Changes

There were reports of suicide. A newspaper article in 1893 in ''The Flume'' in the county seat of Fairplay, Colorado, reported that Fluhmann had "remarked to different parties that he would kill himself [and that] when he did disappear, they would never be able to find him."<ref>''The Flume'' (Fairplay, Colorado), April 20, 1893.</ref>

There were reports of suicide. A newspaper article in 1893 in ''The Flume'' in the county seat of Fairplay, Colorado, reported that Fluhmann had "remarked to different parties that he would kill himself [and that] when he did disappear, they would never be able to find him."<ref>''The Flume'' (Fairplay, Colorado), April 20, 1893.</ref>

Fluhmann had reportedly quarreled with [[Benjamin Ratcliff]], a rancher who lived thirty miles away in the Tarryall Valley. Author Midge Harbour in her 1982 book ''The Tarryall Mountains and the Puma Hills: A History,'' espouses the view that Ratcliff hunted down Fluhmann until he found the cave-cabin, where he shot Fluhmann dead without warning. Harbour proposes a scenario by which Ratcliff demeaned Fluhmann in a saloon, having claimed then to be eating tasty beef from Fluhmann's stock. The Ratcliff children then taunted Fluhmann.<ref name=restlessnative>{{cite web|url=http://tri-lakestribune.net/stories/Gottlieb-Fluhmanns-ghost-and-Ratcliff-side-of-the-story,66720|title=Rob Carrigan, Gottlieb Fluhmann's ghost and Ratcliff side of the story|date=October 27, 2012|publisher=trilakestribune.net|accessdate=January 21, 2014}}</ref>

Fluhmann had reportedly quarreled with [[Benjamin Ratcliff]], a rancher who lived thirty miles away in the Tarryall Valley. Author Midge Harbour in her 1982 book ''The Tarryall Mountains and the Puma Hills: A History,'' espouses the view that Ratcliff hunted down Fluhmann until he found the cave-cabin, where he shot Fluhmann dead without warning. Harbour proposes a scenario by which Ratcliff demeaned Fluhmann in a saloon, having claimed then to be eating tasty beef from Fluhmann's stock. The Ratcliff children then taunted Fluhmann.<ref name=restlessnative>{{cite web|url=http://tri-lakestribune.net/stories/Gottlieb-Fluhmanns-ghost-and-Ratcliff-side-of-the-story,66720|author=Rob Carrigan|title=Gottlieb Fluhmann's ghost and Ratcliff side of the story|date=October 27, 2012|publisher=trilakestribune.net|accessdate=January 21, 2014; material no longer accessible on-line}}</ref>

In ''Pikes Peak Backcountry: The Historic Saga of the Peak’s West Slope'' (1999), Celinda Kaelin asserts that Fluhmann conceived his cave-cabin as an emergency plan to protect himself from outsiders. Kaelin explains her theory:

In ''Pikes Peak Backcountry: The Historic Saga of the Peak’s West Slope'' (1999), Celinda Kaelin asserts that Fluhmann conceived his cave-cabin as an emergency plan to protect himself from outsiders. Kaelin explains her theory: