John Nelson

“Every Indian who was killed in the West cost the Government about one million dollars. These were the figures arrived at by the authorities in Washington when they began to add up the little bill. This was due to the difficulty of catching them, owing to the large area of country they had to scamper about in.”
― John Nelson, Fifty Years On The Trail: The True Story of John Y. Nelson, Frontiersman, Scout, and Guide

“A newspaper, the first that had appeared, “The Rocky Mountain News,” was started whilst I was in Denver. The first number was full of scathing articles against the gamblers and blacklegs generally: in fact, the paper was run in the interest of the Vigilance Committee and law and order. The composing offices were in a log shanty, and the printers had to set the type with their six-shooters and double-barrelled guns lying on the benches beside them. I saw three of these men killed whilst they were peacefully carrying on their work. The editor’s name was Byers, and I knew him well. He never showed outside his door whilst these articles were appearing. The rowdies were always on the lookout for him, and directly he made any movement to leave his house half a dozen bullets would bury themselves in the woodwork. He stood this state of siege until the Vigilance Committee succeeded in clearing out the gang, when he became a great man in the town, very wealthy, and a State senator.”
― John Nelson, Fifty Years On The Trail: The True Story of John Y. Nelson, Frontiersman, Scout, and Guide