Part 9, Note 24

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Colorado Citizen, December 28, 1882, January 4, 1883; Colorado County District Court Records, Criminal Cause File No. 1942: State of Texas v. William H. Stafford, Criminal Cause File No. 1943: State of Texas v. William R. Townsend, Criminal Cause File No. 1944: State of Texas v. John Stafford, Minute Book H, pp. 347, 419, 480, 481, 482, 487, 561, 562, 636, 637; Henry Calhoun Thomas, "A Sketch of My Life," Nesbitt Memorial Library Journal, vol. 1, no. 3, February 1990, p. 90. Thomas remembered that "John Stafford and Will Townsend left the country and went into Mexico and stayed about three years." They certainly did not, for both men were in the Colorado County jail within a year of the killing. However, they were apparently considered "flight risks," probably because they had been difficult to arrest. When they were allowed bail, on September 28, 1883, it was set at the rather high level of $25,000 apiece (see Colorado County District Court Records, Minute Book H, p. 302). The house to which Warren Stafford was traveling, then only recently built, later became a celebrated landmark, thought by many to be haunted. No relationship between William R. Townsend and Sheriff Townsend has been discovered.