Dead Man's Canyon

by M.P. Pellicer | Stranger Than Fiction Stories
High in the Sangre de Cristo Range is Colorado's Great Sand Dunes. Ancient arrowheads and bison bones are uncovered by stiff winds that chase the heat before it. Tragedy, mystery and legend have sprung from the sandy waves that cover 57 miles.

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The Bloody Espinosas Gang went on a killing spree in Colorado in 1863

The Dunes at its widest and longest points is no more than 10 miles in any direction, however wagon trains and shepherds and their flocks have disappeared while crossing the expanse.

There have been reports from ranchers and U.S. monument employees among others, who tell of UFOs landing and leaving the area. Many believe a horse named Snippy was struck dead by a "flying saucer" in 1968.

The strange history of this place goes back over a 160 years, when the area was known as the New Mexico Territory. It all started with a mystery of dead bodies found along the well beaten but lonely paths between Colorado mining camps, which dotted the landscape due to the Gold Rush of 1859. That long hot summer, approximately 32 people were murdered.

Eventually the Espinosa brothers were identified as the perpetrators. From March to October, 1863, the Espinosas went on a bloody rampage, telling their friends and relatives the Virgin Mary had appeared to them and instructed they should "kill all gringos." The Bloody Espinosa gang was headed by Felipe Nerio and José Vivián of San Rafael, a village near Conejos in Colorado’s San Luís valley. Their cousins made up the remainder of the gang. Jose Vivian was shot and killed by Joe Lamb and others from the area. The other brother Felipe escaped and joined up with another family member.

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Tom Tobin, bounty hunter and scout killed the remaining Espinosa brother and put an end to the senseless murders

Tom Tobin (1823 - 1904), acted as bounty hunter and scout for a detachment of soldiers sent from Fort Garland to find the killers. Leaving the posse behind he tracked the men down to their camp in the Dunes. He shot and beheaded the other brother and their nephew Jose Vicente. He presented their heads in order to collect a reward, which he only received partial payment for, and not the full $2,500 promised.

Tobin was one of Kit Carson's scouts. His mother was a Lenape Indian, and when he was 14 years old he left St. Louis and headed west with his half-brother Charles Autobees to New Mexico. Through the years he worked as a guide and scout, crossing paths with Kit Carson, Uncle Dick Wootton, Ceran St. Vrain, Charles Bent, John C. Fremont, Wild Bill Hickok, William F. Cody and the Shoup brothers.

His daughter Pascualita married Kit Carson's son, Billy in 1878. Ten years later it reached Tobin's ears that his daughter was being abused by Billy Carson. He went after his son-in-law, and for his troubles got shot by Billy, but not fatally. Billy Carson was not long for this world though, a year later he died from lockjaw at the age of 36. His horse kicked him on the hip striking a revolver which exploded. The bullet entered his thigh and exited at his kneecap. The extensive loss of blood and the infection brought about his death. He had been sheriff of Costilla county for a number of years.

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Henry Harkin’s grave and memorial

One of the Espinosa brothers' victims spawned a well-known ghost story. 

His name was Henry Harkins (Hawkins) who homesteaded near Cañon City at Fountain Creek Canyon. His neighbor found him, shot and his head split open with an axe. 

For years afterward stories were told of Harkins haunting the place he lived at with an axe still sprouting from his head. Eventually the place of his death became known as Dead Man's Canyon. Not only would he appear to unsuspecting travelers, he would chase them as well. Frightened beyond belief, riders would shoot at the specter, with no effect of course. 

Henry's grave which sat close to the place of his murder was moved along to Hwy. 115 in 1965. Two little, unnamed girls who'd been buried close to his original resting place were moved to this new site as well.

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A phantom horse helped in the discovery of his master’s murder

In 1867, freighters traveling between Cañon City and Colorado City told of seeing the phantoms of a horse and a dog. The sightings became so frequent that as soon as a new road was completed, this route was abandoned altogether.

In the fall of that year, Captain Marshall Felch, a freighter traveling from Denver to Leadville stopped at Cañon City, where he received a letter from his wife pleading with him to return home right away. Anxious to complete the trip quickly, he left his wagon behind, and astride a horse he took the old haunted road which would shorten his trip.

The contents of Mrs. Felch's letter involved the captain's friend Oliver Kimball. Both hailed from Vermont and were compatriots in arms during the Civil War. Once they became civilians, Felch took up the life of a freighter, and Kimball acquired a partner named Dave Griffin to work a claim at California Gulch.

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Ute Pass

The trouble began when Kimball's sweetheart went to Denver to meet him, and he never showed up. She said the same dream tormented her sleep three times, where she saw her fiancée dead with a knife in his back. The setting of the nightmare was a deep, red canyon, with cedar trees and rabbit brush dotting the terrain.

​Twilight fell as Capt. Felch came to the red canyon. His horse became skittish and then he saw the phantom horse and dog heading towards Cañon City. The ghostly animals disappeared, and as the man continued on his he saw them once more by brush in the road. Felch's horse bolted and ran away with him out of the canyon.

Felch returned to the place where the ghostly animals were digging, but this time the sheriff accompanied him. Under the brush they found Kimball's body with a knife in his back. The knife handle was carved with the initials D. G.

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Marhsall Felch in old age.

With the law in tow, Felch headed to Leadville where David Griffin lived. They asked if he knew where Oliver Kimball was. Griffin said that after making five thousand dollars, his partner took his horse and dog, and headed out to Vermont to tie the knot with his sweetheart. He tried to talk Kimball out of getting married, and accompanied him all the way to Cañon City. The conversation ended when Felch produced the knife. David Griffin stepped into the next room and shot himself. After this the sighting of the horse and dog stopped.

M.P. Felch is also credited for discovering the fossil of a Stegosaurus in 1876. He was an amateur collector who drew a quarry map indicating where the bones were located, which led to the discovery of other fossils.

In 1902, he shot himself in the head due to ill health.

​Another strange disappearance took place in the area of Ute Pass in 1873, when a Concord carriage loaded with passengers and $40,000 in gold disappeared. None of the search parties sent out for them ever found proof of what happened to them. 

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Colorado Springs c.1872

In 1876, Alfred Julius Louis (AJL) Schlesinger, was the private secretary to General William Palmer the founder of Colorado Springs. Schlesinger was born in 1857, and he was only 19 years old when he landed the position. His family was originally from Prussia, and had become naturalized British subjects.

The young man roomed with another Englishman, Dr. Samuel E. Solly, a recent widower.

On September 5, 1876 Schlesinger went for a ride as was his custom with John Wilson a friend.  They went to Lawson's Ranch, and then on to Wilson's ranch, located further up Ute Pass. Wilson later described where Schlesinger practiced with his rifle and pistols, and mentioned that in a duel he would prefer to use pistols. It seemed an innocuous statement at the moment.

Schlesinger spent the night at Wilson's ranch, and upon returning to Colorado Springs told Solly he missed an appointment since he had been detained on "business". Solly saw him later that night at about 10 p.m.

On September 8, E.P. Stephenson ran into Schlesinger at the post office, but the young man barely acknowledged him since he was thoroughly engrossed in reading a letter. The next day Charles Cavendar who would go on to become a judge in Colorado, saw Schlesinger at Glen Eyrie, General Palmer's estate. He noticed Schlesinger looked troubled, and even begged out of attending rehearsals for an upcoming event.

The next person to see Schlesinger was William A. Conant who sighted him at the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe railroad office. The young man was waiting for a train coming in from Pueblo. Sunday night, September 10, Dr. Solly found letters that Schlesinger had left for him. In one he said he planned to participate in a fight at noon, an event he did not expect to survive. If he had returned by 4:30 he should "send out to Lawson's ranch for his body."

Dr. Solly and H.A. Risley who at the time worked for The Gazette arrived at Lawson's ranch at 10 p.m. The place was deserted. Two hundred yards from the house, moonlight illuminated a body lying face down in a sandy gulch. He had a pistol by his side. A line drawn in the sand measured 20 paces from where the body lay. Their worse fears were confirmed when they turned over the corpse and found it was Schlesinger, wearing "a blue shirt, drab coat, cream colored cordoroy [sic] pants tucked in military boots, with a black slouch hat on the head." A gun belt filled with cartridges sat on his waist, later it would be found two empty shells were near the body.

The men rode back to Colorado Springs and at 2 a.m. they roused the coroner Dr. R.T. Taylor, and Denver and Rio Grande Railroad treasurer R. F. Weitbrec to accompany them back to Lawson's ranch. They brought a wagon to transport the body back.

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Dr. Samuel Solly (1845-1906)

Once there they found horse and wagon track near Schlesinger, which they followed to a house about 5 miles away. There they found Nestor Lopez a Mexican sheepherder. In his broken English he told them that about 3:30 p.m. they before he saw a carriage driven by a man heading toward Colorado Springs.

The dead man was left at the Exchange Hotel which was empty since it had recently closed. The aim was to use it as a temporary morgue, where the coroner's jury could be convened.

His uncle Charles Schlesinger arrived at the Exchange Hotel on September 30. He had traveled from New York.

Dr. Taylor examined Schlesinger and found no powder burns on his clothing. The one bullet that hit him was fired from a distance, and passed through his spinal column causing instant death. Underneath his shirt, a woman's handkerchief with a fine lace border was folded over his heart.

After news of his death spread, others came forward with possible clues to what happened to him.

Risley who accompanied Solly to Lawson's ranch said, "Mr. Schlesinger spent and hour or two with me one evening, and during the conversation said he had been a wild boy, had fought a duel at one time in France, had wounded his adversary at that time, and thought it would yet make him trouble, as he believed [his adversary] would follow him to this country."

Dr. Solly confirmed he had heard the story and the unnamed adversary was Schlesinger's own former tutor, "whose name was something similar to Stanley [or Stanton]; though I do not think it is exactly the same name."

The argument started when then they traveled on a steamer ship en-route to Europe. Solly described where "the tutor had slapped his face; he challenged him and the duel was fought in France. He told me he had severely injured the tutor in the lungs; that he was very ill and had repeatedly said he feared he would not get better." It was a woman which had brought about the duel, and sadly that man died from his wounds, and Schlesinger who had felt warmly towards his tutor was bothered by his death.

Solly read Schlesinger's letters to the jury:

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September 9, 1876.

Dear Solly: By the time this reaches you, I shall probably have done with this life and I want you to carry out my last requests. I give you here an approximate list of all I owe in town. I have asked my uncle to send you money to pay them. [Here follows a list of indebtedness]. I cannot tell you anything about my accident—I am not allowed to—and I now remain yours very truly, A.J.L. Schlesinger.”
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The second letter, dated the same day, read:
My Dear Solly: Every romance has its epilogue; mine is no exception. What will have happened by the time you see me again is the sequel to my little episode in France. You have promised me and I remind you once more of it that you will never let anybody, not even my uncle or my mother, should you meet them, know anything that I have told you about my past, or that I have told you anything. I have a foreboding that tomorrow will be my last day on earth, and make these requests that when I am dead you will burn the papers in the parcel in my room marked ‘S.E.S.’ without opening them.

If I should only be wounded, keep the papers for me, but on no account let them go out of your hands, and do not open them yourself. I’ll write you another letter which you can show if you are asked by anyone in authority. This one burn as soon as read. My adversary will never be known—at least for some time. I might tell you his name and other circumstances, but I am under oath not to do so for two years at least, and he is bound the same way. I shall fall I know, because I do not intend to fire at him. We have agreed to meet alone on Sunday noon, and the body of the unlucky one will be left on the spot. I may only be wounded, so I will tell you on the spot. It is Lawson’s ranch, about thirteen miles on the way to Jack Wilson’s. If I am not back on Monday morning, you had best let someone go and see. Now good bye, old boy, and think sometimes of your true friend. A.J.L. Schlesinger.

The last letter was dated September 10, the day Schlesinger died:
Dear Solly: Pardon the untruth I told you in regard to the letter from France. It was told in order to get you to come down today, why, you will understand. My adversary will not be known, but should he be found out, which is nearly impossible, as all precautions are and have been taken, please show this letter that I fell in fair fight, and that he only did to me what I should have done to him. Should this letter reach you before I intend it to do so, preserve inviolable silence, as I may come out alright—I don’t believe it. If I do I shall have to leave at once. If I am not back by 4 or 4:30, send someone to Lawson’s ranch to look for me. Please inform my uncle, Barthold Schlesinger, Naylor & Co., 6 Olive Street, Boston, Mass., by letter not by telegraph, of what has happened. Once more goodbye, and remember your sincere friend. A.J.L. Schlesinger.

Pikes Peak from Colorado Springs c.1899

Dr. Solly said the ladies handkerchief was part of Schlesinger's wardrobe, and it belonged to the woman which had caused him to duel with his tutor.

W.H. Bacon who owned the stable testified that Schlesinger rode out at 12:40 p.m. and never returned.

Officials sent out notices to be on the lookout for a man, possibly French who had recently ridden on the Atchison Topeka line. Such a general description produced no suspects.

• Pikes Peak from Colorado Springs

​Despite the letters there was no proof a duel was fought which resulted in Schlesinger's death. It was ruled a suicide.

​The Rocky Mountain News​ wrote:

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You have undoubtedly have been advised of the murder, under the guise, or so supposed, of a duel, of young Schlesinger, secretary of General Palmer, about fifteen miles east from this place, but very probably you may not have been informed of the unaccountable apathy of the officers of justice in this county in regard to this so far mysterious crime. It will hardly be credited by you, or any one outside this place, when it is stated that the sheriff absolutely refused to follow up the only apparent clue there was to trace the murderers.

They reported that shamefully the sheriff demanded money for expenses when Taylor, Risley and Solly asked him to investigate the crime. 

​A few days later they published another report regarding the young man's murder:

Through the lace texture of the crimson stained handkerchief found over the pulseless bosom, we catch glimpses of a secret that no jury—composed though it be of the first citizens of a prosperous and ambitious town —can entirely conceal,

Prospectors enter the Rocky Mountains of Colorado during the Colorado Gold Rush c. 1858. Colorized image.

Schlesinger's murder was never solved, and he was buried at Evergreen Cemetery in Colorado Springs. The investigation was closed by October, 1876 and Dr. Solly as instructed by his friend settled his debts.

Dr. Samuel Solly, remarried and continued to live in Colorado Springs, specializing in treating those with tuberculosis. He died in 1906.

It wasn't until November 1893 that AJL Schlesinger's estate was settled on his younger brother Charles Henry Schlesinger who still lived in London.

​Strangely within days of receiving his brother's estate, Charles Henry Schlesinger legally changed his surname to Selwyn. He served as part of the 12th Bengal Cavalry, Lieutenant in the Indian Staff Corp. He died in 1927, with the rank of colonel and was buried in the British Military Cemetery in Wiesbaden, Germany.

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Wagonload caravan headed to Cripple Creek via Ute Pass

Twelve years after Schlesinger died under mysterious circumstances, another murder was committed. In 1888, 10 miles from Colorado Springs, Mary Jane Kearney lived with her 8-ear-old grandson James "Jamie" Hand, on what was known as the Hand Ranch. A neighbor arrived at the house and found the table set for three, with the food untouched. Mrs. Kearney was found with a hatchet buried in her skull. The boy was also killed and left inside a sack. They were decomposing and had been dead about a month.

Kearney's daughter Nellie Elworthy arrived from St. Louis, after her and her siblings had not heard from their mother in some time. She testified the house had not been ransacked, and she did not believe her mother was killed in order to rob her. She had little money or valuables.

Within days of the murder, the boy's uncle Henry Hand offered a reward of $500 for the arrest of the parties that committed what became known as the Edgerton murder.

MOTIVE FOR MURDER

There had always been a mystery concerning the motive for the murder of the old woman and the child.

Mary Jane Kearney had married Isaac Elworthy many years before, and they lived in St. Louis, Missouri. They had several children, however by 1874 they had divorced and Mary Jane married George Kearny on August 1, 1874.

In 1879, one of Mary Jane's daughters named Ida married Fred J. Hand. They purchased 160 acres outside Colorado Springs. He died two years later in 1881 at the age of 32 from an accidental overdose of morphine. 

It's unknown what became of George Kearney, but in that same year Mary Jane purchased 160 acres adjacent to her daughter, who was now a widow with a young child. 

Ida Hand was described as "handsome but peculiar". At times she was pleasant and other times very unpleasant, and the Hand family did not think she was capable of giving "proper instruction" to her son. The boy's uncle Henry Hand had many times urged Ida to let him live with his father's family. She refused and finally decided to return to Colorado and lived on her mother's land. 

Little Jamie Hand within three years of his father's death became heir to a fortune. Even though his father Fred had died penniless, he came from a wealthy Philadelphia family. In 1884, when his paternal grandfather died, he left his grandson a $10,000 inheritance. He had been sending Mary Jane $75 every three months for the support of the child. There was nothing for Ida Hand. The newspapers described where there was a feud between the Hand family and the widow. 

In the 1885 census Mary Kearney lived on the ranch with her daughter, grandson and a hired hand.

In 1888, when her mother and son were murdered Ida Hand was absent since she was studying to appear on the operatic stage. Upon the boy's death the inheritance reverted back to the Hand family. This was clarified, which inferred that Ida Hand had nothing to gain from the death of her son. Was there a suspicion she had a hand in the crime?

The Hand family suggested that a clue to the murderer could be had in tracing the draft last sent to Mary Jane Kearney. The check was not cashed and there was a theory that someone saw Mrs. Kearney get the draft and murdered her for it.

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Caravan near Manitou on Ute Pass c.1878

In July, William Thompson was arrested for the murders. He was an old man who did chores for Mrs. Kearney and had made some admissions while he was drunk. Eventually he was released.

Five months later George Witherell who was dubbed one of the most notorious criminals ever produced by Colorado was lynched by a mob.

Using his cell bedstead as a club he tried to fight off the "lynchers" until he was wounded in the shoulder. A rope was thrown around his neck, and he was dragged to a telegraph pole near the wall of the State Penitentiary and strung up.

Witherell was accused of six fiendish murders. He was 48 year old, had a heavy build and a hung dog appearance. He committed his first crime in 1871, with an accomplice named Eugene Wright. They killed L.K. Wall a sheep owner in order to take his 3,000 head of sheep. Wall had hired them to work on his ranch in Elbert County, which was in a sparsely populated area. They clubbed Wall to death with a rifle, and hid his body, which was not discovered for several weeks. The pair drove off the sheep and sold them. 

When Wall's body was found, they were instantly suspected as being the perpetrators. The law caught up to them on the plains in Nebraska after a fight with officers where Wright was wounded. They were convicted in Denver. Wright served five years and escaped, and Witherell was released after 16 years in the spring of 1888. Right away he started murdering people.

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Colorado Springs, Colorado c.1880

Six weeks before he was lynched, Witherell killed Charles R. McCain of Pueblo. McCain owned a wagon and team, along with a few hundred dollars in money. Witherell lied and told him he represented a mine about 48 miles away from Cañon City. The first night out, Witherell shot McCain in the head while the man slept. He dragged the body into a canyon and covered him up with stones and brush. He took the team and drove them to Denver where he sold everything. He was arrested on suspicion of murdering McCain, however the body had not been found yet.

McCain's brother kept searching for him. Two weeks later he came across a trail of dry blood, left behind when Witherell dragged the body to where it was hidden. This confirmed the outlaw's guilt.

When this became known a vigilance committee was organized in Cañon City; it was announced Witherell would be lynched once he arrived in town. The sheriff had to turn back to Denver since there were so many vigilantes waiting for him at the depot.

Eventually Sheriff Griffith was able to bring Witherell to the city jail, that was adjacent to his home. Griffith told the committee that his wife was very sick, and that if they stormed the jail it might affect her badly. He told him that if they waited to the following night, he would move his family and not "resist the avengers." The leaders agreed, but after the citizens dispersed, 50 of the regulars, put on masks and returned to the jail. When the sheriff opened the door he was at once seized along with his 15 year old son. They were taken to a guard house by the penitentiary.

Witherell was taken to the telegraph pole and asked if he had anything to say, but he shook his head. About 500 people witnessed it, and the body was left hanging until later in the morning when the coroner cut it down

After the arrest for the McCain murder, George Witherell was charged with four other murders committed since he was released from prison. It's never been clarified how was implicated in these crimes, unless he confessed to them.

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The lynching of George Withrell c.1888

In September he was associated in the purchase of some ore and mining machines bought at the sale of the Belle mine. He along with two Swedes, one named Marinus Jansea started from Ironton headed to Silverton. The party had two double teams of gray horses. Some time later Witherell appeared with the teams at Silverton but his companions were missing. He left Silverton, and arrived in Pueblo with the two teams which he sold for $300. The money was found on Witherell when he was arrested. It was suspected he killed the Swedes while they slept. They had not been found since it was supposed they were lying beneath a huge bank of snow on the trail between the two camps.

​Witherell was also charged with the murder of Jamie Hand and his grandmother in June. He was seen in the vicinity of the Hand ranch when the murder was committed, and one has to wonder if he saw Mary Jane Kearney pick up the quarterly check, or if he learned there was a connection to a wealthy family and was disappointed there was nothing for him to steal.

​Ida Hand, the would-be-opera-singer was not destined to find happiness in marriage. She married Fred H. Forrester in 1890 and divorced the following year. She next married Cuthbert W. Wright (1860-1922), and she died in 1945, without ever having any other children.

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