David J. Cook
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David J. Cook (1842? – April 2, 1907)[1] was a western lawman and City Marshal of Denver, Colorado, responsible for over 3,000 arrests.
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[edit] Early years
Cook was born in 1842 near La Porte, Indiana. Growing up he worked as a farmhand before moving to Kansas in 1855, and then in 1859 to Gilpin County, Colorado, looking to prospect for gold.[2]
[edit] Military and law enforcement career
In 1861 he joined the Colorado Cavalry upon the outbreak of the American Civil War, and was later assigned to counterespionage for the Union Army, tracking Confederate spies, investigating gold smuggling and similar crimes. His success led him to found the "Rocky Mountain Detective Association", a freelance, volunteer-only group of Colorado troubleshooters, similar in character to the Pinkerton Detective Agency. Although its offices were in Denver, its cases took him all over the west.[2]
From 1866 to 1869, Cook served as marshal of Denver, as well as acting as a federal marshal and range detective.
In 1868 Cook tracked down the notorious Musgrove-Franklin Gang, who were credited with twelve murders, and apprehended gang leader Lee H. Musgrove in the Wyoming Territory. Having subsequently transported Musgrove to jail in Denver, Cook cleverly predicted his partner Ed Franklin would attempt a rescue. Upon Franklin's arrival into Denver, Cook tracked him to a room in the Overland Hotel. Franklin reportedly reached for a pistol and Cook shot him to death.
In 1878, Cook helped quell a major revolt of the Ute tribe in Colorado.
In 1880, he served as the arbitrator in a silver mine strike at Leadville, Colorado.[3]
[edit] Memoir
In 1882 Cook published a memoir titled Hands Up! or Twenty Years of Detective Work in the Mountains and on the Plains, either writing it himself or dictating it to another. It is rumored to have been ghostwritten by Thomas F. Dawson[4], editor of the Denver Times and personal secretary to Senator Henry Teller.[5] Though a purported autobiography, it is written entirely in the third person. While doubtless embellished a great deal, it remains the sole major source of knowledge about Cook's life and accomplishments.
[edit] Death
Cook lived in Denver until his death on April 2, 1907. He was buried in Denver's Riverside Cemetery.
[edit] Resources
- Sifakis, Carl. Encyclopedia of American Crime, New York, Facts on File Inc., 1982
- Nash, Robert (1994). Encyclopedia of Western Lawmen & Outlaws. Da Capo Press. ISBN 0-306-80591-x.
[edit] References
- ^ Year of birth variously given as 1940 and 1942.
- ^ a b Gibson, E. "David Cook and the Rocky Mountain Detective Agency" (at the blacklisted http://www.suite101.com/article.cfm/old_west/105818), which uses as its source Hands Up! or Twenty Years of Detective Work in the Mountains and on the Plains, (ostensibly) written by David J. Cook
- ^ The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Columbia University Press, 2006.
- ^ http://search.abaa.org/dbp2/book1783_75.html
- ^ http://www.coloradohistory.org/chs_Library/research_coll_files/rc_dawson_scrapbooks.htm
