Credit Peters for Spencer research

Monica Peters of Pullman, a member of the Whitman County Genealogical Society, did some of the initial research on the accounts of the 1892 death of Whitman County Deputy William Spencer. She was not given attribution for her research in the Gazette story last week.

She did the research at the request of Doug Mobley of Powell River, B.C., a descendant of Deputy Spencer’s widow. He and a cousin Con Mobley of Armstrong, B.C., have researched family history. Peters also should be credited with taking the photo of Deputy Spencer’s tombstone in the Colfax Cemetery which appeared in the second installment.

Also, Gazette research into the 1892 court record suggests an error in newspaper reports. The error could lie in how William Hughes was brought into Colfax late at night to avoid an irrate group of citizens who had read accounts of how “Old Man Hughes” had abused Spencer after he had been wounded.

The bill submitted by Deputy J.L.Warren for reimbursement listed train fare from Garfield to three miles south of Palouse City. Another item was for reimbursement for payments to a rancher who assisted the deputies with bringing their suspect into the jail at Colfax.