Lexington weekly intelligencer. (Lexington, Mo.) 1871-1887, 1881-09-24
THAT BATES CITY ROBBERY.
Behold How Great q Fire a Little
Matter Kindleth.
Men I'm Ruckram Were All tine Rob.
bers There.
BATES City, Mo-. Sept

BATES City, Mo-, Sept. II. 1851.
EDITOR REPUBLICAN :-Our citizens were as
tonishsd upon receiving the Republican last
Thursday night to see q telegram from Sedalia,
September IL, stating that the town Of Bates
City had been terrorized and robbed by s.two
armed and masked rufians, and that they had
pillaged the town, fired on the citizens and
rode on with their plumber unmolested, etc.
Allow me to state through the kood. old relia-
bic Republican that the facts are strictly true as
stated by the sender of the dispatch. with q few
unimportaAt variations. First, Bates City IL
twenty miles east from the famous Blue Cut, "a
the bird flies, instead of seven. Second, the
two men spoken Of were not heavily armed.
Third. they were not masked. Fourth, our
village contains IS inhabtants-that includes the
postmaster's baby, born last night-our DR..
Flournoy has just been called In q hurry, but
has not yet reported, so it Is suie to say just IS.
Fifth. they were not masked, they were not
armed, neither heavily nor lightly; they did not
fire on the citizens; they did not rob the citizens.
They did not ride into the city at all. They
walked in. Sixth, if they had ridden in masked,
armed to the teeth. dressed in ''huckran suits
or kendall green,'i and had offered to 'srob,
shoot or intlmidate.'' in less than two and a
half minutes they wOul, have looked and felt
like they had been pitched from the outer battle.
ments OF k~ingdom-come. Now for the truth In
the case. Notwithstanding the fine moralizing
OF the CD, bowling of the Chicago Inter-
Ocean and flste-like yelpipg Of our own sweet
little Lexington Register. two men who had
been employed by Mr.. Thos. Cobb, of this
vicinity, hao been paid off and left the premises.
One Of them stole . hat. MIR. c. missed it and
came here, but the men had Just left on a pass
furnished by the G.. and A. railroads. s.tie
pass.' They started for Odessa, six miles east
Of here. A telegram WAS sent to the marshal OF
Odessa and the men were arrested rouptly
How the Sedalla fellow got hold Of his wonder
iui story We know not. but think he should be
engaged immediately. as assistant sensational
ist for the Kansas City Times. Now, in regard
to the desperate characters" 'srufisns,''
etc., seen'by some one, the Lord knows who.
let me say u lew words, and then l am done.
The writer and u few more ''rufians', were re-
turning IRON a Masonic lodge at Oak Grove on
that eventful Saturday night, Sept. 10. A. D.
1881, and when near what is known as the
''Kelly curve,'' one mile west Of Rates City,
where the county road and railroad are very
close together. we met the west-bound passen-
ger train. that the Kansas City Times was so
uneasy about because 1t WAS behind time, with
ten coaches full OF visitors to the fair. Well,
the moon was shining on the grange also on
Us and the train. One OF the rum ans being
weary and also \ little dry, concluded TO ere
fresh himself" or rather rub his lips with a
piece of glass because he had a bad cold. l sup
pose the train men had heard of how Bates City
had been robbed, terrorized. pillaged. &C. At
any rate. the engineer saw the "rufian" draw
his 'weapon,' and saw the glitter of the
cold steele IS it flashed In the moon
light, SO he put on all the steam, tore o ut her
throttle, and tew round the curve like the devil
and all his angels were clawing at the rear plat
form Of the sleeper. OF course Nd "rufians'.
had no more idea of going through that train
than We had of taking q game of seveu-up with
the Archsngel Gabriel. or a gin cocktail with
the holy st. John, of Kansas, and if We had, We
had no two-bushel sack to put the spoils In. Cur
people are prompt aad willing to assist in put
ting down trs;n~robbers and ALI other kinds of
lswlessnessi have no sympathy with them or
their aiders or abettorsi neither have they any
patience with orisinators of fool sensational
games such as were dished up In the Kansas
City Times Sunday morning last. or sent by that
Sedslia fellow to you. We know that the Repub-
liosn will do justice to the people of our county.
Yours, J.C c. ARMSTRONG;.