The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1882-06-08
A WATCH WORN BY JESSE JAMES.
How IL was Taken from Its Owuers-Its.
RestOraI,

There was recently on exhibition In
st. Louis the watch worn by the late
Jesse James for nearly eight years and
taken by him from it's owner, Hon. John
A. Burbank, Of Richmond, Ind, at
Malvern Junction, Ark. After the no
torious robbers death the watch was
found among his effects and returned
to it7 owner. The story of the robbery
as told by Governor Burbank is as fol
lows:
Gin the spring of 1874 was going to
Hot Springs, Ark. At that time per.
sons going to the Springs left the rail
road at Malvern junction and travelt d
acros the country by stage. We
reached Malvern in the morning and
left there early in the forenoon. There
were fifteen or sixteen persons
going over, one lady and the rest
gentlemen. Most of the passengers,
some ten or twelve, were placed in a
six. horse stage coach. and gentle
man named Taylor, from Connecticut.
and o sick man whose name ] do not
| know, were in hack together, while
the lady occupied third hack by her.
self. The distance to Hot Springs was
| about twenty miles. The stage coach
led the way, our hack followed and the
lady came last. The road was rough
and We made rather slow progress, the
vehicles being several hundred
yards apart. Between 3 and
o'clock in the after
noon, when we we're within about five
miles of Hot Springs, and Just after
crossing little stream where the horses
Ern o1oo al
rode up from the front and passed
US to the rear. They were all well
mounted; two or three had on long
overcoats and perhaps one or two had
shotguns, bu5 there was nothing sus-
picious or remarkable in their appear
ance. 1 thought there might be shoot
ing match or something of that kind in
the neighborhood
"In a very short time the same men
rode back again past our hack to the
front. We paid no particular attention
to this. In few minutes we heard
great shouting, cursing, etc, and look
ing out saw the coach had been stopped
a short distance ahead of us. We drove
up as fast as we could, supposing that
sAeriti's posse had stopped the coach
TO make an arrest or something of that
sort. The coach was stopped while
ascending little hill, and where the
road was quite narrow. When we
got there we found it surrounded
by five men on horseback, the
same who had passed US, sll heavily
armed and with revolvers leveled
&5 the coach. One had Win
chester rifle aud the other four each
had shooter in his hand and
Two in his. belt, making twenty-one
shots in sight to each man. When we
got up they ordered us oil to get out
and form in line. was at the head OF
5he line. As it turned out there was
out one weapon in our party, and this
small pocket pistol. Another was in
a hand bag, but was unavailable. When
We were in line Jesse James, the cap
tain OF the gang, said 'hands up We
out up our hands Then one of the men
dsmounted, land while the other four kept
Us covered with their revoivers he went
through us. Coming to me first he
said, I'll take what you've got.' o.
,etving my diamond pin, he went for it
without ceremony. While doing that
aesdiscovered my watch chain, very
heavy one, which | wore under my vest,
and jerking it out threw it over nv
hcad and then pulled out the watch.
He then went in my pantaloons pocket
md got my pocketbook, which con-
aimed about $50 The diamond pin
vas worth from $3.50 to $500, and the
watch and chain S5J0. All this time we
were covered by the ravolvers, aud being
unarmed had no choice but to submit.
Oar hands We're still up. l had on
heavy seal ring, and the fellow said:
You'd better put your gloves on or I'll
take that ring l put my hands down
long enough to put my gloves on, and
he kindly overlooked the ring. When
he got through with me he took the
next in order, and so on through the
line. From my Connecticut frieni they
got an old fashioned watch, which was
an heirloom in the family, and $500 in
money. He offered big ransom for
the watch, but they refused TO nego-
tiate. Fxom the rest they only got
small amounts. When they got through
with us Jesse James called out to the
driver: Throw down that mail bag
The driver made no motion at first,
and James leveled his pistol at him and
said again: Throw down that mail
bag The driver obeyed. The pouch
Was cut open, the contents poured
out on the ground, and the
man who was on foot began to
tumble over the mail. He first tore
open large official envelope, which had
nothing but official papers in it. See
ing there was no money, Jesse James
called from his horse, Put that letter
back, and the man obeyed without a
word. They found no money in the
mail and soon stopped opening the
letters. They then broke open the ex-
press trunk and found two packages of
greenbacks, amounting to about $500.
All the time the sick man and the lady
remained in their seats. When the man
who went through us looked inside the
hack and reported sick man, James
called out, We don't disturb sick menp
and when they came to the lady he said,
We don't disturb ladies-sit still
madame While this was going on one
of the mounted men rode around the
coach once or twice and examined
one of the wheel horses very
closely. 1t was a fine sorrel horse.
After eyeing the horse all over he
called out to the driver, who was still
holding the lines, Get down and un-
harness that off horse. The driver was
slow about mo 7ing, and the fellow
leveled his pisi oil ut him and said 4: Il
say, get down and unharness that off
horse The driver did as he was
ordered. When the horse was un.