

Production Lead. 

Types of miners who work the lead mines near Creede, Colorado. Creede, for many years a "ghost town," has resumed the activities that made it an important lead-producing center years ago, and is now producing much metal vitally needed for the war effort. 

Loading lead ore at a mine near Creede, Colorado.

Reopened mine workings near Creede, Colorado. Creede, for many years a "ghost town," has resumed the activities that made it an important lead-producing center years ago, and is now producing much metal vitally needed for the war effort.

All photos: Andreas Feininger, photographer. United States Office of War Information.

 Created/Published, December, 1942.