Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1882-02-28
PRINCE OF n~IeHwAYMEN.
"A Man Who Has Not a Peer
Even I'm the Tales OF Turpin
Romance"

pSSA ONOA III eAO bo4Co VI LuhpAh ~
NANCE"
1t was General R. A. Cameron, the
postofice special agent for this depart
ment, who spoke. He tilted back in
his Office chair and held up to view a
letter he had just finished reading.
you remember the train robbery
which occurred near FL Paso about
six weeks ago, and the subsequent
stopping of stage coach near Tomb
stone, Arizona?"
Yes"
well, both robberies we're en-.
shrouded in mystery, and we were
at a loss to even imagine who had
committed them. Here / have
information which c~onvinces me
that the outlawed Dave Rudebaugh,
the old-time partner of Billy the Kid,
is the culprit. He has again organ
lied a gang of highwaymen. After
having perpetrated the two robberies
named he went into Old Mexico for
safety, and will doubtless remain there
for some time. Rudebaugh is the
most fearless and ingenious criminal
that [ ever met, but New Mexico has
grown too warm for him. He knows
that, and being as cautious as he is
courageous, he will not modest that
section again until the coast is clear.
"Rudebaugh, you know was a close
partner to Billy the Kid, and he was
captured with the latter a year ago
last fall. The causes for and incidents
to the capture are well known. The
Kid was wanted for many murders.
Rudebaugh was wanted for repeated
and extensive road robberies. The
Kid and Rudebaugh were then the
leaders OF a strong gang Of despera-
does. When the pursuing party V
took them there were nine in the out
law party. In the fight which ensued
one of the outlaws was killed, five of
them fled and escaped. and the Kid,
Rudebaugh and Billy Wilson, the no
torious one-hundred -dollar-b bill coun-
terfeiter, 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 0llinger-the brave mar
who led the capturing posse-and es-
capped from Jail, numbering three other
men, and was finally run down and
killed by Pat Garrett in a Mexican
cabin.
Although bonded together by some
friendship and inseperable in their
travels, Billy the Kid and Rudebaugh
always detested each other. The diff
ference between them was singular
and striking. The Kid reveled in
bloodshed, murders and cattle thiev-
ing, and Rudebaugh hatters himself
that he never killed anybody. Rude
baugh is Drawer than was the Kid,
and dispite the fact that the Kid
always held him in a contempt for
being bsastedly innocent of murder,
be admired him for his indomitable
courage when the emergency was of
the most dangerous nature. Rude
baugh will look into the pistol mouth
without Ainching; the KID would
rather murder a man by an assassin's
shot than to face his victim in the
deed. R~udebaugh is most content
when on a robbing expedition. The Kid
was only satisfied when planning or
executing somebody'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
admiration which, | suppose, bounded
outlaws can alone feel"
us Rudebaugh peculiar in his mode
of robbery"
"Oh, yes; all mail and highway rob
bers are peculiar in their system; they
all show their ear marksin their work.
ButRudebaugh is the most peculiar
of them all. When | heard the de-
tails oil the two recent robberies, | di-
vined in a moment that Rudebaugh
had committed them. In the first
place, be never robs a passenger on
either a stage coach or arailroad train.
His great weakness is express matter,
and then, kind Of incidentally like, he
takes the mail. He stops a stage coach
with the boldness of a devil. Again
he never shoots at or otherwise at.
tempts to intimidate passengers. He
just orderes them to step aside and
remain quit until he has got through
with the trihing plundering of the ex
press and mail. No matter how many
or how efficient his assistants, he does
not permit them to engage in the de,
tails Of a robbery. From the stopping
Of the horses and the interviewing o.
the driver and passengers TO the break
ing open Of the treasure boxes or mai
sacks, he is usually unaided. These
are peculiarities that cannot b.
charged against any other highwa!
robber hat l know Of"
What is Rudebaugh's recordP"
ut would fill a volume. He i
twenty.nine years old and commenced
his long career Of crime neal his hom,
in Ohio twelve years ago, robbing tn,
express car of a railroad train. Onl,
to think he started an outlaw in hi
seventeenth year. He made a BIZ
f haul and escaped to Arkansaw,
/ think. During the intervening time
t be has robbed railroad trains an,
stage coaches in every State and terri
tory between the Mississippi and tn
) Western slope. 1t is not unreasonable
| to Approximate the total number o
his thefts at a million of dollars. II
is not dissipated; never. gets intoxi
} Gated, yet he is a reckless spendthrii
in many ways. Most Of the proceed
t of his robberies have been lavishe
= upon women, or spent at the gamblin
5 table. These two subjects are hi
weakness"
"Do you know him personality"
4, "Yes, indeed; l am well acquainte
= with him. 1 met him for the fir
r time when 1 went to Santa Fe a yes
D ago to take a hand in his prosecution