by Kerry Ross Boren

CLEOPHAS J. DOWD

UTAH'S MOST ENIGMATIC LAWMAN

The fall winds blew across the open grave in the sagebrush south of the Green River, causing little "dust Devils" to whirl and blow loose sand into the hastily dug hole in the ground. The body of Pablo Herrera lay on a canvas tarpaulin in the bottom of the hole, his hands tied across his breast with cord, and blood still oozing from the neat round bullet-hole in his forehead.

At the head of the open grave stood a tall young Catholic Priest, dressed in black robes, Bible in hand. The only thing that set him apart from his religious persona was the heavy Colt .44 strapped around his waist - this, and the fact that he had been the man who put the bullet in Pablo's head. When final rites had been administered, the curious young priest reached down and scooped up a handful of dirt from the mound, and, letting it trickle through his fingers into the dead man's face, mumbled aloud: "Rest in peace, you Mexican son-of-a-bitch!"

Cleophas J. Dowd remains one of the most controversial and mysterious characters of the Old West, yet few people today recognize his name or are aware of who he was, although he was not only Utah's greatest lawman, but probably the greatest gunman of his era.

Cleophas Joseph Dowd was born July 26, 1856, at Old Mission Dolores, San Francisco, California, eldest child of Michael O'Dowd and Bridget Matilda Foley. His parents had fled County Cork, Ireland to survive the potato famine, which took more than a million Irish lives. They were unmarried when they left Ireland, and after a shipboard romance, they were united in a Catholic ceremony at Boston, Massachusetts in 1855. Michael's brother, Patrick O'Dowd, encouraged them to accompany him to California by ship around the tip of South America, but Bridget, who had suffered greatly from sea-sickness on the Atlantic voyage, discovered that she was pregnant, and didn't think she could endure the sea voyage. Michael therefore invested his savings in a wagon and team of horses and they set out overland with a wagon train in the spring of 1856.

They arrived in bustling San Francisco in July, and as they neared the outskirts of the city, Bridget went into labor. Michael frantically sought a doctor, but those who were not out in the hills prospecting for gold, were gold-digging in the city - charging exorbitant fees and refusing aid to those who could not pay. In desperation, Michael turned to his faith, going directly to the old Spanish Catholic Mission Dolores, where the Irish priest took them in, and the nuns delivered their first child on July 26. The parents christened him Cleophas, a biblical name.

Traditionally, the eldest son of an Irish Catholic family was consecrated to the priesthood,, and so it was with Cleophas Dowd (the prefix was dropped from the O'Dowd name after their arrival in America). He was destined to remain at Old Mission in the care of the nuns until he was old enough to attend school and religious classes.

As he grew into a lad, Cleophas found himself in a routine he grew to detest: up before sunrise, catechism and an hour of prayer before a meager breakfast, a day of studies, afternoon and evening chores, more catechism, mass, and prayers, followed by an early bed. For every disobedience there was swift punishment, followed by penance, assigned by the priest or nuns. In later years he would recall that the thing he detested most was kneeling and kissing the ring of the priest, which thing severely injured his Irish pride.

Meanwhile, his father established a large thoroughbred horse ranch in Marin County, across the Bay from San Francisco, in partnership with his brother, Patrick, the latter, an inveterate gambler, lost a large parcel of land in the course of a bet on the outcome of a horse race, to Senator Leland Stanford, who set aside, a grant of $30,000,000 to establish Stanford University on the land.

The Marin County horse ranch was a strong enticement to young Cleophas. He was permitted to go home on visits and these were the times he loved best. He rode wild and free across the windy hills of Marin County with the hired "gauchos," who taught him to speak Spanish, and to use the lariat and gun. His father, however, disapproved of such antics for a budding priest, and so discouraged it by refusing him to leave the Mission.

At about the age of twelve or thirteen, Cleophas began climbing over the Mission wall and running away to the notorious Barbary Coast, where he bullied his way into leadership of a gang of forty young thieves and delinquents. By the age of fifteen he was so incorrigible that his father nearly gave up hope of reforming him.

At this crucial point, Cleophas was befriended by a salty old sailor named Jim Murray, who was a ship's carpenter on a whaling ship out of Nantucket, Massachusetts. He took the wayward youth under his influence and "straightened him out." Gaining the boy's father's consent to be his guardian, Murray purchased a dairy on Strawberry Point, in Marin County, and put the boy to work delivering milk and butter to San Francisco by rowing it across the Bay to a scow called the "Claribel."

Part of the arrangement was that Cleophas was to complete both his schooling and the ministry, and under the gentle guidance of Jim Murray, he accomplished both, attending the University of San Francisco and completing his training for the priesthood of Mission Delores. At the University, Cleophas was an excellent student, a voracious reader, and passionate linguist. He became quite adept at calligraphy, and spoke seven languages fluently. Inasmuch as California was contemplating a possible war with Mexico, he was also schooled in weapons and ballistics, at which he became the most proficient in his class.

On his twenty-first birthday - July 26, 1877 - Cleophas Dowd took his final vows. Then he strapped two guns around his priestly robes, got drunk, and shot up the town of Sausalito. He killed a man in a saloon brawl, and fled to his father's ranch in Marin County. He roused his father from a sound sleep, argued with him, blamed him for his wasted life, fired a shot at him in anger as he leaned from an upper-story bedroom window, then rode northeast out of California on his father's prized thoroughbred stallion.

His flight brought him to southern Utah where camped one night with surveyors who had just returned from mapping the northeastern corner of the state. They casually mentioned a place called Brown's Park, an outlaw stronghold, where the law dared not venture. Anyone hiding from the law would be safe there, they wagered, and Cleophas soon set his course in that direction.

He took up residence at the James Warren ranch on Diamond Mountain, on the southern rim of Brown's Park, some thirty miles north of Vernal, Utah. The Warren ranch was a notorious den of horse and cattle thieves, and Warren, a huge man who was himself a former priest, was among the worst of the lot.

Dowd had been in Brown's Park only a brief time when he was confronted with his first violent encounter with the outlaw element. The Herrera Gang, consisting of Juan Jose "Mexican Joe" Herrera, his brother Pablo, and several other Mexican badmen, dominated Brown's Park through coercion and intimidation. Mexican Joe, a feared knife fighter, had disposed of at least half a dozen men who opposed the gang by stabbing them and dumping their bodies in the Green River. Pablo Herrera was equally ruthless.

Dowd pitted his father's thoroughbred stallion against Charley Crouse's undefeated bay mare in a horse race on Crouse's ranch in Brown's Park, and the Herreras bet heavily on the bay to win. When Dowd's horse easily beat Crouse's champion, Pablo Herrera became incensed and began cursing Dowd in Spanish, at a distance, not realizing that Dowd spoke the language fluently. When Dowd retorted in Herrera's own language, the surprised Mexican retaliated by kicking Dowd's horse in the flank, causing him to bolt forward, knocking Dowd to the ground.

 

Having his adversary in a vulnerable position, as he supposed, and seeing no weapon on the prone man, Pablo pulled a knife from a sheath behind his neck, concealed by his shirt collar, and made a wild leap through the air, still screaming curses in Spanish.

As Pablo was suspended in mid-air, his eyes grew wide with fear, for Dowd had produced a gun, seemingly from nowhere, and with lightning speed; in the next instant there was a loud explosion, and a bullet-hole appeared neatly between Pablo's eyes, and the exiting slug took out the back of his head.

Pablo was given a funeral at his gravesite, not far from the banks of the Green River. Cleophas Dowd, in his capacity as a priest, officiated at the ceremonies, and his reputation as a gunman was firmly established. He was considered particularly dangerous because he apparently carried no weapon, but could produce one rapidly when warranted. One of the reasons was a special custom-made slide-and-groove metal piece sewed onto his wide belt; on his gun was welded a small stud which slid into the belt-slide, allowing him to produce the weapon instantly, while retaining it out of sight beneath the flap of his coat. Moreover, he could produce the gun as rapidly from whatever coat pocket he dropped it into, or simply from the waist-band of his trousers.

It was not long before Dowd embellished his reputation by a spectacular display of his ability.

Jim Baker, the renowned old trapper and Mountain Man, guide and scout, lived in a fortified house of the Little Snake River, not far from Baggs, Wyoming. In the fall of 1877, Baker was entertaining two visitors, who called themselves Charles Franklin and Jim Wood - in reality, they were Frank and Jesse James.

While the James boys were his guests at Baggs, Jim Baker received word that his brother John's Indian wife, Cora, had died at Henry's Fork on the Utah-Wyoming border, where John Baker ranched. He immediately packed his gear and prepared to travel to Henry's Fork on the funeral, and invited Frank and Jesse to go along.

On a bright day in November, 1877, Jim Baker and his two companions arrived at the ranch of Charles Crouse in Warren's Draw on Diamond Mountain. Trading horses with Crouse that day was twenty-one year old Cleophas Dowd.

The killing of Pablo Herrera had occurred the previous September, and Crouse could not refrain from boasting of the event to Baker, and his companions; the result was a shooting contest between Cleophas and Jesse.

At first a bucket was suspended from a rope and allowed to swing back and forth. Jesse shot first, emptying his gun and killing the target easily. Dowd followed and did as well. Crouse decided they needed a harder target, and Dowd suggested that empty cartridges be set up along the top rail of a pole fence - twenty for Jesse, twenty for Dowd; the winner would be the man who could shoot off the most cartridges with the least number of shots.

Jesse again took first chance, taking careful aim and firing. There was no effort on his part to make a fast draw, but instead he shot deliberately and carefully. When he had emptied his gun, he told Dowd to take his shots while he reloaded, but Dowd decline watched to see what young Dowd would do.Jesse fired again, emptying his weapon once more, then a third time. When he had finished, he had not missed one shot of the eighteen, leaving two cartridges on the rail. He was pleased with his performance 

Dowd stepped forward. In a flash, the gun appeared in his hand, and the cartridges went flying in a roar of flame. After emptying his weapon, Dowd took Jesse's freshly-loaded gun, then turned and fired as rapidly as before. When he was finished, not one cartridge was left on the fence! He had accomplished what appeared to be an impossible feat - removing twenty cartridges with only twelve shots.

What the men did not know was that Dowd had been scientifically trained in the art of ballistics at the University of San Francisco. He had merely employed a well-known principle: "For every action there is a reaction." By shooting between the cartridges and not at them, he had been able to eliminate two and three of them with each shot, the velocity of the projectile knocking the cartridges away. His feat won him the friendship and admiration of Jesse James, and firmly established his reputation as a gunman Extraordinaire.

The following morning, when they resumed their journey to Henry's Fork to attend the funeral of John Baker's wife, Dowd accompanied them. They became lost in an early winter snowstorm, and found their way to John Baker's cabin by following Henry's Fork - often wading in the frozen stream itself. When they at last arrived at the cabin, their feet were frost-bitten, and they thawed them out in the cook stove oven of Baker's son-in-law, Dick Son.

Following this adventure, Dowd returned to Brown's Park, Frank and Jesse James proceeded to join the Big Nose George Parrott Gang in holding up Union Pacific Train #3 near Carbon, Wyoming, and later killing two pursuing deputies, Henry "Tip" Vincent and Bob Widdowfield.

Returning to Brown's Park, Cleophas Dowd went into partnership with Lewis Allen and "one-eyed" Hank Ford in a horse ranch on Allen Creek, above Red Canyon of the Green River. He made a trip to Kentucky, where Jesse James was then living as "Charles Howard," and purchased a thoroughbred stallion from the famed Cavendish Stables, which he used to sire a string of race horses and, ultimately, get-away horses for the McCarty Gang of outlaws. His "Cavendish Stud" became one of the most famous horses in the American West.

Now the enigmatic side of Cleophas Dowd began to emerge. In 1879, the White River Utes in Colorado rose up and massacred the whites at the agency ran by Nathan C. Meeker, and followed this by another massacre of troops sent as relief, under command of Col. T.T. Thornburgh. When the Meeker Massacre occurred, Jim Baker was nearby, hiding in a ditch, and witnessed the gruesome affair. Later, as he fled over the mountains, he saw Dowd seated on his horse on a ridge above Milk River, the site of the Thornburgh Massacre, in the company of the marauding Indians; he was side-by-side with the notorious Captain Jack, one of the war chiefs, who was later blown up in his tepee by cannon-shot. It was never determined what Dowd was doing with the Indians at the scene of the massacre. In later years, he made only one allusion to the incident, claiming that he was using his influence to bring about peace. What is certain is that Cleophas remained a life-long friend of the Indians, and even took an Indian wife.

Not long after this event, Dowd rode into the cabin of irascible old Jesse Ewing, accompanied by Isom Dart, a black outlaw-rustler. Ewing, whose face had been scarred by a grizzly bear, was known as "the ugliest man in Brown's Park", and because of his mean nature, was generally avoided.

Moreover, Ewing had a secret gold mine, and he was not amenable to visitors. He was known to hire men to help him work the mine, and when he had used up their grubstake and energy, he drove them off with his knife. If they protested, they unceremoniously disappeared.

As Dowd and Dart rode up to Jesse Ewing's cabin, the old reprobate came out and demanded to know what they wanted.

"I just came by to tell you that I found some of your horses on my range, so I drove them off," Dowd said.

"Where the hell did you run them off to?" Ewing inquired.

"I ran them off the ledges of Red Canyon into the Green River," Dowd retorted. "Their carcasses should come floating by any day now."

Ewing became enraged and pulled Dowd from his horse, at the same instant unsheathing his knife, cutting a deep gash in Dowd's cheek, in a crude attempt to cut his throat. Dowd pulled his gun and shot Ewing in the groin. Amazingly, the tough old prospector survived the wound, only to be murdered by one of his partners in 1885 over the affections of a side-show contortionist named Madame Forrestal. Dowd vainly grew a beard to cover the scar on his face.

In 1883, Mormon bishop Charles E. Colton of Vernal brought his pretty teenage daughter, Ella Rophena, to Brown's Park, where Colton ranged his cattle in the summer. Girls were a scarce commodity in the isolated valley, and pretty Ella attracted a great deal of interest from the bachelor faction.

But Bishop Colton guarded his daughter's chastity with an ever watchful eye, and so the Brown's Park bachelors devised a scheme which they hoped would earn at least one of them the attention and approbation of the Coltons. They proposed to hide in the cedars at a place where pretty young Ella took her daily ride, spook her horse and cause a runaway, then "rescue" her. To effect this, they split into two groups: one group to frighten the girl's horse, and the other to come to the rescue. Charley Crouse led the former group, and the latter consisted of young Matt Warner, Lew McCarty, William Ellsworth "Elzy" Lay (all three of whom would later become infamous members of Butch Cassidy's Wild Bunch), "Buffalo" Jack Rife, and a few others.

On the chosen day, when Ella came riding along Hoy Bottoms in Brown's Park -sidesaddle, as befitted a lady of her station - Crouse and his friends rode out of the cedars, firing their guns in the air. As predicted, Ella's horse bolted, and she held on in terror, while the Brown's Park bachelors rode hard to the rescue. As it happened, Cleophas Dowd was riding through the Park nearby, and, hearing the gunshots, spurred his horse to the scene of the action. Crouse attempted to slow his progress as he passed and Dowd fired a shot at him, striking the barrel of Crouse's gun and slightly injuring Crouse's one good thumb (he had accidentally chopped off the other with a hatchet).

Meanwhile, Ella's horse had stepped into a prairie dog hole, and the girl was thrown hard to the ground, breaking her hip. As Dowd rode up, the young bachelors scurried for cover ahead of his blazing gun. He scooped Ella up onto his horse and rode promptly to the Bassett ranch, where Elizabeth Bassett attended to the girl's injuries. Dowd was the hero of the day, having accomplished by accident that which the rowdy bachelors could not by design.

Ella fell head-over-heels in love with her dashing champion, but in spite of gratitude, her father prohibited a relationship. Dowd was older than Ella, and was not of her religion. Dowd vowed that it would not end there, and so Bishop Colton took his young daughter back to the town of Vernal.

On her eighteenth birthday, a party was held for Ella at the home of her uncle, Sterling D. Colton, Sheriff of Uintah County, Utah, on the outskirts of Vernal. Cleophas Dowd appeared in the middle of the celebration organized a posse and set out in pursuit in the hopes of cutting them off before they reached Brown's Park.

At the Jim Warren ranch on Diamond Mountain, Sheriff Colton was handed a note written by Dowd which stated, in essence, that Matt Warner and others had barricaded Crouse Canyon, and were prepared to hold the posse at bay long enough for a marriage ceremony to be performed. Sheriff Colton decided that discretion was the better part of valor, and took his posse back Brown's Park by Justice of the Peace Warren P. Parsons.

Just prior to his marriage, Dowd had taken a job as a government hunter with two other young friends, Zebulon "Zeb" Edwards and Garibaldi, "Bee" Gamble. While they were at an army camp in the Uintah Mountains, they were approached by George "Sol" Solomon who lived in Connor Basin, a few miles north of the Government camp. Solomon sought their help in driving the Al Connor Gang out of Connor Basin. The gang had taken over Solomon's ranch and had driven him off. Sol offered to divide the land, consisting of three valleys, between himself and his partners, for their help in recovering his ranch.

There were seven men in the Connor Gang, and only four challengers, but they were all four excellent gunmen, and they had the benefit of surprise. They rode into the ranch nonchalantly; three of the men remained some distance away, while Solomon rode up to the house and called for Al Connor to come out.

What caused the outbreak of the gun battle that followed may never be known, but within moments, guns were blazing on both sides. Two of Connor's men, who were near the corrals, escaped up Sol's Canyon, but the remaining four, including Al Connor, were killed; on Dowd's side of the battle, there were not casualties. In the aftermath of the bloody battle, a common grave was dug for the dead outlaws beneath red ledges several hundred yards northeast of the ranch cabin. It became necessary to drag the bodies to the gravesite by hand. In the process, Solomon placed each of Al Connor's feet under his arms and began tugging him along to the grave, with great difficulty and frequent stops along the way. Whenever Connor's hat fell off his face, Sol would stop and replace it.

Dowd, becoming impatient, came along to see what the delay was all about.

"It's his eyes," Sol remarked. "His keeps staring at the back of my head while I'm draggin' him - gives me the willies!"

After pondering the problem for a few moments, Dowd retorted: "Have you tried this?" With that, he pulled his six-shooter and shot both of the dead man's eyes out!

Dowd's portion of the land, by his choice, was isolated Sheep Creek Canyon, where he built a dugout in a red hill; here, he spent his honeymoon with Ella, while old Jim Murray - whom he sent for - constructed a frame-and-long cabin.

Not long after moving to Canyon Ranch, Dowd was appointed deputy sheriff of Uintah County, Utah, by Ella's uncle, Sterling Colton. The appointment, due to the isolation of the area, constituted serving also as deputy sheriff of Sweetwater County, Wyoming. This was, apparently, his first official appointment, in approximately the year 1885.

The following years were eventful ones, during which time Cleophas Dowd revealed his dual nature. While serving as a lawman, he sold horses to the McCarty Gang, trained by the Negro outlaw Isom Dart, to be used in bank and train robberies. He constructed a tunnel through the red clay hill between his dugout and a corral behind the hill, where saddled horses were kept for getaways; he often hid outlaws from the law in the dugout after moving into the house.

He hired a young man named Harry Alonzo Longabaugh to help him break horses in Brown's Park. Longabaugh had just finished serving eighteen months in the Crook County Jail at Sundance, Wyoming; Dowd gave him the sobriquet "The Sundance Kid," and taught him to shoot -even as he had taught Matt Warner, Elzy Lay, and other members of the Wild Bunch with

whom he remained life-long friends.

During the 1880's, Dowd became a railroad detective for the Union Pacific Railroad, riding the rails between Ogden, Utah, and Cheyenne, Wyoming. While in Ogden, he was involved in a raid on bordellos where railroad workers were being victimized. However, each time these houses were raided, the "customers" who were seen going inside had mysteriously disappeared! It remained an unsolved mystery until Dowd discovered a secret panel beneath a stairway leading to tunnels beneath the streets. These tunnels, it was learned, had been constructed by Chinese railroad laborers as hiding places, following the Chinese Massacre at Rock Springs, Wyoming. A little later, Dowd would become involved with strike-breaking and Coxey's Army.

Dowd was away from home a great deal during these years, and his family life deteriorated. He eventually sired seven children, only five of whom lived to maturity: George, Charles, James, Claribel and Mary. One child died of a miscarriage when Ella was kicked in the stomach by a milk cow. The other died in infancy as a result of Dowd's violent temper. When he lost to Ella in a game of checkers, he threw the checkerboard across the room, the corner striking the baby in the temple, killing it instantly as it lay in the cradle. Both of these children were buried on a little knoll at Canyon Ranch, in coffins built by Jim Murray.

Even old Jim Murray suffered from Dowd's uncontrollable temper. As they erected a barbed wire fence one day across Sheep Creek Gap, to prevent livestock from straying from the canyon, Cleophas was in particularly foul mood. Dissatisfied with the way Murray was pounding staples into a post. Dowd struck the taut wire with his claw-hammer, forcing a staple to fly through the air; the staple stuck in Murray's eye, permanently blinding it.

By the year 1888, Cleophas Dowd had been commissioned a deputy U.S. Marshal, but the circumstances of his appointment remain obscure. His next appointment, in about 1889, was a Pinkerton detective, and his first assignment of record in that capacity occurred in 1891.

Sheriff "Doc" Shores of Gunnison County, Colorado, had a fugitive on his hands, one Joe McCoy, who was headed for Utah. McCoy, a hardcase, had relatives in Vernal, and it was believed he was headed there, so Sheriff Shores employed another Pinkerton operative, the notorious Tom Horn, to pursue McCoy and to apprehend him if possible.

Horn, probably one of the greatest trackers in the West (having pursued Geronimo in Arizona while with General Cook), trailed McCoy to Vernal, where he found him registered at the Blankenship Boarding House. After waiting several days for McCoy to leave the boarding house, with no success, it became apparent to Tom Horn that he would have to arrest McCoy inside the house -an endangerment to the Blankenship family and other guests. He promptly employed Cleophas Dowd to assist him.

Both Horn and Dowd registered separately at the boarding house and awaited their opportunity. It came one evening at the dinner table when McCoy, who had been eyeing Horn suspiciously, called him out as an imposter, a "damnable law-dog!" Out of courtesy, guns were not worn at the table, but McCoy produced one from concealment. Dowd, seated next to McCoy, grabbed his gun-hand and wrestled him to the floor.

Having been taken into custody, there was now the problem of transporting him back to Colorado. The nearest railroad depot was at Price, Utah, more than a hundred miles away. Horn had business elsewhere, and left the problem to Cleophas Dowd. Dowd secured a wagon which he took to Charles Carroll's blacksmith shop for alterations: Carroll installed bolts and shackles to the wagon-bed, and with McCoy thereby shackled. Dowd transported him to Price, and from there by D. & R.G. train to Gunnison, Colorado.

McCoy had not been long in custody when he escaped once more from Doc Shores’ jail,

and this time fled to Southern Utah, where, not long afterwards, he was shot and killed in the San Juan country by outlaw Tom McCarty.

The following year - 1892 - Cleophas Dowd was in Johnson County, Wyoming with Tom Horn, where they obtained the infamous "death list" of notorious rustlers which instigated the Johnson County War of extermination.

In 1895-96, Cleophas Dowd was back to playing both sides of the law. He spent considerable time with Butch Cassidy, the Sundance Kid, and others at Baggs, Wyoming and Vernal, Utah, and had his photo taken with the group of outlaws at that time. He was present when the "Wild Bunch" was organized at Cassidy Point on the Crouse ranch in Brown's Park, August 18, 1896.

In September, Matt Warner was involved in an ambush-gunfight on Dry Fork, north of Vernal, where he killed two of his ambushers, Dick Staunton and Dave Milton, and wounded Ike Staunton - resulting in the amputation of his leg. Matt Warner and his companion Bill Wall were confined to the Vernal jail, where on irate mob tried to take them out for a lynching. Butch Cassidy, Charley Crouse, and some others stood guard duty in front of the jail all night, and next day Sheriff John T. Pope and his deputies transported Warner and Wall over the Uintah Mountains to safety.

At first, Warner and Wall were shackled to their saddles, and ridden over the Carter Road to Dowd's Canyon Ranch; they were then transferred to Dowd's wagon, who transported them to the Union Pacific depot of Carter Station, Wyoming, from whence they were taken to the jail at Ogden to await trial.

Once again, Dowd revealed the nature of his enigmatic character when he joined Butch Cassidy and some twenty members of the Wild Bunch in a wild ride to Ogden, threatening to rescue Warner from jail by force! Warner smuggled a note to Cassidy by Charley Crouse, discouraging this plan, encouraging instead the hiring of good attorneys.

Dowd's temperament grew worse during these years. He had enemies by the legion, and was feared by all except a few intimate friends. He had had a major physical battle with his former friend George Solomon, and two were now mortal enemies. He became violently abusive to his wife and children and they lived in mortal fear of his wrath.

In 1897, Cleophas' brother, George Dowd, came from California for a visit at Canyon Ranch. A few days before July 4th, Dowd sent his oldest son, George Ford Dowd, to Fort Bridger for a package of fireworks. When the boy returned, Cleophas jerked him from his horse in anger, having discovered that the boy had broken the harness when he had allowed a team of horses to run away. Dowd threatened to beat the boy with the broken harness. Brother George Dowd interceded, stating that he would not allow it, whereby Cleophas angrily picked up a stone and threw it, bouncing it off his brother's shoulder. George instantly drew his six-shooter and shot Cleophas in the groin.

Cleophas was laid up throughout the winter of 1897-98. In the spring of 1898, Ella gathered up the younger children, and, with the help of friends, slipped out to the railroad at Carter and went to California. Dowd, when he discovered it, was enraged. He was led to believe his family had gone by way of Green River City, and he rode hard there to head them off, in spite of his painful wound. When he discovered he had been tricked and his family had fled, Cleophas went on a three-week binge before returning to the ranch.

Upon his return, Dowd was surprised to discover his two older sons, George and Charley, 14 and 10 respectively, taking care of themselves. They had been out in the mountains rounding up livestock when the rest of the family departed, and not even their father was aware they were

still there. During their three weeks alone on the ranch, they had to fight off marauding panthers trying to enter the meat-house.

Cleophas eyed his sons with suspicion. He questioned them as to why they had not gone with their mother, and George, being older and somewhat wise to the ways of his father, parried the questions.

Under the ruse of gathering cattle, Cleophas took his two sons down to the canyons of Little Hole on the Green River. George took his younger brother Charley aside and told him, "Papa brought us here to kill us. Now, whatever I say to him, you agree with me, you hear?" Charley nodded.

That night, at a campfire, Dowd sullenly interrogated his sons, repeatedly asking them why they had not gone with their mother. "Because we love you, Papa," George lied. "Mama abandoned us, too. We want to stay with you, Papa." When Cleophas asked Charley the same question, the younger boy gave the same reply. At last Dowd seemed relieved, and cooked the boys an antelope and wild onion stew before returning to the ranch.

Dowd's bullet wound was giving him trouble, and the ranch chores were left to the boys, who did the best they could. However, it soon became apparent that outside help needed to be employed.

At the George Finch ranch on Henry's Fork on day that spring a man named Charles Reaser arrived, driving a covered wagon containing his wife and several small children. He said he was looking for work. But every day, Reaser practiced shooting knots off cottonwood trees down in the meadow. He was a weasel-looking man, whose nose and chin were so close together they nearly touched when he talked. He chewed tobacco incessantly, and spat after every few words.

George Finch was one of Dowd's closest friends. He informed Dowd that Reaser was a suspicious character, to be avoided, but Cleophas said he intended to hire him to work on the ranch. Finch protested, but when Dowd persisted, Finch insisted that Cleophas at least take his gun for protection.

The previous Fall, Dowd had been out hunting with his old friend Zeb Edwards. As they set around a campfire, Zeb was cleaning his gun and cocked it; hearing the click, Dowd had drawn and pointed his gun at Zeb's head. Hand shaking, Dowd screamed in anger: "Damn you, Zeb! Don't ever do such a thing again! I damned near killed you!" With that, Dowd tossed his gun away into the timber, and refused to pack a gun again. He therefore took Finch's gun, but refused to wear it; he hung it on a nail on a log in his bedroom.

So it was that Charles Reaser came to work for Dowd on Canyon Ranch. After several weeks, Reaser had gained the confidence of young George Dowd who informed him of his father's abuse. Reaser promised to help him put an end to it, and together they hatched a plot.

On the morning of April 11, 1898, Cleophas went out to the harness shop to repair a broken harness. Charley was across the creek bringing in the milk cows when his brother George confronted him and warned him not to come back to the house; something was about to happen. Charley creeped close enough to the ranch buildings to watch, then secluded himself behind some bushes.

Meanwhile, George went into the house and emerged moments later with his father's gun; he went directly to Reaser and handed it to him. From the bushes, Charley watched as Reaser went to the door of the harness shop. He then heard two quick shots - BANG! BANG! Reaser emerged moments later and mounted his horse and rode away west up the canyon.

 

Charley crept out of the bushes and went to the door of the harness shop, and trepidatiously peered inside. His father had fallen backward from the "harness horse," a mechanical vise-like device used to hold harness firmly while it was being repaired; there was a bullet-hole in his forehead, and one leg was still resting on a pedal of the harness horse. Charley touched his foot and it dropped suddenly; air escaped from his lungs, and he made a gurgling sound, and Charley ran for the door, as scared as he had ever been in his life.

An inquest was held in the Dowd house. Charles Reaser pleaded self-defense, saying that Dowd had drawn his gun and fired at him, the slug lodging in the door-jamb (actually, that had been the second hatchet, hit Dowd with the flat side of it, then grabbed his gun and shot him.

George Solomon was Justice of the Peace; he found Reaser not guilty. Afterwards, Solomon and Reaser got drunk together, and, in the course of a buggy ride, Solomon lost his false teeth! Reaser departed the county hastily, but not before the Sundance Kid set out after him, with blood vengeance in his eye. Butch Cassidy caught up to Sundance at Emil Gaenslen's sheep camp and sent him on a false trail; Cassidy was opposed to unnecessary killing. In about 1915, Charley Reaser wrote a letter to Ella, begging her forgiveness for the murder of her husband. He claimed that he had been hired to do the job by the brother of the Governor of Idaho, who had been compelled to live as a hermit in the canyons of Snake River ever since Dowd had placed his name on the infamous, "Johnson County death list" in 1892.

Reaser had gone to northern Wyoming where he became one of Wyoming's first forest rangers. Afterwards, he had "got religion," founded the "Brothers Church" in Jackson Hole, and now sought to be forgiven in order to be saved. Ella never replied to his letter.

Cleophas J. Dowd, Utah's most enigmatic lawman, lies buried on the little red knoll next to his two deceased children on the old ranch at scenic Sheep Creek Canyon. His story would fill volumes. Shortly before his death, a newspaper reported asked Cleophas if he would ever want his true story recorded for posterity.

"Why not?" was his reply. "If I have felt no disgrace in living my life as I have, why should care what posterity thinks?"

Perhaps his philosophy serves as a fitting epitaph.

-finish-

Hell's Canyon on the Outlaw Trail, Kerry Ross Boren, unpub. mss.

Interviews: George Stephens (step-son of George Solomon); Charles Dowd, James Dowd;

Mary Dowd Wilkins; James Dowd, Jr.; Tom Welch; Willard Schofield, Sr.; James Widdop,

et.al.

Where the Old West Stayed Young, History of Brown's Park, John Rolfe Burroughs.

Union Pacific Railroad Museum files

Pinkerton Archives