Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1875-05-05
THE JAMESES.
Renewal of Hostilities Against the Mis-.
sOnri Outlaws.

Renewal Oh HOSt1l1C1eS Against the Mis-
sOnri Outlaws.
| LIBERTY, Mo-, April GA state of
excitement, hardly imaginable elsewhere,
prevails here still, in regard to the assas-
sination of Daniel H. Asknew, on the
night of April II. Heretofore the i'm
preston seems to have prevailed that
the James boys, when in Clay county,
were among friends, and that nobody
could be found in the neighborhood
where they lived to raise hand against
them. The midnight attack last winter
on the farmhouse of DR.. Samuels, step
father Of the James boys, and the kill
ing Of little Archie Samuels by the ex-
plosior of the illuminating bomb.
dispelled the delusion, and reveals, with
terrible certainty, the existence of
'senemies in the camp
It is fact established in the investi-
cation on the Clay county grand jury
that the midnight attack was made by
Plnkerton's men, harbored before,
guided to the house, and aided in the
assault by Clay county men. Allured
by the hope of the large rewards, and
spurred on by enmity long concealed to-
|
bors, well-to-do and prominent citizens.
leagued themselves together, and es-
tablished communication with Pinker-
ton, who still remembered the loss of
three detectives in single year. They
waited and watched for months for the
opportunity to annihilate at a single
blow these two much feared borderers.
Through one of the number, CIPHER
correspondence was kept up with the
Chicago detective. They thought
the time had come, and fixed
upon night for the attack. Pinkerton's
men came down and separated into two
small parties. One squad came In from
the east over one road, and another
went out from Kansas City in special
car. They were dropped at the rem
devious, and led by the Clay-county
men to places of refuge. The results of
the night attack need not be gone over
III detail. They are Of too recent date,
and still fresh in the public mind. Any
way, the game was up. Pinkerton's
men went OFT by a special car, reached
the vicinity OF Hannibal, and scattered.
The Clay county men went to their
homes, kept their own counsels, but
waited for conflict which they must
have known to be inevitable. They,
| however, began to speak out in open
condemnation of ''the boys" as every
body calls the Jameses here, and the
people have ever since been quietly, yet
perceptibly, arranging themselves on
one side or the other, for or against the
Jameses.
The midnight assault was not an act
to be let go uuavenged by these men,
but it is a fact that so long as the pro-
posed amnesty measure was pending in
the legislature there was not hint of
retaliation heard from them. Had that
measure passed it is possible. and per-
haps probable that they would have set
tied down quietly on their farms. It
failed, however, with a price on their
heads. 1t failed, too, through curious
line of opposition. The measure was
before the House and likely to pass
when member rose and called for the
reading Of Gov. Woodson's message,
issued some months before, in which
the Jameses were denounced in I'M
measured terms. This was from Dem
ocratlc governor and the party could
not get around it. The bill failed of
passage for the lack of few votes turn
ed by the reading Of that official docu-
ment.
With the failure of the amnesty meas
ure, public sentiment became more
marked and outspoken in Clay county.
Askew, a well-to-do farmer, and man
OF some prominence, was generally
looked upon by the friends of the Jane
ses as one who had harbored the detec-
t1ves, and aided them in the attack. A
man named Jack Ladd, who had been
IN Askew's employ, had disappeared
the night of the attack, and about the
same time neighbor prowling round
had discovered blanket or two and ev-
licences Of a hidious bivouac among AS.
kew's hay stacks. Askew, it is said.
stoutly denied that he had any knowl-
edge Of the movements of Pinkerton's
men, but the friends of &C the boys" dis.
believed him, and it is certain that.
whoever the avengers were, their act was
prompted by this suspicion.
On the night of the murder, April -,
Askew had gone to the spring for
bucket Of water, and had returned and
was standing just by his back porch,
when he was fred on by some one con-
eealed behind the woodpile. Three
shots had been fired, evidently from
heavy revolver, every bullet taking eff
feet in the head, and the fatal one pass
ing into the brain. The murderer had
run back into the field, taken his horse
and rode away. There is no direct clue
to the murderer, but all know and ad-
NIT that it is the opening tragedy of
terrible feud. Askew's house is only a
quarter of mile from the Samuels
farm, but there were no traces to show
any communication between the two.
That same night another neighbor,
Henry Sears, was called out of his
house by unknown men, who shouted TO
him from the road, "We have killed
Dan Askew tonight, and if any one
wishes to know who did it, say de-
tectives." Further than this, the
avengers left no sign of their coming or
going.
Since Askew's murder, five more CLAW