Brenham weekly banner. [volume] (Brenham, Tex.) 1877-1907, 1891-04-16
HORSE THIEVES.
FOLLOWED TWENTY SEVEN HUN
DRIED MILES, AND RUN TO
EARTH By ONE DETER
MINED MAN.
HO rses Recovered, Evidence Collected
Trial and COnvictiOn-BiOgraphy
of Some of the Gang
Daring Deeds.

Daring Deeds.
In the county jail of Washington
county, is one of gang of notorious
horse thieves, who by the preser
vance of one determined man have
been run down after long chase o.
1900 miles on horseback and 900
miles by rail.
The history of this gang of thieves
was furnished the reporter by
Mr.. VIM. Yoakum, a farmer and
stock raiser of Bosque county
who was in the city a few
days ago, the gentleman who gave
them the long chase, gathering evi.
dence of other crimes they commit
ted as he went, and following with
unrelenting perseverance until now
he has documental evidence enough
to keep them all in the penitentiary
for life.
This gang have stolen one or two
horses year from him for years,
but on the 25th of February 1891
four of his best horses were stolen
and it was then that he resolved to
hunt down the thieves and break
them up if it took all summer, and
and how well he has succeeded, the
sequel will show.
The leader of this gang of thieves
is VIM. Condra, who was convicted
and sentenced to five years in the
penitentiary in the District court of
Washington county during the past
week, who plead guilty after being
confronted with the evidence in the
possession of MIR. Yoakum. He was
an escaped convict when these last
horses were stolen, and was brought
from the pen here to be tried.
Condra has history which is al
most continuous recital of crime.
He was raised Eear Kyle and the
first crime in which he was believed
to have participated was the horrible
murder and cremation of a man near
there fifteen years ago, when he and
his brothers fed the country going
to Mexico. In 1880 he turned up in
Texas again under the alias of Mills
accompanied by his brother Tom
Condra, or then Tom Mills and for
stealing cattle in Jack county Tom
was caught convicted and sentenced
to a term of four years in the peni-
Tertiary, William, who while there,
had married Miss Ellen Murphy, and
escaped going to Gillispie county,
where he assumed the name of Daw-
dee, and continuing his thieving
operations for living, was captured
and convicted of robbing a store in
1881, the year following his return
from Mexico. He had two accom-
plices, who we're killed by Tom Mar
tin, detective, in Hayes county in
1882. He made his escape from the
pen in 1856 and went to Hood coun-
ty, where he sailed under the name
of Rice, and not having been able to
join his wife whom he had left in
county, and who is still
living there, he paid court to Miss
Lee Drexdell, his suit was favored,
and resulted in their unition by mar
riage. His course was unchanged,
however, and he continued unmolest-
ed for some time until he was finally
and landed in Glenrose Jail
in Sommerville county, on a charge
of various felonies. In the Jail at
the time were Bill Roach, John
Cheek, and Bob Schumacher, Condra
completing four of kind that
couldn't be beat, and as a natural
consequence they commenced plan
ming an escape. The first oppor-
tunity that presented itself, Jan. 20,
1891, they over-powered the ialler,
Walter Robinson, and skipped, it
having been alleged that the iailer
was bribed to turn them loose, but
Mr. Yoakum has all the evidence
in documentary form to exhonorate
the jailer from the charge. Condra
has been at large since that time
until his recent capture through the
fundamentally of Mr.. Yoakum,
which was effected in Kerr county
after the long chase, during the
month of March having been re-
turned to the penitentiary where ex-
Sheriff Dever, of this county, went
efter him to try him for the stealing
of one of the four horses stolen from
Mr.. Yoakup, which was found in
this county where he had disposed
of it to Mr.. Joe Small, of Chappell
Hill, VIM. Lambert, one of the gang |
being with him at the time. Mr.. |
Yoakum followed the trial of these
men from his home in Bosque coun-
ty in zigzag direction, covering
400 miles before finding his first
horse, the one already mentioned. |
There these two of the gang, Condra
and Lambert separated, the latter
going east to MONTGOMERY cnuntv