People's Pilot, Volume 4, Number 8, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 10 August 1894 — A PLOT LAID BARE. [ARTICLE]

A PLOT LAID BARE.

Men High In Office Implicated In tie Outrage on Tanney. Denver, Col., Aug. B.—Joe R. Wilson, the deputy sheriff of El Paso county who was captured in Missouri, has made a full confession, implicating a number of other men whom he claims assisted him in tarring and feathering Adjt.-Gen. Tarsney at Colorado Springs several weeks ago. He is now here in the county jail. His confession was made on the train en route to this city. Every detail of the tar and feathers affair is now in possession of the Denver officers, and however high a position the offenders may hold, they will ultimately be brought to justice. Wilson’s confession clearly illustrates one point. That is that the crime was committed by the political enemies of Gen. Tarsney and that the criminals were not the outcasts of the Bull Hill army, but men of higher standing in the community. WPson says that it is true that a murderer out of the El Paso county jail was allowed to put tar and feathers on the adjutant general, and that among the main movers in the movement were Sheriff Bowers, Deputy Sheriff J. B. Wilson, Deputy Bob Mullins, Capt. Saxton, of Troop A, Sherman Crumley, Walton Crumley, William Bancroft, of troop A. and others. Wilson, together with Parker, who has also confessed, will be brought before the grand jury which is now sitting at Colorado Springs. The conspiracy is said to have originated at Gillette upon the report of an alleged remark on the part of Tarsney to the effect that he hoped every man in Bower’s army would be shipped home in a coffin. The plans were laid and freely discussed in the sheriff’s office. It is claimed that Sheriff Bowers even furnished the tar, while Mrs. Quackenboss skilfully arranged the feathers, destroying one of the pillows of her spare room to secure them. The crowd went from their meeting to the Almo hotel in carriages, which were secured by one of the deputies. Everything was conducted calmly, deliberately, and there was no excitement and no noise to draw suspicion. Wilson says that the party was led by himself and that he was the one who poked the gun under Tarsney's face when he came down to the office to answer a telephone call. Three other men went into the hotel office. After Tarsney was secured and joined the riding party quiet was changed to tumult and it looked as if the adjutant general had not much longer to live. He was even told that his time had come and he was going to die. They proposed killing him by first chopping his head off and then quartering him with a large and keen butcherknife, the edge of which he was asked to feel. All this was firmly believed by the adjutant, who was resigned to his supposed fate. When he was finally told that he was not going to be killed he was so relieved that he shook hands with his persecutors and thanked them over and over for sparing his life. Wilson has been identified by Mr. Tarsney. He tells a straight and accurate story and it is believed. In addition to the part attributed to Bowers in the above he says that it was the sheriff who liberated the murderer for the purpose of having him accompany the tarring party. After the crowd had amused themselves with the general as long as they wanted, having performed the job of tarring and feathering to their entire satisfaction, they went on their way, leaving their victim in a half-dazed condition to wander through the country. The disclosures of Wilson have created a great sensation here.