Page 26 - AreaNewsletters "Aug 2022" issue

... Continued from last page at night. Peculiar moanings disturbed them. The cause was quickly ascribed to the ghost of the fellow whose frozen body was still swinging out there in the near-by forest. Finally the women prevailed upon several of the men to cut the body down and bury it. Thereafter, neither ghost nor lively, unruly imaginations bothered that community. The above is the substance of true incidents that were related to Albert Dakan and his parents, W.A. and Elizabeth Dakan, who settled on a homestead about fourteen miles southwest of Castle Rock in 1870. Albert Dakan was then three years old. All of the rst settlers of the East and West Plum Creeks were still living and were their neighbors during Albert’s childhood. It was from their lips that the Dakans heard rst-hand accounts of their part in “bringing those two criminals to justice.” Now For The Rest of The Story... Who remembers Paul Harvey, and his famous “Rest of the Story?” It turns out there may be the “Rest of the Story” about Hangman’s Gulch. During my research I found an article, “History Can Be Murder” by Shaun Boyd, published on September 29, 1999. Boyd points out several problems with the above story as recounted by Mrs. Schultz. August 2022 • Castle Rock “AreaNewsletters” Boyd’s rst concern is the lack of any names throughout the story. One man named in the posse was L.Z. Stevens, but homestead records show L.G. Stevens didn’t begin his homestead until 1870, three years after the Hangman’s Gulch story occurred. Boyd checked General Land O ce Tract Books and found no record of any homesteader being murdered. The November 1867 Rocky Mountain News has no story about a murder or the hangings, and back then, these would have been big news! The towns of Castle Rock and Palmer Lake weren’t around in 1867. Even “Uncle Jerry’s Claim Cabin” at the site of Castle Rock wasn’t around until 1871. Why did the group of vigilantes bother to bring one of the men all the way back to Castle Rock just to hang him? The county seat of government was Franktown so why didn’t they bring the man there? The nal clue that casts doubt on the 26 CASTLE ROCK HISTORY