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The Commissioner Shootings LbNA #15831

Owner:Adoptable
Plant date:Jun 14, 2005
Location:
City:Town of Grand Lake
County:Grand
State:Colorado
Boxes:1
Planted by:Aljan
Found by: Busy Bee'in
Last found:Jun 27, 2018
Status:FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF
Last edited:Jun 14, 2005
This box is part of a four box series that marks some of the surprising, and sometimes disturbing, history of the small mountain town of Grand Lake, CO. These events are historically factual. A warning... these stamps are all kinda morbid but wicked fun! Aljan

During the elections of 1880 trouble started to brew in the Rocky Mountain hamlet of Grand County. The county had recently undergone a dramatic shift from being widely Democratic to Republican. The shift brought with it a rising rift among the public and politicians over several issues.

One of these issues was the location of the county seat. It was a very sensitive issue with strong opinions on both sides. Hot Sulphur Springs had been the logical center for the county since 1874. Six years later, this was no longer so. The focus and attention of the population had turned towards Grand Lake. This inspired the creation of a petition to the county commissioners requesting a special election to determine a “permanent establishment” of the county seat. The response from the Sulphur sympathizers was immediate. They vied that the question should be placed on the regular ballot on November 2nd, and to this the commissioners agreed. When it came, the vote was cast along strict geographical lines, with Grand Lake defeating Hot Sulphur Springs by a provisional count of 114 to 83. However, a majority of the Board of Canvassers was of the Sulphur persuasion and chose to disallow enough ballots to adjust the outcome, 76 to 68, in favor of the existing county seat.

The Grand Lakers were frantic. According to law, another vote upon the question could only be held after an interval of four years. But where the will is strong enough there is usually a way and on April 9th of the following year the newly seated board of county commissioners moved to adjust matters. The new board reflected a mining interest which was fortified by the addition of John Gillis Mills who announced that the canvassers had “exceeded their ministerial duties” and falsified their returns. Therefore, Grand Lake was the proper county seat, and all county officers were ordered to move their paraphernalia back to Grand Lake “as soon as the roads will permit”.

The issue however was not yet settled. Hot Sulphur Springs discovered two stubborn champions in William N Byers and Thomas J Dean. Dean attempted without success to argue with the majority commissioners and carried the contest to the August sessions of the District Court at Grand Lake. It was a colorful episode, spiced with counter-proceedings against Dean for altering his county court records. The most significant development was his employment as of Edward P Weber as Dean’s principal attorney. It was the strengthening of a notable association.

The District Court arrived at no early decision, and Dean, counseled by Weber and supported with a subsidy from Byers, took the issue to the Colorado Supreme Court. The Supreme Court became entangled in technicalities, and in April 1882, the case was remanded to the District Court for a determination of the votes that had been legally cast in the referendum. Judge Carpenter announced his findings on August 18: 71 votes for Sulphur and 93 for Grand Lake. This should have settled the matter. The losers did acquiesce, but with a grace that was only skin deep.

Other controversies threatened to breed similar ill feeling. One of these dealt with a road that was proposed to connect Gaskill with Teller, by way of Bowen Gulch and Bowen Pass, just north of Grand Lake proper. Although more than $2,000 of public monies were spent on the project and very little was accomplished. More disturbing still was a developing territorial dispute between Grand and neighboring Larimer County. Because the eastern border of Grand County had been described as running along the crest of the “Snowy Range”, a name that was frequently applied to the higher peaks of the Medicine Bows, it had been easy to assume that North Park was within its limits. But, “Snowy Range” was hardly definitive and with the attractive possibility that North Park would continue its growth in popularity, Larimer moved to absorb it. Contending that the “Snowy Range” could only be applied to the continental divide, Larimer launched its own survey for a county road system and, more seriously, had ordered a levy of taxes. The situation developed into legal action, beginning a lengthy contest.

The dominant political motives continued, focused mainly on the ambitions of Weber and Mills. It was not a struggle based upon party lines as both were Republicans. Mills offered his talents as a father-confessor to the people of Grand Lake and Weber, on the other hand, was committed in a business sense to the Grand Lake region, yet found himself turning increasingly towards the interests of Hot Sulphur Springs. Debates raged on and in the next elections Commissioner John Kinsey resigned, allegedly in disgust, and was replaced by Barney Day. There was no immediate adjustment of power. The county cauldron began to steam again when the incumbent –and Mills associated- county treasurer and county clerk encountered difficulty with securing bonds for the following year. When commissioner elect Rogerson pled sudden ineligibility and was replaced by none other than Edward P Weber, the lid came off. The pressure would not be entirely relieved until the community had suffered a great tragedy.

In addition, and maybe worst of all, a bitter quarrel erupted between Weber and Under Sheriff William Redman over the ownership of a mine. Redman accused Weber of preventing its sale at a proper price and declared “if that man Weber ever crosses my path again, I will kill him.”

The appalling developments of July 4, 1883, have been related so often and in so many ways that it is likely that the truth will never be known.

The day dawned as fine as an early summer morning in the Colorado Rockies can be. Grand Lake was a mirror, disturbed only by the rippled wake of a skiff or two, and the popping of early Independence Day firecrackers. No one troubled when a group of men massed behind one of the rises that flanked the water’s edge. All three man carried revolvers and in addition, one carried a .40 calibre Sharps repeating rifle. Gathered behind a cluster of boulders they donned roughly fashioned masks cut from common sacking.

At the Fairview House Dean, Weber and Day ate a leisurely breakfast and lingered discussing the merits of a new design of fishing pole. It was already well past eight o’ clock before they departed on foot to attend a commissioners session scheduled to take place at the courthouse on that day. None of them had expressed any feelings of nervousness but Day had brought along a loaded, six shot revolver and Dean had equipped himself with a similar weapon. Weber carried only a packet of papers.

The three strolled along the lakeside track until a shot rang out. Weber stiffened and gasped, “Oh! I’m shot!” His companions were turning to assist him when a group of three, perhaps four, large masked men emerged from behind a boulder. The leader carried a smoking rifle. Two others opened fire with pistols. Dean drew his weapon but a ball smashed into the bridge of his nose and he wheeled away, blinded by shock and blood. Day managed to get off four shots. The first, at point blank range, sent the rifleman pitching onto his face; another, delivered from the partial shelter of an icehouse, staggered a second attacker. But then, Day himself swayed, the big revolver dropped from his hand and he toppled, headlong, into the shallows of the lake. Dean received another shot in the right hip and sank to the ground. Additional shots tore at his clothing and glanced from the metal of his pistol. He was subjected to a brief, but unmerciful pummeling. Then the surviving attackers drew off, assisting their wounded companion and seeking their horses.

A sulphurous reek of gunpowder drifted in the air. Dean, though dazed, lay still fearing a coup de grace. The masked rifleman made no sound; matter oozing from a hole above his left ear. Day remained half-submerged in the water; he had been shot through the heart and had died instantly. Weber, with a bucket through his lungs, struggled to his feet and tried to make for the Fairview but quickly collapsed hemorrhaging dreadfully.

Weber groped towards the hotel while the three attackers withdrew. Although one man claimed to have seen one of the injured fall, there was a great delay in reaction from the community. Many citizens within easy earshot assumed the gunfire was part of the holiday celebration. By the time help came to the stricken, Weber had lapsed into unconsciousness, and the papers in his pocket were already soaked with blood. Dean somehow regained his feet and was staggering towards the Fairview. Weber was carried and Dean supported into the Fairview, where they were placed in the care of the county’s only fully trained physician. Weber’s case was beyond hope. He lay in a coma until two o’clock the following morning, slowly bleeding to death. Dean by contrast appeared fully alert. He was able to provide a description of the events, and his friends congratulated him that he would recover. His facial wound was extraordinary. The bullet had penetrated the bridge of his nose and had passed circuitously to the rear of his skull, where it had lodged, but there was no brain damage. The bullet in his hip had shattered the head and neck of his thigh bone. Neither ball could be extracted without risk of further injury and the doctor quietly entertained no hope that infection could be avoided. Dean must have suspected the truth, for within hours he arranged to pass the bulk of his properties to his son Fred. He was given uninterrupted care, and three days later told a Denver reporter that he was “bound to live” in order to bring the assassins to justice. But, on the 9th of July, he suffered a slight chill, and by the evening of the 13th there was unmistakable evidence of infection. Two days later he lapsed into unconsciousness and by 9PM on the night of the 17th, Dean was dead.

Day received a formal internment in Hot Sulphur Springs, as did Dean. Weber was given temporary burial upon his ranch, but his wife sold the place within two weeks for a pittance and quit the country. She never returned and there is no evidence that the body was ever moved.

Three burials did not, however, conclude the affair…

The clues...

Turn off of US Hwy 34 into the town of Grand Lake. Take the first right onto Center Dr. You will pass the post office and then the elementary school, both on your left. At the stop sign, turn left. At the next intersection, turn right. Wind your way around and start looking for the small brown signs that will point you towards Hilltop and Point Park. Pass the turnoff for Hilltop and it's arched rainbow bridge, continuing straight. When the road takes a hard left you split off to the right, following the signs to Point Park. Turn right (if you are lucky enough to find a parking spot) into the very small parking area for Point Park. If there are no spaces, go back out to the road you forked off of and parallel park on that road. This is a very, very, VERY busy spot, especially on summer weekends. PLEASE be discreet. Enter into the park, taking the left fork of the paved path in front of the bathrooms. Wind through the park and turn right just before the footbridge that goes over the canal. Stop at the first small fishing platform on the left. The box is tucked under the front left corner (closest to the water on the left as you are looking towards the water). Please make sure that you rehide the box well and tuck it completely under the platform.

Thanks! Email me with the condition of my box at AljanSundance@gmail.com