Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-10-04

1t is a drive of about eight mil ei
from this place and late Saturday night the
Sheriff gathered his deputies and started,
his driver being the young colored boy who
made his escape with Cooley the night the
latter cut his way out of Jail three years
| ago pending his sentence for the Mollie
| Ross outrage at Smithheld.
How the Capture Was Arranged.
The party drove past the Cooley mansion
| to a vacant old log house that stands by the
| roadside a quarter of mile toward Smith
field. Here they took up quarters and the
| team returned to town. In this old house
they kept themselves concealed through
Sunday in full view of the Cooley resi-
dence and by the aid of field glass
could observe every movement. Toward
evening they quietly left their retreat
and took positions along the skirt of the
woods through which Cooley and Ramsey
passed on their wav to and from the mount
ain, leaving behind in the log house one
deputy with the field glass, who was to sig
nal if the outlaws started for their mountain
retreat The latter did not wait for night
fall, but about P. NJ, in full daylight,
walked boldly out of the Cooley house and
started toward the woods, where, warned by
the signal, Sheriff Mccormick and posse
were waiting to receive them.
When the Sheriff called on Cooley and
Ramsey to surrender they started to run
firing as they ran. They were in an open
field, in the center of which stands an old
snag of broken tree ten feet high.
When Cooley saw the posse gaining on
him he took refuge behind this snag, from
whichhe continued to fire until he emptied
two revolvers. A neighbor who witnessed
the battle from his house thinks in all
about 20 shots were exchanged. The posi-
tion of the combatants at the time makes 1t
probable that the shot which killed Cooley
did not come from the Sheriff's weapon, but
was fired by one of the deputies, from whom
the fugitive could not so we'll conceal his
body. The ball struck the edge of the snag
and glanced off into the victims breast.
Jack Ramsey's Flight to the Woods.
Ramsey easily distanced Cooley, being
very fleet of foot He ran to the Cooley
house and exclaimed, ''They have killed
Frank my God, what will do?" He
jumped the fence, crossed the Morgantown
road and disappeared in the opposite woods
Among the articles taken from Cooley's
person by Coroner Holbert besides his
empty revolver were large lot of 38-caliber
cartridges, a fine field glass, black calico
mask with holes tor the eyes, large gold
watch, pocketbook containing $40 bill
and some papers, several photographs of
girls, including pictures of two of his
sisters, whom he cherished for their fidelity
to hi m to the end. There was also
the badge of the Deputy Sheriff
which the bandits stripped from
Robinson, who had once run with them and
afterward was caught and beaten by them
because he betrayed them and Joined the
Sheriff's deputies. Ali these articles are
stained with Frank Cooley's lifeblood as 1t
flowed where he fell by the snag.
In his pockets also were found three let
ters One of these was written to him by q
southern Fayette county dentist, of his
proposing that they pool and
get the reward, the dentist to have $500 for
handing him over to the Sheriff, Cooley to
have the rest. Another letter from friend,
postmarked at Smithield, Pa, March 20, is
addressed to "Mr. Frank Pierce, Sedalia,
Mo-"
Once q Fugitive In Missouri.
Cooley's name was Frank Pierce Cooley,
which shows him to have been in Missouri
under the above alias at time when officers
were searching for him in Fayette county.
1t is since learned that he was In Sedalia
last spring and got work with a liveryman.
but was caught in appropriating funds and
had to leave.
A third letter was dated Pittsburg, Pa,
February 26, 1892, and addressed to '"The
Cooley Boys in General, Fairchance, Pa"
It is written in a good hand on regular |
letter head sheet of Park Bros & Co,
Limited, Black Dialhond Steel Works, and |
signed by Thomas Wickersham, 276 Thirty |
eighth street The writer assures them of |
mis- sincerity and identity by saying that |
he is personally acquainted with the |
Sweeneys, Abels, Nixons and half dozen |
other families of the Fairchance neighbor- |
hood. He then states tha. he Is heartily |
1isgusted with this everlasting hue and |
cry about the "Cooley gang" that they are
not half as bad as painted, and that he |
hopes they will yet come out all right
The people of the southern end of the |
county say it was just such assurances of |
as this letter that encouraged the |
Cooleys to persist in their career of Iawless-
ness