There are a few things I should mention about the heist at the railroad depot before getting into the aftermath.
Because of the distance from town of the early-on barn/depot (the more modern depot was still three years away), the lone horseman would have had quite some distance to ride away from the depot before coming to the west side of town. It seemed strange that no one saw him or at least never saw something irregular.
The robber had a couple of choices, but the paper noted that the victims reported he had continued east alongside the railroad tracks until he was out of sight. He would have passed close to the Bauer House and just a ways to the east of that he would have passed the Hyde Sawmill. I thought it strange no one had seen him. Then I realized the next day would be the Fourth of July. The sawmill would likely have shut down early for the holiday weekend.
I wondered why no one in the Bauer House had seen him but he no doubt would have taken off his mask and large overcoat. That would have allowed him to pass without anyone seeing anything out of the ordinary. He also must have counted on the Fourth of July coming the next day and the town residents being busy with family preparations.
Since the salesman (called a drummer in those days) had gone to the section house looking for a ride to get to a hotel, I figured that neither Charlie Kelly nor the Wetherills had come to the depot to pick up people who had wired ahead and needed a ride to housing for the night. The drummer, however, may have simply missed the rides, which were long gone by the time the bandit came on the scene.
The next issue of the Mancos Times made the questions increase. It gave an inventory of the losses. The big loser was the D&RG Express Company at $50.50. The drummer was next at $18. Ed Caviness and Henry Sprague each lost $5. The next was John Anderson at $1.50. Seeing that the early-20s Anderson, that I had read about some time ago, was there helped me understand why his pal Ed Caviness was there.
The Times added that the traveling auditor Hurst arrived the next day and found the losses, which amounted to $104.50, were correct. He also found, in talking to the men, that contrary to previous reports, no jewelry had been taken even though John Anderson had an expensive watch and a $65 diamond ring.
The next day was celebrated with a grand parade and ended with activities in the park. The robbery was the talk of the day and as the evening of the Fourth turned to night, families headed for their homes, some being quite thankful their sons were not at the depot at the time of the robbery.
The aftermath was set to begin.