It now became apparent to the thieves that MacLean was a detective, and they arranged their plans to put him out of the way, in other words, to quietly kill him on the following night. This programme would most likely have been carried into effect had the thieves not been so indiscreet as to whisper their intentions to some one, who dropped the information far down the Kansas Pacific, beyond Carson, to a party who telegraphed Gen. Cook the peril that his man was in. With this Cook decided to recall MacLean and ordered him home that very day, and thus were the plans of the murder frustrated.

A previous train the same day brought in Williamson, the watchman, who, concluding that he had been found out or soon would be, was preparing to skip the country, and came in with his baggage checked for Montana. Being informed through MacLean that Williamson was on the train and that he probably knew a great deal, Cook proceeded to the depot in Denver, met the train and quietly took Williamson into custody. He at first made an effort to bluff the officers, but failing in this, agreed to make a full confession on the condition that he should be released from custody. The officers agreed to this proposition, especially as they had already taken precautions to prevent his capture being known or telegraphed to his friends at Carson. Being placed in a close carriage he was driven to a place of safety and then told the entire story of the thievery to the detective.

It appeared from this story that the entire town of Kit Carson, with the exception of two men who were too old for action, had been engaged in the thievery, which he said had been going on for nearly two years, beginning by small stealings and increasing them as time went on until some big holes were made in the shipments which passed through. Shanley, the justice of the peace, was the head of the gang, and he accumulated quite a fortune in carrying on the work. His hotel was supplied from the proceeds of his robbery. He purchased herds of cattle, and before he was discovered had stolen sufficient stock to start a line of teams between Carson and Del Norte, thus procuring a market for the stealings of the gang in the San Juan country, and hauling them away at the expense of others. Keene, the constable, was also a leader in the gang. With the magistrate and the constable, the state’s only officers in the district, and the coöperation of the railroad watchman, the stealing was made easy. It was now, alas, about to be brought to an end forever.

It was on the 1st of February, 1877, that Williamson was arrested and that MacLean arrived at home. Gen. Cook decided that the gang must be taken without delay, and as soon as MacLean arrived and he heard his story, he decided upon a coup d’etat. Procuring a special train, he organized an expedition under the leadership of Assistant Frank Smith, and sent them down to make the arrest of the parties implicated. The party consisted of Smith, MacLean, Major Sam Logan, John Copeland, Tom Chandler, and Tom Porter.

The special left Denver in the evening and ran leisurely down the track, timing itself so as to reach Carson about daylight. All worked well, and the train drew up a few hundred feet west of the station just as the gray dawn was beginning to make itself visible on the eastern knolls of the plains. But little time was lost in preliminaries. Most of the men belonged at the hotel, and it was determined to surprise them first. The officers crept cautiously behind a protecting house, and finding that a majority of the rogues were already out of bed and standing in front of the hotel, marched boldly out before their startled gaze, and with arms presented and ready for instant use, commanded the scoundrels to hold up their hands.

It was all over in a minute. Nothing was left for them to do but to throw their hands into the air and quietly surrender.

This party being in the possession of the officers, the few others scattered in various directions were soon taken, there being eight in all, namely: William Kelly, Worth Keene, Mike Fitzpatrick, William Tally, Thomas Rasbaugh, J. Ratliff, C. W. Lindsley (Texas Bill), and Pat Shanley. A hurried search was made in the vicinity and large quantities of stolen goods were found hidden from Kit Carson down the railroad for four miles, as well as two miles east, on the Big Sandy, and some on Horse creek, north of Kit Carson. Nearly all the articles were buried in the ground. Among the miscellaneous assortment of articles stolen were hats, caps, laces, silks, groceries, boots, ladies’ shoes, raisins, feather beds, beef, beef tongues, apple butter, bacon, ham, tea, coffee, lard, a quantity of coal, tobacco, powder and butter. The goods were mostly taken from the original packages, and where they were not so filched most of the marks were erased, except in the case of the butter.

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