WLM | people
COMMEMORATING
A Miracle
By June Johnston
“B
ye, kids, love you. Have a good day at school,” Claudia Hartley, wife of Ron
Hartley, Lead Investigator for the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Department, said
to her children as they went out the door. Words similar to this were being
repeated to over 150 children in the predominately Mormon community that morning. No
one in their wildest imagination would believe what was about to happen on this bright,
sunny day of May 16, 1986, in Cokeville, Wyoming, population 507.
On that day, David Young, a former
Marshal of Cokeville who was
fired for misconduct, headed to the
school with his wife, Doris, Young’s
daughter, Princess, and two friends
who believed in Young’s abilities to
get rich quick. After his termination,
Young moved to Arizona, but
returned to the town prepared for
what Young called ‘The Biggie.’ As
they neared their destination, Young
explained his plan. His friends flatly
refused to be a part of it, angering
Young and causing him to chain the
two men to the inside of the van.
Young, Doris and Princess entered
the school to begin a two and a half
hour reign of terror for the trusting
children and adults in Cokeville
Elementary.
Shortly after lunch, David Young
and Doris entered the school with a
makeshift gas bomb housed inside
a cart. With a ‘Dead-Man’s Switch’
around his wrist (hooked to a string
that ran to a clothespin), Young
was prepared to detonate the bomb
at any moment. The three also
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brought in an arsenal of handguns,
rifles, chains and ammo, as well as
a supply of Young’s philosophical
pamphlet, Zero Equals Infinity.
Shortly after arriving on the scene,
Princess refused to participate, and
Young allowed her to leave. She fled
to nearby city officials and reported
what was beginning to unfold
inside the school. Taking the school
secretary as the first hostage, Young
instructed Doris to gather everyone
into a classroom, which she
accomplished by telling the teachers
and children varying stories of an
assembly or an emergency. Over 150
people (including one job applicant
and a UPS employee) were crowded
into the space with Young (attached
to his bomb), Doris and their arsenal
of weapons.
From Young’s materials and
statements gathered from hostages,
the stories explain that Young
demanded a ransom of several
million dollars, intending to detonate
the b