The Worthington advance. [volume] (Worthington, Minn.) 1874-1908, 1891-12-31
WORK or ALABAMA OUTLAWS.

WORK or ALABAMA OUTLAWS.
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MOBILE, Ala, Dec. 9A-The military,
numbering twenty men, fully armed,
have started from here for the house
of Bob SimA They took with them .
six-pounder heldpiece.
De Soro, Miss. Dec ~ Not since
the days when the Copeland gang of
thieves made Alabama the scene of
their operation and Rube Burrows
recklessly held up trains and defied the
whole south have the authorities Of
this section been 80 wrought up
- within the last three months, when
Bob Sims, tho notorious moonshtner
of this state, began to attract the ~
tention of the people Of the whole
country by openly defying the officers
Of the United States government, Is
we'll as the local authorities.
1t was in September that Sims and
two of his family were arrested for dis
tllling Illicit whisky. The srres t. were
made by deputy United States mar
shal and the prisoners were kept
guarded In . room at the hotel
In Bladon SPRING. That night
relatives of Sims surrounded tn,
house, and after killing two off,
GERS and a private citizen and losing
two of their number they rescued Bob
and his companions and escaped to the
woods. Pursuit was instantly made,
as the affair created the greatest ex-
element at the time, but neither Bob
nor his followers were caught
A mob visited his home and DESTROYED
everything he had in the world, and he
vowed vengeance against every man in
the party, all of whom, to the number
of thirty-seven, he has sworn
to kill The first move In the
direction of carrying out his threat
wa made on the night of December
%, when Sims and five of his gang sur
rounded and set fire to the home of
John Mcmillan, who resided Is miles
from this place in wide and sparsely
settled country. Here he committed
an outrage that will linger forever in
the memory Of the citizens of this Sec
ton.
Before firing the house he and his
gang called to the inmates, six in
number-two men, two women and
two children-to come out and sur
render. The offer was refused, and then
the house was fred. The flames as
cended higher and higher, until
at last the inmates were compelled
to fee from the burning building. As
they ran out John Mcmillan, John
Kennedy and Kennedy's 7-year-old
daughter were fred upon and killed in
stantly. Two other girls, and IL years
old. were dangerously wounded,
as was also Miss Belle Nc.
Kenzie, a 22-ycar-old school-teaeher,
boarding with McMillan's fam
lily. Mrs. John Mcmillan and man,
Llewellyn, were seriously wounded.
In the hurry to leave the building a
little 3-year-old child of McMillan's
was forgotten, and it was burned to
death. After shooting everyone in
sight McMillans store was looted and
the gang went for Sims home, miles
distant
The news spread with alarming
rapldlty and q posse was quickly sum.
moned and pursuit given. At p. m.
Sims house was surrounded and hot
fight ensued between the two factions.
About 500 shots were exchanged, but
as Sims had the advantage of position
no damage was done to his forces.
The posse lost one man. The firing
was then suspended and courier
came into DeSoto, Miss, and Gov.
Thomas G. Jones was asked for aid.
Sheriff Gavin, of Choctaw county,
thought best to take this act rather
than, sacrifice the lives of his men, who
were at the mercy of bullets from the
outlaws whenever they advanced on
the house. At o'clock Friday night
q detachment of artillery from the
First regiment Alabama state
troops, left Noble with a gat-
ling gun, and will proceed at once
to the scene. In the meantime the out
laws are surrounded, and frequent
skirmishes with the posse of men
guarding the building occur, and peo-
pie are wrought up to q, high pitch of
excitement, and hardly anybody in
that section has been asleep in two or
three nights, fearing visit from the
gang.