Opinion

Frontier justice in Frontier County

Monday, October 25, 2004

Walt Sehnert

Recently we were privileged to take in the Cowboy Days Celebration in Las Cruces, N.M.

It was a great spectacle, complete with Cowboy Poets, Western bands, demonstrations of riding and roping, and shootouts between bandits (in black hats) and good guys (in white hats). Everything was geared to recall and pay tribute to earlier days in New Mexico's colorful history.

I believe those in attendance came away with an enhanced respect and appreciation for the trials that our ancestors had to go through.

Back in Nebraska, I was quickly reminded that we, too, could look back on a past that has its share of heroes and villains, and we can marvel at how our early settlers endured hardships, and the way they coped with the problems they faced.

One of these stories concerns Judge William H. Allen, the ancestor of at least two of McCook's citizens, Michelle (Mrs. Tim) Lytle, and Patsy Lee Redfern.

William Allen enlisted with a Michigan Volunteer Unit in the Civil War in 1862, at the age of 26. Less than a year later he was wounded and received a disability discharge from the army, for "general debility of muscles of the back … gangrene … has so shattered the constitution that perfect recovery of health is extremely doubtful."

But instead of staying in the East and wasting away, he took his $4 per month pension and settled on a claim in what is now Frontier County, Neb., along the Medicine Creek.

Mr. Allen was not only one of the first settlers in the region, but he was also one of the region's most respected citizens. Without formal legal training, but with an abundance of common sense, and a reputation for fairness, he was elected to the office of County Judge, an office he held for four terms.

During his first years as judge he often walked the 20 miles to and from Stockville, the County Seat of Frontier Co., when Court was in session. The first courthouse in Stockville, a log structure, burned down during his tenure. Then the Allen cabin became the temporary courthouse, as well the U.S. Post Office, with the name of Equality, Neb.

Some eight miles north of the William Allen place, Jonas Nelson and Eugene Sherwood lived on adjoining claims along Medicine Creek.

Though they had arrived in the area at about the same time, the two did not get along. Gene Sherwood was a gentle man who lived with his widowed mother. Jonas Nelson, on the other hand, was a very disagreeable man, who fought constantly with his neighbors.

He carried pistols as part of his everyday wardrobe, and in quarrels often threatened to use them, to the extent that folks generally avoided him if it were at all possible.

Both Sherwood and Nelson had timber on their claims and both sold timber to other settlers. Timber sales were substantial parts of their incomes.

Sherwood accused Nelson of taking timber from his claim, and even went to the expense of having his claim resurveyed, but Nelson refused to accept the surveyor's results as valid, and continued to illegally cut timber on Sherwood's land, and protested that everyone had it in for him. When Sherwood complained over the illegal timber cuttings, Nelson threatened him with bodily harm. But Sherwood held his ground and made plans to fence in his property.

The final blow to their relationship came when Sherwood announced that he would be fencing off his spring, from which both men drew water, and Nelson would have to make other arrangements for his water supply, an announcement that was greeted with more threats.

On a cold day, after a snow, in December 1884, Sherwood announced to his mother that he was going out to check his cattle. He picked up his rifle, saying that he hoped to get off a shot at a deer in the timber.

At the same time Jonas Nelson was on his way to the disputed spring for water. Spotting Sherwood he re-turned to his cabin and picked up a double-barreled shotgun, then returned to hide behind a cottonwood tree near the spring, where his neighbor would have to pass.

When Sherwood came within a few feet of his tree, Nelson stepped out with his loaded shotgun and fired, the shot virtually removing the top of his victim's head. Sherwood had no time to react, and fell prostrate, his rifle still cradled in his arms.

Nelson apparently was suddenly struck with the enormity of what he had done. In order to make up a cover story, he returned to his cabin, picked up a pistol and shot himself in the hand.

He then left his shotgun on his bed, hid the pistol, and set out for the Jim Gammill place, about two miles to the northeast. (Gammill was married to Judge Allen's daughter, Theresa.)

On the way, Nelson met Gammill and a neighbor, Elwood Clark who were loading hay. Nelson showed the two men his hand, saying that he and Sherwood had had a little trouble. There had been gunfire and he thought that Sherwood might be hurt.

Jim Gammill did not for a minute believe Nelson's story. He accused Nelson of murdering his friend, then sent Mr. Clark to accompany Nelson to a nearby cabin while he hurried to assist Sherwood, whom he found dead.

When Gammill returned to the cabin, Clark set out on horseback for Stockville to summon Sheriff Miles and his deputy.

Before the sheriff arrived, neighbors began to gather at the crime scene to reconstruct the shooting from the evidence available. They quickly concluded that Sherwood did not fire his rifle at Nelson, since he was still wearing his heavy mittens and could not possibly have pulled the trigger. A search of Nelson's place showed traces of bloodstains in the snow -- from the barn, where Nelson must have shot his own hand, to his cabin. Inside the cabin they found shotgun and pistol. Both had been fired once.

Sheriff Miles examined the evidence and promptly arrested Nelson and took him the eight miles to Judge Allen's home, where he was kept under guard for the next two days.

During those two days a trial by coroner's jury was commenced. In addition to the strong evidence brought by Sheriff Miles, Dr. Sipe, of Indianola testified that the powder burns around Nelson's wound showed that the wound was self-inflicted. Jonas Nelson was found guilty and was bound over to District Court in North Platte.

It was late in the afternoon when Sheriff Miles and his Deputy started out to deliver their prisoner to North Platte. Night overtook them and they were forced to stop for the night at Burke Bros. Stone Ranch, formerly the John Gammill Ranch.

During the night masked gunmen broke into the house and forced Sheriff Miles to surrender his prisoner to them. We have no written record saying who the masked gunmen were, but there is ample evidence of what they did. Jonas Nelson was taken back to the place where Gene Sherwood was shot. His throat was cut, he was shot, and hung up by the neck to freeze, from the same tree that he had stood behind during the ambush.

In the next days Sheriff Miles scoured the neighborhood, seeking information from the settlers about the hanging. All interviewed professed ignorance of any knowledge pertaining to the event, and he accepted their claims of innocence. The coroner's jury concluded that Nelson had come to his death by hanging, by party or parties unknown. And there the matter ended.

In 1990 H. C. Allen, the grandson of Judge Allen wrote about the murder.

He concluded: "All this was related to me many times by my father, Herbert L. Allen, who was 15 years old at the time … he listened in on all the trial he could.

Here I could tell who furnished the rope and who put it around Nelson's neck, and several who pulled on the rope, but they are long gone, the last one dying in 1936. Having done their good deed for the night, let's let them keep their secret." Herbert C. Allen, Feb. 9, 1990