Hollis & Virginia Spencer Collection
Hollis D. Spencer was the night marshal in Salida, Colorado, in 1890. That year, Salida witnessed a scene of vigilante violence like no other. Oliver Briley shot and killed P.J. Sullivan in the Denver & Rio Grande railyards. Briley was taken into custody, but that evening, a mob formed and broke into the jail where he was being held, firing multiple shots at law enforcement. Marshal Spencer was grazed in the head by a bullet. The mob dragged Briley away (by this time, dead from bullet wounds) and hung him from a post on First Street. Many of the perpetrators were later arrested but no one was ever convicted of the crime.
This collection was donated by Gary Hollis Spencer, great-grandson of Hollis D. Spencer.
Hollis & Carrie Spencer
Hollis Spencer in his night marshal uniform and his wife, Carrie Spencer.
Hollis and Carrie Spencer, and their son, Fred Earl.
Hollis D. Spencer
Gary H. Spencer’s mother Viriginia as a child and grandparents Margaret and Fred McNew
Margaret McNew, aged 19, grandmother to Gary H. Spencer. Image taken in Bloomfield, Missouri.
Fred McNew at work in Homer Stanley’s barbershop, located at 140 Lower F Street
A ‘heart cut’ looks good on Virginia Spencer
Hollis A. Spencer
Hollis A. Spencer and Bob Pierce
The Manitou Incline
Sidney Denison at the MidSummer Roundup in Salida, Colorado
Newt Cottrell at the MidSummer Roundup in Salida, Colorado
Sharkey the Famous Bucking Bull
Dor Heston at the Mid Summer Roundup in Salida, Colorado
F Street and the Denver & Rio Grande Depot
Texas Oil Company Station & Garage at 100 G Street
Texas Oil Company Station and Garage at 100 G Street
Texas Oil Company Station and Garage at 100 G Street (203 W. 1st)
Garage mechanics at Texas Oil Company, 100 G Street