Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1881-08-04
THE JAMES BROTHERS.



sas City on Monday last, for the pur-
pose of prosecuting an investigation,
not concerning the particulars of the
recent train robbery at Winston,
bat to discover if possible, who the out
laws were, where they came from,
whittier they went and how the au-
thorities prosecuted the search. am
glad to say that my efforts have not
been without results, as will be seen
in the summing up as follows:
| am prepared TO state, with circum-
stantial positiveness, that Frank James
and Jim Cummins were the parties
who planned, and with the aid Of their
confederates, executed the robbery at
Winston, and that the proof may not
be wanting the following several facts
are recited
A few weeks ago / received letter
from Frank James acknowledging the
receipt of a copy of my late publica-
tios: Border Outlaws which 1 sent
him by relative. This letter has al
ready been published. Shortly after
its receipt this same relative who is
known tc be in communication with
Frank James, visited ST. Louis and
contidentially conferred with my pub
Usher upon the advantages which we
might mutually reap by sudden stim-
ulatiOn in the sale Of Border Out
laws" for which he was then acting
as agent. His proposition embraced
a statement that Frank James and Jim
Cummins were at that time in
Missouri planning campaign; that
large robbery would soon be consum-
mated, attended with some startling re.
suits. All these facts he agreed to fur
nish us with the very moment the rob-
berry should be completed, comprising
the names of those engaged, how they
had organized, where assembled, cause
for their acts, etc., provided my pub
Usher would give him certain sum OF
money. The incentive on our part to
comply with this proposition was in
securing this reliable information,
which might be added as an appendix
to new edition of Border Outlaws"
and issued contemporaneously with the
first newspaper reports, thereby Great
ing q largely increased demand for the
book. Of course there appeared so
much doubt involved in this singular
proffer that it was rejected with little
consideration of the probability of
robbery such as was declared about to
take place. At this time, however, the
assertions then made assume an inter-
est which throws much light upon the
problem, "Who committed the rob-
berry," ~
But this is not all the evidence | am
in possession of respecting this latest
defamation of Missouri's good name
In pursuing my Investigations | visited
Olathe, kas., twenty miles south of
Kansas City, and there found gentle.
man well known in that town, who had
met Frank James walking on the south
side of Olathe's public square, well
armed, on the 10th inst, or only five
days before the robbery occurred. 1t
was not a mistaken identity, for the
gentleman in question was raised within
four miles of the present residence of
the James boys parents, and was for
years upon terms of the greatest social
intimacy with them, attending the
same school, participating I'D the same
sports, and in later years II Getting with
them as old acquaintance. Being we'll
acquainted myself in Olathe, can
positively state that this information
regarding the presence Of Frank James
in the town referred to is true beyond
all doubt. But what his business was
or when he left. could not ascertain.
Mrs. Samuels, mother of the James
boys, was in Kansas City on yesterday
and also on Tuesday, presumably to
discover what effolt was being made
by Jackson county authorities to APP
prehend the gang. She was very posi-
tive in her declarations that both
Frank and Jessie were dead, going so
far in her assertions as to say that
Frank died three years ago of con-
sumption, in Texas. What she hoped
70 gain by q claim so easily disproved
it is difficult to conjecture.
The rendezvous of Frank James
many know is in the Indian nation, on
the head waters of the Sandy river,
near Atoka A well-known gentleman
of st. Louis, whose business for the last
several months has kept hirn in the
nation, informed me some days ago
that he had seen Frank James and sew
eral of his confederates more than fifty
times during the present year, and al
ways within hundred miles or less of
Atoka. This section of the nation is
distinguished for the lawless characters
that infest it. murder and robbery
being the chief occupation of nearly
every one in that particular section of
country. 1t is, in fact, almost impos-
sible for gentleman to pass through
the district without a large and we'll
armed escort. In such haunts the
James boys feel secure from official in