The World. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1891-1896, 1892-10-03
BOLD WESTERN BANDITS.
J ROBBERS WHO RIVAL THE JAMES
AND YOUNGER BROTHERS.


Daring ana Desperate Deeds Psrfsrmed
~ the Notorious Dalton Brethers.
Their Operations In che Indian Terri
tory-The Express Robbery NJ Aaair.
Train robbery and highway bandits
have been themes Of general discussion
in the West for some time past. The
bold hoid-up Of Missouri, Kansas and
Texas passenger train In the Indian Ter
ritory has occasioned renewal of subject
which few years ago would have at
tracted much attention in the West on
account Of the frequency OF the occur
renee, but since the breaking up Of the
James, the Younger and other desperate
gangs that infested Missouri and Kansas
Western people have felt comparatively
secure from depredations OF this charac-
ter, says the St. Louis Globe Democrat.
Three or four years ago Texas was the
favorite arena for the exploits OF the
freebooters, but the constabnIary Of that
State became so yigilant and merciless in
the pursuit and punishment OF the
zscoundrels that they have all apparently
been killed or driven out OF Texas, as no
train robbery has occurred there recently.
The Indian Territory seems TO be now
men Of the mask and Winchester, and
when the conditions there are considered
IL ID no little wonder that outlawry of
this nature Ii not even more rampant
than 1t really is.
Express car Of the Missouri, Kansas and
Texas at Adair, are by all odds the bold
est and most audacious bandits who have
faA kGaf. te. Ak1T 4frSx
There are four OF the Dalton brothers who
are known to have committed train rob-
berries In the past. Only two of them
Ed and Charley--were In tho Adair hold
MP. The other two boys q year ago were
captured in California after desperate re-
sistance and convicted OF robbing o
Wells Fargo Express car on the Southern
Pacific Railroad ut Toulare, near Los
Angeles.
They were sentenced to life in the Cali
fornia Penitentiary and are now serving
their terms. All four Of the boys were in
the California robbery, but Ed and
Charley eluded capture and made their
way back to the Indian Territory. They
had been driven ont OF the Territory only
after q bloody war between themselves
and their sympathixers on the one hand
and the officers and cattiemen on the
other. This was inaugurated three years
ago and cost the life of many good cit
iEen and deputy United States marshal.
It will be remembered that the posses
In pursuit of the bandits were led by
Deputy Marshal q Hecn Thomas, one Of
the most intrepid officers who has ever
had to deal with the lawless elements Of
the Southwest. Various times he was
reported killed, but he always managed
90 show mp smiling about the time his
friends had ordered Grape. He pursued
the Daltons farther into their rendezvous
than had anybody before or since. He
succeeded in penetrating far into the
bushwhacker country right among the
friends Of the Daltons, and came out un-
scathed though empty handed.
Prior to this time the Daltons were not
known to have committed any train rob-
berries. They had confined their rascality
to stealing cattle and driving them
through the !" public lands y into New
Mexico and selling them along the route.
Then when they got ready to return to
the Territory they would steal bunch Of
cattle in New Mexico and bring them
home to sell, always returning by diff
ferent route. It did no good to indict
them. Their friends dominated the local
courts, and even II they were ever brought
to trial they got on scot free. Honest
cattlemen of the Territory finally grew so
exasperated at their thievery that they
organized to rid the country of the Dali
tons and waged bitter war upon them. II
was then that the cattle thieves per force
quit their old practices and turned their
attention to train robbery.
It Is ever so much easier anyhow to
rob train than to steal a few head of
cattle. 80 they found their new business
incomparably safer and more remunera-
tive. Situated as the Daltons were, the
business was especially attractive to
them. The Missouri, Kansas and Texas
and the Santa Fe Railroads ran right
through the country over which they
had ranged ever since emigrating from
Arkansas when mere stripplings Of boys.
They knew every Indian trail and deer
path in it. Not man or woman un-
friendly to them had been allowed to live
in the section they claimed for their own,
and so every circumstance was most
propitious to them in their new calling
They lived for the most part on q. bald
prairie east of the " Katy" road in an
uninhabited country between Pryor
Creek and Chouteau stations on the rail-
road.
Adair, the scene of their latest depre-
dation, is only twenty or thirty miles to
the north of them, and Leliaetta, where
they held up a train last September and
secured $1,000 in booty from the Pacific
Express Company, Is but a few miles
south OF them. A little southwest Of
these two stations begins what is known
as the Coweta district. 1t is heavily tim
bered and abounds in deep ravines and
serpentine paths. They know every foot
of it. Through the Coweta district they
dash into the Fox and Sac country, and
then leisurely make their way down to
the Canadian River and cross to the
Seminole reservation, until they feel like
yenturipg back to their prairie home
Etfii