Patrick Desmond
Contributed by Karen Mitchell and Jean Griesan. Photo by Floyd Kelling.
Patrick Desmond 1841-1890
Patrick Desmond, a native of Ireland, came to America when a young man and worked his way westward. He arrived in South Pueblo in 1873 to operate a hotel. He became South Pueblo marshall, deputy sheriff, and member of the Rocky Mountain Detective Association. Desmond probably apprehended more suspected criminals than any of his peers in Southern Colorado in the 1870's and 1880's. He also engaged in numerous successful business enterprises, including a livery stable, employment service, and saloon. Incidents resulting from an uncontrollable temper, fueled by liquor, were frequent. In one instance, he beat the daylights out of a South Pueblo newsman who wrote something with which he disagreed. Desmond moved to Ogden, Utah in 1889 and was shot to death March 1, 1890, in a saloon which he owned. His body was returned to Pueblo and he was buried alongside a son and a daughter who had died from diphtheria in April 1882.
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