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SAW IT IN A DREAM.A SPIRIT VISION THAT CANNOT BE REFUTED.Gien. CookrTcU* a Story of Border Life in Colorado—The Kill In* of AlexKaxuser WHdcmvU I»j HI* Wife FortyXUm Dlitaiit“Speaking of dreams and premoitt-iioo£,M saId Gen. D_ J. Cook, who for thirty-fire-years has been cn^ef of the Rocky Mountain Detective Association, 2nd for two terms was sheriff at Den* i€r during the “palmy days*’ of the Western city—“speaking o£ dreams and premonitions reminds me of a strange psychological happening that same under my own personal observation as a detective, where a startling Detectives as a rule are not superstitious, and the idea of working out the clew to a crime oa a mere dream is widely at variance with detective methods. They generally depend upon material facts as they find them nightmare of terrible and. complicated death and murder proved true in every single detail.with their own eyes and ears, hut the following reminiscence, related by Gen. Cook. I* so strange that even the wily detective has to admit that-there is “something in dreams. It is the story of the killing of a fellow detective, and of the killing of two horse thieves— the story of a woman's dream, thrilling in the evtreme and yet faithfully true in every particular, as attested by the criminal record of the West. The story deals principally with Alex Ramsey and his wife, and is located at Hayes C:‘\ Kan., th* time being the fall of 1S75 Ramsey, at that time, was about 35 years of age, and as fine a specimen of manhood as Is met in a day's journey. Ke was thoroughly a Western man—frank, genial and liberal to a fault—as brave a man as ever “piiL spurs to a horse when duty-called him to action. He was a good detective, excelling especially in his dealings with desperate characters. A few years before the date of this story he had married a confiding, impressionable little woman down in the M.s-souri Valley, who loved him devotedly. She depended upon him implicitly, believed In hU prowess in ail matters, and really worshiped him. Soon after their marriage they removed to Hayes City, near the Colorado line, and then the terminus of the Kansas Pacific railroad—a live, bustling town full of life and abounding in the rough characters, such as accompany the building of railroads in the West.Ramsey had not long been at Haye3 City, when his courage, as well as his many other manly qualities, became known to the people of that place, for he frequently had occasion to aid in the handling of the violent spirits congregated there. Hence it came about that when - the people of that place wanted an executive officer in whom they could trust, they selected Ramsey. Gen. Cook, as chief of the Rocky Mountain detective agency, heard of Ramsey5, and in 1871 invited him to become a member of his association. The offer was accepted, and Ramsey became one of the most active officers of the organization, always conducting himself so as to win the approbation and maintain the confidence of his chief. Ramsey had served one term as_ sheriff of his county, and in the summer of 1875 was re-elected, virtually without opposition. Being in Denver soon after his re-election he told Gen. Cook that he was the first sheriff who had ever lived to be elected to a second term in Hayes City, his three predecessors having been killed before the expiration of their respective terms of office. “'I have gone through one siege,” he said, and I am going to try it again. The chances are that I shall he killed, but I will take the chances.. It was In October following his visit to Denver that Mr. Ramsey was called upon to go in pursuit of two horse thieves. A character well known on the frontier in those days as Dutch Pete,” and known by no other name, accompanied by a pal whose name is not known at all, and one night made a raid upon a band of horses belonging to a man living in Colorado and stampeded thirty-five head of them. When the owner awoke the next morning he found bis animals gone,ALEX RAMSEY-but he was able to ascertain that thethieves had taken their booty in the direction of Smoky Hill or the Republican .river. His first Impulse, as he afterwards explained, was to pursuethem himself, but remembering theskill and courage of Ramsey In running down such characters he changed his mind and went to Hayes City and put the case in his hands.rR3msey cheerfully took charge of the matter, securing Frank Shepherd, a friend in whom he had confidence, as au assistant in the work before-him, and, kissing his wife good-by, rode off In company with Shepherd, going toward Smoky Hill with the Intention of cutting off the retreat of tb*thieves. Sirs. Ramsey somehow seemed to feel an unusual desire to hold him hack, although she said nothing to him, for she knew that he would attend to his duty in spite of any forebodings of hers, which, he would'consider childish, womanish fear.At midnight the entire household was startled Into wakefulness by a nor-'rifyiug scream that teemed to come from the direction of Mrs. Ramsey s room. All were astir in a moment and all rushed pell-mell into her apartments. They found her out of bed In her night clothes and her two children, one of them a mere baby, clinging to her. She was talking: in an incoherent manner at the top of her voice, and the children thoroughly frightened at their mother's manner, were erring loudly. Those gathered about the woman finally succeeded in quieting her and at last procured anexplanation from her. Such a horrid, horrid dream! she exclaimed. Oh. I know St'S true* I saw it just as plain as day—plainer than I see you just as real and terrible as if I had been there. 1 just know that Alex Is dead. I didn’t want him to go. I never in my life so longed to beg him not to go. 1 wish I had.After this the woman became more quiet and told those standing about her. MRS. RAMSEY,that she had dreamed that siie had seen her husband and Shepherd come upon the horse thieves and attack them; that the thieves had started to flee oa their horses; that the officers had followed and fired upon them, the thieves returning the fire. Three men had Fallen almost simultaneously from rbeirhorses, two of them being the fugitives : and the third her husband, who had j been fatally shot. Her dream had j Continued so as to take her out to j search for her husband with the hope j of meeting him upon his return. In-; stead of meeting him alive she ea- j countered, a covered wagon, which she « described, bringing in his body, see- : ing which she had screamed so loud that she awoke both herself and the others asleep in the hpuse. She refused to retire again that night. The only comfort that she seemed to receive was in the assurance that as soon as day should break she should be driven out in the direction which her husband bad taken. ‘T know I shall meet that covered wagon ” she said: “T just know It, but I want to go. anyhow, and to know the worst.” According to promise she was allowed in , start out from Hayes City at a very early hour on the succeeding morning a friend accompanying her in a carriage. They had driven out a distance of fourteen miles without meeting any one, when there began, to dawn a ray of hope that the dreadful vision of the dream would prove to have been merely a hallucination. But the poor woman looked eagerly forward for the purpose of getting the first view of that which she most dreaded to see. Long as it was in coming, the wagon came in sight all too soon. Rising up over the summit of an elevation in the plains and looking down the descending grade she saw, coming slowly toward her and her companion, a covered wagon drawn by two horses. Throwing up her hands so as to cover her eyes she exclaimed with all the force of positive conviction:“My God, there’s the wagon.' After the sight of the wagon she refused to be comforted and only urged her driver to increase his speed,- sobbing as if heartbroken as they pushed on.The woman's dream bad been more than a dream. It had been a real vision. There had been no deception. The vehicle was just as she had described it, and in it lay the lifeless body of her husband—all just as she had dreamed it.Inquiry revealed the fact that the shooilng had occurred as it had appeared to Mrs.Ramsey, and just as she described it to half a dozen witnesses before leaving Hayes City. The officers had come upon the thieves in the afternoon of the first day out, thirty-five miles from Hayes City, as they were concluding their dinner and preparing to continue their journey. They nad mounted when they discovered the officers riding down upon them. The thieves knew Ramsey, and their first thought was to escape from him at all hazards. They accordingly put spurs to their horses, leaving their stolen animals behind. The officers spurred up their horses also, and were scon chasing the thieves across the plains. The two parties were not less than sixty yards apart when Ramsey said to Shepherd, after having summoned the fugitives to bait:Well, I don't see that there is anything to do but to bring them down. You take the one on your side and I'll take the fellow on my side.”This speech had hardly been spoken when the two thieves turned in their saddles, with pistols presented- It was plain to be seen that there must be a deadly duel there and then.Won't you surrender?” shouted Ramsey.Never! was the reply.Then we will kill you.“Fire away.”“Give it to 'em/' commanded Ram- ' «ey.There were four pistol shots coming j so close together as to sound like a volley.One of the thieves, the one at whom Ramsey had shot, reeled and tumoied from his horse dead. The other reeleu. but did not fall* and Shepherd spurred on after him, not noticing that Ramsey did not follow. After galloping a short distance the second man fell from his saddle, mortally wounded. jTurning then for the first time, , Shepherd, who was unhurt, discovered \ that Ramsey had been knocked from his horse. He had been shot through and through, the ball passing near his ! heart. There was a ranch a few miles ! distant,, and Shepherd determined to make an effort io get his friend to Ik He also decided to leave the thieves where they had fallen. Dutch Pete” proved to be the man at whom Ram- . sey had directed his aim. He it was who had shoe Ramsey. Bat Ramsey's shot had gene straight home, passing through Pete’s heart. The other thief was also mortally wounded and soon, died. Their bodies were covered over | with stones and left where they had fallen. The stolen horses were gathered together and returned to their owner.As for Ramsey, he was taken to the ranch referred to and was there given every possible attention. But after lingering on in great pain, he died at 12 o'clock of the night succeeding the shooting—at the exact hour when Mrs. Ramsey was having her strange ,and startling dream.The body was then placed In the ranchman’s covered wagon, and the cortege started for Hayes City, meeting Mrs, Ramsey on the road.The anguish of the woman was pit* iable. She refused to be comforted after her husband’s death, and two weeks after the funeral she was a raving maniac. Four months afterward her unhappy spirit deserted the flesh and she joined her husband In another world.Kentucky “a Champlutl Pnelfet.Joseph Bowman, who recently died in Jessamine county, Kentucky, at the ripe old age of S4 years, was the fighter of four desperate duels in each ol which be succeeded in killing his antagonist. In lS*iS. while living in Mississippi, he quarreled with a man named Sneiliog. and by agreementthe\ were tied together, armed withbowle knives and put into a dark room. Although frightfully cut himself. Bowman came out victor. His next duel was In 1S54, when he had a dispute with a Spaniard named Domingo. Armed with knives, they made for each other, and Bowman severed the Spaniard's head from his body.When the war broke out. Bowman enlisted on the confederate side- Aftei the war he fought a duel with a cousin, named Williams. The combat was with pistols at ten paces, and Bowman wounded his antagonist so badly that be died. Bowman’s Iasi encounter was only a few years ago. when in a hand to hand conflict with “Joe” Miller, who was known as the “Bad Man from Racine/* he came out victorious, killing Miller without receiving as much as a scratch.Cln*» (luiut; T/J^Le^l Fhu VeAtA.Probably the longest game of chess ever known was that played between a man living in Australia and a friend in. Newark, N. Y- Each move was made by letter, one player making use [ of the Europe and Sue canal route and the other writing via the Pacific ocean and San Francisco. Five years elapsed before the game was drawn to a close. Another similar record in chess playing was a correspondence game which took place recently between several Germans living in New York and a chess club in Bremen, Germany. The game terminated In February last year with a Victory for the New York players, having lasted a period of two years and live months.Rapid Eater Choked.New York Journal: While eating a piece of roast beef last night William Frederick, son of Robert Frederick, formerly superintendent or the Globe Iron Works of Port Chester, was choked to death at the dinner table in the presence of his family at Mount Vernon.Young Frederick was eating rapidly In order to go out on the street when a piece of the meat became lodged in his windpipe and he died In 20 minutes. He was strangled and suffocated, the physicians say.HasisjatnpR.'*The elevated altitude and pure air of Arizona and New Mexico seem to affect the minds an3 Imaginations of some men. Down in Arizona there Is a little stream known as the Hassay-ampa river, and It is said that if aay-one drinks of the water he Is forever after incapable of telling the truth-The victims of this mysterious stream are known as Hassayamps/ and there are a good many of them in this part of the country. Some have mines to nlLCause of the Kettle* .Song.People often wonder what makes the high note of a simmering teakettle, but the explanation is simple. As the water heats little bubbles of stem are formed at the bottom of the kettle. These rush upward and, being attracted to the sides of the kettle, they make a commotion which sets the metal in vibration and the kettle sings.”One Of SfftTij-.Clara—“I thought you told me ycaug Shallow had very little to say? Maud —“So I did. Clara—I found him quite talkative.” Maud—Yes, hut that’s another story.”
Newspaper Details
Daily Iowa State Press
Iowa City, Iowa, US
Fri, Jun 02, 1899
Page 3
Full Page
Clipped by
Anonymous
USA 18 Jun 2019
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