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| Vintage image of the Cannibal Plateau gravesite/Denver Public Library |
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| Brenda Custer Randall/Find a Grave |
Sol is a footnote to Lucas County history for a couple of reasons. One is his vanishing act. The other is the part he and another young man, Thomas Martin, played in capturing Hiram Wilson, the Missouri horse thief who fatally shot Sheriff Gaylord Lyman on the morning of July 6, 1870.
Here's an abbreviated account of the capture from The Chariton Democrat of July 12, 1870: "About four o'clock (on July 6), however, organization was secured, and the company (of about 300 men) started through the brush (east of Chariton) from south to north, in regular picket line, men being also stationed at regular distances to watch for the game. Mr.Copeland, the banker, was the first man to discover him, and while he started to find assistance and direct others how to proceed, two young men --- mere boys --- named Thomas Martin and Solomon Dawson, came upon him --- neither party seeing the other until they had come within five or six feet of each other. The thief and murderer was coming toward them in a stooping attitude, with his pistol pointed at Martin, and demanded of him in a sharp whisper to 'keep still.' Martin made for him, and when the man saw there could be no escape without a fight, he fired at Martin, the shot passing over his shoulder. With that, Martin struck him over the head with his gun, partially stunning him and almost knocking him down. He then sprang upon the desperado, threw him down, and in a moment more assistance had come, when the villain surrendered."
Wilson was lynched that night for his crime; Dawson and Larson split a $300 reward offered by the Lucas County Board of Supervisors (the reward was supposed to be $500, but the supervisors cheaped out when a resolution to pay was introduced at their Sept. 7, 1870, meeting and cut it by $200).
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Born about 1847, Sol was an Indiana native who arrived in Lucas County with his parents, Thomas Simpson and Elizabeth (Prickett) Dawson, during 1855. They were living on a farm west of Chariton during 1860, but by 1870 had moved into town and both father, Thomas, and son, Solomon, age 22, were working as laborers when the 1870 census was taken. There were 10 Dawson children total, but four apparently died young. The survivors all were boys: Zadock, William, Solomon, John, Henry and Austin.
Sol was just a little too young to have served in the Civil War although his father and elder brother, Zadock, did, both in Company K, 34th Iowa Volunteer Infantry.
Not long after 1870, Sol headed west --- probably in search of gold or silver, perhaps using the reward money as his stake. We know that he remained in touch with his family because on the 9th of October, 1872, the following item was published in The Patriot:
"A letter from Sol Dawson, now in Colorado, to his father in this place, relates an incident wherein he narrowly escaped losing his scalp. It appears that Sol and another fellow were out hunting, and were set upon by a party of a dozen Indians, who fired upon them. They returned the fire, and brought down two redskins, but in the melee Sol's friend was dangerously wounded but succeeded in getting to the camp where he died a short time after."
At some point after that, perhaps about 1874, communication ceased. The final report about Sol --- for many years at least --- appeared in The Leader of June 21, 1879, when Dan Baker wrote, "It is reported in town that Sol Dawson has been killed by Indians in Idaho, but the report needs confirmation."
There were no follow-ups to this item, but the phrasing of a report published 40 years later in newspapers across the country, including The Herald-Patriot of Dec. 13, 1928, suggest that nothing further had been heard from Sol and his whereabouts had remained a mystery. Here's the report:
The following from the Ottumwa Courier is of interest to this community as Solomon Simpson Dawson was a brother to Wm. Dawson of this city and resided here before he started on his ill fated trip:
Denver, Dec. 10 (AP) --- Colorado's famous "cannibalism case" of 1874 has come into the limelight again with the arrival here of Henry R. Dawson of Ottumwa, Iowa, seeking evidence that his long-lost brother, Solomon Simpson Dawson, was a victim in the episode.
Musty newspaper files and old court records have failed to bear out his belief that his brother may have been a victim of Alferd Packer, prospector-guide who was convicted of killing a party of five prospectors in 1874, and now Dawson plans to visit the party's graves in Dead Man's gulch, near Gold Hill, and study headstone inscriptions.
Packer was the guide of a party of prospectors which left Bingham Canyon, Utah, in the fall of 1873 for the San Juan country in Colorado. Following months of privation, Packer returned to civilization with a long tale of privations encountered, and confessed he had eaten the bodies of his companions to prevent starvation.
The remains of the bodies later were found and authorities were led to believe Packer had slain his hunger-weakened companions. He was convicted of manslaughter and served a sentence at Canon City. Packer died in 1906.
There were no further reports, so it seems likely that Henry Dawson's mission was unsuccessful. There were no headstones in "Dead Man's gulch" to examine, only a plaque on a memorial rock at the gravesite on what now is known sometimes as Cannibal Plateau. But it would be interesting to know if more than the possible disappearance of Sol at about the time the incident near Lake City occurred explained Henry's trip to Colorado.
The Cannibal Plateau remains were exhumed during 1989 and examined, but the identifications attributed to the victims at the time their deaths occurred --- Israel Swan, George Noon, Frank Miller, James Humphreys and Wilson Bell --- were not challenged.
And Solomon Simpson Dawson's disappearance remains a mystery.
Sol was just a little too young to have served in the Civil War although his father and elder brother, Zadock, did, both in Company K, 34th Iowa Volunteer Infantry.
Not long after 1870, Sol headed west --- probably in search of gold or silver, perhaps using the reward money as his stake. We know that he remained in touch with his family because on the 9th of October, 1872, the following item was published in The Patriot:
"A letter from Sol Dawson, now in Colorado, to his father in this place, relates an incident wherein he narrowly escaped losing his scalp. It appears that Sol and another fellow were out hunting, and were set upon by a party of a dozen Indians, who fired upon them. They returned the fire, and brought down two redskins, but in the melee Sol's friend was dangerously wounded but succeeded in getting to the camp where he died a short time after."
At some point after that, perhaps about 1874, communication ceased. The final report about Sol --- for many years at least --- appeared in The Leader of June 21, 1879, when Dan Baker wrote, "It is reported in town that Sol Dawson has been killed by Indians in Idaho, but the report needs confirmation."
There were no follow-ups to this item, but the phrasing of a report published 40 years later in newspapers across the country, including The Herald-Patriot of Dec. 13, 1928, suggest that nothing further had been heard from Sol and his whereabouts had remained a mystery. Here's the report:
PECULIAR CASE REVIVED IN WEST
Brother of Chariton Man Believed to Have Been One of the Victims
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| Alferd Packer |
Denver, Dec. 10 (AP) --- Colorado's famous "cannibalism case" of 1874 has come into the limelight again with the arrival here of Henry R. Dawson of Ottumwa, Iowa, seeking evidence that his long-lost brother, Solomon Simpson Dawson, was a victim in the episode.
Musty newspaper files and old court records have failed to bear out his belief that his brother may have been a victim of Alferd Packer, prospector-guide who was convicted of killing a party of five prospectors in 1874, and now Dawson plans to visit the party's graves in Dead Man's gulch, near Gold Hill, and study headstone inscriptions.
Packer was the guide of a party of prospectors which left Bingham Canyon, Utah, in the fall of 1873 for the San Juan country in Colorado. Following months of privation, Packer returned to civilization with a long tale of privations encountered, and confessed he had eaten the bodies of his companions to prevent starvation.
The remains of the bodies later were found and authorities were led to believe Packer had slain his hunger-weakened companions. He was convicted of manslaughter and served a sentence at Canon City. Packer died in 1906.
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There were no further reports, so it seems likely that Henry Dawson's mission was unsuccessful. There were no headstones in "Dead Man's gulch" to examine, only a plaque on a memorial rock at the gravesite on what now is known sometimes as Cannibal Plateau. But it would be interesting to know if more than the possible disappearance of Sol at about the time the incident near Lake City occurred explained Henry's trip to Colorado.
The Cannibal Plateau remains were exhumed during 1989 and examined, but the identifications attributed to the victims at the time their deaths occurred --- Israel Swan, George Noon, Frank Miller, James Humphreys and Wilson Bell --- were not challenged.
And Solomon Simpson Dawson's disappearance remains a mystery.
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