The week of January 20, 1863 was a particularly harrowing one for miners working in the neighborhood of Gentry's Gulch and Coulterville.

A man named William Dates was found murdered in his cabin at the former place, and, due to the circumstances under which the dirty deed was executed, people thereabouts had "no doubt" that an Indian desperado who roamed the area called "Colorado Jack," was the killer.

Constable McKenzie rode out of Coulterville one drizzly day at the head of a posse of twelve resolute men and traced the wily villain to a rundown cabin on Bear Creek, situated near the town of Colorado. Jack was holed up with several other armed Indians, and as the force surrounded the shanty, McKenzie entered the cabin and attempted to tie up a man mistakenly indentified as Jack. For his bravery McKenzie received several uncomfortably close rounds of buckshot from the Indian bandit's companions. Several shots were exchanged between the two sides, but the weapons of the posse were soon rendered inoperable by the intermittent rainfall.

When the smoke cleared it was found that in the confusion an Indian boy was severely wounded and another person among the posse was likewise hit. Most annoying to the besieging faction Colorado Jack had effected his escape with "most of his baggage and artillery," including Constable McKenzie's own hat and prized double-barreled shotgun!

Several officers aided the fuming McKenzie in the pursuit of the fugitive, but clues as to his whereabouts were sorely lacking.

The desperado, after eluding his pursuiers for several days, was finally discovered through the vigilance of a man who observed a Yaqui Indian, Poncho, in the act of delivering a message to Jack's squaw. A heavily armed party traced Jack to a small drift in the bank of an arroyo near Colorado, where the manhunt was brought to its conclusion.

Jack emerged from his enclosure boldly facing his adversaries, and shouting incoherently, drew a pistol and began to blaze away at the possemen. Discarding the empty weapon, Jack leveled McKenzie's stolen shotgun, but during his desperate offensive an undaunted posse returned Jack's gesture with a fusillade of deadly lead.

Thus, the murderous Colorado Jack, as hard a character as was ever encountered in northern Mariposa county, was put out of commission by this noble, self-sacrificing team. Many denizens of Colorado, speculating as to the intentions of Colorado Jack in choosing that locale for his lair, were in agreement that Jack was patiently waiting for a chance to ambush Constable McKenzie and his assistants who had attempted his capture at Bear Creek the week before.



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colorado jack, posses, indian outlaws, coulterville, shootouts, duels, ghost towns, 49ers, mariposa, california history, mariposa history, legends, bandits, outlaws, lawmen, desperadoes, mariposa county, mariposa county history, mariposa legends, peace officers, historical express, gold rush history, gold rush bandits, california gold rush, california, mother lode country, mother lode legends, gold rush stories, wild west tales