b'SOLOMONVILLES UNSOLVEDMURDER CASEBy Bill Roberts Reprinted from The TravelerSolomonville Main StreetF OLKS DIDNT THINK TOO HIGHLY of Lee Morgan around the Red Barn area of New Mexico, just across the border from Arizona Territory. Morgan had a spread there but got into some kind of trouble, still undetermined, and fled in the middle of the night, abandoning his wife eacourier.comand three-year-old daughter, Rosie.He turned up in Globe late in December of 1894. HeIt was well after dark when the posse rode up totheir boots to pack the ground down and give decided he liked it there and wrote his wife to sell histhe Morgan wagon at Ash Springs. The two familythe appearance that many Indian moccasins had small ranch and herd of cattle and join him in Globe.watchdogs charged at them with deadly intent, andparaded around the wagon. Other evidence showed It took several months for Mrs. Morgan to follow herit took a while for the posse to befriend the dogsthat when the Morgan wagon came around the husbands orders, but finally, she had sold everythingand dismount. It was a very cold February night atrocky point on which the killers were perched, the except her household items. Ash Springs and too dark to see much. The possemurderers started firing, killing Joe Miller first and built a large bonfire both to warm themselves and tospooking the team. The horses had broken into a A fellow named Joe Miller lived nearby and wasilluminate the area. In the light of the fire, one of therun and left the road on the right-hand side, cutting probably the only friend Morgan had in the area.posse members spotted little Rosie under the wagon.around the side of the point. As the wagon turned, Mrs. Morgan hired Joe to drive her wagon and teamShe appeared to be dead. He grabbed her leg andthe wheels cramped, acting as a break that stopped to Globe. They got underway on February 22, 1895,pulled her out. He noticed that when he grabbedthe runaway team. The killers then converged on and soon were across the New Mexico border andher foot she moved it slightly as if to pull it away. Hethe wagon and killed Mrs. Morgan, most likely to into Arizona Territory on the old wagon trail thatwrapped her in a blanket and took her near the fire,conceal their identity. One of them grabbed little went through Ash Springs in Graham County. Aboutwhere he could see she had suffered a severe headRosie and swung her through the air, bashing her noon on February 25, a sewing machine salesmanwound. As the man held her and she became warm,head against the wagon wheel.who had rented a horse in Duncan to ride toshe regained consciousness but became extremely Solomonville was taking the old trail through remoteill, apparently suffering a concussion. The posse found many signs around the crime scene Ash Springs. He found the bodies of Mrs. Morgandesigned to make it appear the wagon had been and Joe Miller but little Rosie was nowhere to beThe next morning the posse took the bodies of Joeattacked by Indians, including the wrapping of the seen. The salesman rode into Solomonville at aboutMiller and Mrs. Morgan to Solomonville. Rosie wasboots. The posse tracked the killers to a small cave 5 pm and reported the murders to Sheriff Arthurleft with the wife of one of the lawmen and the posseabout three miles away. There the killers had stashed Wight. He organized a posse and headed for thereturned to the crime scene. Some eight miles froma few moccasins and left dried mescal cakes lying scene of the killings. the spring itself, the killers had laid in wait for theabout. From the cave, they tracked the killers to the Morgan wagon. Thebanks of the upper San Simon, a distance of some 75 The posse tracked thelocation of the attackmiles. At a place there called Skeleton Canyon, the killers toSkeleton Canyon,was easy to spot as thereposse found the Morgan team. The killers apparently near San Simon. were a lot of trackshad fresh mounts waiting for them in the canyon. The showing the activity.killers also had abandoned their moccasins or sack-The killers apparentlycovered boots and the tracks turned to those of high-had waited for hours forheeled cowboy boots. The posse followed the trail for the wagon to appear ona short distance but lost it in the rough, rocky country the trail. They watchedaround Skeleton Canyon.from beneath a lone cedar tree atop a littleReturning to Solomonville, the lawmen decided the rocky point that juttedevidence indicated that Mrs. Morgan and Joe Miller out into the trail. were probably killed by some of their neighbors in the Red Barn area of New Mexico. Everything Close inspection ofpointed to the killers following the Morgan wagon the tracks around thefrom New Mexico with the intent of robbing Mrs. murder scene showedMorgan of the money she had received for the ranch the attackers wereand herd of cattle. How much the killers got was wearing sacks aroundnever determined, nor were they ever caught. 54 July 2023'