HORSE-STEALING IN THE EARLY DAYS--GEORGE BRITT AND WILLIAM HILLIGOSS,
AND SOME OF THEIR OPERATIONS--OFF WITH A RANCHMAN'S VALUABLE
TEAM--GEN. COOK ON THE TRAIL, WHICH IS FOLLOWED AND LOST--ANOTHER CLUE
IS OBTAINED, AND THE SCAMPS ARE TRACKED TO KANSAS.
Back in the early days, two of the most noted desperadoes and horse
thieves of the Rocky mountain region were George Britt and William
Hilligoss, who, like many others, did not come to grief until Gen. Cook
got on their track. They had been guilty of many crimes, but no one ever
succeeded in overtaking them until Dave Cook was elected city marshal of
Denver, and made it his duty to track them down, which he did, almost
unaided, and brought them to town in four days after their crime.
When Cook was elected marshal of Denver for the first time, in 1866, he
printed a notice, saying that he would agree to find stolen stock when
notified twenty-four hours after its disappearance, and that if he did not
find it, he would pay for it himself, after such notification. One day in
December, 1867, a well-known ranchman named McIntyre came to the city and
put up at McNassar's corral, which then stood on the present site of the
American House. The next morning the horses had disappeared, and Mr.
McIntyre was quite in despair. The animals were very fine ones, and the
loss would have been very severe upon him. He had little hope of
recovering them, as up to that time the thief who had been able to once
get away with stock had generally made good his escape.
However, Cook undertook to find the stock, telling Mr. McIntyre to be of
good cheer, as the chances were that he would yet secure his property for
him. In looking about, he discovered that Britt and Hilligoss, whom he had
already spotted, had disappeared. He at once came to the conclusion that
they were the guilty parties. This "pointer" once obtained, he soon added
one clue to another, until he was quite thoroughly convinced that his men
had gone north. Selecting as an assistant a deputy marshal named Rhodes,
he started in pursuit on horseback.
The weather was freezing cold, but the officers traveled forward,
notwithstanding this disagreeable circumstance, stopping only to make
inquiries for the fugitives and to get their meals. The trail was struck
at the Platte bridge and followed by the officers to Boulder, where it was
lost.
Two days and nights were spent in the effort of the officers to run their
game down, but apparently to no avail. On the third day Gen. Cook returned
to Denver, having left Rhodes in Boulder. He had scarcely arrived, and had
had no time for rest or recreation, when he received news from Capt. J. W.
Barron, of Bijou Basin, a member of the detective association, telling him
that two men answering the description which he had sent out of Britt and
Hilligoss had passed there acting very strangely. Barron's message stated
that the men had applied for something to eat. They had stated that they
were traveling to Denver, but after getting a short distance from Bijou
had turned, circumventing the settlements and going towards Kansas.
"They are my men," said Cook, "and I'll go for them forthwith."
He had not yet rested since his long ride to the north, but he was off on
the next stage, which soon left for the East.
In those days there was no Kansas Pacific railroad to the East, and all
the travel was done on coaches--not a very pleasant mode of traveling in
cold weather, or when there were Indians about. This was a time when the
plains abounded in Indians, and when it was necessary to keep a guard on
the outside of the coach to protect passengers from the Sioux and
Cheyennes and Arapahoes. It was also very cold weather, and frost-bitten
feet and hands and ears were quite the fashion with the travelers of the
time. But Mr. Cook started out undaunted. Stopping at Bijou Basin and
other points only long enough to get information of the progress of the
horse thieves, he pushed on with speed. At Cheyenne Wells he received
information which made it quite certain to him that he was on the right
track, and he exchanged his ordinary clothing for a stage driver's outfit,
so as to avoid detection. After crossing the Kansas line he heard of the
fellows more frequently, and while sitting with the driver he espied two
men just west of Pond creek, near Fort Wallace, whom he believed to be the
men he sought. They had hired out as laborers, and were carrying picks and
shovels, with which to begin operations. They were near the road, and as
Cook drove closer to them, he established their identity beyond a doubt,
so that he instructed the driver to stop after passing them a few feet,
and get down and pretend that something had broken about the gearing. The
driver did as instructed. Cook also dismounted and walked carelessly
about, while the driver swore at the inate meanness of the stage gear.