But a bomb shell was already loaded, with fuse attached. At the close of the third day the sheriff, A. D. Kelly, presented a petition to Judge Scott for relief, setting forth that Johnson county was bankrupt; that its officials had not paid the expenses incurred by the detention of the prisoners in Albany county pending the hearing on the motion for a change of venue; that the cost of holding the prisoners, including hall rent, guards and food, was over a hundred dollars a day; that he could not get any money from the county officials with which to meet these bills; that Johnson county warrants would not take the place of money; that he, as sheriff, would no longer assume responsibility for these current expenses, and praying for an order of court that would secure him against loss as he could no longer hold the accused. When court convened on the morning of August 10th, Judge Scott handed down his decision on the above-named petition in substance as follows: “I am unable to issue an order compelling Johnson county to make good the sheriff’s disbursements for the maintenance of the prisoners, and as he has refused to longer provide for them, my only alternative is to admit them to bail. But as the defense refuse to furnish bail, I am forced to release them on their individual recognizances.” The prisoners at once signed each his own bail bond for $20,000 in the two separate cases, and they were all set at liberty, but ordered to appear at the next term of court, in January, 1893. When this news reached the public a feeling of disgust was everywhere manifest, save among the white caps, who flung their banners on the outer walls and literally colored the town crimson. It was then clearly demonstrated that the old guard had gotten in its work, and that crime was still to go unwhipped of justice. The press of the country was generally outspoken in denunciation of the travesty upon justice, and many very bitter editorials were printed. The following from the Cheyenne Daily Leader is a sample of the more conservative utterances: The Prisoners Released “Well, the stockmen and Texans are all at large, having been released yesterday on their own recognizances. Taking it all around perhaps it’s just as well. Their confinement at Keefe hall was such only in name. They were permitted to go at will day or night about the city. Many of them never slept in the hall at all, and the guards were an elegant superfluity except whenever it was necessary to preserve the peace among the Texans. Some of the prisoners took in the Templar demonstration at Denver, and few of them were ever impeded in any of their movements.