Bears Ears, March 20-22, 1923

March 20: found the Utes who had evaded imprisonment running from a posse of about fifty white men. Women and children with herds of goats and horses led the retreat as Ute men took a defensive posture. They moved eastward from Butler Wash where they had camped. It was on Comb Ridge where Bill Young shot and killed Joe Bishop’s Little Boy. Posey, perhaps wounded, was separated from the other Utes who retreated to the mesa west of the comb. The posse camped at Frank Karnell’s ranch at the mouth of Arch Canyon. Tying white pieces of cloth on trees signaled the Utes desire for peace. They surrendered at the head of Dry Wash on the threat that if they did not the settlers would “kill them all.” The prisoners were marched down Dry Wash into Comb Wash. Trucks then transported them to Blanding via Bluff.