Teller County CO Archives Obituaries.....McGiven, Barney December 27, 1895
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File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Ronald J. Reid rreid21@cox.net July 2, 2008, 9:53 pm

Cripple Creek (Morning Times)
Cripple Creek, Morning Times, Date: Dec 28, 1895, page 1.

KICKED TO DEATH
Barney McGiven Assaulted by Unknown Parties.
Died Yesterday Morning

First Found by an Officer and Thrown Into Jail as a Common Drunk – No Medical 
Attendance Until Nearly Two Days After the Assault – A Case for The Coroner’s 
Careful Investigation.

Another murder has been perpetrated in Cripple Creek.
Who the people are who are responsible, is hard to say but the police 
department is to blame to a certain extent.
On Monday night Barney McGiven, a miner, living at Summit, came down to Cripple 
Creek to purchase some provisions.  He started for home and about 8 o’clock he 
was found lying in the center of the road in Poverty gulch.  He was unconscious 
and was bruised from head to foot and unable to talk.  In this condition he was 
thrown into a cell at the city jail and allowed to remain there for twenty-four 
hours without a physician being summoned.  At the expiration of this time two 
friends of his came to the jail, loaded the injured man into a wagon and took 
him to his home.  On Wednesday Dr. S.E. Knight was called to attend the injured 
man and found him suffering from many wounds and perfectly stiff from 
peritonitis.  He had been kicked severely in the stomach and on other portions 
of the body, and was in a precarious condition.  The next day, Thursday, Dr. 
Knight called in consultation Drs. Lick and Whiting.  The two last named said 
McGiven might live, but Dr. Knight was confident he would not, yet did every 
thing possible to save the patient.
While McGiven was able to talk he said that while walking along the gulch on 
his way home two men attacked him, knocked him down and kicked him furiously.  
This was all he remembered and he could not say who the men were.  When he 
lapsed into unconciousness the second time every effort was made to revive him, 
but it proved fruitless and he sank rapidly until yesterday morning, when he 
breathed his last.
The friends of the dead man are highly indignant at the treatment McGiven 
received at the hands of the officers who are supposed to protect peoples’ 
lives instead of endangering them.  The jailor gives his excuse for throwing 
McGiven in jail that he thought he was drunk.  He didn’t ask him any questions 
and says he never does ask questions when he puts anybody behind the bars, but 
simply puts them in the cell and locks the doors.  It was easy to see that 
McGiven was injured and needed medical attendance, but the jailer overlooked it 
and as a consequence McGiven is now lying on a cooling slab at an undertaking 
establishment.
An inquest will be held today and the coroner will decide whether the man died 
from injuries received or from exposure while in the city jail.
McGiven was 27 years old and leaves a wife.  He was well known and respected in 
the vicinity where he resided, and so far as is known had no enemies.  He ahd 
some money in his pockets, but this was left untouched which shows that the 
assault was not for the purpose of robbery.  The police claim to have a clew 
[sic] as to who the assailants are but as yet no arrests have been made.



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