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The following is from Robert Kirby's book on Utah's murdered police officer
Echo City Police Department
July 30, 1895
While lawmen continued to hunt
in vain for Kofford and Mickel, another pair of reckless young men set
off on the outlaw trail. As usual, it started over something trivial:
a few boxes of berries. But the repercussions were devastating. The killing
of Echo City Constable Thomas A. Stagg, and former Evanston
City Marshal Edward N. Dawes on July 30, 1895, precipitated one of
the largest manhunts Utah has ever known.
In the summer of 1895, few people
would have objected to Patrick Henry Coughlin being called a bad man.
Born June 23, 1874, in Canton, Mass., Coughlin came west with his parents
and the construction of the Union Pacific Railroad. The family settled
in Park City where his father eventually died. Raised by his mother
along with several brothers and sisters, "Patsy" quickly earned himself
a reputation in Park City's row district as a "tough kid." From his earliest
childhood, Coughlin exhibited traits of extreme cruelty and hatred, frequently
venting his anger on animals or smaller children. Coughlin was always
talking of "doing someone and leaving the country."
"Patsy, my boy," a Park City
lawman reportedly said after one unpleasant episode, "you want to put on
the brakes, or you'll find yourself in a tight box someday."
By the age of 21, Coughlin had
already served time behind bars for assorted offenses, most notably a short
term in the territorial prison for the burglary of a saloon. Along
with being the suspect in several robberies, he had also been tried and
acquitted in 1893 for shooting and wounding a man over some perceived slight.
Two years later, Coughlin was more than ready for that tight box.
Coughlin's best friend was 20-year-old
Fred George. Born into a staunch Mormon family in Salt Lake City's
Eleventh Ward, George was raised by various relatives after his parents
died. Rowdy and mischievous, George had served time in the state reformatory
and was seen as a ringleader among the toughs of "the Park." George
was also a crack shot with a rifle, often seen practicing near the sampling
mill. Shortly before the murders, George worked in Park City, driving the
sprinkling cart to keep the dust down on the streets.
On Thursday, July 11, Coughlin,
George, and another Row tough by the name of Frank Kennedy undertook the
theft of six cases of strawberries from the wagon of Park City peddler
S.A. Pace. Kennedy committed the actual theft and the three took
the strawberries to the Row where they quickly disposed of the goods.
Officers soon arrested Kennedy who implicated Coughlin and George. Kennedy
told officers that the theft was actually the precursor to a larger robbery,
that the gang intended to rob one of the trains passing through the area.
He posted a $20 bail and was released pending trial.
Fed up with the behavior of
Coughlin and George, Summit County Sheriff John M. Harrington vowed to
get the boys. Warrants were sworn out for Coughlin and George who, catching
wind of their new status, stole two horses and departed. They traveled
down to Salt Lake City where they stayed for a couple of weeks before becoming
bored and deciding to return to Park City. Well armed now with Winchesters,
Coughlin and George bragged that they intended to "ride into Park City
one of these fine evenings and hold up some place of business.î
On July 26, having learned of
the return of his horse thieves, Harrington and temporary deputy Earl Williamson
started after them. Going after Coughlin and George wasn't Williamson's
idea of a good time. That morning he had actually ridden a short distance
with Coughlin and George on their return trip to Park City. Later,
as Williamson was in the act of chiding police officers for their inability
to find the outlaws, Harrington deputized him on the spot and told him
to lead the way with something other than his mouth.
At Wanship the two-man posse
discovered that their quarry had stopped in the tiny hamlet long enough
to force a local blacksmith to shoe their horses and purchase 200 rounds
of ammunition. Borrowing an old rifle, Harrington and his reluctant
deputy followed the horse thieves south through Rockport and into Peoa
before doubling back to Crandall Creek. The trail led Harrington up a wood
road along the creek, four or five miles to a sheep wagon parked in some
brush. Here the tiny posse found Coughlin and George waiting for them.
Riding up to the camp, Harrington
spotted Coughlin inside the sheep wagon holding a Winchester at shoulder
point. Dismounting and peering at Coughlin over the top of his saddle,
the sheriff ordered Coughlin to drop the gun. Coughlin's reply was a bullet
that struck Harrington's saddle horn, driving splinters of wood into the
sheriff's face. Harrington managed to fire once in reply and then discovered
to his horror that he couldn't eject the spent casing from then borrowed
rifle. Fred George opened fire on the small posse from the cover of some
nearby brush, forcing the two lawmen to draw off.
Not knowing that Williamson
had been pressed into police service against his better judgment, or perhaps
because they were angry that he had led the sheriff to them, the outlaws
marked him for special attention. Bullets smashed a bottle of "snake medicine"
in Williamson's pocket, shot away the handle of his revolver, cut the buttons
off his pants, and burned a flesh wound across his left wrist. Despite
the heavy fire, Harrington nor Williamson were seriously wounded. With
Harrington's rifle out of service and Williamson thoroughly demoralized
by his short career as a deputy, the posse beat a hasty retreat.
Their escape was the last bit of luck Utah police officers would have for
more than a week.
The bushwhacking of Harrington
transformed Coughlin and George from small-time thieves to first class
bad men. As soon as Harrington reached a telegraph station, the wires
sang with news of the gunfight. Posses from Rich, Wasatch, Utah,
Summit, Cache and Salt Lake counties spread out over northeastern Utah,
searching for the horse-thieves turned attempted killers.
Lawmen had reason to suspect
that Coughlin and George were headed for Wyoming. An accomplice during
their brief stay in Salt Lake City told officers that the two were headed
east to start a gang. A.D. Bruce told officers that he had accompanied
Coughlin and George on their return to Park City under the auspices of
going to Wyoming to look for work. Fifteen miles into Emigration
Canyon, however, Bruce became alarmed at his companions' brazen theft of
provisions from a house. When he balked at going any further with them,
Coughlin and George took his rifle, robbed him of twelve dollars, shot
his horse, and left him to trudge back to Salt Lake City on foot.
Four lawmen positioned themselves
at Wahsatch, a small cluster of buildings located five miles east of the
Utah-Wyoming border, where they waited for the outlaws to pass through.
The force consisted of Echo City Marshal Thomas A. Stagg and Uinta County
(Wyoming) sheriff's deputies Robert Calverly and William Taylor, and former
Evanston City Marshal Edward N. Dawes.
On the evening of July 29, a
man named Allison who knew the outlaws rode into Wahsatch and told the
four lawmen that he had seen Coughlin and George in a cabin located on
Duck Creek, three miles northeast of Wahsatch and about twelve miles from
Evanston. Allison said the outlaws had been there for two nights and a
day, resting their horses. Allison refused to lead the officers back
to the cabin and refused to loan them his cartridge belt, facts which later
may have contributed to the disaster.
While a great deal of personal
information was reported in the newspapers regarding Coughlin and George,
little was written about Stagg and Dawes. At 63, Stagg was a Utah pioneer,
perhaps too old to be out chasing outlaws. Born February 19, 1833, Stagg
had been a Summit County deputy sheriff before he took the job as constable
of Echo City. Married and the father of a large family of grown children,
Echo City and the surrounding community held the officer in high regard.
Despite his age, he went directly to Wahsatch to search for the outlaws.
He told the Wyoming deputies he met there that Coughlin would probably
try to kill him rather than surrender because of some bad blood between
the two. Stagg was the arresting officer when Coughlin shot and wounded
a man in April 1893.
Dawes was also married. The
43-year-old former Evanston City marshal was popular in Evanston where
the Civil War veteran commanded the Evanston post of the Grand Army of
the Republic.
Although it was dark, the posse
immediately set out for the Palmer cabin in wagon, arriving at 1:30 a.m.
on July 30. Unfamiliar with the area, the posse drove past the cabin in
their noisy wagon, no doubt alerting the outlaws inside. When they realized
their mistake, the lawmen drove back and took up positions around the cabin,
settling down to wait for daylight.
Initially, Calverly wasn't happy
with the positions taken by Dawes and Stagg. The two older officers were
on opposite sides of the cabin less than 100 yards away, Dawes in a prone
position behind a post directly in front of a window and Stagg in a slight
depression in the ground. Calverly told them to move to better cover but
the two refused to listen to the younger deputy.
Shortly after sunrise, one of
the outlaws in the cabin spotted Taylor as the young deputy tried to get
a drink from a spring. Coughlin came to the door of the cabin and
drew a bead on Taylor, but a shot from Dawes struck the side of the cabin
and spoiled his aim. Coughlin jumped back into the cabin, slammed the door,
and the fight was on. While George loaded the rifles, Coughlin fired at
officers from the window. Although the cabin received a furious volume
of fire from the posse, it soon became apparent that Coughlin had the better
position.
Stagg received a mortal wound
almost immediately. A bullet struck him in the jaw and passed out through
the back of his neck, severing the jugular. Coughlin later claimed that
he never aimed at Stagg during the fight because the older officer had
known him since he was a kid. Coughlin insisted that Stagg was shot
down by the posse in the cross fire. Lawmen who responded to the
scene claimed that the ground around Stagg's body was torn up by bullets.
With Stagg out of the way, Coughlin
crawled out a window and outflanked Dawes. He shot Dawes in the left
side, the bullet passing through both lungs. Dawes fell in an exposed
position. Coughlin then turned his fire on Calverly and Taylor. Taylor
had his coat collar shot off and Calverly received a minor wound to his
head. Coughlin was in the act of shooting at Taylor again when a shot from
Calverly struck his rifle and knocked it out of his hands.
A temporary ceasefire ensued
during which Calverly and Taylor discovered that they were down to one
cartridge apiece. Calverly was no coward. Five years before, he had traded
shots with Butch Cassidy and won, landing the rustler in the penitentiary
at Rawlins for two years. Now, bloodied and out of ammunition, discretion
was definitely in order. The two remaining lawmen opted to pull back
and go for help.
After the posse retreated, Coughlin
and George approached Stagg and Dawes. Stagg was obviously dead. The outlaws
stripped him of his guns and ammunition, leaving his personal effects untouched.
Still alive, Dawes reached for his gun when the boys approached him.
Coughlin covered him with a rifle and convinced him to surrender.
Later, at his trial, Coughlin
claimed he gave Dawes water and moved him to a more comfortable position.
Dawes was in great pain and allegedly told the boys that he didn't blame
them for shooting him and that he was sorry the posse fired on the cabin.
"[He] said they wouldn't have
done it if they had known only the two of us were in the cabin," Coughlin
said. "They thought there was a nigger horse thief and another man in there,
too." It should be pointed out that Coughlin repeatedly made contradictory
statements during his trial and the time he was incarcerated.
The officers weren't the only
ones injured in the fight at Palmer's cabin. George suffered an ugly flesh
wound through both thighs. Coughlin dug pieces of lead out of the wounds
with a pocketknife. Then the two outlaws rounded up their tired horses
and left the wounded officer to die.
A second Evanston posse arrived
on the scene a few hours later. After pouring more than a hundred
rounds into the cabin in the mistaken belief that the outlaws were still
inside, they searched and found Dawes surrounded by cartridge casings.
Stagg lay a short distance away. Part of the posse took the bodies
to an Evanston morgue while the rest went after Coughlin and George.
Instead of pressing on into
Wyoming, the outlaws turned west back into Utah. Telegrams quickly
alerted other lawmen to watch the canyons along the Wasatch Front.
Despite heavy rains, officers followed the trail to Ogden, Kaysville, Farmington
and Salt Lake City. Meanwhile, wild newspaper reports had Coughlin
and George headed at various times for Idaho, California, and even boarding
an eastbound train for the World's Fair in Chicago.
On the evening of July 31, the
two were spotted on the outskirts of Bountiful by a police patrol in command
of Salt Lake City Police Captain John J. Donovan. Before officers had time
to turn their wagon around, the two outlaws rode off into the dark toward
City Creek Canyon. Quickly securing horses for his men, Donovan and
his officers went in pursuit. The following day, they overtook the
outlaws at the summit of the canyon and a sharp gunfight broke out. No
one was injured during the fight and Coughlin and George managed to escape
on foot into the mountains, leaving behind their saddles.
For a short time, Coughlin and
George disappeared. Two days later, officers began receiving reports that
the outlaws were lurking in the vicinity of Mill Creek where they had asked
people for food. Although officers scoured the area, they found no sign
of the killers.
On the night of August 3, Coughlin
and George stole two horses from in front of the U.P. Saloon in Murray
and headed west toward California. Under the cover of darkness, they
passed around the northern end of the Oquirrh Mountains and into Tooele
County. Tipped off by people who saw the two at various locations
on the road to Grantsville, officers began sealing off the canyons and
roads in the Stansbury Mountains.
On August 4, officers got their
first break in the case. That evening, Ruel Barres came down from the Third
Term mine in South Willow Canyon and told officers that the outlaws had
eaten dinner with him just a few hours before.
"No use watching here anymore,
boys," Barres said. "The desperadoes took supper with me tonight and are
gone."
In fact, Coughlin and George
had only ridden a short distance from Barres' cabin. Exhausted and believing
themselves ahead of any posse, they flopped down into the brush and went
to sleep.
Members of the guard returned
to Grantsville where City Marshal J.P. Mecham raised a posse. At daybreak
on August 5, the posse converged on South Willow Canyon. About three miles
below the mine, Mecham and posse member Richard Rydalch spotted a horse
grazing near some brush. Believing that Coughlin and George were somewhere
nearby, Mecham sent Rydalch back for the remainder of the posse while he
climbed around and took up position above the patch of brush.
Although he was alone, Mecham
began yelling orders to a non-existent posse, hoping to scare Coughlin
and George into holing up deeper in the brush. It worked. While Coughlin
and George took cover, the Mecham's real posse arrived and sealed off all
escape routes. As soon as it was light enough to see, the posse spotted
Coughlin and began firing a few shots into the brush.
Smashing the stock of his rifle
on a rock and throwing the rest of his weapons into the creek, Coughlin
surrendered. "Don't shoot, don't shoot," he shouted to the posse. George
required more convincing. After his partner surrendered, George made his
way on foot further into the canyon. He hid in some brush until Coughlin
began calling for him to surrender. An hour after Coughlin gave up, George
emerged from the brush with his hands up. The two killers were placed in
irons, taken back down the canyon and turned over to Salt Lake City officers.
Coughlin's arrogance regarding
the murders and the 300-mile crime spree was colossal. Mistaking the morbid
curiosity of the reading public for adulation, he soon developed an inflated
sense of his own importance, bragging to anyone who would listen about
shots he had made, women he had seduced, and police officers he had outsmarted.
His claims regarding the crimes frequently had little to do with reality,
although they filled newspapers for weeks following his capture. George
was more reticent, invariably pointing news-hungry reporters in the direction
of Coughlin.
On October 23, 1895, Coughlin
and George were tried in Ogden on charges of first-degree murder. Reading
the judicial wind better than Coughlin, George pleaded guilty and threw
himself on the mercy of the court. He was subsequently sentenced to life
in prison.
Coughlin pleaded self-defense,
claiming that the officers had no right to shoot at him while attempting
to capture him. The evidence was so overwhelmingly against him that the
jury quickly found him guilty. The court sentenced Coughlin to be executed.
"Women and whiskey led me to
it," Coughlin said in a moment of cavalier penitence, following his conviction.
It would take more than a year
to execute Coughlin. In the interim, he was held in the state prison where
he reveled in the notoriety he received for being the condemned killer
of two lawmen. His widowed mother made frequent visits to the prison
where Coughlin railed about being locked up and cursed her for the quality
of lawyers she had hired for his defense. Gradually his arrogance
wore thin and he began whining about the unfairness of his death sentence
in comparison to George's life sentence. He frequently asked prison officials
for morphine to soothe his nerves.
Coughlin's attorneys spent more
than a year maneuvering to save his life, Appeal followed appeal. Eventually,
even the Supreme Court of the United States refused to overturn his sentence
and the Utah Board of Pardons refused to commute it.
Days before his execution, Coughlin
was taken to Randolph and placed in a jail cell where he was visited by
his long-suffering mother and the family priest. As the date drew near,
his arrogance and cruelty returned. He turned down a chicken dinner the
day before his execution, saying, "What do I want with that stuff? I'd
like to have a little Dawes and Stagg on toast, see?"
On December 15, 1896, a firing
squad shot Coughlin to death in snow-covered Sage Hollow, about two miles
north of Woodruff, Utah. The young killer's bravado remained with him until
the end. While traveling to the scene of his execution from his jail
cell in Randolph, Coughlin told Rich County Sheriff Dickson, "You never
killed a gamer man in your life than you will today." His last request
was that no photographs be taken of his dead body.
The execution squad fired from
slits cut in the side of a tent. One of the rifles used was the rifle with
which Coughlin killed Dawes and Stagg. Calverly, who narrowly escaped
death at Palmer's cabin, was in charge of firing squad. Coughlin's
body was claimed by his mother and taken back to Park City for burial in
the Glenwood Cemetery.
On December 20, 1902, after
serving seven years of his life sentence, George was paroled from prison.
He settled down, married, and lived quietly until his death of a heart
ailment in 1936.
SOURCES
The Daily Tribune, July 29, 1895
The Daily Tribune, August 5-6, 1895.
Salt Lake Tribune, December 18, 1896.
Salt Lake Tribune, December 24, 1967.
Deseret News, July 31, 1895.
Ogden Daily Standard, October 31,
1895
The Standard, December 18, 1896
Department of Corrections files.
Park Record, July 27, 1895.
The Park Record, February 21, 1936.
Cheyenne Daily Sun, July 31, August
1, 1895.
Evanston Post, May 23, 1985, article
by Sam Taggart.
Uinta County (Wyoming): Itís Place
In History, Uinta County Library, Evanston, Wyoming.
Where the West Stayed Young, Burroughs,
John Rolfe, Murrow & Co., 1967.
The History Blazer ìA Taste For Strawberries
Led Patrick Coughlin to His Death,î June 1995.
Rich Memories-Some Happenings in Rich
County from 1863 to 1960, Mildred Thomson, comp. (Springville, 1962).
Randolph?A Look Back, Steven L. Thomson,
Jane D. Digerness, and Mar Jean S. Thomson, (Randolph, 1981).
Unforgiven, Gillespie, L. Kay, Signature
Books, SLC, 1991.
Utah State Archives and Records Service,
Series 328, Board of Pardons, Pardon Application Case Files, 1892-1949,
file #263.
To Serve and Offer All
Thomas Stagg, at 63, was a man to be admired,
Stalwart, strong, unwavering, of his duty never tired.
Protecting his community - a Marshal through and through
He heard of outlaws on the loose and knew what he must do.
‘Twas a dark night on July 30, 1895
When Thomas Stagg and posse found a cabin with men inside.
The two men they’d been hunting down, to bring before the law,
Were holed up in the cabin, in a lonely little draw.
The posse took positions ‘round the cabin in the night,
Waiting for a chance to take the men at morning’s light.
When sunrise came, the cornered men saw that they must fight,
As 4 brave men surrounding them, prevented them from flight.
The bullets started flying as they emptied round on round,
And Stagg received a mortal wound as he lay, firing on the ground.
The thieves were brought to justice, but at a heavy price,
A fallen officer, who paid the greatest sacrifice.
So let us not forget those men who die at someone’s hand,
Serving and protecting those who live in this great land.
Linda Vernon
Thomas Stagg
I recently read your post about Thomas Stagg, he was my Great, Great Grandfather. The story
is appreciative but it differs from the family version. My Grandfather told it to me and it is a little different from what I have read in several articles. However I am grateful to you all for including his story. One point is that an old man in Evanston, Wyoming, knows excactly where this all happened. My grandfather and others tell the story different in that Thomas Stagg was shot trying to defend a young deputy who tried to rush the cabin and gain some recognition. My Great, Great Grandfather jumped up to give him cover and that is why he was shot and killed, a little different from your story, but maybe no one knows for sure, however my Grandfather really new his stuff. Something to think about, since he talked to some of the people who were there in the area. Thank you for your story.
Steve Bybee/Great,Great Grandson of Thomas Stagg
South Weber, Utah
- This page, along with the State Memorial at Utah's Capitol, is maintained by the Utah Peace Officers Association in behalf of Utah's Fallen Officers - may we never forget their ultimate sacrifice
Email your comments, suggestions, or information requests to
upoa@upoa.org
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