Montrose - Daily Press

Marilyn Cox

A Step Back In Time

Yesterday, May 15, was Peace Officers Memorial Day. This is a good time to thank all of the peace officers in our area (including my two grandsons, Tim and Tyler Cox) and to remember a few of the early-day officers and incidents with which they dealt.

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Hugo Selig, nephew of town-founder, Joseph Selig, was a prominent attorney in Montrose, arriving here in July, 1887. He was admitted to the Colorado bar in December of that same year and practiced for 50 years. He served as District Attorney of the Seventh Judicial District from 1905 - 1909 when the state was under martial law due to the strike of the Western Federation of Miners—a very rough period.

In 1939 The Daily Press asked Selig to record his recollections of the early years of Montrose which were printed in serial form each week, then bound into a pamphlet. This book contains many invaluable stories, documenting area history.

Since Montrose was a hub for the mining regions, our local sheriff, Jim Taylor, and his officers were kept extremely busy during the days of the riots. Each day around noon a special train arrived from Telluride, bringing a batch of prisoners who were marched to the jail, handcuffed, to await transportation on the regular trains.

There was sympathy for the miners from our locals who packed the depot, sometimes causing disturbances. After all, the miners were working for only $2.50 a day and were housed in very uncomfortable quarters. They were demanding $3.00 a day as well as improved conditions. Unfortunately, their leaders, according to Selig, “were of the type of gangsters and assassins,” who had ordered the miners to take possession of the mines.

Since small-sized riots broke out at our Montrose depot, sometimes causing injury, a change was made where the prisoners disembarked from the Telluride train at the “Y”, in the southeast section of town. They were heavily guarded until transferred from that point to the other trains.

Another trying period in our town was when, in 1909, “local option” was voted in by the city council, closing all saloons. This started an organized system of bootlegging, keeping all city and county officers running day and night. To top it off, the Anti-Saloon League, wanted to “help” enforce the law and aided the officers in search and seizure of stills and other devices used in the manufacture of bootleg liquor. They showed up at trials, but so did a large number of bootleg sympathizers, making it very interesting, to say the least.

There was one case where a man and his wife were arrested. The wife testified that she had four children ranging from two to five years old and had no money to buy milk, so made beer to feed her children. Needless to say, the couple was convicted and the poor kids placed in the hands of officers.

In another case, a convicted man unable to pay his fine, was serving time in jail. The jailor discovered that he was making bootleg whiskey in the jail and selling it through the bars to those on the outside.

Then there was the farmer who was arrested because the swill he was feeding his hogs had a strong whiskey odor. His lawyer raised the question, “Who had possession of the liquor—this man or his hogs?”

Since there was no evidence of manufacturing by the farmer, the jury accepted his testimony that he gathered the swill from his neighbors and fed it to his hogs, having no knowledge of it containing liquor. He was acquitted.

According to Selig, one of the best sheriffs the town ever had was J. H. Gill. During his time, many historical events took place and “Gill never ceased in his efforts to run down criminals”. He not only caught them, but carried through, pushing for conviction, doing it in a fair and kind manner.

In 1912 when Jack Dempsey was preparing for his first fight with local, Fred Wood, the W.C.T.U. staged a strong protest against the fight even taking place. Sheriff Gill promised to be present and stop the fight if it became brutal. In the fourth round, Dempsey landed a knockout punch. As Wood was stretched out on the mat, unconscious, Dempsey rushed over to Gill and said, “Honest to God, Sheriff. I didn’t know I hit him so hard.”

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