WYOMING
IRON MOUNTAIN RANCH COMPANY
Cheyenne, Wyoming
Incorporated under the Laws of the State of Wyoming
Issued December 21, 1900
Signed by John Coble as president and Frank Bosler as
secretary
"In the late 1800s when John Coble decided to
leave his home in
Carlisle
,
Pennsylvania
, and go west, he hoped to begin a life of prosperity in the cattle business.
Coble spent time along the North Platte River in
Nebraska
, working on cattle ranches before moving to
Albany County
,
Wyoming
to take a job with another
Pennsylvania
native, Frank Bosler. That choice defined Coble's life.
Frank Bosler was a
prominent cattle rancher in
Wyoming
and a member of the Wyoming Stock Growers' Association and Cheyenne Cattlemen's
Club. He hired Coble as the operations' manager for the Iron Mountain Ranch near
Chugwater. Whether Bosler was involved in the Johnson County War is unclear,
however, his animosity towards the neighboring homesteaders resulted in him
hiring the legendary Tom Horn.
Tom Horn's
reputation followed him wherever he went. He did not hesitate to brag about the
number of men he killed and it did not matter to him whether the killings were
justified or not. He killed for the game of it. Horn resided at the Iron
Mountain Ranch and became close friends with John Coble.
On July 18, 1901,
Horn was riding the Bosler range when the murder of fourteen-year-old Willie
Nickell took place. Nickell , while walking his father's horse though an open
gate on his father's farm, was shot twice in the back. Kels Nickell, Willie's
father, was the original target for the murder and according to Chip Carlson's
book, Blood on the Moon, the person or person's who shot the boy turned
the body over and when they realized they killed the wrong person, laid the
boy's head on a rock, Tom Horn's signature.
The prime suspect at
first was Victor Miller who had an ongoing feud with Nickell. When questioned by
the sheriff, Miller said he was having breakfast with his family. The alibi
checked out and suspicion turned to Tom Horn because of his killing reputation.
In January 1902,
United States Marshal, Joe LeFors met with Horn in
Cheyenne
under the disguise of wanting him to do a "job" for him. After two
days of conversation and in a drunken state, Horn admitted to LeFors that he
killed Willie Nickell. Horn's confession and circumstantial evidence led to his
arrest.
John Coble believed
LeFors tricked Horn into making the confession; therefore, he put together a
well-esteemed group of attorneys to prove his friend's innocence. The trial
began the following October after his arrest. After two weeks, the jury found
Horn guilty. A year later, and a day short of his forty-third birthday, Horn met
his maker by hanging.
Coble paid a hundred
thousand dollars for Horn's defense. Some of the money he used came from Bosler
to purchase cattle. When Bosler learned that Coble used the money towards Horn's
defense instead of buying cattle, Bosler was outraged. Although Bosler
hired Horn to protect his cattle from rustlers, he did not believe in Horn's
innocence, nor did he want to bring any suspicion to himself. In 1904, Bosler
fired Coble and never wanted anything to do with him again. Frank
Bosler then moved to dissolved the Iron Mountain Ranch Company and filed a
lawsuit against Coble.
Coble traveled
throughout the
Midwest
working on various ranches, but the loss of his good friend and his job at the
Iron Mountain Ranch sent him into a downward spiral. He wrote Bosler several
letters begging for money. One of his letters stated that if Bosler continues to
refuse to send him money he would kill himself. The threat meant nothing to
Frank Bosler. On December 4, 1914, Coble wrote the following letter to his wife:
Elko
,
Nev.
, Dec. 4, 1914.
Dear Elise:
Believe me, I
have tried to pull through. I am ALL IN, I AM ALL IN. Believe me - I am yours
until the end, and I cannot make good.
Lovingly,
SIGNATURE
(Illegible)
Elko Independent
12-4-1914
Coble then took his
Smith and Wesson .32 revolver, walked into the ladies bathroom at the Commercial
Hotel/Cassino in
Elko
,
Nevada
, put the revolver to his head and pulled the trigger.
Coble became a
broken man when Tom Horn was put to death and when he lost his position at the
Iron Mountain Ranch. His prosperity and his promising life disappeared. Coble's
legacy is that of a distraught man who could no longer deal with his own
demons."
A significant document related
to Tom Horn and the Johnson County War of Wyoming. Near fine condition.
Price:
$1,000.00
____________________________________________________
LIFE OF TOM HORN
Government Scout and Interpreter
Written by Himself
Together with His Letters and Statements by His Friends
A Vindication
Thirteen Full Page Illustrations
Published (for John C. Coble) by
The Louthan Book Company: Denver, 1904, 1st edition
Original illustrated wrappers; 317 pages
Very good plus condition: slight crease in front cover; pages
lightly tanning; binding solid and tight; book clean and bright.
$350.00
____________________________________________________
Johnson
County Cattle War, Wyoming
THE POWDER RIVER LIVE STOCK COMPANY
Stock
certificate #178, issued December 13, 1884, uncancelled; two folds, near fine
condition. Company had ranges near old Forts Reno and McKinney, Powder
River, Johnson County, Wyoming. Incorporated in Colorado. In spring
of 1886, this Company had 24,000 head of cattle on the Powder River range.
This Company was impacted by the "Johnson County War," where Tom Horn
gained his notoriety. George Rex Buckman, a noted Colorado Springs
promoter, was secretary of the Company and signed this historical
document.
Price:
$300.00
___________________________________________________
FORT LARAMIE AND THE PAGEANT OF THE WEST,
1834 - 1890
by LeRoy R. Hafen and Francis Marion Young
The Arthur H. Clark Company: Glendale, California, 1938, first
edition
Original blue cloth binding with gold print on spine; 429
pages, complete with all illustrations and maps
Fort Laramie as a Fur-Trading Post; and, as Military Post
First Fort on the Laramie; Fur-Traders and Missionaries; Rival
Posts - Fort Platte and Fort John; The Coming of the First Emigrants; Last Years
as a Private Trading-Post; Fort Laramie Becomes a Military Post; America on
Wheels; The Great Fort Laramie Treaty Council; The Emigrant Tide; The Grattan
and the Harney Massacres; From Handcart to Pony Express; The Cheyenne and the
Utah Expeditions; the Civil War and the Uprising of the Plains Indians; the
Fight for the Black Hills; etc.
Condition: near fine; slight remnants of collector's bookplate
on front endpaper
Price: $200.00
_______________________________________________________
