Taskers in the USA

Ben Tasker, Southern Utah, 1870s

Ben Tasker was a notorious cattle rustler in Southern Utah in the 1870s and 1880s.

Washington County ranchers believe that much of the rustling was conducted by a group of renegades living at Desert Springs in Iron County, a stage stopover between Silver Reef and Pioche, Nevada. The leaders of the group, Ben Tasker, Idaho Bill, and Black Jack Ketchum were elusive criminals who had been arrested several times, but were always released for lack of evidence.

In the Summer of 1876, several attempts were made to reach Deadwood by stage from Cheyenne but turned back due to the danger of marauding Indians following their defeat of Custer at the Little Big Horn. On Sept. 25, however, Dave Dickey brought the first stage into Deadwood. But certainly the danger from Indians remained. Indian attacks on the stage stations were not unexpected and the corrals took the form of fortified stockades so as to preclude theft of the horses. In one instance, "Indians" attacked a station and after the horses were stolen, it was discovered that the "Indians" had opened the padlock on the corral with a duplicate key. Division superintendent H. E. "Stuttering" Brown was killed ostensibly by Indians near Old Woman's Branch of the Cheyenne. Stuttering Brown had previously been a freighter, ran a road ranch west of Scott's Bluff, and a gambling den in Omaha.

There were those, however, who suspected that Brown's murder was committed by William "Persimmon Bill" Chambers. Persimmon Bill was a reputed horse thief and murderer who kept a shack near Cheyenne Crossing. He and Stuttering Brown had a mutual dislike for each other and, thus, Persimmon Bill was suspected of the killing. Persimmon Bill was allegedly an associate with the notorious horse thief Henry "Dutch Henry" Born (1849-1921). Persimmon Bill's fate is subject to debate. According to Patricia Jahns, The Frontier World of Doc Holliday: Faro Dealer from Dallas to Deadwood, he was killed by Boone May. According to Dan Thrapp, Persimmon Bill was hanged in Tennessee. Dutch Henry, originally from Wisconsin, received his name as a result of his German accent recieved from his German immigrant parents. According to Charles Kelly, The Outlaw Trail, Dutch Henry was killed by a partner in crime, Ben Tasker from Centerville, Utah. Dutch Henry's body was burned by Tasker at Desert Spring, Utah. The remains were identified by his derringer found in the ashes. In actuality, however, Dutch Henry met up with Hanging Judge Parker and was sentenced to twenty years in the Arkansas Penitentiary. When he got out, he prospected for gold near Creede Colorado with a partner. His partner froze to death. Dutch Henry returned to Wisconsin, married, and with his bride returned to Pagosa Springs, Colorado, where he lived out the remainder of his life.

From:

1. 'HISTORY OF THE LIFE OF WILLIAM PULSIPHER' Material Furnished by his Daughters - Eunice Cropper and Edna Taylor

2. Cheyenne - Deadwood Stage http://www.wyomingtalesandtrails.com/deadwooda.html

3. Source Materials to the 1873 Butcher-Cotton Gun Battle http://www.hickmansfamily.homestead.com/files/butchercotton.htm