People

: Josh Melnick; Contributor to "Out of the Blue and Into the Sun," (source: Out of the Blue and Into the Sun: A Gunnison Valley Journal)

: Joshua Paul Britton; In March 1983, he was a guest lecturer of the Mesa County Historical Society who spoke about the history of the Uintah Railway. He was born to Joshua L. Britton and Mary Ellen (Taylor) Britton in Grand Junction, Colorado. His father was a butcher and later, the assistant manager of a wholesale company. His mother was a homemaker. J. Paul seems to have been an only child. US Census records show that he grew up at 209 Teller Avenue. He attended Grand Junction schools, including Grand Junction High School and the Ross Business College. While in high school he served on the staff of the Orange and Black yearbook, where he was the Editor-in-Chief, in the Boys’ Glee Club, the J.R. Club, the Science Club, El Circulo Español, Band, and Orchestra. In 1930, the Census shows him working as a clerk for a railroad (most likely the Denver and Rio Grande) and living with his parents at the age of 21. He married Estella Grau Winters on December 25, 1932. They had two daughters. They lived in Uintah, Utah in the mid-1930’s, when J. Paul most probably worked for the Uintah Ralway. By 1940, the census shows them living in the Fairmount area of Grand Junction, where they had one daughter. At that time, J. Paul worked as a cashier for a retail plumbing company. He later operated his own plumbing shop. He served as a Mesa County commissioner for two terms. He died at the age of 80. *Photograph from 1927 Grand Junction High School yearbook.

: Josie Bassett; According to Minnie (Crouse) Rasmussen, who ran a boarding house in Linwood, Utah, Josie Bassett came to collect her husband Emerson Wells, who had been on a drinking binge at the Bucket of Blood. Rasmussen claimed to have witnessed Josie threaten Wells with, “If I give you this drink it will be the last one I ever give you.” Minnie also claimed that she found a vial that had contained strychnine in Bassett’s luggage. The local constable questioned and released Bassett. *Public domain photograph of a woman reputed to be Josie Bassett

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