WHAT’S HAPPENING IN GOLDEN TODAY?
9:30-11:30AM Full Walking Tour @ Dinosaur Ridge
10AM-12PM Breakfast Burritos @ The Golden Mill
10AM-3PM Brunch at the Rose @ Buffalo Rose
11AM Pilates Discovery Class @ Connect Physical Therapy and Pilates
1PM Wild West Pub Crawl
2PM Avenue Q: The Musical @ Miners Alley Playhouse
SEE THE COMPLETE CALENDAR OF EVENTS.
LIVE MUSIC
11AM-2PM Jonny Sterling@ Buffalo Rose (Sky Bar Stage)
2PM Band of Brothers @ Dirty Dogs Roadhouse
3-6PM Burgundy Ties@ Golden Mill
3-7PM 2nd Time Around @ Wrigley’s
4-7PM Will Whalen @ Buffalo Rose (Sky Bar Stage)
8PM Karaoke @ Ace Hi Tavern
GOLDEN HISTORY MOMENT
115 YEARS AGO
Today’s story comes from the September 3, 1908 Colorado Transcript. A visitor from Indiana had been exploring the area and spent the day climbing the hills around Golden. At 6:30 in the evening, he was standing on Castle Rock, peering over the precipice. He became light-headed and tumbled over the edge. “He suffered two broken ribs and severe gashes in his head.” But he walked away!
There were two later incidents where the victims weren’t as fortunate.
98 YEARS AGO
The dance hall on Castle Rock continued to operate, even after the funicular railway shut down. One Saturday night in July of 1925, a carload of boys from Denver arrived, hoping to gain admission. They were turned away at the door, and subsequently two of the boys (brothers Carl and John Milliken) began arguing about whether they should return to Denver. Carl, age 18, marched off, saying he was going to walk to Denver. Instead, he walked off the edge of Castle Rock and fell about 100 feet to the rocks below. His skull was fractured and he died.
This story was covered in the July 9th issues of both the Colorado Transcript and the Jefferson County Republican. There were a few key differences in their versions.
According to the Transcript, after Carl stomped off, the other boys sat in the car for an hour, waiting for him to return. Eventually, they got out to look for him and spotted his body at the foot of the cliff. They retrieved his body and brought him back to the car at the top of the mountain.
According to the Republican, Carl walked away from his argument with John, and “had gone but a short distance when his companions heard a scream. Rushing to the spot they saw his body lying on the rocks….” The Republican doesn’t mention the boys moving the body.
In both versions, Coroner Woods decided that an inquest was unnecessary. Both articles end by saying that the victim was not related to the secretary of state, who was also named Carl Milliken.
80 YEARS AGO
In the spring of 1943, Golden was consumed with the murder of two young boys, who had been pushed off of Castle Rock by 16 year old William Wymer. On April 10th of that year, three groups of boys had come separately to Golden. The first group consisted of 8 year old Donald Matta and 11 year old Milo Flindt, children of defense workers at the Remington Arms Plant (now the Federal Center)
The two boys were climbing South Table Mountain, heading for Castle Rock, when they were overtaken by a group of three older boys from Denver. The oldest of the Denver group was 16 year old Wymer. He demanded that Milo give up his shoes and stockings and that Donald relinquish his watch and cap. Wymer gave the shoes to his younger brother and kept the watch and cap for himself. He then pushed the two youngsters over the edge of Castle Rock–a 123 foot drop.
A third group of boys–from Lakewood–came to Golden to attend a movie at the Golden Gem. They arrived early and had a malted milk at Foss Drug, then decided to climb to Castle Rock. On the mountain, they encountered Wymer and his companions. Wymer extorted 10 cents each from the Lakewood boys, telling them that his father owned the mountain. When one of the boys refused, Wymer told him he would push him off the cliff unless he paid.
Upon returning to Golden, Wymer tried to sell the watch to jeweler Clyde Gregory, who told him he didn’t buy watches from children.
Later that evening, the Lakewood boys saw Wymer and his friends at the Golden Gem Theater. The older boys spent the night at the LaRay Hotel (now the Table Mountain Inn) and returned to Denver the following day.
The next morning, a Golden child spotted the two bodies and alerted the Sheriff. The Sheriff was able to track down Wymer and his companions. They were still in possession of the murdered boys’ shoes and watch. Wymer confessed to the killings. The younger two were put in the Industrial School and Wymer was put in the Jefferson County Jail.
The funeral for 8 year old Donald Matta was held at St. Joseph’s Church and the service for 11 year old Milo Flint was at Woods Mortuary on Washington Avenue.
At his arraignment in May, Wyman pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity. He was given a 15 day psychiatric evaluation and was deemed sane. A jury found him guilty at his July trial, and he was sentenced to life in prison. The verdict was upheld in subsequent appeals.
Wymer attempted to escape from the penitentiary at Canyon City in October, 1944, but was thwarted. He was successful in breaking out in June of 1960, but was caught and returned.
After this, he disappears from the news, but I found two last interesting references to him on a blog called “Kidnapping Murder and Mayhem.”
On July 31, 2011 a young woman posted:
William Wymer got out of jail, later after he finnished parol, raised his great neice Lisa Wymer (my mom), I never got to know him because he died before 1996 (my birth year). William Wymer is my great-great uncle
On February 28, 2013 another woman posted:
I am the great niece of William “Lucky” Wymer. Please feel free to contact me by email to further discuss all this. I don’t know if my uncle Lucky ever said anything to the family of the two boys, but from me, I am truly sorry for what he had done. I know no amount of apologizing will ever rewrite history.
The moral of all three of these stories is: Stay away from Castle Rock–you might fall off! It’s private property and you’re not supposed to be there anyway.
Thanks to the Golden History Museum for providing the online cache of historic Transcripts, and to the Golden Transcript for documenting our history since 1866!
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