The case was so thoroughly worked up by the detectives, and a clue once obtained was followed with such skill, perseverance and pluck, that the praise of the entire state was justly awarded them. The press was full of commendation, but we shall let one example speak for all. The Pueblo Chieftain said the day after the capture:
“Detectives D. J. Cook and Frank Smith have won fresh laurels for themselves by the excellent manner in which they have managed this case. Notwithstanding the fact that even the elements were arrayed against them, they have managed to follow up and arrest these scoundrels in a manner highly creditable to themselves and the association to which they belong.”
A DREAM OF DEATH.
CHAPTER LXIII.
A STRANGE AND STARTLING DREAM WHICH PROVED TRUE—ALEX RAMSEY AND HIS HONORABLE CAREER IN HAYES CITY—PURSUIT OF A PAIR OF HORSE-THIEVES—HIS WIFE’S FOREBODINGS—HER TERRIBLE VISION OF HER HUSBAND’S MURDER WHILE ASLEEP.
Detectives, as a rule, are devoid of superstition. They have sufficient offer of assistance from mediums and fortune tellers, and of other persons who profess to read the future, but they find that they do better, as a rule, when they depend solely upon the material facts which form their staple. They rely generally upon their own eyes and ears and shrewdness of mind to accomplish their work. As a rule, in fact, they are disbelievers in all that is supernatural or that comes from so-called second sight. But occasionally they see occurrences which they consider strange, to say the least. Gen. Cook does not call to mind any story in which clairvoyance or spiritualism has played any important part in the capture of a criminal, but he relates a reminiscence concerning the death of a fellow detective and member of the Rocky Mountain Detective Association, which is so very, very strange as to deserve a place in this record, especially as the circumstances are thoroughly authenticated. The story, regardless of this feature, is sufficiently thrilling to justify its publication here, but when this is added, the interest is increased tenfold. Indeed, there are few occurrences related in history which combine to such an extent the thrilling elements of official life with the mysterious features of the spiritual realm.
The story deals with Alex Ramsey and his wife, and is located at Hayes City, Kan., the time being the fall of 1875. Ramsey was at that time a man about thirty-three years of age, and was as fine a specimen of manhood as is met with in a day’s journey. He was a thoroughly western man in all things—in manners, frankness and courage, as well as in stature. He was ever a hail fellow, genial with his friends, liberal to a fault, and as brave as a lion when duty called him to action. He was a good detective, excelling especially in his dealings with desperate characters. He had, a few years before the date of this story, married a confiding, impressionable little woman down in the Missouri valley, who loved him with all the strength of a woman’s nature. She depended upon him implicitly, believed in his prowess in all matters, and really worshiped him. Soon after their marriage they removed to Hayes City, near the Colorado line and then the terminus of the Kansas Pacific railroad—a live, bustling town, full of life and abounding in the rough characters who accompany the building of railroads in the West.
Ramsey had not long been in Hayes when his courage as well as his many manly qualities came to be known to the people of the place, as he frequently had occasion to aid in handling the violent spirits who congregated there. Hence it came about that when the people of that place came to want an executive officer in whom they could trust, they selected Ramsey. Gen. Cook, as chief of the Rocky Mountain Detective Agency, heard of this man, and in 1871 invited him to become a member of his association. The offer was accepted, and Ramsey became one of the most active of the officers of the organization, always conducting himself so as to win the approbation and maintain the confidence of his chief. Ramsey had served one term as sheriff of his county, and in the summer of 1875 was reëlected, virtually without opposition. Being in Denver soon after the reëlection, he told Gen. Cook that he was the first sheriff who had ever lived to be elected to a second term in Hayes City, his three predecessors having been killed before the expiration of their respective terms of office. “I have gone through one siege,” he said, “and I am going to try it again. The chances are that I shall be killed, but I will take the chances.”