A posse began the pursuit which ultimately led to their capture a week later by La Plata County Sheriff Watson and Deputy Bacon about 120 miles SE of Rico near the San Juan River on the Navajo reservation. The prisoners were transported to Durango by Sheriff Watson who then went to Rico to collect the $1,500 reward offered for Wall and Cummings. Dolores County Undersheriff Misch then travelled to Durango and brought the prisoners back to Rico. On Thursday, June 14th, Wall and Cummings were interviewed by the local newspaper where Trinidad Charlie admitted that he did the shooting and that Wall never had a gun in the house when Marshal Smith was shot. Late that night, or early Friday morning, a group of Rico citizens got past the four guards at the jail and took the prisoners out and hung (lynched) them in the stable behind the jail. Marshal George L. Smith was buried in the Rico Cemetery on June 4, 1882. Newspaper accounts state that about 1,000 people attended the funeral and "the largest procession ever seen in Rico" followed him to his final resting place. Marshal Smith is memorialized on the Colorado Law Enforcement Memorial at Camp George West in Golden.
A posse began the pursuit which ultimately led to their capture a week later by La Plata County Sheriff Watson and Deputy Bacon about 120 miles SE of Rico near the San Juan River on the Navajo reservation. The prisoners were transported to Durango by Sheriff Watson who then went to Rico to collect the $1,500 reward offered for Wall and Cummings. Dolores County Undersheriff Misch then travelled to Durango and brought the prisoners back to Rico. On Thursday, June 14th, Wall and Cummings were interviewed by the local newspaper where Trinidad Charlie admitted that he did the shooting and that Wall never had a gun in the house when Marshal Smith was shot. Late that night, or early Friday morning, a group of Rico citizens got past the four guards at the jail and took the prisoners out and hung (lynched) them in the stable behind the jail. Marshal George L. Smith was buried in the Rico Cemetery on June 4, 1882. Newspaper accounts state that about 1,000 people attended the funeral and "the largest procession ever seen in Rico" followed him to his final resting place. Marshal Smith is memorialized on the Colorado Law Enforcement Memorial at Camp George West in Golden.
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