During the late 19th century, the American West was a battleground for competing economic interests, particularly between cattle ranchers and sheepherders. Cattlemen, who dominated the open ranges, viewed sheepherders as threats to their grazing lands, as sheep cropped grass closely, potentially ruining pastures for cattle. These tensions often escalated into violent confrontations known as sheep wars, with disputes over grazing boundaries, or “deadlines,” leading to sabotage, intimidation, and, in some cases, murder.
In southern Idaho and northern Nevada, the Deep Creek Range was a flashpoint for such conflicts. A prominent cattleman, John Sparks, a former Texas Ranger who had settled in the region in the early 1870s, was a central figure in these disputes. Sparks, who later became Nevada’s governor, was known for his fierce defense of cattle interests and his role in enforcing grazing boundaries. The “deadline” in Cassia County was an invisible line that sheepherders were forbidden to cross, under threat of violence.
In late 1895, two Mormon sheepherders, Daniel Cummings and John Wilson, ventured beyond this deadline to graze their sheep in the Deep Creek Range. On or about February 4th, 1896, they were camped along a creek when an unknown assailant attacked. The men were shot and killed, their bodies left at the site now known as Deadline Ridge. Their deaths were discovered weeks later, on approximately February 19th, by another shepherd, Edgar “Ted” Severe. A coroner’s examination confirmed that both men died of gunshot wounds, likely on February 4th or shortly after.
A lumberjack who had delivered wood to the camp on February 4th provided a crucial clue: only a small portion of the wood had been used for a campfire, suggesting the attack occurred soon after the delivery, likely that night or early the next morning. The crime scene painted a picture of a swift and brutal ambush, with the killer striking under cover of darkness.
Suspicion quickly fell on a notorious gunfighter named Diamondfield Jack Davis, a hired hand known for enforcing cattlemen’s interests, and his associate Jack Gleason. Both were arrested, but Gleason was soon released due to insufficient evidence. Diamondfield Jack, however, became the primary suspect. Known for his brash demeanor and quick draw, Jack was an ideal scapegoat for a region eager to assign blame. He was brought to trial in Albion, Idaho, defended by James H. Hawley, a future Idaho senator, but prosecuted aggressively by William Edgar Borah, an attorney backed by the Elko County Sheepmen’s Association.
The trial was swift and contentious. Borah’s prosecution painted Diamondfield Jack as a cold-blooded killer hired by cattle interests to eliminate sheepherders encroaching on their land. On June 4th, 1897, Jack was sentenced to hang. However, the case took a dramatic turn when two men, James Bower and Jeff Gray, confessed to the murders. Although their confessions were later deemed unreliable and both were acquitted, their statements cast doubt on Jack’s guilt. This led to a reprieve for Jack, granted the day before his scheduled execution.
Jack remained in jail for two more years as legal proceedings dragged on. In 1899, the Idaho legislature passed a law requiring all executions to take place at the state penitentiary in Boise, further delaying Jack’s fate. Finally, in 1902, after serving six years in prison, Diamondfield Jack was pardoned, his case unresolved but his guilt increasingly questioned. The true identity of the killer remains unknown, and the Deep Creek murders are classified as unsolved to this day.
The graves of Daniel Cummings and John Wilson can still be visited in the Oakley, Idaho town cemetery. In 1907, the area where the murders occurred became part of Twin Falls County.
Crime Immemorial 