HIGH PLAINS GUIDE FESTIVALS, FAIRS, AND RODEOS 2019

Contents

Festivals, Fairs, and Rodeos Bent County Fair 4 Maine Street Bash 5 Sand & Sage Round-Up 6 Lincoln County Fair & Rodeo 7 Arkansas Valley Fair 8 Kiowa County Fair and Rodeo 9 Holly Gateway Fair and Rodeo 10 Articles The Cowboys of Kirkwell Cattle Company 12 Loving Lightning 27 The Ties that Bind 28 Lessons Learned 30 Cowboy Songs of Comfort 32 The Trails that Lead Us Home 34 The Fleagle Gang and the Bank Robbery that Changed Everything 38 Painting the Plains: Some Girls and a Mural 44

KIOWA COUNTY Subscribe to the weekly Kiowa County Independent Annual Subscription $35/$40, $30 Digital kiowacountyindependent.com/contact/subscribe

Publisher Betsy Barnett Kiowa County Independent Editor Priscilla Waggoner 1316 Maine Street Layout and Design William Brandt PO Box 272 Advertising Cindy McLoud Eads, Colorado 81036 Cover Photo Sheri Mabe Kiowa County Independent © July 2019 kiowacountyindependent.com July 2019 • High Plains Guide • 1 FESTIVALS, FAIRS, AND RODEOS

2 • High Plains Guide • July 2019 kiowacountyindependent.com Events

Bent County Fair & Rodeo Lincoln County Fair & Rodeo Las Animas, Colorado Hugo, Colorado July 19-26 August 3-10 https://bent.extension.colostate.edu/bent-county-fair/ https://lincoln.extension.colostate.edu/lincoln-county-fair/ https://www.facebook.com/BentCountyFair/ Arkansas Valley Fair (Otero County) Crowley County Days Rocky Ford, Colorado Ordway, Colorado August 14-18 July 19-28 https://www.arkvalleyfair.com/ https://www.colorado.gov/pacific/crowleycounty/crowley-county-days https://www.facebook.com/pages/Arkansas-Valley-Fair/117437221609357 https://www.facebook.com/CrowleyCountyDay/ 2019 Downtown Custom & Classic Las Animas County Fair Trinidad, Colorado Exposition August 16-17 July 22-27 https://lasanimas.extension.colostate.edu/wp-content/uploads/ Lamar, Colorado sites/46/2019/05/2019-LAC-Fairbook-Final-1.pdf https://www.bigasscarshow.com/index.php/about-dcce/ https://www.facebook.com/LasAnimasCountyFair/ Colorado State Fair and Rodeo Kit Carson County Fair & Rodeo Aug 23 – Sept 2 Burlington, Colorado Pueblo, Colorado July 22-27 https://www.coloradostatefair.com/ https://www.colorado.gov/pacific/kitcarsoncounty/county-fair-0 https://www.facebook.com/colostatefair https://www.facebook.com/Kit-Carson-County-Fair-Pro-Ro- deo-164647266888216/ Kit Carson Day August 31 Maine Street Bash Kit Carson, Colorado July 27 Eads, Colorado Kiowa County Fair & Rodeo https://www.plainstheater.com/maine-street-bash1.html Eads, Colorado September 11-15 Cheyenne County Fair & Rodeo https://kiowa.extension.colostate.edu/kiowa-county-fair-rodeo/ https:// Cheyenne Wells, Colorado www.facebook.com/Kiowa-County-Fair-And-Rodeo-199660980566290/ July 29 – August 3 Holly Gateway Fair Baca County Fair and Rodeo Holly, Colorado Springfield, Colorado September 25-29 August 1, 2016 - August 5, 2016 https://www.facebook.com/hollycofair/ https://baca.extension.colostate.edu/2019-baca-coun- ty-fair/ https://www.facebook.com/BacaFairAndRodeoInc/ Sand & Sage Round-Up Lamar, Colorado August 3-10, 2019 https://prowers.extension.colostate.edu/2018-sand-and-sage-fair-book/ https://www.facebook.com/SandSageRoundUp kiowacountyindependent.com July 2019 • High Plains Guide • 3 4 • High Plains Guide • July 2019 kiowacountyindependent.com kiowacountyindependent.com July 2019 • High Plains Guide • 5 6 • High Plains Guide • July 2019 kiowacountyindependent.com kiowacountyindependent.com July 2019 • High Plains Guide • 7 8 • High Plains Guide • July 2019 kiowacountyindependent.com kiowacountyindependent.com July 2019 • High Plains Guide • 9 10 • High Plains Guide • July 2019 kiowacountyindependent.com kiowacountyindependent.com July 2019 • High Plains Guide • 11 By Priscilla Waggoner

12 • High Plains Guide • July 2019 kiowacountyindependent.com kiowacountyindependent.com July 2019 • High Plains Guide • 13 t’s just past noon on a Monday least, not yet. On this day, the scene The town no longer exists, but the in the last few days of June. The in all directions is one of untouched, house where he was born still stands Igravel road known as County timeless beauty as can be found in on his property just a few miles Road M stretches out ahead, going those canyonlands and plains of the away. McKinley was born in Walsh, due west and dissecting an end- Comanche National Grassland. 60 miles to the east. Both grew up in less expanse of open country. The In the distance, an old, load- farming communities but learned, spring rains have been kind; the ed down pick-up truck parked by almost straight out of the chute, prairie grass is a sea of pale green a fence line comes into view along that they were better suited to rid- punctuated by occasional cholla cac- with the sight of two cowboys ing horses than tractors and work- tus bearing deep purple blooms. Fif- who’ve already been at work, mend- ing cattle than land. These two men teen miles or more from pavement ing that fence, for hours. have known each other for most of with no house or person in sight, the Dean Ormiston and Wes McKin- their lives and been friends—good soundtrack of this land is composed ley are co-owners of the Kirkwell friends—for most of that time. Each of deep silence broken only by the Cattle Company. Born and raised man is also on the other side of sev- song of some unseen bird every in the Canyonlands of Baca County enty years old, and it doesn’t slow now and then. not far from where Colorado bor- them down in the least. There’s no doubt that, on those ders both New Mexico and Oklaho- We stand on the Ford Ranch, fif- days when a storm might roll in ma, both men are third generation teen thousand acres—“ten thousand from the southwest, this a place residents, descendants of grand- government land, five thousand pri- where nature could make herself parents who came to the region as vate”—that extend all the way to known in all her furious glory. But homesteaders. the Las Animas County line. The no such storm is on the horizon—at Ormiston was born in Kirkwell. property is owned by a man named

14 • High Plains Guide • July 2019 kiowacountyindependent.com Bob Ford out of Oklahoma. Ford clear eyed gaze and calm, slow man- grace of a man who’s spent his life comes to visit a few times a year, ner of speech, perhaps the result of on horseback. but it’s Dean who, with help from working in country where the view Behind him, a herd of several Wes, manages the ranch and has of the horizon is unobstructed, and hundred mama cows and calves have done so for twenty years. In that silence is more common than sound. stopped grazing to stare in our di- time, there’s no denying Dean’s left But to simply describe the two rection, a few shaking their horns at his mark, from the strength of the men in physical terms would do some unseen annoyance. It’s no ex- herd—“when the herd does better, them a serious injustice. Granted, aggeration to say that they are truly I do better,” he says—to one of the it’s easy to see them as the iconic beautiful with stark white and deep outbuildings he built, himself, us- cowboys portrayed in the Westerns red markings. ing rocks he quarried from the top of later years, but, as the day pro- “They’re one hundred per cent of the bluffs overlooking the ranch gresses, it becomes clear that they pure Herefords,” Dean says with a house down in the canyon. are much better captured in a novel mixture of pride and admiration. Ormiston and McKinley seem by, say, Larry McMurtry, writer of “I don’t dehorn ‘em,” he adds. “The to personify the term “cowboy.” Lonesome Dove. For, in his own way, steers, I do, but not the cows. We Dusty boots. Worn out blue jeans. each man is complicated, and full of have bear and lion and coyote out Strong, rough hands that reflect surprises and runs as deep as nearby here. There was a bear in front of the years of hard work performed in Carrizo Creek after a hard rain. ranch house just the other mornin’. harsh weather. Cowboy hats that Dean is the first to step forward. The cows need those horns to pro- have been soaked with rain and sun With long hair pulled back in a po- tect themselves and the herd.” He and sweat so many times over so nytail and a snow white mustache then scans the horizon as if figuring many years that they seem to be as that would be the envy of Wild Bill out where to start. “New Mexico is much a part of them as their hands himself, he extends his hand, mov- just eight miles away on the other or feet. And, beneath those hats, a ing with the slightly bowlegged side of those mountains.” He then

kiowacountyindependent.com July 2019 • High Plains Guide • 15 halfway lifts a figure toward the to be a permanent part of who he is. much since those days when towns ridge where a butte juts up above Wes turns a bit toward the open were built twenty miles apart. There the ridge line. “We call that Tater vista to the west where the short are no other cars driving down Butte,” he says. “Its official name is prairie grasses seem to extend for- County Road M and certainly no Carrizo, but we call it Tater. Why? ever. “We’ve seen every color of trains nearby. In a land where rattle- Because that’s what it looks like.” green out here,” he says. “And we’ve snakes bite, horses stumble and fall, Ormiston is introducing himself in seen every shade of brown and gray cows can go a little crazy and severe what might be the most telling way you can imagine, too.” He pauses for summer storms suddenly appear out possible. In talking about the land, several long seconds. “Man is a herd of nowhere, the niceties and small he’s talking about himself. animal,” he begins, as if deciding to talk that usually fill an introduction Wes, who stands a few yards voice a thought mid-stream. “I don’t are superfluous. away, has the patient demeanor of know why, but man needs other men “Let’s head on to the ranch,” a storyteller biding his time. He around to be sustained. That’s why Dean says. “We can continue the wears a long, loose shirt that’s the the first towns around here were conversation in the bunkhouse.” So, color of sand and a midnight blue built about twenty miles apart. A with that, the conversation is moved scarf tied loosely around his neck, man can walk twenty miles in a to the place where the real stories and he has just the slightest smile day, if he has to. He can do twenty wait to be told. on his lips. It’s hard to say what he miles on horseback, easy, and easi- might be thinking behind his am- er’n that in a wagon. When the rail- Deep In Carrizo Canyon ber colored sunglasses, but the way road came, all of that changed. Of Ormiston and McKinley head west part of the brim of his cowboy hat course, they still needed water tanks in their truck for a mile or so before is curled up and under just a bit on every twenty miles to fuel the en- turning south on an unmarked dirt the left suggests he takes it off the gines, but towns could be built fur- road that passes over a small rise same way every day. Despite his hat ther apart. That’s how we ended up in the land. And with no warning pulled low over his face, the sun has with Springfield and Vilas.” whatsoever, the landscape changes still bronzed his skin above his full, Anywhere else, it might have been from grassland to a steep canyon trimmed white beard as well as his an unusual way to start a conversa- rimmed with juniper and piñon pine. hands that hang loosely at his sides. tion, but, on the Comanche National The place just has the feel of linger- It’s difficult to imagine him without Grassland, it makes perfect sense. ing history. that bronze from the sun; it seems Life in this place hasn’t changed At one time, bands of Comanche

16 • High Plains Guide • July 2019 kiowacountyindependent.com were in this canyon, and it’s easy dry. But on the porch of the bunk- taught me how to work—we had 28 to imagine hearing the sounds of house in Carrizo Canyon, the air is cows that we milked every morn- small herds of horses, stomping at cool and sweet and still. ing and night. He taught me to be flies and whinnying to one another. The men lead the way inside. independent, to be self-sufficient, Further into the canyon, the ruins There have been some memorable to think for myself. But I’m differ- of several rock houses testify of conversations held at kitchen tables ent from my brothers and sisters.” those who called the canyon home, over the years, and it’s a good bet He chuckles just slightly. “I used perhaps reassured at first by Carrizo that the kitchen table in the bunk- to think I was adopted.” He then Creek that runs along the canyon house is no exception. stretches out his legs a bit and set- floor only to have the dry years hit tles a little further into the story. “I and cause them to leave their homes Ormiston started school in a one room school- and the canyon behind forever. The bunkhouse, built in the 50s, house. They closed it a year later, so We come to the end of the road, consists of a main room with a I went to school in Pritchett about and a tall flag pole bearing an Ameri- couple more rooms off to the side. thirty miles away. Just a little old can flag marks the entrance to ranch And the main room is exactly that: town.” headquarters where there’s a col- a kitchen is on one wall, a sofa and He shifts slightly in his chair and lection of buildings, each one with coffee table are on the other and a rests his hands on the edge of the solid rock walls and a red tin roof round kitchen table is placed in the table before him, fingers loosely overhead. The ranch house, big- corner, snugged up against the win- cupped as if, even sitting at the table, gest of all the buildings, is set back dows. they still hold a pair of reins. Worn, from the others just a bit. Directly With the afternoon sunlight sterling silver bands are on seven or across the way lies the bunkhouse streaming over his shoulder, Dean eight of his fingers. with its long, welcoming porch and lowers his lanky frame into a “My family came from Kansas in hitching posts out front. Tucked up straight-backed kitchen chair and 1912,” he continues. “The whole fam- against the bluffs that form the can- waits for the first question. “I was ily came. All of ‘em. Grandparents, yon walls, it stands next to the tack born in Kirkwell in 1948,” he starts. uncles…Ormistons homesteaded room and extensive corrals. “I was the second child. My brother land all around here. The land up Up “on the flats” where Here- was two years older, and I had four on the flats was all farmland back fords graze and Tater Butte is seen sisters and brothers younger than then. There were people on every from miles away, the air is hot and me. I had a hard working father who quarter section.” He glances brief- kiowacountyindependent.com July 2019 • High Plains Guide • 17 ly at Wes who nods his agreement. liked horses and cattle,” he says. “All think every other piece of equip- “Most of ‘em left in the thirties we had was milk cows growing up, ment I bought, I bought used. I used when the drought hit. Just couldn’t so I worked for neighbors.” After most of the money to buy four hun- stick it out. Walt Dunlap—an old graduating from high school, he dred head of cattle.” man I rode with sometimes--he was went to Adams State College where Some may say that being twen- here in the 30s and told me about a he got both his Bachelors and Mas- ty-seven years old and taking out a man who was packing up and head- ters in Industrial Arts. He went on million dollar loan to start a cattle ing east. Said he’d sell his land if to teach the subject in Lamar for ranch is a big gamble. It’s a thought somebody just made him an offer. So several years, but as the saying goes, Dean dismisses. “I borrowed money Walt asked him what he would take once a cowboy, always a cowboy. He from the bank when I was fourteen for it, and that man said, ‘What have returned to the area in 1971. years old and my brother was six- you got?’ Walt said, ‘Well, I’ve got He looks briefly out the window teen. We went to this old banker in a pocket knife here’ and that man to his side. “It’s hard country out Springfield. He asked us, ‘Do you in- said, ‘I’ll take it.’ They were selling here. It’s hot. There’s rattlesnakes. tend to pay it back? Okay, sign here.’ land for $5 an acre back then. Bob Bear. Lion. Coyote. Prairie dogs. That was it. ‘Course, you couldn’t do Ford who owns this ranch bought Wind. Hard country, but I like it. I that today. It probably wasn’t even 5,000 acres. He paid five million dol- guess you have to be born here to legal. But, like I said, I’ve always lars.” Dean pauses and shakes his feel that way.” liked horses and cattle.” head at the thought. “Yeah, all the In 1975, Dean made his “big Unaccustomed to sitting in a others left, but not my grandfather. ranching move,” which lasted for chair for long periods of time, he He stayed. Raised a hundred mule the next twenty years. “I really got gets to his feet and stretches before colts and sold ‘em. Rode a mammoth into it,” he says. “Took out a million putting one foot on the seat of the jack himself—those are the real big dollar loan to get started. I didn’t kitchen chair. His eyes drift back out mules. His name was George Orm- go like some of these young people the window, and his voice grows a iston.” now and buy a new truck and new, little bit softer. “The lifestyle here… Dean was raised on a farm but expensive equipment. I did buy a it’s just about gone. More and more preferred ranching. “I’ve always truck—drove it for years—but I people are finding out about this

18 • High Plains Guide • July 2019 kiowacountyindependent.com kiowacountyindependent.com July 2019 • High Plains Guide • 19 place. I told my wife, ‘We gotta move. Ten cars came down the road today.’” He smiles and takes a few steps to grab a couple of bottles of water. He looks at them in his hand as he speaks. “I’m going to quit in a few years,” he says. “My niece will take over. She loves this place. I won’t get out altogether—I’ll still take care of two to three hundred cattle. But my wife is from Ecuador, and we have a condo down there. I’d like to spend some time in that place. May- be ride a canoe down the Amazon.” A 2012 election poster promoting Ormiston for Baca County Commissioner is tacked to the wall by his shoulder. In the center, an old photo of Dean as a boy on horseback. Dean just nods. “I was a county commissioner for 4 years from 2012 to ’16,” he says. “I didn’t run again. I didn’t like it. I wanted to help people but… just couldn’t get things done. I’ll leave that job to other people to do.” He looks over at Wes who sits on the couch a few feet away, feet propped up on the coffee table. “But Wes here, he was a state representative for four terms,” he says. Wes slowly nods. “Yes, I was,” he says. “They didn’t like me much at the capital. They didn’t like what I wanted to do. Remember when the state fur- loughed workers? I proposed the people who sat around at desks doin’ nothin’ have their wages re- duced instead of the people building bridges, pav- ing roads and actually doing something. They hated me for that.” “They hated you for more than that,” Dean says, laughing. McKinley At first glance, Wes McKinley is an unassuming man who does not pretend to be anyone other than exactly who he is. “I’m a cowboy,” he says, as if that’s all there is to say. If asked a direct question, he gives a direct answer. If asked something a little more open ended, the response is likely to be framed as a story, usually with a little humor and dry wit thrown in. And yet, there’s something about him, something just below the surface and out of sight that suggests “cowboy” is just part of the story. While growing up in Walsh, McKinley worked cattle along with any other job he could find. His first eight years of school were spent in a “country” one room school house with no electricity and “the only water available was what you drew from the well.” Not so different from how he lived at home. When that school closed, Wes went on to finish

20 • High Plains Guide • July 2019 kiowacountyindependent.com high school and then on to college where he earned both his Bachelor’s and Masters in Statistics and Ad- vanced Mathematics. “I like math,” he says simply. He then pauses for a moment and tries to provide an explanation, as if such a fact as liking math couldn’t stand on its own two feet. “See, there are no constants. No constants, except one. In order to die, you have to be born first,” he says. “That’s the only constant there is.” It’s in that brief interchange that Wes gives a clue to how he, at least in some aspect, views the world and then speaks of what he sees. It’s all a matter of mathematics that is revealed in universal ways. How things work. How one thing con- nects to another. Big thoughts, big questions most likely pondered un- der big skies. However, several experiences in Wes’ past warrant straight out sto- rytelling, one of which involved the four consecutive terms he served as State Representative for District 64. “I was a Democrat,” he says. “A whiskey drinkin’, Bible thumpin’, gun totin’ Democrat. And I drove those people crazy.” When, as a state rep, he was required to list his occupation for the records, he put “cowboy.” Not rancher. Cowboy. No state representative in history had ever listed cowboy as an occupation before. And no one who knew Wes McKinley would have expected him to put anything different. Listening to him, it’s difficult in some ways to picture him sitting in the chamber of that gold domed building, surrounded by politicians probably wearing suits and doing the business of the state. There just isn’t a round hole or square peg where Wes would seem to fit. And yet, as he tells tales of specific battles he fought and legislation he found ridiculous and the bar-b-que kiowacountyindependent.com July 2019 • High Plains Guide • 21 about eight years ago,” he says, qui- etly. “As she was dying, she told me I wasn’t the easiest man to be married to, but I sure wasn’t ever boring. That was the last thing she said. She died, right after.” With that, he just folds his hands and grows silent. The Kirkwell Cattle Company Thirty years or so ago, Dean and Wes were riding along one after- noon when Wes tossed out an idea. The land around Ford Ranch and the Ormiston property is beauti- ful country, unlike anywhere else. McKinley’s thinking was that peo- ple would probably pay to see coun- try like this and nobody knew it better than the two of them. They could do trips for people—maybe horseback camping or cattle drives where, out of respect, he invited the with no names or criminal records or wagon trains, things they know homeless people in the vicinity to at- involved. That made national news. how to do and that people would tend, it seems as if Wes was exactly And then, even more incredibly, never have experienced before. where he belonged. when the judge signed off on the Dean thought it was a good idea, And then, with barely a pause, deal a few months later, he sealed but there was a problem. “I hate peo- Wes casually adds that he was also the indictment and, amidst massive ple,” he says and then adds, “Maybe the foreman of the Grand Jury that outcry from the grand jurors, the I don’t hate ‘em, but I can do without investigated Rocky Flats. media and public alike, threatened ‘em. Give me my horse and my dog Rocky Flats Nuclear Weapons to throw in jail on charges of con- and I’m fine.” Plant, a Department of Energy tempt of court any grand juror who Wes told him that was a prob- facility northwest of Denver, was spoke publicly about the case. That lem they could work around. Dean under investigation of environmen- made national news, as well. would line up everything that was tal crimes based, in part, on docu- Although outraged, Wes abided, needed to take people on a trip, and ments seized by the FBI during a as the law required. And then he Wes would do the “marketing and 1989 raid. The grand jury of which wrote a book, titled “The Ambushed promotion and all the talking to Wes was foreman was the first spe- Grand Jury: How the Justice De- people part.” cial grand jury convened in State partment Covered Up Government And so, the Kirkwell Cattle Com- of Colorado history, and, for once a Nuclear Crime and How We Caught pany was born. month for almost 2 years, Wes drove Them Red-Handed.” The book is Those first years were tough. to Denver where he and 23 other available on Amazon. It seems the They gave trips away to everybody jurors went through complicated judge didn’t have the last word, af- to get the name out and lost mon- testimony and documents related ter all. ey for five years straight. But then, to the plant’s operations.At the end, There are doubtless dozens more things turned around and kept go- all 24 jurors returned 8 indictments stories that hang in the air of the ing strong for years. “We did fifteen for environmental crimes. But, in a bunkhouse, untold, but outside, people a trip, two trips a month,” stunning and highly controversial clouds are starting to roll in, and Dean says. “At fifteen hundred a move, the U.S. Attorney for the case that seems to be about all Wes feels head…not a bad living.” refused to sign the indictment, set- like sharing, at the time. He does Groups came from all over. They tling instead for a $17.5 million fine add one final thought. “My wife died had people from France, from Ger-

22 • High Plains Guide • July 2019 kiowacountyindependent.com kiowacountyindependent.com July 2019 • High Plains Guide • 23 many. They had 15 bus drivers—all People live their whole lives by a People who travel to these plains Italians—from New York City go schedule anymore. Do this by this and canyonlands for the first time on a cattle drive to Clayton, New time, do that by that time. I don’t describe the same experience over Mexico. All of them on horseback even wear a watch unless I have an and over and over. (for the first times in their lives) for appointment to keep. I say, okay, I was driving down this long, dirt week long trips into remote, beau- we’re gonna go in a while, and it road. There’s nothing around, any- tiful country where they lived the could be ten minutes or it could be where, but miles and miles of grass. lives of cowboys. thirty. We go when we’re ready to And I thought, where the hell am I? “First day, they’re so sore they’re go, and we stop when we’re ready What the hell am I doing here? And pretty sure they’re going to die,” to stop.” He looks at Wes and gives then, I go over some tiny hill and I’m Dean says. “Second day, maybe they him a nod. “I didn’t used to be like looking down into these beautiful can- aren’t going to die, after all. Third that, did I, Wes. I used to wake up in yons. Never even saw it coming. Never day, they’re not nearly so sore and the morning and say, ‘God, what do seen a place like this. are beginning to like it. By the I have to do today?’ But now, I get Dean Ormiston and Wes McKin- fourth day, they’re really enjoy- up and say, ‘God, what do I get to do ley are, indeed, men of the land ing themselves. When the last day today?’ Wes taught me that.” where they were raised and contin- comes around, they don’t want to Wes just smiles a bit and nods. ue to live on to this day. Rock sol- leave. It was like that, pretty much And when asked what it’s like in id, tough as nails, hard-working, every trip.” this country at night, both men— straight-shooting cowboys. And, What is it that people long for to literally at the same time—make the just like the canyons that surround make them try such a thing? Once gesture of grabbing stars from the them, there is a whole lot more just there, what do they discover that sky. “They look so close, you think below the surface.You just have to makes them want to stay? “It’s sim- you can touch ‘em,” Wes says. Dean keep driving until it decides it’s time ple out here,” Dean says. “It’s real. just nods. to be seen.

24 • High Plains Guide • July 2019 kiowacountyindependent.com kiowacountyindependent.com July 2019 • High Plains Guide • 25 26 • High Plains Guide • July 2019 kiowacountyindependent.com Loving Lightning By Jeff C. Campbell

I love those images Lightning, sunrises, sunsets Flashes from muzzles of guns Snow falling, flailing sideways

Bolts, burns, glistenings Speckles, spatters, floods Intricate crystalline geometry I love those things

The sounds, the sensory Even the tactile, sand on your face Grit in your teeth, a bug blown into your ear Grilled shrimp tails and crisp fried chicken

Dirt under your fingernails Removed, revealing chips and splinters Fingerprints on eyeglasses fogging Sight paths along less chosen ways But there are no thunder bolts or thunder flashes, just Lightening bolts looking for keys on kite strings Electric mega watts in a nano second Heat expanding close universes Into a cavitation left hanging Then collapsing with shrinking air Knocks you off your feet in the concussion

Sound and Light Smell and Darkness Touch and humidity Sight and reflection Taste and texture So many permutations Probabilities, possibilities In the quest of feeling the life

I love those interruptions Not about me or you kiowacountyindependent.com July 2019 • High Plains Guide • 27 By Priscilla Waggoner

28 • High Plains Guide • July 2019 kiowacountyindependent.com ack in the “early days”, that itself felt isolating with the empty Prairie Fever. not-so-distant time in history miles of prairie in all directions and Prairie Fever, or as it was some- Bwhen the federal government not a single tree in sight. For others, times called, Prairie Madness, was offered 160 acres of free land to any it was the harshness of long, cold not an officially recognized diag- homesteader willing to live on and winters with blizzards that trapped nosis arrived at by a doctor using a farm the property for five years, the people in their houses for days un- specific set of symptoms. However, people who decided to take Uncle der several feet of snow followed among people living on the plains, Sam up on his offer had a few char- by short, hot summers with sud- it was a very real and frightening acteristics in common. den thunderstorms that left fields thing. What started off as gener- Commitment. Intense indepen- too wet to plant and roads, if roads al depression would soon turn into dence. Persistence. A rugged hope even existed, too muddy to use. For something deeper and darker. A per- that, if they worked hard enough other people, it was the periods of son would often begin to withdraw and long enough, it was, indeed, drought that came on, settled in and from others until they eventually possible to create a good and pros- sucked life from the land taking all isolated themselves from every- perous life, even in an untested land hope of a good harvest with it. And one and everything. In other cases, that might prove to be more enemy then there was the terror of seeing people would become angry at the than friend. a prairie fire, often started by a sin- slightest offense or problem, even, Among those people who came to gle bolt of lightning that ultimately in some cases, turning violent when southeast Colorado, many had noth- left miles of destruction and, some- they’d never been violent before. In ing to lose. The life they had left times, loss of life in its wake while the most tragic cases, people would behind in Kansas or Missouri, Indi- people could do nothing but stand ultimately take their own lives. ana or Illinois held little hope, and by, helpless, as their lives vanished It didn’t happen to everyone, homesteading was their last best in smoke before their eyes. and it didn’t always look the same. chance to create a future for them- But for many, it was the wind. But, as diaries and letters from the selves. The relentless, never ending whine time have revealed, once a person But once they were here, some of of the wind that robbed a person of had seen it happen in someone they the homesteaders found themselves any sense of peace. knew, they recognized the symp- daunted by the challenges, not just Trying to carve out a life in a toms in others as soon as they ap- in getting started in a place that land that had such potential to be so peared. could be hard and unwelcoming, at unforgiving was the crucible that ei- In perhaps the most telling sign, times, but in the toll that struggle ther forged a man or woman’s inner Prairie Fever was a term specifical- took on their hearts and minds and strength or sent them, defeated and ly reserved for people living on the the sense that they were all alone in dispirited, back to from wherever plains. Someone in, say, New York the fight. they had come. And that’s exactly or St. Louis might display the same For those whose minds were al- what many homesteaders did. They symptoms, but it would be called ready headed in that direction, the left. something else. The people who world around them was filled with But others stayed, and, among experienced it, the people who saw signs that took them further down those who did, some of the worst it happen in others, and the people the path. hardships they suffered had nothing who wrote about it from a distance The Homestead Act of 1862 to do with how much crop they were all attributed the condition to be granted people a half section of able to harvest or how many coins caused by the same thing: the in- land. As a result, homes were at least they had in their pocket. The hard- tense isolation and stress that were a half mile apart and sometimes ship those people suffered was born a part of life on the plains. more. By daylight, if the house was in the vast emptiness of the High Over time, Prairie Fever eventu- not a dug-out with half of it under- Plains themselves, and it manifested ally disappeared as a major mental ground, its small silhouette might itself in the deep loneliness and de- health concern. And that happened at least be visible in the distance. spair that sickened a person down to largely because these fiercely in- However, by night, there was noth- their very soul. dependent, self-sufficient people ing but darkness, and darkness on That condition was so common learned the profound importance the prairie can feel as endless as it is back then that it was given a name, the presence of others played in deep. For some people, the landscape and the name it was given said it all. their lives. kiowacountyindependent.com July 2019 • High Plains Guide • 29 As more and more people came to do something to hopefully banish manufactured reasons. There were the area and small groups of people the intense sorrow of loneliness no new clothes to be shown off when began to cluster together in what that was always knocking at the living on the High Plains. There might loosely be called “towns”, the door. And that, especially that, made were no newspapers with society first public building to be built was building a school more than just a pages to prove social standing. The always a school. Not a jail. Not a good decision; it made it a necessity needs of homesteaders were much hospital. Not a church. if a person wanted to survive. more basic, much more pressing and A school. The question of what to do at real. Community dances were fun, Part of the motivation came from these social gatherings was an- and they needed more fun in their the importance placed on the educa- swered almost before it was asked. lives. That reason, all by itself, was tion of children at the time. It was Many of the homesteaders had more than enough for them. the late 1800s; literacy played a huge come from established communities And so they did. They started role in a child’s future. Also, most where, be they rich or poor, certain having community dances. Before of the families had moved to south- events were commonplace. And one long, they were having a dance at east Colorado from communities of the most common commonplace the schoolhouse nearly every week, where their children were attending social events was the community perhaps without even realizing that school. Going back to school in this dance. those dances were one of the most untamed, unsettled land would help Community dances, or social healing things they could have done. to restore a bit of normalcy to life. dances as they were called in states The dances were almost always But there was another, equally to the east, were extremely popular, held on a Saturday night, beginning important reason. Building a school largely because they provided op- when the sun went down and work meant people would have a location portunities not easily found in other was finished for the day, and often where they could gather together, ways. Women could show off their continuing until the wee hours of all of them in one place at one time, new clothes; single ladies could be the morning. And almost every- making it possible for people to ex- properly introduced to single men; one—almost every single person perience, to remember once again, aspiring socialites could see their within a reasonable distance—par- the joy and comfort of just being names printed in the society pages ticipated. in the presence of others. It was a of local newspapers. Each woman brought some type practical, sensible, feasible way to Homesteaders did not need such of food, and, usually around mid-

30 • High Plains Guide • July 2019 kiowacountyindependent.com night, a huge supper was served. an upside down barrel, decide on a of those same people would gath- Beverages were always provided, tune and…play. er together at the school and play some of which were brought by the At the end of the 1800s, there the music that their neighbors and men and served outside. The dances was a push across the nation to friends danced to. One can only were most decidedly family affairs, teach music in rural schools. Teach- imagine the difference it must have so children always came along, of- er colleges included classes in teach- made in people’s lives, the comfort ten drifting off to sleep on pallets ing choir, and, in many places, the and joy and, if nothing else, sheer placed along the walls. government sent instruments to relief that must have been felt to Yet, even with all of that, one of country schools with instructions be in that schoolhouse, surrounded the most extraordinary—even pow- to make them available to students. by their own community with the erful—element of those weekly was And instruments could be bought sounds of voices, of conversations the music that was played. for not much money. A guitar could and laughter and, best of all, the Music was a core part of life on cost as little as $1.50, and harmon- sounds of music drifting out of the the High Plains. With little oppor- icas, introduced in America before open windows and doors and across tunities for entertainment available the Civil War, cost a lot less than the otherwise silent plains in the to them, most families had at least that. night. one person who played an instru- For those few families who had It didn’t take long for people to ment. In some cases, entire families a piano in their home, single sheet begin to request that certain kinds formed their own band. Whether it music published by Tin Pan Alley of music be played. And those liv- was on the piano or the “fiddle” or in New York City could be bought ing far from the city—from any city, the banjo or guitar, it was a regular for just pennies a page and provid- really—preferred songs about their practice for men, women and some ed exposure to the songs that were own circumstances, and that helped of the older children to pull out popular in the city. to bring rise to what was called their instruments, pull up a chair or And on Saturday nights, some “cowboy music”.

kiowacountyindependent.com July 2019 • High Plains Guide • 31 Cowboy Songs of Comfort

32 • High Plains Guide • July 2019 kiowacountyindependent.com In the years following the Civil War, to cowboys spending their days in herd, to describe their own lives, it’s estimated that more than 10 mil- a most creative and entertaining comfort their own loneliness and, in lion semi-wild longhorn cattle were way: telling stories and making some cases, ease the aching hearts moved from Texas to markets in up poems, usually about themes as of youth. the north. The cattle were moved in big as the land through which they Trail songs soon became a form herds that ranged in size from 2,000 traveled and the star filled skies at of music in its own right, being per- to 5,000 head, and groups of ten night. Love discovered. Love be- formed on the open range or in the or more cowboys—many of them trayed. Men wrongfully accused and ranch house. Sometimes, cowboys young, adventurous men—rode punished. The elements of nature sang them in saloons during those along. that surrounded them. And, some- rare occasions they were given per- If pushed, cattle have the abili- times, the experience of moving mission to go into cow towns they ty to travel 25 miles in a single day, thousands of huge animals to a new passed on the trail. And so, as many but such a pace will cause the cat- home. things were passed on the wind, tle to lose weight, and skinny cat- The cowboy’s job was as straight- trail songs—cowboy music—made tle bring less money at market. So, forward as it could be. Drive the cat- their way to homesteading commu- the herd didn’t travel more than 15 tle forward during the day; keep the nities where people embraced them miles a day. Given that most cattle cattle calm and protect them from as their own. drives covered around 1,000 miles thieves at night. But keeping sever- Times are different now. Aside from ranch house to railhead, a typ- al thousand cattle calm at night in from church services on Sunday ical cattle drive lasted about two the middle of frontier country filled mornings, people no longer make it months, and that left those cowboys with a variety of wild animals is a point to gather together, as a com- looking for ways to pass the time no small or easy task. Cattle can be munity, to listen to music, let alone while on the trail. skitterish creatures, especially semi- dance. Music isn’t taught in school. The problem was the lack of wild longhorns. Any unexpected or Fewer and fewer people play any available options. After all, how unusual sound in the darkness could kind of musical instrument, at all. many things can a man realistically startle the sleeping herd, potentially However, there are still people do while on horseback for hours at leading to stampedes that were dan- across these plains who are strong a time or sitting around a campfire gerous and destructive things. So, to believers in the power of music and with the same men night after night, drown out these noises and offer the are deeply devoted to keeping the day after day? reassuring sound of a familiar voice, tradition of music alive. Old sayings stick around as long cowboys would croon and yodel to Two of those people are women, as they do because they offer pro- the sleeping herd. Eventually, the very talented women, who just re- found truths in very few words. crooning at night merged with the cently discovered each other when “Necessity is the mother of inven- poems created during the day, and they were hired to perform at a tion” is one such saying that comes it was out of these cattle calls and wedding. And what came out of to mind. And it was necessity, or poetry that trail songs were born. that discovery was nothing less than at least something similar, that led Cowboys used music to calm the beautiful.

kiowacountyindependent.com July 2019 • High Plains Guide • 33 The Trails that Lead Us Home

34 • High Plains Guide • July 2019 kiowacountyindependent.com If someone were to say of Brean- suit of a single goal. Breanna is no one in Lexi’s family played any in- na Echols, “Music is her life,” they exception. strument, at all, with the exception would not simply be speaking met- In 2009, she married her hus- of her great-great grandmother aphorically. They’d be stating a fact. band, James, and after an adventur- and her great-great-great grand- Difficult as it is to believe when ous two and a half years on the road mother who used to play the violin first meeting her, the somewhat re- when James traveled with the coun- and piano together when they lived served, blonde, 29 year old wife to a try gospel group, the couple decided in Kremmling. But that was a little farmer and mother of three children to have children. That decision led before Lexi’s time. under the age of six, spent the first to their moving to Cheyenne Wells Wherever she got the idea and for 15 years of her life on the road, tour- where James returned to farming. whatever reason it appealed to her ing America and Canada, perform- They now have three children so strongly, Lexi was smitten with ing in rodeos and churches with her and, in hopes of building a legacy the violin and, as she grew older, her family’s country gospel band named for their future, have moved to Wild desire only grew stronger. And then “Desert Reign”. Made up of her Horse where they’ve started their finally, at the age of 9, Lexi got the parents, her sister and “a couple of own farm and spraying business violin she’d asked for and lessons to really close family friends”, Desert with James’ two brothers and their learn how to play it. What followed Reign must have been pretty good. families. The three families are liv- were nine years of youth orchestras, According to Breanna, “My family is ing in fifth wheelers on ten acres of performances, recitals, even a little the most awarded family in country land with everything but water. A traveling. gospel music.” dried up water table requires them “My parents were a huge sup- The case could be made that a to haul water every week. port,” she says. The passion con- life filled with music was Breanna’s It’s been a difficult transition tinued when Lexi—who’s original- fate even before she drew her first that’s left Breanna struggling with ly from Las Vegas, Nevada—got a breath. “My parents met playing depression. Her response? She scholarship to attend University of live music in the bars in the ‘80s,” turned to what gives her strength. Nevada at Las Vegas for a degree in she says. “My mom plays pedal steel Her music. Her faith. And her com- music performance. “It was required guitar. My dad plays guitar and is munity, which she serves by leading that we be part of a quartet,” she one of the greatest songwriters out worship on Sundays. says, “and we were paid for perfor- there. So, naturally, I’ve been sing- When Breanna was approached mances. We did a lot of weddings.” ing pretty much since I could talk.” about performing at a wedding with Lexi is a soft spoken, intelligent, Suffice it to say, Breanna was im- another musician she’d never met, modest, thirty year old woman who mersed in music from an early age she admits to being nervous but ex- lives on a cattle ranch near Haswell to such a degree that she has “never cited. But it was the love of music with her husband, Hunter, and their had to have a single lesson for any- and the violin, which Lexi plays, two young boys. When speaking thing I’ve done musically.” As she that called to her the loudest. about her background—about when puts it, “I play one hundred percent When Lexi Uhland was just two she played the violin and where— by ear.” years old, her mother noticed her her responses are a friendly, warm Playing music is just a part of doing something rather…unexpect- summary of facts. Breanna’s passion; she’s also a tal- ed. But when asked about why she ented songwriter, as evidenced by Other 2 year olds played with plays the violin (and, as it turns out, the number of awards she’s won. blocks or toy trains or walked the guitar), something else emerges “Out of everything I do musically,” around with plush little animals in her voice, something that comes she says, “writing is at the top of my tucked under their arms. But Lexi from a deep, heartfelt place. “I think list. There’s no better expression did something very different. Lexi violins—all stringed instruments— than being able to put my deepest walked around the house pretend- have an ability to evoke emotions,” thoughts and inspiring stories to a ing to play the violin. Not just once. she says. “Violins were created to melody that can resonate with oth- A lot of times. And for a long time, emulate the human voice, and the ers.” too. way they sound…it makes people But human beings are complex No one in Lexi’s family played feel things. It has power. It connects creatures, and rarely are all needs the violin. No one anyone Lexi people. I loved that.” After a brief and aspirations satisfied by the pur- knew played the violin. In fact, no pause, she adds, “People work so kiowacountyindependent.com July 2019 • High Plains Guide • 35 much and so hard, and there’s not discovered they had things in com- world that can take a bad day, where much entertainment here. Music mon as wives, as mothers, as musi- the stresses of life seem particular- brings that to life.” cians. They felt like this could be the ly heavy, and almost instantly make Lexi’s life is no exception. Life start of a real friendship. And, even you feel new again,” she says. “For on a cattle ranch, taking care of though it was their first time, they me, just a few measures in and music two young sons leaves little time for sounded as if they’d played together is one of those things. Making mu- anything else, including the violin. for years. sic with a beautiful soul like Breanna “My focus is on my family now,” she The wedding day came. The mu- has reminded me of who I am be- says. “On Hunter and being a mama sic was performed. The response yond a momma and wife—although and taking care of my boys. That’s was what any and all expected it those are titles I’m very proud of. It what’s important to me now.” And would be. “Amazing” was a word has inspired me to keep the music there are still moments when she heard often. alive.” plays her violin. “Mainly for my And the two women—the two Despite those “early days” fading boys,” she says, adding with a hint musicians named Lexi and Brean- more and more into the distant past of a chuckle. “Their favorite is O na—walked away from the experi- every day, the lessons learned then Susanna.” ence with a great deal more than the are still important to learn—and re- And yet, despite being a little accolades and, perhaps, a little cash learn—today. “freaked out” at performing with in their hands. There are ties that bind us to- Breanna, Lexi agreed, and her rea- “It’s definitely made me feel a lit- gether. Friendship. Connectedness. son was one only a musician would tle more hopeful to know there are The joyous sound of music filling have. “The music,” she says. “We’re other people I can find connections our hearts and souls. Those things playing popular music. I haven’t with out here,” Breanna says. “We’re provide the reassurance of common done that before.” very spread out…but knowing there ground and reaffirm what we’ve When they were finally in the is someone else around who’s doing known all along. When we truly same room, instruments in hand, what I’m doing makes it a lot easier.” gather together, no distance is so several things happened. They each Lexi echoes similar thoughts. great that we ever feel completely shared parts of their history. They “There aren’t many things in this alone again.

Photo credit: Chelsea Dawn Weddings

36 • High Plains Guide • July 2019 kiowacountyindependent.com kiowacountyindependent.com July 2019 • High Plains Guide • 37 The Fleagle Gang And the Bank Robbery that Changed Everything

By Priscilla Waggoner

hen dawn broke on the steam. The money farmers got for gang-land style murders like they morning of Wednesday, their crops didn’t even cover what had in Chicago, and the newspapers WMay 23rd in 1928, resi- it cost to grow them, and, with for- were full of stories about murders dents of Prowers County in south- age becoming less and less available and hijackings and kidnappings as eastern Colorado woke up expecting and cattle prices dropping, ranchers gangs in Pueblo fought gangs in it to be just another day, although, were having to cull their herds. Denver over control of the illegal they had to admit that just another Troubles were also brewing in alcohol trade. day was not such a good thing lately. other parts of the state. Prohibition, No one in this part of the state Things were not going well in which was passed with the intent of had ever heard of things like that southeastern Colorado. People were solving the problems of poverty and happening in Colorado before, let really struggling. The boom of the an increase in crime, had actually had alone in the same town where peo- war years a decade before had giv- the opposite effect. The bootlegging ple took the train to go shopping for en farmers and merchants a taste industry in Colorado had exploded a day or shipped their 5 gallon con- of what it meant to be prosperous almost overnight, and Pueblo—just tainers of cream every week to shop as the demand for their crops was 125 miles to the west—was one of owners who then sold the cream to great and prices were high. the two major cities supplying ille- their customers. But, once the war ended and the gal booze all over the state. Before No, times were certainly tough recession hit in 1919, things started long, even out on the plains, people for those who lived in a town like going south and had only picked up were hearing about gangsters and Lamar, but, aside from rowdy cow-

38 • High Plains Guide • July 2019 kiowacountyindependent.com boys every now and then or the oc- somewhat thin and largely consid- ever even meet again. By robbing casional domestic situation that got ered to be the smarter one. He was places this way, there was no “Flea- out of control, people could take also known as a “tightwad” who gle Gang” per se, which kept them great comfort in knowing that they was never loose with his money and well off the radar of the law. lived in a safe place where every- would frequently “stash away” any The brothers made a habit of body knew everybody else and that money he made. In contrast, Jake “working” the entirety of the Sac- such violence was far, far away. was small, far more impulsive and ramento Valley during the fruit Unfortunately, as they rose from active. He also was known as a phi- harvest. Jake knew from experience their beds on that May morning in landerer who liked to gamble and that there were a lot of crap games 1928, little did those people know spend money. Of the two, it was a during the fruit harvest, and they that everything would look very dif- good bet that Jake would be the first were games where a great deal of ferent by the time the sun set that to get in trouble with the law. money was wagered. night. And that’s exactly what hap- As had become their style, the In 1886, Jake Fleagle and his pened. brothers would appear guns drawn, wife, Annie, left Iowa with their After being arrested, fingerprint- scoop up as much as $10,000, pay two young sons, Ralph and Fred, ed, charged and convicted of second off the accomplices they’d hired at and moved to Finney County, Kan- degree robbery in Oklahoma, Jake maybe $1,000 each, pick up new ac- sas where they homesteaded land was sentenced to a year and a day complices, raid another game, pay northwest of Garden City, which at the prison in McAlester. When he them off and so on. When they had was little more than a wide Main got out, Ralph was waiting for him. collected $40,000 or $50,000, they’d Street with a few businesses. In Not too much time had passed head back to Kansas. 1888, Annie gave birth to her third when Ralph and Jake launched their But Ralph and Jake Fleagle son, Walter. In 1890, her fourth and criminal careers. Under the guise didn’t stop at card games. They also final son, Jake, was born. of “wandering around”, they start- robbed banks. A lot of banks. And in The four Fleagle boys had their ed robbing places. While in prison, a lot of states. own quirks and personalities, as of- Jake had met a number of profes- It’s difficult to determine exactly ten happens in families. For the most sional criminals and crooks, and he how many banks they robbed and part, Fred and Walter were recalled used them to make new, experienced where, but historians and crimi- as hard-working and conscientious. acquaintances. nal researchers estimate that the But Ralph and Jake were cut from a But he and Ralph envisioned a “Fleagle gang” were responsible different cloth. different kind of crime organization. for roughly 60% of the robberies Neither man was interested in To commit a crime such as rob- committed in California as well as a life that involved constant work, bing a bank, a small group of peo- numerous robberies in Colorado, killing rattlesnakes and hoping for ple—a gang—is needed to carry Oregon and their “home state” of rain. As such, they both took off in it off. And the criminal life is one Kansas. 1910 and headed west and ended up that includes a very limited, specif- Officials estimate that, in the in San Francisco, working as street- ic group of people who have a ten- years leading up to the crime com- car men during the strike. Ralph dency to stick together. If the police mitted in Lamar, the Fleagle gang decided to head east and continued pick up one person in a known gang stole a total of around $1 million. In doing street car work. Jake chose suspected of committing a crime, today’s currency, that equals about to stay in California and drifted up they can be relatively sure who else $14,500,000. and down the Sacramento Valley was involved. In the early 1920s, Ralph and following the crap games that were Ralph and Jake had a different Jake began to make regular return associated with the fruit harvest. set up. If they needed more than trips to the family homestead in During this time, he also reportedly just the two of them to pull off a northwest Finney County. Each became a card shark. Jake then head- caper, they’d bring in someone, “do time they showed up, they had sub- ed to Saint Louis, working as a train the job”, pay them off (usually in stantial amounts of cash. Some of butcher. a substantially smaller percentage the cash was deposited in different Ralph and Jake had significant than their take) and then split up. banks, sometimes under assumed differences from each other. Ralph, No guarantee they’d ever work to- names. And the cash was also used the older of the two, was tall and gether again. No guarantee they’d to build the family a new house, buy kiowacountyindependent.com July 2019 • High Plains Guide • 39 the family a new tractor and a new could plan their next job without He was supposed to be involved in car. the risk of being overheard and the robbery, as well, but, after grow- People in the region could not could stash their extensive number ing tired of the delay, he backed out help but notice the Fleagle’s new of weapons without having to ex- of being a part. Not too much later, house and cars, which made no sense plain why they had so many guns Garguillio was “gunned down” and given that nothing being done on and what they planned to do with killed by the men with the Bureau the farm justified such prosperity. them. of Investigation as part of a differ- When questioned about the change, It’s been speculated that this is ent caper. Annie Fleagle, mother to the broth- where the crime that took place on On May 23rd, with everyone ers, told people that her sons had May 23rd was planned; however, a knowing what they were to do and made money in the cattle business number of historians and research- no black cats in sight, Ralph and and investments in the stock mar- ers think that Ralph began thinking Jake decided that day was the day. ket. She said that because, reported- about and planning the job as early The men left the ranch in Marien- ly, that is what her sons had told her. as 1920. thal at three o’clock in the morning, There is evidence to suggest that, When Ralph and Jake decided to and with maps of Prowers Coun- whether Annie knew or not, Old rob the First National Bank in La- ty plus license plates from Kansas, Jake and the other brothers knew mar, they knew they were going to Colorado, Oklahoma and California, full well where the money was com- need two other men. They brought they took off for Lamar. Each man ing from. in George Abshier, a convicted boot- was heavily armed. In May of 1927, Fred Fleagle legger from Grand Junction, and At ten minutes after one o’clock leased a “horse” ranch south of Howard “Heavy” Royston, a name in the afternoon, Amos “Newt” Par- Marienthal, Kansas in remote coun- that referenced his size of 6’4” and rish, the 77 year old president of the try that could only be reached by a his weight of 250 pounds. Interest- First National Bank, was speaking road that wound its way through ingly enough, Royston had served in to his son, “Jaddo Parrish”, when several steep ravines. The ranch World War I and received 3 medals four men stormed into the First Na- had a large granary, which the men for bravery. tional Bank. They were dressed in rigged with a door that could be Nonetheless, nothing would be overalls and carried guns. Ralph and raised and lowered using a pulley done until everyone knew the plan Jake each carried a grain sack. system, a perfect set up for mov- down to the last detail. Also, Ralph Edward Lundgren, a bank tell- ing cars in and out. Again, they ex- and Jake were also highly supersti- er with one arm, recalled hearing plained the move by telling people tious. If either one of them saw a someone yell, “You sons-of-bitches, that they were raising and selling black cat, the job was postponed for get them all up!” Another yelled, horses, but the lack of livestock led the day. “Hands up!” to the ranch having a new name: the A fifth man, Corazon Garguillio Newt Parrish immediately went Horseless Horse Ranch. who was an escapee from San Quen- into his office and grabbed a Colt .45 This place became the equivalent tin, had already “cased” the bank and from his desk. of a Fleagle hide out where they told the Fleagles what he had seen. The gun, which he called “Ol’

40 • High Plains Guide • July 2019 kiowacountyindependent.com kiowacountyindependent.com July 2019 • High Plains Guide • 41 Betsy”, had special—maybe even with cash, bonds, and commercial ly 280 yards away. Armed with only symbolic—significance to him. money, the men grabbed Lundgren, his pistol and seeing the robbers Years before, the gun had been a gift the one armed bank teller, and an- with their long rifles, he knew what from Frank James—Jesse James’ other employee named Everett was about to happen next. He told brother—when Parrish, on two dif- Kesinger, forcing both of them out the witness to “go for the gutter” ferent occasions, had allowed the the back door and into the car they and both men jumped from the car lone traveler to stay at his ranch in had waiting at the curb. The robbers as the robbers opened fire. Nine bul- the Wet Mountains and refused to had “walked” away with $10,664 in let holes were found in Alderman’s accept any pay for his effort. Even cash, $12,400 in liberty bonds and Studebaker; two had hit spark plugs, though the gun had not been fired in almost $200,000 in commercial pa- rendering the car undrivable. Alder- years, even though Parrish had even per. man had no choice but to watch the been warned by a good friend to not With Ralph at the wheel of the car drive away. be heroic if anyone ever tried to rob 1927 blue Buick Master Six getaway With Kesinger forced to stand the bank, Parrish pulled out the gun car, the gang sped across the Arkan- on the running boards as a shield at fired at the closest robber. The sas Valley Bridge and headed west and Royston on the floor of the bullet hit Royston in the jaw, break- on Highway 50. car, wounded and groaning in pain, ing it in three places and shattering Prowers County Sheriff Lloyd Ralph headed for the ranch at Mari- a number of teeth. Royston, scream- Alderman had already been alert- enthal. Royston was in bad shape, ing in pain, managed to get off a ed to “a problem at the bank” and and once at the ranch, the decision shot but missed.Parrish pulled the drove up on the bank just as the was made to get a doctor. trigger again, but the gun misfired. gang rounded the corner and was Ralph and Jake drove 40 miles Royston shot a second time and hit away to Dighton where they con- Parrish, killing him instantly. vinced Dr. William Wineinger that Parrish’s son, Jaddo, instantly he was needed to help a young boy sprang into action, and there are dif- whose foot was crushed in an acci- ferent accounts of what happened. dent. Wineinger was reluctant but Some witnesses say Jaddo ran to his ultimately agreed to follow them father’s side; others say he was run- to where the boy was supposedly ning to a closet where more guns waiting. As one account goes, Jake were stored. Whatever the reason rode with Wineinger. On the way, for him moving, he only made it a he wanted to roll down the window few steps before Jake shot him in the but it stuck. Wineinger told him to back. The bullet lodged in his heart, out of sight. A witness from inside pull the window toward him, which killing him instantly, as well. the bank came running outside and he did, until he pushed it all the way Those who were present agree jumped in the car with Alderman. down. that, at that point, all hell had bro- Although the gang clearly had a Once he got to the ranch, ken loose. In the space of literally head start, Alderman and the wit- Wineinger, who knew nothing of less than a minute, multiple shots ness began their pursuit. the robbery, still surmised the situ- had been fired; one bank robber had West of Lamar, the gang turned ation. been injured and two beloved men north on County Road 8 and had There was nothing he could do lay dead on the floor. driven about two miles and just for Royston except to give him mor- Meanwhile, for perhaps the first crossed Sand Creek when they real- phine for the pain, which he did. time ever, the Fleagle plan had fallen ized the sheriff was gaining ground. Knowing they could not release him apart. They had originally intend- Ralph skidded to a stop and shoved given what he knew, the doctor was ed to take the bank president’s son Lundgren from the car, saying, “We driven to a remote location near hostage, figuring that his presence don’t need no cripple with us.” Then, Scott City, blindfolded and executed would discourage his father getting using Kesinger as a human shield, with a shot to the back of the head. the police on their trail. But with two of the robbers got out of the Then both the doctor and his car both father and son now dead, they car, pulled out their long rifles and were pushed into a ravine. were forced to take different hos- took aim. Kesinger was next. Despite tell- tages. After stuffing the grain sacks Alderman stopped his car rough- ing the robbers that he had a wife

42 • High Plains Guide • July 2019 kiowacountyindependent.com the persistence and extraordinary memory of a fingerprint specialist with the Bureau of Investigation, the fingerprint was identified as be- longing to Jake Fleagle. And that was the domino that started every- thing to unravel. Lawmen staked out the Fleagle farm and arrested Old Jake, Wal- ter and Fred for being part of the and small child and begging for his robbery. They then found a letter the train station in Branson where life, Kesinger was also blindfolded, from Ralph, stating he would be there was a good chance Jake would driven to an abandoned shack near getting mail in Kankakee, Illinois. show up. Liberal and executed in the same Police staked out the post office and, He did. manner. several weeks later, arrested Ralph When officers moved in for the The gang then divided the loot who was flown back to Colorado for arrest, Jake drew his gun, but the of- and went their separate ways. Abshi- questioning. Ralph agreed to con- ficers fired first, fatally shooting him er went to Grand Junction. Royston fess and tell him all he knew in ex- in the stomach. Jake Fleagle died the went to San Andreas, California and change for releasing his father and next day. His last hours were spent Ralph went to San Francisco. brothers and a guarantee that he calling for his mother. A massive manhunt took place— wouldn’t get the death penalty. He Within the next few years, gang- the largest manhunt in Colorado then told the police where to find sters such as Bonnie Parker, Clyde history involving a posse on the Royston and Abshier, both of whom Barrow and John Dillinger would ground and planes in the sky. The were arrested within just a matter achieve enormous notoriety that people of Lamar were in anguish of days. But he wouldn’t give up his still remains today. But the case of over the death of the Parrish men, brother, Jake. the Fleagle gang and the bank rob- but that turned to regional outrage The 3 men were put on trial and bery in Lamar would change the when Wineinger’s body was spot- found guilty. Despite the deal made face of crime investigation forever ted by a pilot flying overhead. How- with Ralph, he was executed in July due to the identification of a single ever, in a twist of ironic justice, it of 1930; Royston and Abshier were fingerprint that lead to the arrest, was Jake’s fingerprint—discovered executed a week later. But Jake was conviction, execution and killing of by a meticulous policeman when he still on the run. all four men. rolled up the passenger window of Three months later, agents with For the definitive book on the the car—that would bring about his the U.S. Postal Service used hand- Fleagles and robbery, read “The demise. writing analysis to track him to Fleagle Gang: Betrayed by a Fin- Nonetheless, for 13 months, the Branson, Missouri. On October 14, gerprint” by Norman Betz. Avail- police had no leads. And then, due to 1930, 23 law officers descended on able on Amazon.com.

kiowacountyindependent.com July 2019 • High Plains Guide • 43 Painting the Plains Some Girls and a Mural By Betsy Barnett

Murals: Human Expression done as fresco secco that were paint- community mural movement hap- n a broad sense, murals are ed on wet plaster. Famous art pieces pened concurrently with the mod- paintings or other types of art such as Leonardo DaVinci’s “The ern graffiti movement that contin- Ithat are applied directly on a Last Supper,” Michelangelo’s “The ues to grow today and is referred to wall or other permanent structure. Creation of Adam,” and the Sistine as aerosol art, subway art, spraycan Most times the physical architec- Chapel are exquisite examples of art or style writing. ture of the surface is incorporated world-renowned murals. Even here in southeastern Colo- into the artwork. A mural’s purpose As the centuries advanced, so did rado ancient murals in the form of is to paint a picture of society and the style and methods used in mural petroglyphs (etched or pecked in its local values, dreams, history and creation. In the early 20th century stone) and pictographs (painted on strife for change. the Mexican mural movement asso- stone) exist in a few areas including Murals have been around as long ciated with Diego Rivera brought the Comanche National Grassland as there have been humans. The a new level of sophistication to the and around John Martin Reservoir. oldest murals in the world can be art of the mural. This new art was These interesting murals that de- found in the cave paintings at Las- about political and social messages pict life of the nomad were created caux Grottoes in southern France and played a major role in the Rev- by the early native American tribes created circa 30,000 BC. There are olution of 1910. By the 1960s the such as the Apache, Cheyenne, Arap- thousands of examples of Egyp- Chicano art movement and the Afri- aho, Kiowa, and Comanche, who tian hieroglyphic tomb paintings as can American community used mu- moved across the northern, eastern, old as 3300 BC. During the Middle rals to inspire such societal issues as and southern plains of Colorado Ages, murals were typically painted the Civil Rights Movement. Into the from the 1700s through the 1860s. on dry plaster, but, by the time the 1980s and 1990s there was a surge However, with the exception of Renaissance period enlightened the in community-oriented murals in the ancients, the plains of south- world, more advanced murals were most major American cities. The eastern Colorado are sorely lack-

44 • High Plains Guide • July 2019 kiowacountyindependent.com ing any type of mural art such as ter, or interesting landforms. But, the mural, the beautiful and bright that found in most urban areas of recently, I-70 was given a little life night sky stands out along with the the country. That is, until now as to its scenery when a giant mural stunning sunset scene, combine har- three young women who grew up appeared on an 80-foot grain bin vesting waves of wheat, and finally on farms and ranches in Lincoln located on the east side of Limon, the Colorado mountains. The artists and Kit Carson County have been Colorado and just off of I-70. say that, even though the mountains painting the plains in a way that is The mural, dubbed the Heart of are about 100 miles away from these as unusual as it is unique. This is the Harvest by its creators, is hard to plains they love so much, they are a story of Some Girls and a Mural. miss because of its size. But even major part of the landscape they see more interesting is the mural itself. at a distance each and every day. A Mural: Heart of Harvest It is brimming with vibrant colors The Heart of Harvest mural Driving down a long lonesome that depict a wheat farmer and his instantly went viral on social me- stretch of Interstate 70 in eastern child in silhouette. According to its dia as people from all walks of life Colorado can oftentimes seem mun- creators, two sisters and their cous- driving on I-70 started noticing the dane and maybe even a little boring in, they wanted the mural to honor stunning and simultaneously mov- as the scenery on the plains appears life out on the plains of Colora- ing representation of life on the to the untrained eye as a never-end- do and to especially recognize the plains of Colorado. One of the art- ing landscape of vastness. There is farmer and his family who represent ists commented, “We were shocked not much to look at as there seems the lifeblood of these small com- when the Heart of Harvest started to be little in the way of trees, wa- munities. Within the silhouette of going viral on Facebook. It was seen

kiowacountyindependent.com July 2019 • High Plains Guide • 45 by 130,000 people and shared more than 5,000 times.” Some Girls The three girls responsible for such a huge undertaking as the Heart of Harvest are Staci Beauford, Kayla Ravenkamp and Audrey Sayles. Sta- ci and Kayla are sisters, and Audrey is their first cousin. All three have roots deep in the plains of Colora- do and in agriculture. They all grew up on farms and learned to work extremely hard and to improvise as needed. They all had strong ex- tended families who took a role in raising them right. And all three possess a strong determination to highlight the people of the plains… their people….in an exciting way. Oh, and all three have one more thing in common: none has had for- mal art training. What they have achieved in their work thus far

46 • High Plains Guide • July 2019 kiowacountyindependent.com comes from a love of art from their her busy each day. Staci says she signs for businesses, weddings, café grandmother, an ability to work has always loved art. “I had a great shops, garden centers, etc… I really hard and be persistent from their ag teacher at Hugo, but I didn’t think I enjoy experimenting with different parents, and the love of the land and could have a true art career in a ru- font styles,” she says. its people from their communities. ral community. I was often asked to Kayla, too, grew up and graduat- And the biggest positive of grow- do small painting jobs and loved do- ed from Hugo High School in 2002. ing up on a farm? They can run big ing those. I joked that my dream job She has lived in Limon since 2013 equipment the same as a man, a skill would be to paint murals on barns. I and is the new accounts and loan that has come in handy many times never expected to actually have my assistant at the First National Bank as they painted their way high up on dream job!” of Hugo-Limon. She is currently structures scattered along the I-70 Staci is the one who began paint- single but has 2 little girls. Kayla, corridor. ing on structures on her family’s too, only had high school art classes Beauford graduated from Hugo farm. She first painted a propane but still loves painting the murals. High School in 2005. She and her tank. The propane company liked it The sisters also had a very talent- husband moved to Arkansas for a so much they contracted her to do ed grandmother and great-grand- time but have recently returned more. The idea to do murals on the mother who were wonderful artists. home to the area living north of farm was conceived by Beauford a As Staci and Kayla began to de- Seibert. She’s a homemaker but is couple of years ago. She knew she velop plans for the Heart of Harvest also a crafter creating rustic barn- would need some help, so she solic- mural, they quickly realized they wood art and selling her items lo- ited the help of her sister, Kayla. needed someone who could organize cally. Her husband took a job at the Kayla Ravenkamp is less a mu- them, think out of the box on the new hemp processing plant that was ral painter and more a sign creator design, do their books, and help out recently built near Cope. The cou- or word artist. “Before we started with a lot of the actual artwork. En- ple has a 2-year-old boy who keeps our mural business, I painted small ter their first cousin Audrey Sayles

kiowacountyindependent.com July 2019 • High Plains Guide • 47 who checked off every box and then Within her family….well, all in the arts, as well. They push us to some. three families… exist very strong reach new heights!” Sayles graduated from Hi-Plains women who worked as hard as High School in 2007 and then grad- the men outside in a multitude of Painting the Plains uated from Christopher Newport weather conditions among the an- Their business called Some Girls University in 2011 and Western imals and the crops. But, in addi- and a Mural was conceived during Governors University in 2018 with tion, these girls have been raised by a break while they worked on the a Masters’ degree. She lives in El- women of art and women who are Heart of Harvest mural in Limon. bert during the week as she is a driven with determination to create According to Audrey, “This was K-12 PE teacher. However, she is beauty in a sometimes not so pretty our first attempt at painting a large often found up on scaffolding each world. mural. Staci had done some local and every weekend, working on a Staci speaks for all the girls as she paintings on propane tanks and one new mural project. She laughs, “My names a few of the women in the depicting the American flag caught formal art training included a pencil family who have molded them into the attention of Limon Mayor Julie drawing class, painting class, color the people they are today, “Lorraine Coonts. They were in the process of theory and a lot of ceramics,” she Wiseman was our grandmother on rebranding and so approached Staci says. my father’s side,” she says. “Our about doing a mural.” Audrey has studied abroad and mother Mary Jo Ravenkamp, our Staci takes up the story. “Kay- could more than likely live any- aunt Kerry Sue Sayles, and grand- la and I worked with Julie to come where she so desired, however, she mother Alberta Tagtmeyer are all up with three designs,” she says. says, “For me there is no place like amazing role models. They are in- “As farmer’s daughters and with eastern Colorado! The people, the credibly hard working, driven wom- the canvas of a grain bin, we really life, I love it all. And most of all, I en that have lived the hard life of a wanted to give some major recogni- love being near my family.” farmer’s wife, but have found beauty tion to the farmers. We wanted to

48 • High Plains Guide • July 2019 kiowacountyindependent.com show them we know why they do picture inside. That’s all the girls what they do but also tell that story needed as they ran with their own to all the people passing by on I-70.” ideas, which ultimately became the Kayla then adds, “If it hadn’t creation of the images within the been for Audrey, we wouldn’t have silhouette of the wheat farmer and been able to get organized as it was his daughter. a tough job to tackle. Staci and Julie They next hired Space Farmer spent months designing and work- Productions out of Denver who has ing on logistics. Staci was still living the largest projecting equipment in in Arkansas at the time, so I was the the region. They really depended on one in Limon trying to do the foot- the projection as they wanted their work needed and looking up at that design to be exact and accurate on monstrous grain bin every day.” the grain bin. But once they began, it literally Northern Ag, the owner of the took them only one week to finish grain bin, then provided a bucket the gigantic project. Audrey lined lift free of charge. According to Au- up the equipment as many people, drey, “It was pretty tight painting including male family members, quarters as Staci and me were up were supportive in donating any there together. At one point we had type of machinery they needed. Au- git fear using equipment that isn’t cans of paint hanging from around drey indicated, “We never once had ours!” our necks and dipping paint from to pay for the heavy equipment we When the work on Heart of Har- each’s cans!” used to get ourselves up that high.” vest began, Coonts brought them Heart of Harvest is 60 feet tall. Staci adds, laughing, “It’s a le- the design of a silhouette with a They had to also use a spray gun to

kiowacountyindependent.com July 2019 • High Plains Guide • 49 do the primer and large blocks of the color. They hand the ability to round up the necessary supplies and equip- painted everything else with brushes from 5” to .25”. ment. Staci does the bookkeeping, and Audrey takes the Staci added, “We sometimes used our fingers!” designs and digitizes them for the projector. The giant mural cost the City of Limon $6,300 and With this business model, Some Girls and a Mu- they got it done in half the projected time. Since that ral have completed a large number of projects up and time, Limon has enjoyed a spike in tourism and believes down the I-70 corridor. Most of their work is in Limon Heart of Harvest has been a very effective tool in bring- where they painted a large historical depiction of the ing travelers into the town off the Interstate. early days of the town. On that particular mural, May- During the Heart of Harvest process, the girls were or Coonts was again very happy to contract with the amazed with how many people stopped at the work site girls. Another impressive piece was created on a wel- to see what they were doing or to see if they needed come sign located high above the highway overlooking any help. When they were prepping the grain bin by Highway 287 as it runs through Hugo. That project was washing it with ammonia, many people couldn’t fathom contracted by Hugo Improvement Project and Lincoln why three young girls were washing an old grain bin. County Tourism. One of those constant visitors was Staci and Kayla’s Perhaps their favorite mural was created on a huge dad who always seemed to show up when they were on downed wind tower blade that had been cemented into a break. Staci chuckled, “We teased him that we were the ground and stood nearly 100 feet in the air. It was thinking about changing our name to Some Girls, an contracted by Trailing Edge Park, Inc. out of Limon as Old Man, and a Mural!” a piece of art honoring the many wind tower workers But in all seriousness, the Heart of Harvest created a who lived in and around the Park. Kayla and Staci were truly inspiring buzz of excitement among the commu- the leads on the wind tower blade project and again all nity folk. Kayla described the reaction. “I never expect- the equipment was donated to them. According the Au- ed the positive energy in the local community to be at drey, “The painting contained a special dedication to the level it was,” she says. “Honestly, it was amazing to the wind farm families. Cindy Spencer, who paid for the see the faces of farmers and their Facebook comments mural, told us that she and her husband used to love about it. I think it got them deep down in their hearts to see that giant bin conveying what they felt without using a single word. Even locals who don’t farm were deeply moved. It was an all-around good feeling. I know I couldn’t keep up with the compliments I was hearing and trying to relay to Staci and Audrey.” Once Heart of Harvest was complete, the business plan was put together, and Some Girls and a Mural became a legitimate rural business. Their work was in high demand, so they continued to scramble using the individual skills each possessed to accomplish a great amount of work. Staci plans a lot of the jobs and the de- sign. Audrey and Kayla keep her on a timeline and have

50 • High Plains Guide • July 2019 kiowacountyindependent.com to go watch lightning storms roll in Some Girls and Future Murals local artists. We’d love to paint their on the plains, especially when they As one can imagine, Staci, Kayla and designs if possible as it supports a were first dating. They wanted us Audrey have received so much at- local artist and, again, gives yet an- to capture the big thunderstorms. tention and adulation from not only other insight into life on the prairie.” Kayla designed the piece and did the people in their communities, but Kayla adds, “Using our own de- a fantastic job of getting so much really from people across the coun- signs is always part of the dream, depth and detail into what is really try. Between their social media pres- but we are seeing some incredible a narrow space. It was painted in ence and the murals brightening the talent we would love to paint and early May and it took just 4 days path of travelers down I-70, they work with!” to complete. We really fought the have been approached by several Kayla, Staci, and Audrey from crazy spring weather as two of the individuals and companies wanting Some Girls and a Mural have big days were quite chilly and anoth- to contract with them for a mural dreams—as big as the murals they er day was blazing hot. Ironically in communities from as far away paint on the plains of Colorado. enough, we also had to contend with as Vermont, Montana and Florida. They have tapped into a medium the blade moving in the strong wind Needless to say, they have quite a that provides a stark canvas of ar- which definitely made it a challenge few irons in the fire and are already chitecture and colors that enhance to paint.” planning for their summer 2020 the beauty of their world. Audrey added, “The blade was workload. The three are astonishing artists just so unique, as it was loaded with In addition, they have been tin- who have a deep abiding passion for fine details from the lightning and kering with the idea of painting mu- not only splashing color and beau- clouds to the mountains and Black rals from the art of other local art- ty onto this stark, untamed canvas Forest trees to the prairie flowers. ists. As Audrey describes it, “Well, but also in honoring the roots, hard We absolutely love getting to paint since we have started this process, work, and perseverance of the peo- the special things about Colorado!” we have come across so many great ple who live here.

kiowacountyindependent.com July 2019 • High Plains Guide • 51 Advertiser Directory

Events Services Arkansas Valley Fair 8 ESTech 46 Bent County Fair 4 J & S Graphic Designs 31 Holly Gateway Fair and Rodeo 10 Lamar Community College 48 Kiowa County Fair and Rodeo 9 Peacock Funeral Home 33 Lincoln County Fair 7 Prairie Pines Assisted Living Community 40 Maine Street Bash 5 Rebeltec Communications LLC 51 Sand & Sage Round-Up 6 25-7 Media 24 Touching Hearts 46 Food & Drink Crow’s Stop & Shop 51 Farm/Repair/Building Demitasse Coffee Shop 33 4Rivers Equipment Company 11 Kiowa Health Mart Inside Front Cover A-1 Rental 46 Mission Villanueva 7 A-1 Towing 50 Ports to Plains Travel Plaza 45 Kiowa County Economic Development Foundation 40 Scaff Brothers 47 Saffer Spray Service 18 The Butcher Shop 15 Simple Farms Back Cover Southeast Colorado Economic Development 37 Health Weber’s Water & Dozer Service 49 AirMedCare 26 Eads Medical Clinic 23 Personal & Household Kiowa County Public Health 43 J & N Shoes/Mr. D’s 15 Oquist Family Chiropractic PC 43 Pampered Chef/Plunder Design Jewelry 32 Stagner, Inc. 45 Financial Services Edward Jones 41 Fellowship Credit Union 32 First National Bank 24 GNBank 47 New York Life Insurance Company 31 Peterson-Payne Agency 50 McClave State Bank 49 TBK Bank 11 The Eastern Colorado Bank 41

The Artist: Sherri Mabe Images www.sherimabeimages.com Colorado native. Loves the land. And photographing the history of.

52 • High Plains Guide • July 2019 kiowacountyindependent.com