two in the morning
Meantime Folsom and Stevens had consulted together . Folsom had told of the large sum he had loaned Burleigh and the conditions attached , and between them a dispatch , concisely setting forth their suspicions , was sent the General at Cheyenne , with orders to `` rush , '' as they were determined if possible to head off the fugitive at that point . Back came the wire ten minutes before midnight that the General had left Cheyenne for Laramie by stage that evening , and must now be near the Chugwater and far from telegraphic communication . Then Stevens wired the sheriff at Cheyenne and the commanding officer of the new post of Fort Russell to stop Burleigh at all hazards , and at two in the morning the answer came that the major had reached Cheyenne about midnight and they would search everywhere for him . That was the last until long after the rising of another sun . Events and excitements , alarms and rumors followed each other with startling rapidity during the day . In glaring headlines the local paper published the details of the massacre at the Gap , lauding the valor and devotion of the soldiers , but heaping abuse upon the commander of the post , who , with other troops at his disposal , had looked on and lifted no hand to aid them .