The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1876-10-20
WESTERN BANDETTI.

Remarkable Career OF the James and
Younger Br others-The Band Broken Up
After Fourteen Years of Crime.
The names of the James boys and the
Younger brothers are familiar to the
whole country. The band which they
represent has enjoyed success paral-
leled by no other criminal or outlaw or
ganizntion on this continent For eight
years these men baflled the best detect
i've talent in the country. The authori-
ties in every State, from West Virginia
to Texas, aud from Minnesota to the
the Gulf, and the detectives of Chicago,
Cincinnati and Louisville, have all by
turns taken hand in the pursuit of the
robbers and In hunting them down.
Their tactics We're very simple, but they
never feiled till the Northteld job. The
secret OF their success lay In their knowl-
edge of the Southwestern country and
their complete isolation from all but
known friends and old war companions.
They were continually moving, but al
ways by unfrequented roads and over
by-psths There were nearly score
IN the band at first, and period
ical,y from four to eight of them
wVu-i ieli on a bank in some country
town, or upon q railroad train at some
way station. Half OF them, riding up
aud down the streets discharging revolv-
ers and uttering c1rses long and loud,
would throw the towns-people into a
panic, while the others, dlsmountinp.
dashed into the bank, overpowt red the
cashier and swept the contents OF his
safe into sack, and then the band would
be off like the wind, scattering after the
first few hours ride, and leaving trail
SO blind that pursuers were thrown too
far 10 the rear to ever make capture pos
slbie. The attacks on the railroad trains
were similar, the objective point being
always the express safes. Individuals
were rarely OF ever molested save when
&C became necessary on one of thes rapid
retreats to enforce horse trade. In the
brief conversations which these men held
with their captives they protested d rude
sort OF chivalry, saying rich corporations
were their only prey, and they never
killed in cold blood.
TIE ERRORS OF DETECTIVES.
That these mCn succeeded so long in
their notorious profession, for profcs-
sion It came to be, seemed almost like
mockery on the capacity of American
officers. One mistake, and perhaps the
worst made, was that these officials com
mencsd by attributing TO the James and
Younger families all the crimes, disre-
gardlng the likelihood that there were
others associated with them, which has
since proven to be the fact. BY this nc
ton of tho authorities these outlawed
men were able to establish perfect alibis
iii some of these cases, which tended to
excite sympathy for them ana to confuse
the officers. Then, again, the descrip.
tons became so mixei that nothing
could ipe made out of them. When the
various members OF the Northdeld band
were captured 1t Was utterly impossible
20 Identity them until men who had
known the outlaws personally iii Mis-
souri were taken there to identify them.
rrE RECORD OF THEIR CRIMES.
The career of these men as robbers
opened at Russellville, KY, in the spring
OF 1868. where bank was robbed by six
OF them iu precisely the IN Iausr before
Described. IN December, 1869, they !
rode INTO Gailatin, Beyricss county, |
Mo-, killed ,he cashier, Joha w. Sheets, |
and carried OF the contents OF the bank |
safe. On ti,s occasion tho robbers were |
traced 20 Clay county, Che home of the
Jamea boys mother. and yet the outlaws /
estabGEhed their innocence Of the crime
by fho efidavits OF the merchants OF
Liberty, where they lad been the day of
the lobbery. The next exploit was ten
months )sies, when seven OF the bandits
rode up 10 The gate of the Kansas City
Expogltaca grounds, aud In the presence
OF 2GV00 people robbed the ticket agent
OF the days receipts. CoYdon, Iowa,
wa. VISITED on the Sd day OF June, 1871,
and ubc bank relieved OF all it's treas
S1re. In the flight the robbers turned
on Oh 0 pa'sulng party aud worsted them.
a. Iss ,h''it-s OF Columbus, KY, and of
ST. 0cnevieve, Mo, were pext raided
and then IA 1873 = train was wrecked ON
the Rock is!ond and Pacific road lust
cas- OF Council Bluffs, and the express
CaI r'n"dece1. There an engineer was