Hal Sayr: Civil Engineer, Surveyor, and so much more

This ad appeared regularly on page 3 of the Daily Mining Journal and happened to run directly alongside the article debunking the RMN. Hal Sayr was a major with the 3rd who was seen mutilating corpses with enlisted men and blasting out the brains of an infant at Sand Creek.

Daily Mining Journal debunks Byers rumor

Late February, 1865. The military commission is conducting its hearing into the Sand Creek Massacre. The Rocky Mountain News has been reporting that the officers of the 3rd are not going to get paid as a result of the investigation, and the Blackhawk Daily Mining Journal has been ridiculing the rumor for several days. On Feb. 23 the DMJ dubunks the rumor with some finality, below a juicy Lincoln tidbit:



[DMJ, Feb. 23, 1865, p. 3.]

EDIT: The News also acknowledged the falsehood of the rumor they'd been spreading in their Feb. 23 issue.

At some point U.S. Congress does withhold the pay of the 3rd, I believe. Not exactly sure when it occurred or how it turned out.

Bar Kharma

Here's an inglorious scene. A few hundred Utes come to town in early spring 1865; some of them go 'bar-hopping' and are filled with joy at the sight of the scalps of their mortal enemies, and other 'trappings' of Sand Creek, decorating the bars of Denver.

[RMN, March 9, 1865, p. 3.]

Table of Distances

The misspelling in Hersa Coberly's wedding announcement is particularly curious considering the "Table of Distances" that the paper featured pretty much every day for years, right on the front page:



Click to view full size.

[RMN, 1865, p. 1]

On the Military Order in Denver, 1865

Click image to view full-size clipping.




[RMN, April 17, 1865, p. 3]


The papers concerned themselves primarily with the death of Lincoln through the week following April 15. RMN gives us a few hints as to some changes in the military order of things in town that week. Capt. Soule was Provost Marshall. On April 18 the paper printed General Order 60, which called for a day of mourning. On the 19 the paper reported the arrival of General Henry in town to take over his new post, and gives the impression of a suddenly business-like demeanor among the soldiers.



[RMN, April 18, 1865, p.2]




[RMN, April 19, 1865, p.3]

April 14, 1865

There are several items of note on page 3 of the RMN for this date. The following bit on Major Downing and the military's inquiry into the Sand Creek Massacre restates Byers' familiar editorial position on the matter. The military hearings took place first in Denver, with Soule and others testifying in February, then re-adjourned at Fort Lyon on March 20.



Then there is this cutesy bit about the Soule marriage:




That's more typical local-boy-gets-married fare, but certainly awkward here considering the well-known positions of Captain Soule and the paper.

Then a few other items:





[RMN, April 14, 1865, p. 3.]

What's up with the Masons?

The Resurrection of Hersa C.

More from the Rocky. On April 5 1865, the paper carried a notice of the wedding of Silas Soule and Hersa Coberly.



[RMN, April 5, 1865, p. 2.]

Kehler was the chaplain of the 1st Colorado. The notice is conspicuous in its blatant misspelling of the bride's name. Maybe the creative speller hopes to provide a little cover for his paper's having reported the same woman's death at the hands of marauding Indians in August of the preceding year:


[RMN, Special Edition, August 18, 1864.]

A Byers Wedding Toast

On April 1, 1865, the RMN sports this little bit on page 3, referring to the marriage of Silas Soule and Hersa Coberly:

ON DIT.--That a conspicuous member of the military here, who sports a pair of double bars, and a rather auburn head of hair -- a Hibernian by his brogue though born in the Bay State -- a great favorite with the fair sex wherever they predominate, single or married though they be -- and who rides a silver-colored steed when not riding out in burnished buggies with his scores of sweethearts, solely for style and some kindred consequences -- was married late last evening, to a charming angel of some eighteen summers, from an adjoining County. High official gentry gave us the information, which we of course announce only as we heard it -- lest they were fooling us on the day, or desirous of devoting a few lines to the popularity of the provost gentleman aforesaid. Happy is the man, my boy, whose cares are cut down half, and whose quiver's full of arrows, when the time rolls round.

Soule was known for pulling legs, and it was April 1. "Hibernian" is Byers for Irishman. But that last sentence. What is that? Somebody's idea of playful advice, or some kind of a creepy threat?

Captain Soule's 'time rolled round' soon thereafter.

Chivington Owned Manitou Springs

How's that for symbolism? Too much, really.

According to the Colorado Springs Gazette of Sept. 9, 1876, Chivington at some point had purchased the sacred soda springs of Manitou for $1500, after they had been claimed by Girten, Slaughter, Dick Whitsett, one of the Tappans and Dick Wooten, well-known pioneers. "Pollock, Chivington's son-in-law, bought them from the colonel, and transferred them to someone in Denver as security for debt."

What's Up With the Masons

On April 7, 1865 the Rocky featured a short piece on page three. "A Magnificent Present." "Some weeks ago," it begins, "a few gentlemen who differ somewhat from the 'high officials' who have such affection for 'friendly Indians'" told Chivington to order for himself a gold chain, and he went right ahead and ordered up a $502 braided six-foot gold chain and "upon it are all the distinctive symbols of Masonry up to the Knight Templar's degree." $502 in 1865. This would have been during or just after Chivington gets torched at the Tappan commission's hearings. Decades later some factions would try to create various monuments in favor of Chiv and slaughtering peoples, but huge rapper jewelry, that's really something.

The Masonic lodge at Central (Central City) was also named after Chivington.