Myrtle and Lou were the children of rancher Wesley Goswick, who lived
four miles north of Globe. On the day of the
murders, hired hand Kingsley Olds was told to take a wagon to Horseshoe
Bend to pick up a gasoline engine that was located there. He was allowed
to take the two girls, as they wanted to have a picnic lunch there. Olds
had a shotgun with him to protect them. About 10 o'clock the girls went
swimming. A cowboy, J. R. Haskell, just happened to pass by at the time
and saw three people swimming in the river clad only in their underwear.
The cowboy thought it was a family outing. But, later that night the girls
had not yet returned home. Neither had Olds. Mr. Goswick got extremely
worried and decided to go out to Horseshoe Bend himself. He arrived just
as darkness was closing in. He found bloodstains everywhere. Kingsley Olds,
in the meantime had gone to "Nigger Cabin," with a gunshot wound in the
chin.
He was found, and public sentiment quickly became inflamed against him. Although there was no indication on the girls' bodies that they had been choked or mishandled, many people were convinced that Olds was guilty. He, however, claimed that a man had tried to shoot him and the girls as they were in the river, and the girls had become frightened and drowned. There were also many witnesses who vouched for the character of Olds, saying that he had always been very proper with the girls and family, and that he could be trusted to tell the truth. He himself said, "I never hurt those little girls." Nevertheless, there was talk of mob violence, and it was difficult to maintain order in the town. A trial was quickly held, and the jury held that the girls' drowning was a direct result of Olds's conduct, although he may not have actually murdered them. He had, nevertheless, been responsible for them.
Late Sunday night, 2 July 1910, someone gained entrance to the "new
courthouse" and could see Olds in his cell in the
Sheriff's Building just east of the courthouse. (The same buildings
stand there today.) Olds was shot and killed, and the murderer was never
found. In the criminal records of Gila County the cases of Lou and Myrtle
Goswick and Kingsley Old are still marked "unsolved." (NOTE: I have just
been recently been informed by the granddaughter of Mr. Goswick that he,
in fact, was the murderer of Olds.)