“Old Charley Meyer,” Law Unto Himself.
Old Charlie Meyer, as he was familiarly called, was indeed a character, and had the well-earned reputation of meeting out justice with an iron hand, and, due in a large measure to his eccentric methods of administering justice, was quite popular with the well meaning, but certainly a terror to the evil-doer. Judge Meyer’s conception of justice and the language of the statutes frequently failed to be in full harmony, but that, of course, was not a matter for which he was responsible, and should not, and did not, interfere in the slightest degree with the administration of justice in his court. Meyer recalled that four Mexicans had that same day come into his court and, by the deposit of $60 as bail, had secured the release of their friend, one El Zorra, who was being held for some offense, having been unable until then to secure bail. Three of these four men were immediately found and arrested. The fourth, having started for Mexico, was followed by the officers and overtaken at Boley’s Well, where, in resisting arrest, he was shot and killed by Bob Cannon, one of the officers. On trial of the other three, Hohusen was able to fully identify one of the bills in the $60 turned in to Judge Meyer’s court as one that he had personally paid to Wheaton a few days before. In addition to this, one of the men, Pancho Gomez, having turned state’s evidence, they were all three convicted and sentenced to the Territorial prison, Gomez, however, for a shorter term than the others.