Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-11-19
AFTER THE COOLEYS,
Pittsburg Police Asked to Aid in
Suppressing the Fayette
County Outlaws.
DESPERATE DOINGS OF THE GANG.
Some of the Brutal and Cold -Blooded Meth
DDS Employed to Force Money
From Their Victims.
DESPERATE DOINGS OF THE GANG.
THEIR DARING DAYLIGHT ROBBERY.
ToiCe Official Talks of the Robbers and Their Des
perate Work.

The Pittsburg police authorities were yes
terday called upon to suppress and if posi-
bic arrest and punish that band of outlaws
and marauders known as the Cooley gang,
who, for five or six years have infested the
Fayette county mountains and whose out
RACES and depredations have terrorized the
communities through which the famous
highwaymen have been allowed to roam.
The Cooley brothers and their followers
have composed a band but a little less dar-
ing and just as dangerous as the James
brothers and their companions
Tie Fayette county authorities have been
unable to cope with the outlaws. Through
fear or favor the Cooleys have been un-
checked until they have commanded the
right OF way through the entire southern
part of that county. II was in self-defense
and protection to their families and proper
ties that two respectable and prominent
citizens of that county yesterday asked for
assistance frcm the Pittsburg police
in hunting down the fugitive GRIM
inais. ''For heavens sake, don't
allow our names to reach the
public prints they said at police headquar
tiers yesterday "our families would be
killed and our property would be destroyed
if the Cooleys knew we were responsible for
turning the police loose after them The
police aid asked for will be given the Fay
cite county citizens, and competent and
capable detectives will be sent into that re-
gion at once. The Cooleys will be taken or
will be driven out of the county.
Have Terrible Record.
The Cooley gang is famous for its cold
hlooded and deliberate outrages. The
Cooleys are both natives of southern Fay
ette county. Frank Cooley, the leader, is a
burlv, desperate looking character. He is
about 35 years old. His brother is proba-
blv five years younger, and their CON-
panions, four or five in number, range in
age from 90 wears 10 so years. All are ro-
bust, hearty fellows. and ali dress strictly
after the wild Western fashion. They ap-
pear in nublic occasionally and are
ALWAYS armed to the teeth. One
or two of them carry rifles, bat all
of them carry smaller weapons. They travel
about Oh horseback or on foot, and they
turn up in public at the most unexpected
time. Occasionally they appear at one of
the mountain churches or break in upon
rural dance or gathering and during their
stay at any of these places they practically
have things their own way. They stand in
no apparent fear of arrest and they have no
more regard for the law than they have for
the people they SO frequently attack and
rob.
Probably the most daring exploit of the
Cooley gang was the robbery at the point of
guns of the office of the Fairchance Furnace
Company at Fairchance On that occasion
two Of the band entered the office at the
noon hour of the monthly pay day. They
demanded from the two clerks in charge the
money and were handed over some 81, 900 in
cash They walked away and disappeared
in the mountains.
Tortured an Old Lady.
One of the most brutal outrages was the
burning of an old lady's feet at her home at
Mosertown. They held the old woman's feet
into the fire until she told them where she
had her money concealed. They took the
money and left her bound and gagged. The
same grade of punishment was inflicted
upon an old man near Fairehance. His
feet were burned to the bone before he dis
closed the whereabouts of his money. She
was left confirmed cripple by the danger
Gus gang Innumerable other outrages were
perpetrated by the Cooleys, and nearly
every citizen in southern Fayette county
has, through fear of cruel treatment, paid
liberal tribute to them.
A couple of years ago one of the gang was
arrested, but before he was called for trial
he escaped from the county prison in which
he was confined after the old Jail was de-
molshed and before the new Jail was finished.
Several efforts has been made to recapture
the outlaw, but with no success. The gang
have not within the year committed any
startling erime but they have been rowing
about and have been robbing whenever and
wherever they see fit. The citizens have
repeatedly asked for protection from their
own county, but the officials there have not
been able to grant it, and the outrages have
continued until they have become
unbearable, and in desperation outside aid
has been secured.
The Gang Should Be Run Down.
f'That Cooley gang should be arrested and
punished a Pittsburg police official said
last night. cit is an awful commentary on
our civilization. A band of notorious out
laws at large and unmolested within 60
miles of Pittsburg, and in Fayette county,
where there are plenty of courageous men,
and where the people generally are lawabid
ing. 1 know the Sheriff of Fayette county
personally. He is a most courageous |
officer He does not know what fear is, yet,
within his jurisdiction the Cooieys are al |
lowed unchecked freedom. Other citizens
of the community in which the outlaws |
roam are in constant terror, and have no
guarantee of safety for their lives or their |
property. The Cooleys should be arrested |
and punished, even if the National Guard |
should be called out for that purpose
1--WE have no authority to send officers !
into Fayette county, but we have authority |
to send detectives there, and we have |
pledged the nervous citizens of Fayette any |
assistance we can give them, and L hope to |
hear of the taking of the entire gang before |
long. Unless they leave the county alto |
gether there is reason to believe that they |
will spend the severe part of this winter in |
DriSon -