Many of us longtime residents of Saguache County have stories to tell about Ed “Slim” Paul, who served as county sheriff for more than 20 years. Down through the years, probably some of the facts of some of the stories have been slightly changed or exaggerated, just a tad.

The following story concerning “Slim” Paul is one that I am sure happened just as it was recently told to me. Louis and Ruth Cox, from Arizona, are spending the summer back here in “God’s Country’. They both grew up and went to school in Saguache and were married in 1936. Louis was a’ cowboy and did some trapping in this area before moving to Arizona in 1942. A short time after their move, Louis was hired as a Government trapper, which he pursued until his retirement a few years ago.

Now to get back on track with this story regarding “Slim” Paul: The Ward family had quite a few head of homes running on Trickle Mountain in 1938 when it was still Public Domain. Two head of these horses belonging to Bruce Ward and two head belonging to Louis Cox, came up missing. After a futile search was made to locate them, the sheriff was notified.

Upon investigation, “Slim” told Louis, “Kid I think those horses went South.” Louis said he didn’t understand just what “Slim” meant by this remark because there sure weren’t any heading in that direction.

It was probably about a dozen years later that Louis Cox, living in Arizona, received a letter and a check for $35 from the office of the Colorado Brand Inspection.  

Upon his return from his service in the Army during WWII “Slim” Paul was appointed Colorado Brand Inspector.  In his letter to Louis “Slim” said that one of the missing mares, from long ago, was brought to a sale barn in Denver. The old mare, with a colt by her side, was wearing the Colorado brand which was registered in the name of Louis Cox. Since the person trying to sell this animal couldn’t give proof of ownership -  she was sold and the funds were forwarded to the original owner.

Luis and Ruth thought this was really something! They are sure that “Slim” suspected theft, at the time of the report of the missing horses, but all he said was “Kid, I think those horses went South”.