312 MY SPORTING HOLIDAYS 



town of Rawlins, 6,000 feet above the sea. Here we 

 heard news of a more startling import in reference to 

 the train-robbing outrage. The crime had assumed a 

 more tragic hue. Jim Rankin, the sturdy and intrepid 

 Sheriff of Carbon County, had been murdered by the 

 train-robbers while attempting their capture. He 

 and his deputy had followed the tracks of the two 

 ' road-agents ' it appeared that there were only two ; 

 in doing so had penetrated into a lonely canon in the 

 mountains south of Rawlins ; had found their camp- 

 fire yet smoking ; and had then been fired upon from 

 the cover near by. The Sheriff was killed, and his 

 deputy slightly wounded. The latter escaped and 

 brought the news to town. It was clear that the 

 robbers had seen the Sheriff and his companion 

 approaching, and had ambushed them and fired 

 with intent, and with the fatal result above related. 



The public opinion of Rawlins was completely 

 aroused. Rankin had been a general favourite, and a 

 brave and resolute official, determined to perform his 

 responsible and often dangerous duties with efficiency. 

 I had met him two years previously, when he was 

 a private citizen of Rawlins, and had been much 

 impressed with the quiet thoroughness of the man's 

 personality. 



A strong armed party was rapidly organized by the 

 Vigilance Committee in the town for the purpose of 

 pursuing the men who had dared to interfere with 

 a popular Carbon County official ; and it was 

 rumoured that the leading spirit and ringleader of the 

 train-robbers, who with a single companion had 

 committed the murder, was a notorious local 

 desperado known, from a certain facial peculiarity, 

 by the appropriate name of Big-nosed George. But 



