The following description of the event comes from author Ruth G. Moss: “The Sieber Cattle Company was formed in 1897, just five years before his death. About this time, Joe Harris had benn hired by the firm. He and Sieber did not get along very well to say the least, so Harris quit in a few months. From then on, both Sieber and Harris accused each other of branding each other’s cattle. Harris had his headquarters at Westwater, Utah. The day of the fatal shooting found Harris riding across Siebers land near his summer camp 35 miles southwest of Grand Junction. He ran across Sieber. The two immediately started up their longstanding argument. Stories vary on what happened from then on, but Harris claimed he shot after Sieber obtained a gun and charged him. Harris had pulled his gun first, though. All of Sieber’s 11 children, except one married daughter, were at the camp during the shooting. The body was taken to Grand Junction for very elaborate burial services. When the case came up for trial the courtroom was packed and the street outside jammed with people hoping to get a glimpse of what was going on inside from the shouts of the attorneys.
Trial reporting style, like all other newspaper writing, differed very much in 1902 from the concise stories now days. Nearly all Daily Sentinel stories on the trial led off telling how packed the courtroom was, who was present, what they wore, and their appearance and attitude. The fourth and fifth paragraph usually began the court proceedings. When the jury finally reached its verdict the headlines read “Harris Trial Verdict Reached.” In the fourth paragraph, readers learned what the verdict was, voluntary manslaughter. Harris went to jail and dropped out of the news for a few years. Then around 1908, a Sieber employee, seeking revenge for his boss’s murder, shot Harris at his ranch at Westwater. A few years later, in 1910, the Sieber Cattle Company closed, ending an epoch in Western Colorado cattle raising” (Mesa County Historical Society newsletter, May-June 1983).
