St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1888-01-16
A Highwayman in Texas Who
Rivaled the Historic Dick
Tuppin for Goodness.
His Name Was Jim NeWsome,
and Robbing Stage Coaches
Was His Hobby.
1t Was His Custom to Leave
His Trembling Victim a
Few Dollars.
A Story Of How He Furnished
Whisky for the Crowd He
Had Robbed.

"a aH AMES A. Newsome,
%SA convicted of stage
~ rObbing and SEN
M II fenced to cOnfine-
FHN 81 ment in the peniten-
49, tiary for life, says
&NA correspondent at
8S3HX Waco, Tex, is five
&$M feet eight inches
MA high, weighs 100
E pounds has sandy
E&N8 hair, muStache and
MN#M es9A RI goatee; his eyes are
Mxz4 small and gray,
NM A slightly crossed, and
=, E& Ss& with a nervous, hab-
n VA Vy itual twitching that
* w gives him scared
~MSD appearance. He has
small nose, with
recedlng forehead, upon which is mat
ted growth Of unkempt hair. His
shoulders rise up around his neck, CIV
ing 1T Sunken appearance. He limpS
slightly, having been shot in the right
foot. He is twenty-five years old, and
| claims to have no education whatever,
not being able to read OF write When
he was arrested he wore flannel over
| shirt, with an immense Mexican SOM
brerO gaudily decorated with tinsel.
| His trousers were showed down in his
boots, which had heels three inches
long, tapering to point.
| Eight years ago he was found on the
bank of the COnchO river by Mr.. Rich
COffee,a farmer living near Paint Rock,
in Runnels county. NewsOme had been
| shot in the foot and tainted from loss of
blood. Old man Coffee lifted him on
his wound was sufficiently healed for
him to ride aagain, but his horse was
not to be found. NewSome said that he
was passing through that part of the
country with other cowboys, and that
| they became involved in a dispute
about the ownership of a tin canteen.
| He was shot, robbed and deserted. Mr..
| Coffee gave him work to do in looking
! up cattle that were lost from the herd,
and found that Newsome was very ex-
| pert at it. Some cattlemen in that re-
| giOn think he was too eXpert,as he man.
| aged to accumulate quite a little herd
on his own account. On the 18th of Sep
| TENDER he was offered very lucrative
poSltiOn-S15 mOnth-tO herd horses,
and left for the house of Mr.. Rams
berger, who lived few miles away.
1t was at this point that the ambition
OF the cowboy became stirred with the
idea of becoming banker. He rea-
s0ned: "a bank must have depositorS;
people will not voluntarily leave their
money with me; ergo, must compel
| them" A few nights later the most
wonderful feat of stage robbery on rec
| ord startled the whole state of Texas,
and the moonlight bankers cash capital
was over 81, 200.
1t was II o'clock at night on the Goth
of September, and the stage was filled.
There were seven drummerS on it, who
had been to San Angelo with their sam
| pies, and were eager to get to Balm
ger, the nearest railroad point. San
Angelo is very important town in the
western part of Texas, and is the county
seat of that enormous district called
Tom Green County, which has an area
but twelve miles from Ballinger, and
each mile post was counted impatiently
by the weary men.
~ mounted highway man. with gleam-
ing pistol, suddenly halted them. SPRING
ing up miraculously as if from the very
earth.
Hold up, gentlemen! Stop your
| team, driver! Gentlemen, will you
| please oblige Inc by getting out of the
/ stage? This side, please. Now stand
! in row with your hands up while l
! place these slicker caps over your heads
! to prevent your seeing what do. Par
don me for running my hands down in
| your pockets and searching you, but I
/ must get your money. and / want you
to keep your hands up"
When he had finished with the pas
sengerS and had rified the mail bags he
made mental inventory of his posses
| sionS and found that he had 81, 17S in
| money, seven watches and four pistols.
! Then he removed the bag-like caps he
| had placed over their heads and said:
| "Gentlemen, am sorry to detain you
| longer, but have made up my mind to
| rob that Sstage coming from Ballinger,
| and you must wait here until it comes
| up. Business is business. you know"
He then sat down and began to look
| over the Doodle, while the passengers
| lOitered about and amused themselves
| as best they could under the circum-
stances. Among the confiscated pistols
| was found small 22-caliber weapon,
AND THE HIGHwAYMAN YELLED OUT:
'sIIere, who i'm HI owns this dod-
gasted, measly, two-bit toy gum"
Il did," said one OF the passengers.
"Well, Pm going to make you take it
back. Ii the boys would find that Oh
tempt"
''Mr. Robber," said Dallas drummer.
's'you haven't treated me white. You
have cleaned me out entirely, aud l
| won't be able to get home"
lis that so? Well, I'll do this: I'm no
hog; Eli give every man a per cent of
what l took from him for travelling ex-
penSes."
You have no use for that watch of
mine," said Mr.. Kaufman, land you
can't sell it, because my name is en-
graved Oh it: won't you give it back to
| me?"
Here, you take the whole lot of
them; they are not much account; there
amt good one in the LOTT
''Pardner," said the driver, Sits
mighty cold sitting here; can't you set
'em up to something to drink?"
here few minutes"
manned near them grazing, galloped off
rapidly and disappeared in small
chaparral thlcket near by, and almost
instantly was seen to emerge again.
holding high in his left hand two quart
bottles of whisky. He suddenly refined
up his horse when about fifty feet from
the men and said:
Il know that while I was gone Won
fellows were laying some scheme to
take me. suppose You think you will
shoot me with that little pistol. Now,
don't want to have thB evenings
entertainment wind up in a row, and l
am gong to make every fellow come up
and get his drink one at time"
The whisky put every one in a jolly
good humOr, and it was generally
agreed that if it were not for his cratic
ideas of meum and tuum the robber
would be clever fellow. NeWsome
went to work to count over his gains
again, making some calculations on the
ground with stick
Finally he said: "Boys, Pm short
SO. must rob you over agin, because
have given some fellow a $50 gold
niaoo for 1niIar To ,.,o,1