The river press. [volume] (Fort Benton, Mont.) 1880-current, 1882-04-19
A PRINCE OF
HtghWayman ON the American
Continent.
EDenver Tribune

TDenver Tribune.]
1.-THE james boys are daring train robbers,
fearless highwaymen, and all that, but there
is a man who has not a peer, even in the tales
of Turpin romance"
1t was Gen. r. A. Cameron, the postoffce
special agent for this department. who spoke.
He tilted back in his office chair and held up
to view a letter which be had just finished
reading.
"You remember the train robbery which
occurred near Ell Paso about six weeks ago
and the subsequent stoppage of a %stage-coach
near Tombstone. Arlzona?"
eyes"
swell, both robberies were enshrouded in
mystery, and we were at a loss to even
imagine who had committed them. Here |
have information which convinces me that
the outlaw Dave Rudebaugb, the old-time
partner of Billy the Kid, is the culprit. He
has again organized a gang of highwaymen.
After having perpetrated the two robberies
named, he went into old Mexico for safety,
and there will doubtless remain for some
time. Rudebaugh is the most fearless and
ingenious criminal [ ever met, but New Mex
leo has grown too warm for him. He knows
that and being as cautious as he is courage
Gus, he will not modest that section again un-
til the coast is clear"
"Rudebaugh, you know, was q close. part
ner to Billy the Kid and he was captured
with the latter a year ago last fall. The
causes for and the incidents of the capture
are well known. The Kid was wanted for
many murders, Rudebaugh was wanted for
repeated and extensive road robbevies. The
Kid and Rudebaugh were then the leaders Of
a strong gang of d~esperadoes. When the
pursuing party overlook them there were
nine in the outlaw party. In the fight which
ensued one of the outlaws was killed,
five of them fled and escaped, and the Kid,
Kudebaugh and Billy Wilson, the notorious
Observation-Disclosures bill counterfeiter, were
captured. Owing to some technicality in
his trial, he has not yet been convicted.
Billy the Kid was sentenced to hang, killed
his jailer, Bob Ollinger-the brave man who
led the capturing posse-and escaped from
Jail, numbering three other men, and was
finely run down and killed by Pat Garrett in
q Mexican's cabin.
"Dave Rudebaugh was tried in the United
States court on several indictments for hav-
ing robbed the mails, was convicted and SEN
fenced to life-imprisonment. Rudebaugh
while in the Jail at Las Vegas some time pre-
vious, awaiting trial for robbery, led an es-
cape for his fellow prisoners. 1t was a bold
dash, and che of those breaks that desperate
men often make in the face of all possible
odds. The guard opened fire upon the con-
spirators, and one Of the escaping party,
who had secured a pistol, returned the vol
ley, killing the jailer. After Rudebaugh's
conviction in the Federal Court, the State
authorities claimed and tried him for the
murder Of the jailer. He was convicted on
that charge and sentenced to hang. The
United States officers then took the case to
the Supreme Court for the reclamation of
Rudebaugh and the enforcement of the orig
inal sentence. Pending the decision Rude
baugh escaped a second time from the Las
Vegas Jail. He undermined the wall from
his cell and liberated a majority of the pris-
oners. The man who committed the murder
for which Rudebaugh was sentenced to hang
died in his boots in an Arizona dance hall"
That was a peculiar fact. Although
banded together by some friendship andiin-
separable in their travels, Billy the Kid and
Rudebaugh always detested each other. The
difference between them was singular and
striking. The Kid revelled in bloodshed,
murders, and cattle thieving, and Rudebaugh
fatters himself that he never killed anybody.
Rudebaugh is drawer than was the Kid, and.
despite the fact that the Kid always held
him in contempt for being boastedly inno-
cent of murder, he admired him for his in
domitable courage when emergency was of
the most dangerous nature. Rudebaugh will
look into the pistol mouth without f1inching;
the Kid would rather murder a man by as
sassin's shot than to face his victim in the
dte1. Rudebaugh is most content when on a
robbing expedition. The Kid was only sat-
isfed when planning or executing some
body's death. They each detested the outlaw
deeds and modes of crime Of the other, and
yet they stuck together through thick and
thin, bonded by that sympathy and admira-
ton which, | suppose, bounded outlaws can
alone feel"
is Rudebaugh peculiar in his modes of
robbery ?" was asked.
"Oh, yes; all mail and highway robbers