Friday, June 3, 2011

"FOUND DEAD" This day in Fort Collins history.

This day in Fort Collins. The article at left was published on the morning of June 3rd, 1874 in the Fort Collins Standard. Who was this young man found "dead in the street of the city at night."?

This day in Fort Collins June 3rd, 1874. By this year, the town had moved west and south from the location of the Fort north of Jefferson Street, to accommodate new settlers moving into the area. These adventurous folks were mercantile and drug store owners, educators, physicians, and those looking to start a new life far from their home in the east or Midwest.  The railroad had not yet come through yet, and the population would have been roughly around 800 occupants. The livestock and cattle industry was one of the biggest producers of revenue in this small but increasingly thriving town. Manhattan Creek west of Red Feather held promises of fortune for prospective silver miners as well. So, who was this young man with “smooth rounded cheek”? Who was the girl in the photo in the pearl case? And what was the bloody event that left him “…dead in the street of the city at night.”? Was he a cowhand for one of the big ranchers of the day? Was he a hopeful miner wishing to take a dowry back home to a prospective bride, only to be met with despair? Or just a drifter traveling through? Does he still walk the streets of Old Town in search of his past and the future that was brutally taken away from him? Is this young man one of the spirits "...who is dying to meet you..."  on the Haunted History After Dark tour?  Possibly, he has a story he’d like to tell YOU.
Join our ghostly walking tour of Old Town and find out.  Tours run Wednesday, Thursday, and Saturday at 8:30 P.m. Email hauntedhistoryafterdark@yahoo.com for more information. YOUR HAUNTED JOURNEY STARTS AT DUSK!