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Niels Heber Anderson |
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Niels Heber Anderson |
Father lived in a most exciting period of the earth's history. He drove oxen and lived to see
automobiles and the airplane.
Apparently some sheep stealing had been going on in Sanpete
County. Bill Brewer of Mt. Pleasant, Scott Bruno and my father, Niels Heber Anderson, of
Moroni, on the 26th day of November, 1894, in company with Sheriff James Burns, came upon
Moan Kofford and Jim Mickle at Reader's Ridge, back of the Horse Shoe Mountain.
Evidence of
the changing of the ear marks in sheep and brands made it quite clear that certain sheep had been
stolen.
Sheriff Burns made an attempt to place Moan Kofford and Jim Mickle under arrest without
first disarming them. As he approached them they shot and killed the sheriff, then warned the
other men that if they did not stay out of the affair they would receive the same treatment as had
been given the sheriff.
Hilda Madsen Longsdorf, in her book entitled Mount Pleasant, recorded
the incident as follows: "November 26, 1894, Sheriff James Burns, while attempting to place
Moan Kofford and Jim Mickle under arrest for stealing sheep, was shot and killed by them,
several shots entering his body. The shooting took place on Reader's Ridge, back of the Horse
Shoe Mountains, also called Orson Hyde's Arm Chair, or the Bishop's Chair. Bill Brewer, Heber
Anderson and Scott Bruno witnessed the shooting. Bill Brewer and Anderson brought the news
to Spring City. Thomas Braby, with the militia of Mt. Pleasant, was soon on the scene of the
shooting, and the body was taken to Mt. Pleasant.
Although the Militia searched and guarded for
a couple of weeks in the ledges and dense timber, the murderers were never
apprehended." (Mount Pleasant, 1859-1930, Hilda Madsen Longsdorf, Stevens and Wallacis,
Inc., Salt Lake City, Utah. p. 175)
Father was nervous about the threat Kofford and Mickle had given him and the two other men
and shortly after the incident, purchased a "six shooter" which he carried for several years
thereafter. He told me that he had decided to sell his life as dearly as possible if ever he met
Kofford or Mickle and the occasion might require it.
Many years after the shooting of Sheriff Burns took place, Father was asked to accompany the
Sanpete County law officials into Idaho. A certain man, while drinking in a bar boasted of
having killed Sheriff James Burns in Sanpete County, Utah. He claimed to be Moan Kofford. He
was arrested and was being held in jail until the matter could be investigated. Bill Brewer and
Scott Bruno were deceased and father was the only living witness to the shooting.
Father was well acquainted with Moan Kofford and as he entered the jail, he could hear a man
singing and this was something he had never known Kofford to have ever done; but to be
positive of his identification, he asked the man to walk down the hallway. As he did so, Father
was positive that he was not Moan Kofford because Kofford had a peculiar gait as he walked.
Father said that he had seen Moan Kofford only once after the shooting. Kofford was driving
a freight wagon near Levan and as their eyes met, Kofford pulled his hat down so as to cover his
face and at the same time put the whip to the team.
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Sheriff James Burns |