The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1889-06-01
STORIES OF HORSE THIEVES.
It Takes an Able Rascal to Get Along
Out West.
From the Ne,0 York Sun

| OF the Indian territory as a reserve for an
Indian hunting groung by the opening OF
! Oklahoma and other lands to white settlers
will well-nigh destroy the occupation OF
one of the most hardy, bold, industrious.
| and intelligent sorts of frontiersmen
| the horse thieves. The territory
has been for years, and still is, the
horse thieves Garden Of Eden, but horse
thieves and grangers do not thrive well in
the same field, and one or the other must
CO. The horse thief generally goes when
the granger comes, and if he does not go
by the aerial able route it is not the fault
| of the granger. The truthful stories of
their deeds are in every mans mouth in
| this country, and one who hears Lhem is
apt to fnd himself admiring the horse
thieves in spite of their dishonesty.
There was Bill Towerly, the boy horse
| thief of Atoka. HIS appellation sugge It's
the title Of wild vest novel, aud could ali
his adventures be related up to the TINA he
was killed, the story would be among the
| most int estlng in the annals of frontier
crime. O1ly the manner Of his taking off
can be related, beyond the fact that he was
a born horse thief, his father having trained
him to that occupation from youth
| In December, 1887, Deputy United States
Marshal E. A. Stokely took posse, con
sistlng of William Moody, John McAllister,
and James Wallace, to the home of old
Towerly, five miles cut of Atoka. They
had learned from a neighbor, who pur-
| chased immunity r minor offense by be-
traying them, that both Bill and the old
man we at home. The old man was
wanted for killing marshal at Fort Smith
stolen a horse. AS daylight came, on
the morning of the 81, the posse
reached the edge of the clearing
about the Towerly house. The raid on the
house was not well carried out in some par
ticulars, for as the marshall dashed out of
the woods, hoping to take the men by sur
prise, Bill C olly stepped out of the door,
| six-shooter in hand, and opened fra He
might have shot through the window had
he so desired, and so had the drop on the
officers. But he was overconfident in his
craftsmanship. His first shot at Stokely
missed the mark, because Stokely's horse
was cantering abo Il in an ain-destroYing
ma ner, a trick he had been taught.
Before Bill could cock his weapon again
| Stokely shot him through the right leg and
Moody shot him through the right shoulder.
| Both balls crashed through bones and made
very ragged wounds. The boy The was Just
20 years old, fell to the ground and his re-
volver dropped from his hand. Stokely
| leaped to the gr lund and ran toward him
| Bill rolled over on his wounded limbs
without groan, picked the revolver fro n
the ground with his left hand, and shot the
officer with it twice through the body.
| Then he turned on the other marshals and
| fired three more shots.
Meantime the other marshals had not
been idle In fact, they had had about the
livelest time they had seen in a year. Bills
| mother and sister, both stalwart women.
| followed him out of the door, and as Mar
shall Moody had drawn down his six-shooter
for a second shot at Bill they jumped on
him. The pistol went off harmlessv, and
then in spite of his struggles the two women,
| by pulling, clawing, scratching and biting,
| got e ficer into the house, and. shutting
| the d or. held it. The other marshas wer,
kept busy by the old man, but somehow
neither he nor they hit any one when they
| fired,
Finding himself Gagged. Moody ran to the
window and saw Stokely fall at B It's fire.
| T1ereupon he opened fire through the win
dow, every bullet striking the boy. Bill
| fired back one shot that hit the window sill.
1t was last cartridge. Throwing the
empty weapon toward the corner OF the
house, where his father was standing off
the other officers, he yelled:
Load FER quick, pap; we'll do for the
whole - oui ="
At the moment of making this cheerful
remark he had been hit by seven bullets.
| and a moment later the eig lth-it was from
~
neck and he fe Il dead. Then the old man
surrendered. The old man has since been
hanged.
| Jack Farley, the stage driver between
| Meade Center, Kas., and Beaver CITY, No
Mans land. told the reporter of a ''little
scrimmage." as ne called it, bstwes 4 a horse
tlief and the owner of stolen horse.
~ was with a bunch of cattle down
among the Osages," he said. Zone day a
man came riding along, carrying a Win
C ester and six-shoo -er. l had only six
shooter at the p)mmel of my saddle.
"'Did you see half breed looking so and
SOP says he.
"'I did, says I.
"'Was he on such and such horser saws
he.
"'He was,' says I. had noticed the out
| fit as IT went by.
"'Well, that's my horse, stranger. wish
you'd go along and help me get him. says
he.
az expect So says I, but he had Win
chester and two six-shooters. l ain't a.
caring about meeting Winchester with
six-shOo.er,' says l.
"'I'n Ind you my Winchester, then
says he, and so l went along. The ha t
| breed had gone to the house of an old In
dian dow the bottom land of Big Caney
creek. The road ran east and west pa t the
| house. The owner of the horse went around
! through tho timber and struck the r ad east
| of the house. | took the road west of it.
and 50 we closed in. AS 1 got where |
| could see the house | saw the thief Def re it
with mis- hand on the saddle. He sa y me at
once, and, jumping on the no Sc, started
down the road only to meet the owner OF
the horse before he had gone ten rods The
owner had his six shooter drawn; the thief
had to draw his. The thief made a ml take
there, ehl You bet he did. But he as
game. He sat there d fired every
cartridge in his pts oil, although the first
shot of the other fellow bored hi n right
through the left nipple and came out of his
back. l saw the dust fly as the bullet came
through his jacket"
Up in tie northeast corner of the terri
tory, near the Quapa mission, lived
col red man, year or so ago, who was
great favorite among the mission people,
tue government gent, aud the IniitnS in
gene a., including the squ mel Among
the latter was ex-Chief Peri of the Peorias.
Peri loves good horses, and breeds them
every year. But ne was then havi ,g hard
luck. OAe after another of bunch Of good
ones was stolen, and no trace could be
found of thief or horse. Finally his SON.
in-law, J. P. McNaug ton, concluded to
try de ective work. He began by lear ing
whether each maa living within ten miles
of Perl'S was at home or not on the CAV
after the last horse was stolen. Several
were not al home. Then he looked up the
Of tra aFro