Published in Blue Mountain Shadows, vol. 4 Spring 1989

By Ellen Lefler

R.L. Newman, Sheriff of Navajo County, Arizona. Newman was one of the posse leaders during the Posey War. Sheriff Newman had been asked to lead the posse by Marshall Ward from Salt Lake City. He was paid $5 a day for six days and was also given a tip of $50. The Newmans had only lived in Bluff a short time, but Robert had been a sheriff for eight years in Holbrook, Arizona prior to moving in Bluff. (Ellen Lefler photo.)
 

The following account was told to Ellen Lefler by her father, John Wesley Newman. It was related to him by his father, Robert Lee Newman, who led the posse that rounded up the Paiutes.

According to Ellen Lefler, "I have heard this account told over and over as far back as I can remember, and it hasn't changed." Bob McPherson corrected a few proper names and place names. Otherwise, the account is as Robert Lee Newman told it to John Wesley Newman. John Wesley Newman is the "I" in the article; Robert Lee Newman is referred to as "my father" or "Dad."

I have been called on several times to tell about the incident related to me by my father, regarding the Ute fight that occurred the last time they gathered the Indians up. When we came to Bluff to live, there were several stories of skirmishes with the Indians. My family moved here from Holbrook, Arizona.

Posey's Contribution to the War

Old Posey was the chief of the Indians at Allen Canyon. Two young men (Utes) were always causing harassment. Sanup's Boy, as we called him, and one of Joe Bishop's boys got into trouble on Cahone Mesa with a sheep herder. I don't know if they wanted a sheep or what, but they ran the herder off and stole his grub and whatever he had there. Sanup's Boy took pneumonia and died while they were running away because of the troubled they'd caused.

William E. Oliver was sheriff at this time. During a break in the trial of Joe Bishop's boy and one of Posey's sons who had been arrested, the sheriff and these two boys were going to lunch. Joe Bishop's boy reached out and grabbed the sheriff's gun out of its holster. He pointed the gun at the sheriff and pulled the trigger two or three times. It wouldn't go off. Posey had brought horses to town; he always had something cooked up for a getaway. So the boys got away on these horses.

In previous years it had been their experience that the whites wouldn't put up a fight with the Indians because the Indians took to the wilds and nobody followed them. So they'd get away free. But this time it seems there was a different crew of people who were getting tired of it and organized a posse. The Indians knew the Butler and Comb Wash country and knew how to get around in it and where to hole up. There were no nice roads in that day, but there were roads here and there and cow trails.

The Whites Organize a Posse and Take Action

The people gathered at Frank Cornell's ranch at Comb Wash to get the posse organized. My father was asked to lead the posse but said he didn't know the country as he hadn't lived in Bluff but a short while. He had been asked to do so by a United States Marshall from Salt Lake City. They organized two posses, and the U.S. Marshall asked Dad to lead one, so my father consented.

At this time I was 21 years old and was working out at Perry Clark's camp across the river from Mexican Hat on an oil rig hauling water for the boilers. (Steam was used for power.) We'd been having trouble with the rig. The tools were stuck in the hole, and we couldn't get them out. We were about ready to shut her down when in the night Oz Hunt and Gene Powell, a deputy in Bluff, appeared and told us the sheriff wanted all people in outlying areas to congregate at the trading post on the bank of the San Juan River at Mexican Hat. It was the only building open for business at that time in that country. The only other buildings were at drilling sites. We called the trading post Spencer's.

The sheriff wanted some men to guard what he thought would be a likely getaway spot for the Indians, the old swinging bridge across the river at Mexican Hat. We were to hold a blockade on the old bridge which was made of wire instead of cable. A lot of wire made a cable to hold the bridge up. There were five of us: Oz Hunt, another fellow whose name I forget, Gene Powell, Bill Adair, and myself. We were picked to guard that night. The rest had all gone to Spencer's. Oz Hunt had an idea, "Let's cut some of the planks out of the bridge and put a sheet over it so when the Utes come they'll fall into the river." (Laughter)

The next day we took off for Bluff going to Cornell's ranch. I was unable to join the posse as I had the job of hauling the rig crew and their gear from Clark's Camp to Bluff. The rig had to be abandoned. The Utes had not shown up at the bridge either.

They were on foot and had followed the men on horses through the breaks down into Comb Wash. There were two white men here at this setting on top of Comb Hill. One of the white men, Bill Young, said he was going down off the hill; he didn't see anything up there. As soon as he left, Joe Bishop's boy and another Indian with him took after the other white man. He heard yelling and turned around to see. The two Utes were on horseback and were after him with their guns ready. It was two to one. Bill whirled around with this Winchester and shot Joe Bishop's boy and killed him right there. The other Ute wheeled his horse around and got out of shooting distance. There was justice done right there by killing Joe Bishop's boy because he was the one who caused the trouble in the first place.

Old Joe Bishop was a nice old Indian. I've had some dealings with him, and he was just a good old Indian. But he had three boys who were just hell alone.

The Utes that the posse was after consisted of the women, children, and young men. Who were held at Blanding during the Posey uprising. The Ute women preferred that their pictures were taken with shawls, to appear proper. So the muslin was provided to use as a shawl for the picture. (San Juan Historical Commission photo.) 
 

Two posses had been formed. Dave Black was head of one posse, and my father was the head of the other. Dave Black took his posse and headed out Comb Wash going south. After a time, my father's posse ran onto the tracks of the Utes. But there were no horse tracks. The Indians had turned the horses loose thinking maybe they would go back to their owners, and the Whites would leave the Indians alone if they didn't have the horses. They'd turned the horses loose off at a place called the Island. It sets out away from the rest to make an island. There is a first island, a low hill, and then a narrow strip that goes up the main island as high as the canyon walls. That's where the Indians wound up. The posse had trailed them there and could see them. The posse members said they'd have to go get the Indians, but they didn't know just who all was up there.

The posse didn't know it at the time, but Posey had been shot and was not with the main group. He'd been hidden by the rest of the Utes at a little spring that comes out of the hill under a break of this island on the north side. When the posse went up the trail from the first little island to get to the top, there was a little black mare standing beside the trail. As Dad rode by, he put his hand out and touched her. Nobody put much recognition in her, but she was Posey's mare.

Posse Confronts Indians

When they breasted the top of the small island they could see other people down below and pointed their guns out, as the Indians could have gone and killed every man in the posse. But no guns had been fired. At this point the posse decided they didn't want to go any farther. Some said, "I don't believe I'd like to go up there. They'll kill you; they'll shoot you; they've no principles at all." If Posey had still been with them, that may have been the case. My father said, "I guess I'll have to go." Two men, Joe Smith and Sam Rentz, said, "We'll go with you, Lee." They found out at a later date that the Indians had their guns trained on the posse but didn't dare shoot because they were too few.  

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Last Updated July 31, 1997 by Janet Wilcox