The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1890-08-27
AN OUTLAW.
How Bill Trayer was Finally Cap
turcd and Disposed OF.

gerous men, and bytho time the govern
ment had established its departments
and military posts hundreds Of the late
rebel soldiery were little better THAI
outlaws. The strong hand Of the mill
tary authorities soon downed the major
ity, but there were others who preferred
to die n the woods or swamps rather
than return to ways of peace. When
they had been given q reasonable time
to come in, and when it was seen that
they openly defed the power Of the gov
eminent, they were outlawed and g price
set upon the heads of the leaders. More
over, small detachments of soldiers
hunted them down, and army scouts
went out in pairs and had many a stir
ring adventure. While these outlaws
were ex-rebels most Of them had been
guerrillas in the war, robbing both
friend and foe, and the regular rebel
soldier who had made q regular surren-
der had no sympathy with them.
In September, 1866, word came into
Helenathat an outlaw named Bill Traver
had taken up his retreat in the woods
a few miles below and on the Mississippi
shore of the river. Indeed, the word
came to us direct from him and was
brought by a colored man. Not being
able to write, he had to send a verbal
message, and it was to the effect that he
hated the government, had killed fifty
Yankees during the war, and now deied
the military force to capture him. Will
liam Bastrop and myself, both being on
duty as scouts, were detailed to investi-
gate. The order detailing us meant this:
"You are hereby granted ten days
leave of absence to kill Bill Trayer, out
law, or to be killed yourselves"
The negro disappeared after delivering
his message. and we waited two days
before making a move. We were then
set across the river in a skiff at night
and left to pursue our plans. Traver
would be expecting us to approach his
retreat in front and by boat, while we
proposed to go in by the back door, if at
all. He might be in the woods and he
might not, although the negro was honest
in telling his story. We doubted if any
human being could live in the woods at
that season on account Of the torment of
the insects. We had in mind an old
cabin in a clearing two miles back of the
river. A squad of fifteen of us had once
captured five outlaws in this cabin, and
in the fight two more had been killed.
For this reason no one would occupy the
cabin, not even a negro squatter.
Whether Traver would be affected by
a like superstition we did not know, but
proposed to find out. We each had a
Winchester and a revolver, with a pack
of provisions, and nm hour before day
light we were in hiding close to the
cabin. When day broke. we saw that
the door-there wa but one-was shut,
and that an old coffee sack had been
nailed over the only window. These
were evidences that the house was occu-
pied by some one, and from our ambush
behind a log, and only pistol shot away,
we kept a closer watch.
1t was about s o'clock in the morning
when a colored man came out of the
cabin and built a fire on the ground and
began to cook breakfast. We could
smell the frying bacon and catch the
odor of the coffee, and we felt sur that
Traver or some other white man was
inside. It took the man about half an
hour to prepare the meal, and during
this interval we made up our minds that
we had never seen him before. When
he had everything ready he went to the
door and called, and five minutes later
Traver appeared. There was no mis-
taking him, as he tailed point for point
with the description given us. He was
q ragged, dirty, desperate looking fell
low, and he was evidently in bad humor.
He kicked the negro aside and sat down
to his breakfast, and for ten minutes he
kept up a continued growing and ours
ing. The negro retired to a log ten feet
away, and while he made no reply to
the abuse heaped upon him, he did not
seem much disturbed by it.
There was no doubt that Traver was
well armed. Had he not considered him
self perfectly safe he would not have
stirred outdoors without a weapon
While he had been outlawed, and while
we knew him to be a robber and muir
derer, we could not kill him off hand,
Either one Of us could have sent q bull
let into his head from our ambush, and
we knew that he would shoot us down
like dogs if he had the chance. We final
ly decided to flank him right and left,
and hope to get so neal the cabin as to
cut off his retreat to it when we called
upon him to surrender. l passed to the
right and Bastrop to the left. He had
the best cover. When I had accom-
plished half the distance the negro sud
denly rose up, alarmed by the breaking
of q twig, saw me, and uttered a whoop.
Bastrop rose up and demanded a surren-
der, while l fired on the outlaw. In an
instant both men were in the cabin with
the door shut, and our game was blocked.
We dropped to the ground, and five min
utes later n passing by could not have
told that there was a human being with
in twenty miles of the spot.
After a quarter of an hour of the
deepest silence we moved back until we