From Chapter One
The Killing of Archibald Stewart
On July 13, 1884, Archibald Stewart returned to his Las Vegas Ranch from a business trip to the mining camps at Eldorado Canyon. In his absence, his wife, Helen, had words with one Schyler Henry, a disgruntled hired hand. Demanding, but not receiving his pay, Henry announced that he was quitting and set out for Conrad Kiel’s ranch a couple of miles north.
Mrs. Stewart told her husband of the quarrel upon his return. After eating and resting, Archibald threw his rifle on his shoulder and rode away, but Mrs. Stewart saw no reason for alarm, because he did not appear to be heading in the direction of the Kiel Ranch and potential trouble.
A short time later, a scrawled note arrived. “Mrs. Sturd. Send a team and take Mr. Sturd away. He is dead.” The note was signed “C. Kiel.”
Sadly, Mrs. Stewart buried her husband the next day in a casket made of the wooden doors of the ranch house. Apart from old Conrad Kiel and Schyler Henry, there were apparently no other witnesses to the shooting. Outlaw Hank Parrish, who would be hanged for a later murder, was known to have been in the area but could not be found. At the inquest, Henry claimed selfdefense. Stewart had run toward him, he said, and had shot first. An exchange of gunfire left Henry wounded and Stewart dead.
What really happened that July 13? Did Stewart intend to confront Henry about the quarrel and become instead a victim himself? Or was he, as Mrs. Stewart believed, lured to his death? Whatever really happened, Helen Stewart was left to raise a family and operate the ranch herself until its sale in 1902 led to the founding of Las Vegas.
To read all of Chapter One, click here.