The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1876-10-20
latter Joined the band as fast as thew. be-

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they were at Centralia, Mo-, when a train
was stopped. The cars were full of
soldiers, most Of them unarmed. They
surrendered and the guerrillas led them
out and shot them down till not man
was left. Then they burned the town
and turning on full FAD of steam sent
the train tearing down the track toward
Sturgeon, the next station. A detach-
ment of 800 Federal troops, under Major
Johnson, came down to avenge this out
rage, and they fell into an ambush and
were slaughtered. barely n score escap-
ing. Jesse James to this day claims that
he killed Major johnson and seven
others with his own hand. Two years
ago Congress passed an act granting
pensions to the widows aud children,
dependent mothers aud fathers or orphan
brothers and sisters of those soldiers
murdered by guerrillas at Centraia in
1864.
THE LEADER, JESSE JAMES.
At Lexington, Mo-, at the very close
of the war, Jesse James received mimic
ball through the right lung which nearly
killed him. He suffered repeated
hemorrhages, and fingered along until
1867, when one of the bands of vigil
ants who were.picking up the returning
guerrillas and lynching them on general
principles, visited the Samuels farm
house. They demanded entrance.
jesse, with pistol in each hand, crept
down to the door, and, firing through
the panel, dropped the leader; then,
fiinging open the door, he wounded
three more, and fled in his condition
through the snow. Strange as it may
seem, the poor wounded men were
taken into the Samuels farm. house
aud nursed until they could be re-
moved.
Finding no relief from his wound
Jesse James went to New York in the
spring of 1868 to take sea voyage. 1t
was just after the Russellville Bank
robbery, the initial one in this series,
and it is believed that robbery was plan
ned and executed by the comrades of
James to furnish him the means for the
trip, He went by the Santiago de
Cuba in June, 1868, and on board
made the acquaintance Of q
United States officer named Maj.
Gregg, who, upon reaching Cali
fornia, introduced the guerrilla to Hal
leck, with whom he had long CONVEX
sation respecting the border warfare and
the deeds of Quantrell and his men.
Jesse spent some weeks at the San
Luis (Obispo county, Sulphur Springs,
in California and then came back to
Missouri healed. HIS is the leading
mind in the bandit gang, and he will
probably be the last man captured. In
personal appearance these outlaws are
all tail, muscular men, with countenances
expressive of great determination, and
bearing no evidences OF dissipation.
They very seldom drink anything, but
are gamblers.
THE YoUNGERs.
The history Of the James boys is in
the main that of the Youngers. The
latter were four in number. Their
father, Henry N. Younger, was strong
Union man, bat in the early days of
the war the dividing line between
Kansas and Missouri was the
only distinction recognized by the jay
hawkers on one side and the guerrillas
on the other. The elder Younger was
killed near Harrisonville by Jennisorl.
He was wealthy, and money supplied the
motive for his murder. He left an
estate worth over 500, 900, but most of
it had disappeared before the war closed.
Before the murder Coleman Younger
had joined Quantrell. During the pill
lage of Harrisonville he had been sen.
fenced to death by Jennison's men. The
execution was delayed till morning, and
Younger, taking the rope provided for
his death, let himself down from win
dow, and joined the guerrillas. Mrs.
Younger, keeping her children with her,
moved from place to place, but wherever
she stopped the militia burned the house
Younger and hung him up till he was
nearly dead to extort from him the hid
ng place of Cole and Jim, who had be-
come notorious for their bloodthirstiness
under Quantrell.
On one occasion fifteen of the iay-
hawkers were taken prisoners, and the
question arose among the guerrillas rs
to what disposition should be made of
them. Cole Younger settled it. The
guerriilas had just captured an Enfield
rifle. 1t was the first they had seen, and
discussion arose as to its powers.
Younger took the fifteen captives and
formed them in n row. Then at fifteen
PAGES he fronted them with the new
rifle. The first fire brought down three.
Younger fred with great deliberation,
the guerrillas standing around and dis
cussing the test of projectile force, until
after seven shots the last man had fallen.
John Younger was the third of the
brothers. In the fight at Osceela with
the detectives, two years ago, it is told
by eye witnesses that after Lull had shot
Younger in the jugrhor vein, and with
the blood squirting from the wound in a
great jet, John Younger Strengthened
himself on his horse, lifted his gun,
took deliberate, aim and shot Lull
through the lung, and then dropped from
his horse dead. The mans vitality was
something almost unheard of. -NetD
York World.