HANNAH WIEST Star-Tribune staff writer | Posted: Friday, July 25, 2008 12:00 am
Extra! Extra! Read all about it! Rogue cattle rustlers lynched in Carbon County. Man, James Averell, was a murderous coward. Woman, Ella "Cattle Kate" Watson, was a holy terror the equal of any man on the range. Lynchers were cattlemen acting in self defense to preserve land rightfully theirs.
Extra! Extra! Read all about it! Struggle over land leads to murder. Former postmaster and justice of the peace James Averell and his partner, the kindhearted and self-sufficient Ella Watson, were wrongfully hanged July 20, 1889, near Independence Rock. Wealthy cattle baron Albert Bothwell persuaded five men to kill so he could steal victims' land.
Extra! Extra! Read all 10 versions of this story now woven into Western lore. Some - like the Cheyenne Daily Leader and The National Police Gazette in New York - were sheer sensationalism. Others - like the Casper Mail - were based on interviews with eyewitnesses.
Which are right? Who was Cattle Kate? Did she deserve to be the first woman hanged in Wyoming?
To this day, 119 years later, that depends on whom you ask. But her relatives, who gathered recently in Casper for a family reunion, are convinced she and Averell died unjustly. They gather every two years to compile new details and try to set Cattle Kate's story straight. The last time the clan was in Casper was in 1989 to mark the 100th anniversary of her death and put up a marker at her grave site on what is now Pathfinder Ranch.
"You just want to come and see what the land was like and why she was called what she was," said Dan Brumbaugh, Watson's grand nephew who lives in Ohio and gathers Cattle Kate's relatives from Kansas, Colorado, Montana and Canada.
Elva Gleason, 77, calls herself the only "original" relative. She is Cattle Kate's niece and comes to the reunions from Belleville, Kan., which is just east of Cattle Kate's childhood town of Lebanon, Kan.
Gleason never knew her aunt, but setting the story straight is vindication for the family's tight-lipped approach to it for years and for all the bad press Cattle Kate received following the incident.
"When Aunt Ella was hung, it was a hush-hush in the family because it was a disgrace," Gleason said. "My whole life I couldn't get any information out of anyone."
Through research, the family discovered Cattle Kate's neighbors were likely threatened by Bothwell not to tell what really happened that day in 1889 or they would end up like them. They also believe Cattle Kate's dad was threatened after he came to Wyoming and confronted reporters at the Cheyenne Daily Leader about their false articles.
So Cattle Kate went down in many history books as a lying, thieving, cattle rustling prostitute who deserved what she got. But she was never that in her niece's mind: "I wanted her to be red-headed like my Dad and pretty and petite because I wanted her as a role model," Gleason said. "She wasn't pretty or petite, but I am still proud of her. If someone is the ugliest person in the world, and she has a kind soul, she is beautiful. I do think Aunt Ella was kindhearted."
Gleason fulfilled one of her "wildest" dreams 19 years ago when she stood where her aunt was hung. And she's been trying to set the records straight ever since, portraying Cattle Kate not as a hellion of a woman but a pioneer who got tangled in corporate power struggles and land rustling on the wild western frontier.
-Special thanks to the Casper College Western History Center and archivist Kevin Anderson for his assistance in finding original documents related to this event, many of which were donated by historian Daniel Meschter who wrote an account of Cattle Kate and Jim Averell called "Sweetwater Sunset."
The story of Cattle Kate and Jim Averell
Here's a rundown of the story of the lynching of Ella "Cattle Kate" Watson and James Averell. It comes from research conducted by Dan Brumbaugh, Watson's grand nephew, interviews with eyewitnesses published in the Casper Mail days after the event, and a letter to the editor of the Casper Mail written by Averell in February 1889.
* Ellen "Ella" Watson born July 2, 1861, in Canada to Thomas and Frances Watson, the oldest of ten kids. Family moves to Kansas.
* Ella marries William Pickell at the age of 18. Divorces him five years later.
* She wanders through Nebraska and Colorado before settling in Wyoming where she works at a boarding house called the "Rawlins House" as a cook. It is debated if she worked as a prostitute during this time in her life.
* Meets James "Jim" Averell in Rawlins when he files a claim for his homestead 60 miles east. His wife and child had died a few years earlier.
* Under the 1862 Homestead Act, Jim and Ella file for 160 acres of land each on the Sweetwater River in the town of Bothwell near Independence Rock. They build a general store.
* A few years later, Ella buys some cattle from a man heading to Washington territory, according to an interview with John DeCorey, a cowboy she employed, in the Aug. 30, 1889, Casper Mail. She buys the LU brand from a nearby rancher.
* Albert Bothwell, a member of the Wyoming Stock Growers Association, claims much of Jim and Ella's land is his. Frank Buchanan, who was employed by Jim, states in a Casper Mail article that Bothwell often claimed rich men didn't need to follow the law. Bothwell is also against dividing the land into ranches and forming Natrona County, while Jim is for it and writes letters to the editor of the Casper Mail to urge the action.
* On July 20, 1889, a stock detective named George Henderson suspects Ella's freshly branded cattle of being illegally rustled and tells Bothwell.
* According to interviews in the Casper Mail with John DeCorey, a cowboy employed by Ella, and Gene Crowder, a boy who lived with Ella, Bothwell gathers six area ranchers, including John Durbin and Tom Sun, and goes to Ella's. The men take down her fence and release her cattle. They make her get into a buggy and drive to Jim's. Jim and Ella are told they are being taken to Rawlins. DeCorey and Crowder go to Jim's house and tell ranch hand Frank Buchanan the couple is being taken away.
* Frank Buchanan get on a horse and follows the party. He sees them stop near the river and yell but is not sure what they are saying. Near Independence Rock, Buchanan sees Bothwell make two nooses from lariats, throw them over a tree and put them around Jim and Ella's necks. Buchanan fires some shots at the party but has to run when they fire back.
* Jim and Ella's bodies are taken down two days later and buried on Jim's ranch.
* Sensational stories about the hanging begin to circulate in newspapers around Wyoming and the nation.
More lore at Frontier Festival
Western history is rich with stories of outlaws, cowboys, pioneer women, medicine men and battles on the prairie. Such stories come to life at Fort Caspar Museum. And this weekend, Wyoming residents will be able to enter into them at the Fort Caspar Frontier Festival.
Sponsored by Fort Caspar Museum, the Fort Caspar Museum Association and the Wyoming Humanities Council, the festival will allow participants to explore the museum galleries and fort buildings, visit living history camps, watch demonstrations, play old west games like gunny sack racing and tug of war, listen to old-time fiddle music, eat buffalo burgers and attend a variety of living history presentations.
The festival will be like an old-fashioned Chautauqua, a popular form of 19th century entertainment with dramas, lectures and music offered under big tents, said museum director Rick Young. People from around the region will help festival participants walk in the shoes of historical figures. If people need more help traipsing through history, the moccasins worn by Ella Watson, or "Cattle Kate," the day she was hung will be on display in the museum.
* What: Fort Caspar Frontier Festival
* When: 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday
* Where: Fort Caspar Museum, 4001 Fort Caspar Road, at the corner of 13th Street and Wyoming Boulevard
* Admission: Free
* Info: Call 235-8462 or visit www.fortcasparwyoming.com
* Schedule of events:
- Old-time music by Anastasia's Fault at 10 a.m.
- Chautauqua presentation: Elinore Pruitt-Stewart at 11 a.m.
- Commemoration ceremony for the Battle of Platte Bridge at noon
- Medicine man show at 12:30 p.m.
- Chautauqua: John C. Fremont at 1 p.m.
- Phrenology reading at 2 p.m.
- All Together Now Just Fiddling Around at 3 p.m.
- Chautauqua: Cattle Kate at 4 p.m.
- Old-time music by Anastasia's Fault at 5 p.m.
More summer events at Fort Caspar Museum
Fort Caspar Museum offers plenty of exhibits and activities for the community. Stop by any day or catch some of these lectures in the museum's "Impressions on Wyoming: A Summer Lecture Series." Lectures begin at 7 p.m. and are free of charge.
Wednesday: "The Frontier Army in the Upper Platte Region" by John McDermott
Aug. 6: "Native American Rock Art in the Bighorn Basin" by Julie Francis
Aug. 13: "Wyoming's Spectacular Red Desert" by Erik Molvar
Western history is rich with stories of outlaws, cowboys, pioneer women, medicine men and battles on the prairie. Such stories come to life at Fort Caspar Museum. And this weekend, Wyoming residents will be able to enter into them at the Fort Caspar Frontier Festival.
Sponsored by Fort Caspar Museum, the Fort Caspar Museum Association and the Wyoming Humanities Council, the festival will allow participants to explore the museum galleries and fort buildings, visit living history camps, watch demonstrations, play old west games like gunny sack racing and tug of war, listen to old-time fiddle music, eat buffalo burgers and attend a variety of living history presentations.
The festival will be like an old-fashioned Chautauqua, a popular form of 19th century entertainment with dramas, lectures and music offered under big tents, said museum director Rick Young. People from around the region will help festival participants walk in the shoes of historical figures. If people need more help traipsing through history, the moccasins worn by Ella Watson, or "Cattle Kate," the day she was hung will be on display in the museum.
* What: Fort Caspar Frontier Festival
* When: 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday
* Where: Fort Caspar Museum, 4001 Fort Caspar Road, at the corner of 13th Street and Wyoming Boulevard
* Admission: Free
* Info: Call 235-8462 or visit www.fortcasparwyoming.com
* Schedule of events:
- Old-time music by Anastasia's Fault at 10 a.m.
- Chautauqua presentation: Elinore Pruitt-Stewart at 11 a.m.
- Commemoration ceremony for the Battle of Platte Bridge at noon
- Medicine man show at 12:30 p.m.
- Chautauqua: John C. Fremont at 1 p.m.
- Phrenology reading at 2 p.m.
- All Together Now Just Fiddling Around at 3 p.m.
- Chautauqua: Cattle Kate at 4 p.m.
- Old-time music by Anastasia's Fault at 5 p.m.]]->
Fort Caspar Museum offers plenty of exhibits and activities for the community. Stop by any day or catch some of these lectures in the museum's "Impressions on Wyoming: A Summer Lecture Series." Lectures begin at 7 p.m. and are free of charge.
* Wednesday: "The Frontier Army in the Upper Platte Region" by John McDermott
* Aug. 6: "Native American Rock Art in the Bighorn Basin" by Julie Francis
* Aug. 13: "Wyoming's Spectacular Red Desert" by Erik Molvar]]->
Here's a rundown of the story of the lynching of Ella "Cattle Kate" Watson and James Averell. It comes from research conducted by Dan Brumbaugh, Watson's grand nephew, interviews with eyewitnesses published in the Casper Mail days after the event, and a letter to the editor of the Casper Mail written by Averell in February 1889.
* Ellen "Ella" Watson born July 2, 1861, in Canada to Thomas and Frances Watson, the oldest of ten kids. Family moves to Kansas.
* Ella marries William Pickell at the age of 18. Divorces him five years later.
* She wanders through Nebraska and Colorado before settling in Wyoming where she works at a boarding house called the "Rawlins House" as a cook. It is debated if she worked as a prostitute during this time in her life.
* Meets James "Jim" Averell in Rawlins when he files a claim for his homestead 60 miles east. His wife and child had died a few years earlier.
* Under the 1862 Homestead Act, Jim and Ella file for 160 acres of land each on the Sweetwater River in the town of Bothwell near Independence Rock. They build a general store.
* A few years later, Ella buys some cattle from a man heading to Washington territory, according to an interview with John DeCorey, a cowboy she employed, in the Aug. 30, 1889, Casper Mail. She buys the LU brand from a nearby rancher.
* Albert Bothwell, a member of the Wyoming Stock Growers Association, claims much of Jim and Ella's land is his. Frank Buchanan, who was employed by Jim, states in a Casper Mail article that Bothwell often claimed rich men didn't need to follow the law. Bothwell is also against dividing the land into ranches and forming Natrona County, while Jim is for it and writes letters to the editor of the Casper Mail to urge the action.
* On July 20, 1889, a stock detective named George Henderson suspects Ella's freshly branded cattle of being illegally rustled and tells Bothwell.
* According to interviews in the Casper Mail with John DeCorey, a cowboy employed by Ella, and Gene Crowder, a boy who lived with Ella, Bothwell gathers six area ranchers, including John Durbin and Tom Sun, and goes to Ella's. The men take down her fence and release her cattle. They make her get into a buggy and drive to Jim's. Jim and Ella are told they are being taken to Rawlins. DeCorey and Crowder go to Jim's house and tell ranch hand Frank Buchanan the couple is being taken away.
* Frank Buchanan get on a horse and follows the party. He sees them stop near the river and yell but is not sure what they are saying. Near Independence Rock, Buchanan sees Bothwell make two nooses from lariats, throw them over a tree and put them around Jim and Ella's necks. Buchanan fires some shots at the party but has to run when they fire back.
* Jim and Ella's bodies are taken down two days later and buried on Jim's ranch.
* Sensational stories about the hanging begin to circulate in newspapers around Wyoming and the nation.]]->