HORSE THIEVES CAUGHT submitted by Don Stowell THE ARIZONA REPUBLICAN. ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ PHOENIX, ARIZONA SATURDAY MORNING, JUNE 27, 1896 VOL. VII NO. 84 ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _______ The Mad Exploits of Two Lads _____ How They Stole Stock from Otero's Ranch ____ Captured in Tonto Basin by the Man They Had Tied Down _____ Yesterday afternoon a half dozen dust- covered cowboys rode through Phoenix escorting two prisoners who were placed in the county jail, charged with grand larceny. The men were those who held up the Otero ranch beyond McDowell last Tuesday. They had been unmolested with their plunder for just twenty-four hours when they were surprised by a party of cowboys and captured. Ignacio Uges, an intelligent Mexican, well known in the city, is the hero of the occasion. Uges had been left in charge of the Otero farm and range. Tuesday morning two young men rode up to the house which is but a few feet from the main traveled road into Tonto Basin by way of Reno Pass They dismounted and entered into conversation as travelers on the lonely road often do and stayed the day with Uges. The rancher during the afternoon rode out on a short trip around the range and on his return found the young men still lying about the house. He invited them to take supper with him and prepared the meal. As Uges was concluding his share of the repast, he became aware of a sudden change in the demeanor of his two guests, who had their revolvers leveled upon him before he had any idea of any hostile intentions on their part. Uges is no fool and so threw up his hands. The two then bound his arms behind him. The younger fellow suggested that his legs be also bound, but the elder thought him safely enough secured. Then the place was ransacked. Uges was robbed of his revolver and rifle and $22 in cash. The thieves then placed a bucket of water where he could reach it and decamped, taking with them the saddle horse Uges had ridden and ten head of horses that were in the pasture near by. As soon as he was sure the others had gone the cowboy got on his feet and hunted up a butcher knife in the kitchen. By a little contortion he succeeded in cutting the cords that bound him and started on the trail. He found a horse and arms at a ranch a few miles away and soon found that the thieves were taking the regular Tonto Road eastward. Being well acquainted with the region he took a short cut that saved him a dozen miles travel and by morning was in Tonto Basin. Here he secured help, including Bob Schell, Alex Cline and a cowboy from Moore's ranch. The fugitives were soon located. They had crossed at Reno Gap and were having trouble in driving the horses. The animals had just been turned out, after the conclusion of the roundup. All were in poor condition and many were unshod and sore footed. The pursuers rode around their quarry and established themselves in a clump of sycamore trees, in a small canyon, through which the road passed, not far from Tonto creek. The two thieves came slowly along, urging the tired horses with difficulty and were under the rifles of the four cowboys before they were aware of any danger impending. One of them showed fight, but the situation was hopeless and they surrendered. With them was all the stolen property and money and none of the horses had been dropped. One of the horses was so tired, however, that he had to be left behind on the return trip. Three of the party brought the fellows to Jeff Adam's ranch, on the lower sunflower, three miles above McDowell. Where they were joined by Deputy Sheriff Billy Moore and by Leopold Otero who had started to join in the chase, but who had occasion only to enlist in the guard of the captured. T The evening of their capture the young men were downcast at the non-success of their venture, and sullen, but in the morning upbeat in a degree. They said they were brothers named Hannigan and respectively 20 and 16 and that they were from California though originally from Washington. They would not tell where they had come from to Otero's but a Mexican friend of young Otero avers he saw the men when they passed McDowell on Tuesday morning. He was riding a gray mare, the other a pinto horse. It seems certain that the lads came from Phoenix but they were not recognized by any who have seen them here. The deed was one of recklessness such as youth could have been guilty. The horses were only an encumbrance to them in their flight and furnished the cowboys with a track that could not be lost. The country into which they ignorantly headed is not one that is sparsely settled and by men who hate a horse thief above all other vermin. It is generally considered that the lads are fortunate in escaping from their scrape alive. THE OTERO HORSE THIEVES June 30, 1896 _____ They will Now Await The Pleasure of the Grand Jury ______ The Hannigan lads, who stole the Otero's horses, were examined yesterday before Justice J_________ and were held over for the grand jury with bail set at $730 each. Not having bondsmen they went to jail. From the story told by the lads themselves, their escapade is shown to have been one of the most foolish imaginable. During the twenty-five hours that elapsed between the start from Otero's ranch and their capture they had traveled about 70 miles and every foot of the way had been over well traveled roads, past dozens of habitations and through a country where everyman instinctively looks at the brand of every passing animal, the Otero's being known to many. The lads did not know the country through which they were traveling, so departed in no place from the wagon road. Though there were dozens of places where the initiated horsemen of the region were want to make short cuts saving miles of distance. The way was by Reno Pass then southward along the regular mail road of Gila county, along Tonto Creek to Salt river.The days travel ended at Pinto creek, about 30 miles from Globe, and where one of the lads had worked a year ago. Camp was made at an old round-up corral, a short distance from the road. The horses were penned and the lads lay down behind the stockade to sleep. They heard the noise of an approaching party, and looking through the stockade they saw a Tonto Basin cowboy, Alexis Cline, leading a party of cowboys, among whom was recognized, Uges the cowboy they had tied down at Otero's the night before. To say that they were surprised at the appearance of Uges on the scene would be to put it mildly and they were captured without a shot being fired. "We could have killed the whole of them ," said the elder horsethief, "for they came riding up without knowing where we were and we had them covered with our sixshooters." "Why didn't you stop them?" was asked. "Well we didn't want to kill anybody" But why didn't you get the drop on them, hold them up and take their horses and arms?" "By gosh", was the regretful reply, "we never thought of that."