CHAPTER LVIII.
A MURDERER FROM MISSISSIPPI IN COLORADO—A “NIGGER HUNTER” AND A BAD CITIZEN—$500 REWARD—THE R. M. D. A. HEARS OF GATES IN SILVER CLIFF, WHERE HE IS ARRESTED AND WHENCE HE ESCAPES—TRACKED TO DAKOTA AND CAPTURED IN NEBRASKA—A GOOD JOB BY DETECTIVE WISE.
Ragsdale Gates was a “bad” man. He hailed from Mississippi, and came away from that state under circumstances which did not speak well for his character. He left his country for his country’s good and to save his own neck, which was in jeopardy. Mr. Gates was one of those numerous southern “gentlemen” who drink too freely, and who, when in liquor, are apt to do many rash acts, which, when they are once sober, they are sorry for. Mr. Gates had lived for many years prior to 1879 at Friar’s Point, where he killed three white men while drinking. He is also said to have been a famous “nigger hunter” in the Mississippi swamps, and had been a leader of one of the famous Kuklux clans back in the days succeeding the close of the war. He had the reputation of having laid several colored men to rest. But it was not an act of this kind that got him into trouble. It was the killing of a fellow white man, under circumstances peculiarly aggravated. He was arrested and escaped jail.
Having gotten out of prison. Gates left Mississippi, and it was some time before his whereabouts became known to any one. In some way the Friar’s Point officers obtained an ink-ling that the fugitive had come to Colorado. They did not know to what point he had come, or, indeed, whether he was in the state at all, but merely surmised that he was. Being desirous that Gates should be apprehended, they wrote to Gen. Cook, chief of the Rocky Mountain Detective Association, of their surmises, and offered a reward of $500 for the capture of the man, sending a description of him. The matter was turned over to Mr. William Wise. Mr. Wise was then, and had been for years previous, one of the leading members of the detective association, and one of the most astute and discreet detectives in the state.
Mr. Wise took the case in hand and worked it up with his customary energy and caution. He was not long in learning that a man giving the name of J. J. Reed, and answering to the description of Gates, was figuring in the southern part of the state. He learned of him at Silver Cliff, and learned that the man had been accused of horse stealing, not for any innate love of horse flesh, but merely that he might gain time in his movements. Mr. Wise opened a correspondence with persons at Silver Cliff after learning of the presence of Gates at that point, and had the fellow arrested. Hearing that his man had been taken and locked up, Mr. Wise prepared to start for Silver Cliff. He had not gotten away from Denver when he learned to his surprise and regret that Mr. Gates had taken his departure before the officer’s arrival. He had again broken jail.
Mr. Wise did not, however, cease his pursuit of the criminal. “Billy” is not the man to let up easily when he once gets well started. He was determined that Gates should be taken. He accordingly kept on the lookout. He learned that after getting out of the prison at Silver Cliff, the man had stolen a horse to escape on. He tracked him to Dodge City, Kan. But the restless southerner did not remain long at any point, and joining a cattle drive from that point to Dakota, was soon off for the far north, going now by the name of Warren. He was tracked across the plains by Wise, all the way to Camp Robinson, where he was heard of in a drunken row, as usual, which ended up in his seriously injuring a man. He was again thrown into prison, and again escaped, the military being unable to cope with him.
Gates then escaped to Wyoming, where he again got into a fight and shot a man. This fracas resulted in the re-arrest of the fellow, and of his being taken to Sidney, Neb., where Wise heard of him, and where he determined to go after him with a requisition. He had, however, not started, when he heard that his man had again stolen away. The information of the escape was soon, however, followed by that of his recapture, and after hearing this, Billy was soon off for Sidney, determined this time to lose no time, that he might be sure of coming upon his man before he should have another opportunity to get away.
Accordingly Mr. Wise went down to Sidney. He found his prize this time, and had no difficulty in getting him away, starting immediately for Denver. On the way from Sidney the man’s propensity to escape asserted itself, but it was not given an opportunity to develop fully, and was in fact nipped in the bud at a very aggravating moment. Gates remonstrated while on the train with the officer for exposing him as a prisoner, and requested the officer to allow him to cover up his hands with a robe, saying that he was a gentleman, and pleading that his pride was wounded in the exhibition which he was compelled to make of himself. Mr. Wise at last consented to give the man an opportunity to hide his shame and his hands, and threw the robe over the latter.
Billy sat by the side of his prisoner and appeared to be looking through the floor, when, in fact, his full gaze was directed through the corner of his eye towards the prisoner. Soon he saw the robe lying across Gates’ folded arms begin to move. He sat as stolid as a block while the fellow worked at his hand cuffs for half an hour. At last he saw the two hands separate, and watched the fellow quietly lay the irons under him on the seat. He had succeeded in getting the irons off. His scheme was to replace his hands under the covering until the right moment should come, when he would take the cuffs from his seat, strike the officer over the head with them, grab his pistol, jump from the car and be a free man.
That moment never came. The irons were hardly laid down when Mr. Ragsdale Gates found the muzzle of Billy Wise’s big pistol thrust half way up into his ear. All was over with him. The officer had played with him as a cat with a mouse. He promised if the officer would allow him to live, he would make no further effort to get away while in the custody of Mr. Wise. The promise was kept, and Gates was soon landed in Denver.
Mr. Wise took Gates from Denver to St. Louis, where he met a sheriff from Friar’s Point, turned the prisoner over to him, received his reward, and returned home after receiving a warm compliment for both himself and the Rocky Mountain Detective Association, from the officer.
Gates being taken back to Mississippi was confined for nearly a year awaiting trial. He escaped from jail again on the 25th of June, 1880, and was still at last accounts at liberty. It is safe to say, however, that he will keep away from Colorado in his wanderings.
TAKEN BY SURPRISE.