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BIRTH: Unknown | ||
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One day Dewar's horse
was found wondering home without its rider, inquiries were made as to
the whereabouts of Dewar. Suspicions arose when they noticed the saddle
was under the horse's belly as if the rider were thrown from the horse.
But the saddle was cinched tight that way, meaning someone had put it
that way. They then formed a search party and sent it out around around
the area. At the same time of the search a Chinese man named Smart Alec
had disappeared without cleaning up his sluice box or taking his possessions.
Twenty days after the search had started, a miner, John Merrit found
Dewars body under Alec's cabin with one wound to the back of the head
which looked to be an axe mark. 75 days were spent looking for Alec
but he was never found, a year later a reward was offered but never
claimed.
In 1888 Merrit and his partner Kerr, were digging a tunnel on there
claim at Cherry Creek when Frank Shaffer approached them and told them
he had found bones of a man. When they found the bones, they could tell
that it was a Chinese man because of the type of clothing. A strychnine
bottle was there with a small amount of poison in it. John Merrit had
been around the Cherry Creek long enough and knew both the Whites and
Chinese well enough that he could account for them all. He was convinced
that they had found the remains of Smart Alec.
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