Column: Murder was in the family DNA of one Red Mountain miner – Montrose Daily Press

In the late 1800s, when Red Mountain Town and Red Mountain City fought for supremacy in the mining district just south of Ouray, Bart Young made a name for himself in a fight all his own.

Young, already known as a tough desperado in the San Juans, was in Richard Hodge's saloon in Red Mountain City in late July 1897 when he became entangled in a quarrel with Henry Peartree, a barber, and William Skelton, a miner.

Accounts in the July 22 edition of the Ouray Herald that year don't give details as to the root of the argument, but it's a fair guess that whiskey played a part. A fight broke out among the three, and Young reportedly received the business end of the whooping.

"Being of a revengeful nature," the Herald reported, "he proceeded to his cabin, a distance of a mile and a half, and securing a gun returned to the saloon, telling everyone whom he met what he intended to do."

Young entered the saloon, took a few shots of courage, and began to empty his gun in Peartree and Skelton's direction. Peartree received a flesh wound, but Skelton wasn't so lucky. A bullet pierced his lung and he died a few hours later.

Young fled the bar, the Red Mountain mining district and was seen in Telluride later that evening, of course, drinking whiskey. It was speculated that he would continue fleeing west to the Blue Mountains in eastern Utah.

Utah was a likely and familiar hiding spot. Bart had four brothers, and his family's relatives were said to have taken part in the historic Mountain Meadows massacre in the late 1850s. The massacre, debated as to whether or not it was a direct order from Morman founder Brigham Young in retaliation and fear of federal troops disrupting Morman settlements, resulted in the deaths of nearly 120 members of the Baker-Fancher party, a wagon train of settlers originating from Arkansas.

The plan carried out in the massacre was brutal. The men of the party were led away under friendly, yet deceitful means by the militia. When a good distance away from the party, the militia turned and fired, killing them all. Meanwhile, another group of the militia came out of hiding and gunned down the women and children.

With this in their DNA, Bart Young's family fled across the border to southern Colorado. But the bloodshed didn't stop for the family when Bart went on the lam. In October 1907, Bart's brother, Bill, was sentenced in Montrose County for "not less than 25 nor more than 30 years" in the penitentiary for killing a man by the name of Wilkinson.

"The trouble between Young and Wilkinson," according to a Montrose Press report on Nov. 1, 1907, "dated back several years when Wilkinson was deputy sheriff. Young was suspected of rustling cattle in Paradox Valley, and Wilkinson was ordered by the sheriff to inspect Young's stock. Young heard of the inspection and swore vengeance on Wilkinson, who managed to stay away from Paradox Valley for a few years. But Young heard that Wilkinson was back in the area herding cattle, and he and his son, Clare, tracked Wilkinson down and forced him off his horse and ordered him to put down his gun. "Wilkinson did so and throwing up his hands begged Young not to shoot," reported the Press.

Young, however, shot Wilkinson point blank in the gut, and Clare added a few rounds in his back as Wilkinson tried to crawl away.

"This notorious family has been a costly bunch of citizens to this county," the Press opined. Indeed, just years earlier the patriarch of the family, Ken Young, was shot and killed by Tom Pepper in the Paradox Valley. Young had gone after Pepper, trying to kill him, and Pepper managed to deliver a fatal shot to his attacker in self defense.

But not to be outdone, Bart exited this world in a style that would have made his family proud. Instead of fleeing to Utah, as was thought, he instead went to Idaho. M. F. Tillery, marshal of Montrose, located Bart and had the sheriff in that Idaho county arrest him. The county commissioners in the arresting area, however, refused to pay for Bart to be transported to Montrose, and he was set free and later made considerable hay mining in Idaho.

Alas, the story must end in tragic Young family fashion. It seems that fleeing, fame and fortune weren't enough for our Red Mountain murderer. According to the Press, "A few years ago (Bart) had trouble with his wife and murdered her and killed himself."

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Column: Murder was in the family DNA of one Red Mountain miner - Montrose Daily Press