Bartley was the chief witness at the inquest. He told his story in a
manner that impressed the coroner's jury. Senator Brown was present, and
identified one of the dead outlaws as Sneed. Posmo, killed by
Panhandle's first shot, was known in Phoenix. Panhandle, riddled with
bullets, was also identified by the Senator, Cheyenne, and several
habitués of the gambling-hall. Bartley himself identified the body of
one man as that of Hull.
Cheyenne was the last witness called. He admitted that he had had
trouble with Panhandle Sears, and that he was looking for him when the
fight started; that Sneed and his men had unexpectedly taken the quarrel
out of his hands, and that he had fired exactly five shots at the men
who had killed Panhandle and it had been close work, and easy. Panhandle
had put up a game fight. The odds had been heavily against him. He had
been standing in the light of the gambling-hall doorway while the men
who had killed him had been in the shadow. "He didn't have a chance,"
concluded Cheyenne.
"You say you were looking for this man Sears, and yet you took his part
against Sneed's outfit?" queried the coroner.
"I didn't just say so. Mr. Bartley said that."
"Mr. Bartley seems to be the only disinterested witness of the
shooting," observed the coroner.
"If there is any further evidence needed to convince the jury that Mr.
Bartley's statements are impartial and correct, you might read this,"
declared the city marshal. "It is the antemortem statement of one of
Sneed's men, taken at the hospital at three-fifteen this morning. He
died at four o'clock."
The coroner read the statement aloud. Ten minutes later the verdict was
given. The deceased, named severally, had met death by gunshot wounds,
_at the hands of parties unknown_.
It was a caustic verdict, intended for the benefit of the cattle-and
horse-thieves of the Southwest. It conveyed the hint that the city of
Phoenix was prompt to resent the presence of such gentry within its
boundaries. One of the daily papers commented upon the fact that "the
parties unknown" must have been fast and efficient gunmen. Cheyenne's
name was not mentioned, and that was due to the influence of the
marshal, Senator Brown, and the mayor, which left readers of the papers
to infer that the police of Phoenix had handled the matter themselves.
Through the evidence of the outlaw who had survived long enough to make
a statement, the Box-S horses were traced to a ranch in the neighborhood
of Tucson, identified, and finally returned to their owner.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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