The Carbon advocate. [volume] (Lehighton, Pa.) 1872-1924, 1890-03-29
TWELVE GRAVES.

The Union Pacific mail and express
train had been held UP.
The robbery was so cunningly planned
and boldly executed that the people of
Rawlins Springs felt themselves aggriev-
ed, and a band of choice spirits pledged
each other over the bar of the Oriental
saloon that they would follow the des-
peradoes who had insulted their town by
committing so great an outrage, and
never return until they had captured the
outlaws and wiped out the stain with
their blood.
One hotel, one livery stable, half doz-
EN- barrooms, and as many gambling sa-
looms, with music hall and an immense
cattle pen, made up the town of Rawlins
Springs. Numerous fights had occurred
there. The little graveyard on the side
of the hill contained twenty-five mounds,
and on the head boards of all save one
were inscriptions which explained how
the occupant of the narrow home had met
his death with his boots on. The one un-
marked grave was occupied by a man
who died natural death, and it had not
been considered necessary to record so
uninteresting an event. Never had a
train robbery been committed there be-
fore, however, and it was natural that the
citizens should feel themselves insulted
1t was dark when the express train
stopped long enough to allow the passen-
gers to eat their suppers at the Rawlins
hotel, and on the evening of the robbery
it was even darker than usual, because
great storm was gathering and the
heavy clouds shut out the light of the
moon and the stars with an impenetrable
veil. Two miles below Rawlins, the
train halted to take on water. 1t was
just after making this last stop that the
passengers in the sleeping cars realized
that something unusual was happening.
The train suddenly began to slow up,
and minute later the people in the car
next to the express heard a sudden order
to hold up their hands. Then from each
end of the car came a man with his face
muffled in handkerchief and a big re-
volver in his hand. With perfect cool
ness every passenger was examined, and
money, watches and all other valuables
were levied on. Then one man was left
to keep the people quiet, and the other
cars were gone through until nobody In
the train was left unexamined. When
the work was done, a long whistle was
given, and suddenly as they had appeared
the robbers slipped away in the darkness.
The train was taken back to Rawlns
Springs, and there it was found that the
express car, too, had been robbed, and
on the floor in front of his safe lay the
messenger, shot through the heart.
Thirty thousand dollars in all had been
taken. One of the passengers claimed
that when the signal to leave had been
given ne had seen four men jump from
the train, 1t was to capture these four
and recover the stolen treasure that the
good citizens of Rawlins had pledged
themselves.
Twenty of the boldest men of Rawlins
started on the man hunt Every one of
them had for years lived a frontiersman's
life and was accustomed to risk his ex-
istence on the slightest provocation, and
it therefore seemed a trivial matter for
such number of well armed men to
capture four fugitives, no matter how
desperate they might be.
With the daylight on the morning af-
ter the robbery, the cavalcade of vigi.
lantes left Rawlins and rode down to
the water tank. Without difficulty they
found the place where several horses had
been tied, and it, was easy work to see
that from that point they had been led a
distance of mile or more, and had then
been ridden at full speed toward the
mountains. For ten miles the track of
the fugitive was plain and distinct, and
then as the ground became more rocky
the trail faded away until it finally dis
appeared altogether, For several miles
the vigilantes rode on in the same direc-
ton, but when they found not the slight
est trace of the men they were following,
they concluded that the robbers had
changed their course, and it would be
necessary 70 begin all over.
By the orders of the leader of the
vigilantes, the twenty men spread them.
selves over the prairie with the agree
ment that they should meet at sundown
and report any discoveries which had
been made. When the stunted trees be-
gan to cast long shadows over the
prairie, one by one the men returned to
the trysting place disheartened and tired.
Finally however, the hopes of all were
revived by the arrival Of one Of the
party waving something over his head
as he came galloping up. The article
he was waving proved to be a red
baudanna handkerchief with two holes
cut in the shape of eyes piercing it.
With the handkerchief as the sole trophy
of the hunt, the whole party returned tc
Rawlins Springs.
That evening a levee was held at the
Oriental saloon, aud the handkerchief
was placed on exhibition behind the bar
Suddenly a small man who had entered
the saloon unobserved caused a deer
sensation by asking to examine the
trophy Of the hunt, and then by an
nounoing that he knew the train robbers
The small man was generally known
as the keeper OF a prairie store ten mile,
out from Rawlins, and he told how foui
men whom he recognized as Tom Aus
tin, OF Texas; Dave Simmons, from the
same state, with Rube Reynolds and
Long Jim Farnsworth, from Colorado,
had ridden up 10 his store ON the after
noon preceding the robbery and had
each purchased a red handkerchief, and
he could further swear that the handker-
chief before him was one Of the number
he had sold.
A consultation was Immediately held,
and Il was agreed that from the place
where the handkerchief was found the
robbers must have doubled on theiI
tracks and taken the route 20 Texas. IN
spite Of the faol that the four desperadoe'
were well known, and should they Id
caught up with % desperate fight was in
evitable, a party was quickly formed q
lp0nue them and eiiect their capture.