Emory Smith, Cattleman in Chico Basin

Emory Smith or Emery Smith was involved in a shooting incident in 1876 and as luck would have it several newspapers of the time have survived and are now part of the Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection at the Colorado State Library many papers were saved because it was the American Centennial year.    You can go online and search the newspaper collection for yourselves at http://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org  So far I have found 8 articles that cover this story or relate to it.   I do not find this site easy to navigate but you can look for  1, Colorado Weekly Chieftain Oct 26 1876 The Pistole 2. Colorado Daily Chieftain Oct 26 The Chico Murder 3. Colorado Springs Gazette Oct 28 A Mysterious Murder 4, Colorado Miner Oct 28 untitled, 5. Rocky Mountain News Weekly Nov 1,  Fatal Mistake, 6. Rocky Mountain News Weekly Nov 1, The Mysterious Murder 7. Colorado Weekly Chieftain Nov 9 Court Report, 8 Colorado Springs Gazette Nov 11 Court Report ... this last one shows People VS Emory Smith sentenced to one year in the State Penitentiary.    These articles have also been posted on a Pueblo County Genealogy website maintained by Karen Mitchell you can scroll through the items to the correct dates and read them there at http://www.kmitch.com/Pueblo/news1870s.html  I sent to the Colorado State Archives for a copy of Emory's Convict record he was prisoner number 206 and it shows he served 11 months it shows his wife Lucy Ann resident in Chico Basin and gives his birth year as 1817 but his place of birth is given as Carrollton Kentucky not New York state. It also gives a physical description he was 5 foot 7 inches tall with brown hair and dark complexion I think the word used was swarthy he had gray eyes and a deformed thumb on his right hand.  He says his parents are deceased. You will notice other convicts on the same page were given heavier sentences for lesser crimes so Emory's lawyer Melville B Gerry must have done a good job of winning over the Judge and Jury.  Melville B Gerry himself went on to become a famous Judge in Colorado history for his part in the trial of Alfred Packer who was charged with cannibalism.   Also later on in 1883 you can find a report of The Death Of Indian Bill... this article tells the story of the death of William Frank alias Indian Bill who I believe is the same man Emory Smith thought was out to get him in 1876... the article about Indian Bill's death says he was involved in the killing of a police officer in Pueblo in 1879  That story is also archived and the policeman killed was Alvin Phipenny.  Indian Bill was described as half Cherokee half negro and all "hard case" and as someone who aspired to be a bad man. He alledgedly had killed several men. Read for yourself and ponder for yourselves what likely happened.   No doubt this was a terrible and traumatic event in the lives of our Smith family and one they did not have an easy time living with. There is an online index of Colorado Convicts you will find Emory Smith listed there at http://www.colorado.gov/dpa/doit/archives/pen/Shropshire-Snyder.htm  There is also a homestead file for Emory Smith in Pueblo County applied for in 1879 and finally granted in 1883 and there is mention of Emory Smith "from the ranch" staying in the National Hotel in Colorado Springs in August 1880 and another where he is "Bounced" from the theater during a performance of The Hidden Hand by the theatrical troop called the Plunkett Constellation though these articles are not clear about whether they refer to Emory Smith Sr or Jr.  I also enjoyed reading an article about round up time in Chico Basin in the Pueblo Colorado Weekly Chieftain of May 23 1878 it mentions Smith Brothers of this round up and says they are among others who are heavily into cattle.  Are these Smith Brothers Emory Jr and our Charles Fremont Smith carrying on for their father? Or another Smith family? When researching Smiths there are always more questions than answers. Through research we have learned that at least one of Emory's grandsons did carry on with ranching and  that was Clark Dale Smith of Wray Colorado son of John J Smith our great grandfather's older brother.    I will have to do another post on Clark Dale Smith. Emory Smith Jr was born in Iowa in 1857 he eventually returned to Iowa in about 1894 this would be the year after Lucy Ann Smith died in Dallas County Texas. Emory Jr married Marianne Jorgensen a Danish woman and had one daughter that they named Lucy Ann. The daughter married George F Campbell and there are still descendants in Sioux City Iowa today.

This photo is of the Round Up in Chico Basin in 1877 posted to the net by a descendant of William Holmes. The people in this photo would have been Emory Smith's neighbors and the photo includes "Indian Bill" .