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1874, and the Park has been inhabited continuously since the sprint? of 1875, when the Mac Gregors, the James,' the Spragues and the Fergusons moved in ; nor are there lacking settlers who were there before that time, though they are not so easy to find. The writer even knows where the remains of his cabin are to be seen, but will gnard the knowledge as jealously as he would the secret of his mushroom patch, because he wishes to secure a dornick from Jim’s fire-place for his own collection the next time he goes out.The stories of Jim differ, as may be expected, but they all agree that he was not suoh a bad man aa he persuaded Miss Bird. Ask the natives whether he was not a desperate murderer and you will get a good natured laugh. He might have killed somebody before he came out there, they say, but he never gained any right to that reputation in that neighborhood, There was no harm to be approached from old Jim, by their account, unless his pistol went off by accident when he was drunk and got to swinging it around and blowing, as was his custom. “I’ve told him to his face he was a thiefsays one informant, “when I had no gun and Jim was armed. I didn’t consider there was any more risk in telling him what I thought of him than in talking to you now.”It would appear, however, that all his neighbors did not take him so philosophically. There is a tradition that he forbade anyone but himself to settle in Muggins Gulch, where he had bis pastoral dwelling. Muggins Gulch is some five miles in length, and now contains a half-dozen ranohes. One individual, wandering over the mountains with a Winchester, in search of “rabbits,” considers this a strange state of affairs ; “didn't nobody have a gun besides Jim?”One of those who took him seriously was the Welshman, Evans, the Bame who finally shot him. Their disagreements were uumerons, as many, perhaps, over cards and licjuor as over weightier matters, and it is said that Jim had Evans completely terrorized. An eye-witness describes a quarrel between them in Longmont, when Jim forbade Evans to go home ; told him he couldn’t go through Muggin's Gulch alive. “Some way or other old Jim had managed to get Griff scared, and he was nearly afraid to go home. I said to Jim, you old duffer, you want to quit your bluff Lug, because some day somebody’ll call you ; they’ll make meat of you.”This informant considers Evans' own terrors to have been ample grounds for the final catastrophe, but there were other storieB told. It was said, for instance, that Jim had offered or threatened to carry off a daughter of Evans’—and all agree that the Welshman waB extremely fond of hiB family.Then there iB the mysterious Englishman, who should likewise have become “scared” of Jim and hired Griff to put him out of the way. The sum even is mentioned—it was $10,000, There was an Englishman staying at Griff’s ranch, and he and Jim were “at outB.” This much is certain. And there is talk of a witness to the transaction, who was spirited out of the way. Miss Bird mentions the Englishman’s story in one of her foot notes, and with her usual frankness mentions his name ; he was a Mr. Fodder, whom she had met on her travels and didn’t like, Another Park story says that it was Lord Hague, from whom Mummy Mountain got the name it hears on the maps.At all events, Evans was wrought up to the necessary pitch, and one morning when Jim Btopped at his door for a drink of buttermilk the thing was done. Some mention at thiB point that Jim had kept the Evans family in meat all that summer, while Griff was off drinking and gambling down below. Griff loved his family, was a kind and affectionate hushaud and father, but would spend his last cent having fun, thongh they were in want. And this time, seeing Jim outside with a thirst, he stepped to the door in hiB Btocking-feet and shot him. Some say that Jim dropped over the Bide and shot back, ineffectively, from under his horse’s neck; others that Evans Bhot the horBe first and then its rider. This happened at the first dividing of the road after one reaches the Park level. Griff Evans’ cabin stood where now is the English Lodge-house.After this, it is related that Jim was arrested and taken to Longmont. Noth-iug was ever done to Evans, Jim lived some weeks, or perhaps months. He got “up and around,” and there are those who visited and talked with him in this period. He made no attempt to “get Evaus, as one would expect the desperado of the book to have done. There was even room for doubt whether it was the wound that occasioned his death, which occurred some time later in Ft. Collins.As for Evans, he no doubt lived happily ever after. The stone house that one passes in going out from Lyons is named as a later habitation of his, and he was for a time postmaster at Jim-town; and in that place he died within the last half year.A. T. Richardson.
Newspaper Details
Nebraska City Conservative
Nebraska City, Nebraska, US
Thu, Nov 29, 1900
Page 14
Full Page
Clipped by
Michelle P.
CA 10 Apr 2025
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Nebraska City Conservative
