Daniel B. May: The Canyon Springs Ambush

Howdy folks and greetings from the Great Plains of North Texas!

I've been talking about Daniel Boone May who was a guard for the famous Deadwood Cheyenne stagecoach line which ran between those two cities in the 1870's and 80's. Mr. May was known for fearlessly defending the stagecoach from robbers along that route.

Deadwood Cheyenne stage:

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he stagecoach was a tempting target because many times it carried a chest of newly mined gold from the gold fields in the Black Hills near Deadwood.

As I mentioned yesterday one of the gangs who was led by a man named Tom Price decided to take control of one of the stations along the way and wait for the treasure chest to arrive on the stage instead of trying to stop the stage on the road.

The Ambush at Canyon Springs..

That's exactly what they did at a station called Canyon Springs. There was only one man there who was in charge of taking care of the horses and they tied him up and waited for the stage.

When the stage arrived it had one male passenger and three guards, two on top and one in the coach. After the driver stopped the coach Tom's gang opened fire on it killing the passenger and wounded the two guards on top, one of them seriously and the other one passed out when a bullet graced his head.

That left the guard inside who exited from the far side, began firing but when he realized he was alone he was able to slip away on foot. He walked 7 miles to a ranch and borrowed a horse and rode to the next station where he knew that three more guards were waiting to take the stage into Cheyenne.

One of the Deadwood Cheyenne Stage coaches:

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The chest from the stage held $27,000 in gold and Tom Price's gang made off with that. The station guy who was tied up got free and rode to Deadwood to alert the Sheriff. When the guard who escaped got to the next station he rode back with May and the 2 other guards to Canyon Springs.

They found the dead passenger, the guard with graced head was coming around and he was going to be ok, and the other guard was in bad shape but about that time the Sheriff and a posse with the Doctor arrived from Deadwood and the Dr. started working on the wounded guard.

The Sheriff formed 2 posses and they took off after the gang, of course May was in one of them. Within days, May’s posse brought John Brown, a confessed gang member, into Fort Laramie. Then, acting on information provided by Brown, they collared Charles Henry Borris, another suspect.

May later joined a large posse on the trail of three gang members, two of whom had suffered wounds during the Canyon Springs battle.

They cornered the fugitives in a patch of woods, but the outlaws escaped in the darkness, in their haste leaving behind some of the gold. Those guys must have been in a total panic to leave behind some of the gold that they risked their lives to steal!

Back in Deadwood, Bill and Jim May helped capture two other suspected gang members—Archie McLaughlin and Billy Mansfield.

The gang leader is captured..

After intense interrogation, these two divulged the location of Tom Price’s hideout. The May brothers and other posse members surrounded the camp and, after a hot gunfight, captured the gang leader, Tom Price, who was severely wounded in the exchange.

I wonder what the "intense interrogation" methods were that they used on those guys back then? But notice how fast the wheels of justice turn without a bunch of lawyers involved?

Anyway, the good Dr. patched up Tom Price and in a few weeks he was well enough to travel so they sent him to Cheyenne. Well, May took him there.

Interviewd by The Cheyenne Daily Sun, May called his prisoner “a shrewd rascal” and predicted, “There will have to be much new hemp before the country is rid of these pests.”The Sun called May “one of the bravest and most intrepid thief catchers and stage messengers in this region.”

Tom Price's trial..

Price was convicted of highway robbery and sentenced to five years in prison. He was released after serving less than four years. This I'm shocked at. After his gang shot and killed an innocent passenger, wounded 2 federal officers and stole all that gold he basically got a slap on the wrist! I thought for sure the guy would hang in a few days to set an example.

Among the suspects rounded up in the months following the Canyon Springs robbery was a character named Joe Minuse, who, under severe interrogation, divulged the names of other gang members and their many crimes.

From Minuse the Deputies learned the identity of the robber killed by May during the holdup attempt the previous September and what had happened to his body.

Now, if you read my post yesterday I said to remember that missing dead guy right? He was the one that May blew away with a shotgun at Old Womans Fork. (the name of the spot isn't relevant but I just love the names people gave to things back then!)

Minuse said the gang hadn't gone far, they were just hiding. So when the stage took off with the guards, they went back and got the body of their friend and put it in a shallow grave.

The body of the missing robber..

Well, when May learned about this he rode out to the robbery scene, found the robber's grave, dug up his remains and severed the outlaw’s head! Toting the grisly specimen, he rode almost 200 miles back to Cheyenne, where he hoped to collect the reward for the thief who was wanted dead or alive.

The County commissioners considered his claim for weeks and finally denied it on the grounds May had not proven he, in fact, had killed the bandit. May then took his case and the continually deteriorating head to Carbon County, which also rejected his claim.

Finally he abandoned his campaign for the reward and disposed of the head in a shallow hole outside Cheyenne. The Sun reported that stray dogs or pigs later smelled the head, dug it up, gnawed it and left it in the street, “its ghastly jaws grinning hideously at passersby.” lol. You can't make this stuff up folks!

Tomorrow the story continues. Thanks for reading folks!
-jonboy Texas
the gentleman redneck

ps- ya know...you might just be a redneck if:

During your senior year you and your mom had homeroom together!

God bless you all!