My mother told me this story while I was staying there this summer, and I had never heard it before. I don't know too many details, and maybe Lonehawk could add a few more, or someone else who has heard this story before.
A group of polygamists have lived out of town on "The Flat" for many years. They have not associated much with the townspeople.
Quite a few years ago the adults in that group decided to go back to the twin polygamist communities of Short Creek/Colorado City. I think it was for the 24th of July. They left a group of children home to take care of the farm and the animals.
That was when the law enforcement officers of Utah and Arizona decided to raid Short Creek and Colorado City together to arrest the men for being bigamists. The reason that community was established on the state borders to begin with, and set back from the main roads, was so the men could be warned if strangers came, and could go to the opposite side of the state line depending on which law enforcement officers showed up to arrest them. Thus the partnership of both states.
The women didn't usually know how to drive nor did they have driver's licenses. So the men were taken to jail and the women stayed in the community with relatives or friends.
There were no phone lines out to The Flat, nor any way for the women to tell their children what had happened. After several days of being scared, the children walked into town told the townspeople that they were out at The Flat alone. Several families took them in, and Grandma and Grandpa took in two children.
The children would go out to The Flat during the day to do chores and feed animals, then they would walk back into Hatch at night to stay with the families who had taken them in. They were afraid to stay on The Flat alone at night.
So Grandma took care of these children for several months until their parents came for them.
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3 comments:
An interesting story that goes along with this one...When I was playing with the band Roommates, we played at the Buckskin at the Arizona line just south of Kanab. One night, we were going home and the fan belt broke on my car, and we made it to Colorado City, and contacted the police there. The police chief was a Barlow kid who had lived at the flat and was taken in by mom and dad. When he found out my name, he contacted a person there, and they fixed the fan belt, and wouldnt take any money for the repair job. He said that he was so impressed with mom and dad and was so thankful for their help, that this was some what payment for their kindness....
We never know sometimes when what we do will have such an impact on those who recieve it and then some way, it will always come back to us...Greatful for the kind of parents that I have had.......Love ya lots........Lonehawk
An interesting story that goes along with this one...When I was playing with the band Roommates, we played at the Buckskin at the Arizona line just south of Kanab. One night, we were going home and the fan belt broke on my car, and we made it to Colorado City, and contacted the police there. The police chief was a Barlow kid who had lived at the flat and was taken in by mom and dad. When he found out my name, he contacted a person there, and they fixed the fan belt, and wouldnt take any money for the repair job. He said that he was so impressed with mom and dad and was so thankful for their help, that this was some what payment for their kindness....
We never know sometimes when what we do will have such an impact on those who recieve it and then some way, it will always come back to us...Greatful for the kind of parents that I have had.......Love ya lots........Lonehawk
Oops, must have hit the publish button twice, sorry
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