The morning call., 1892-06-09
He Was A BOLD ROBBER.
Embracery the Least of Juryman
Squires' Crimes.
He Participated in the First Train Robbery
on Record and Is No Stranger to
the Conviet's Cell.

III now transplreS tnaJ JuTy-OIlUluB 10 InO
least of j. III, Squlres' crimes.
Tw enty years ago the juror who offered 10
take a bride in Judge SandersOn's court Inc
other day was a highwayman and stage
robber. He was one Of big Jack" DAVIS
gang, ana after the robbery at Verdi, New,
was captured, tried and sentenced to -
years Imprisonment in tie State penl-
Tertiary.
With three others of the gang he escaped
from prison, was recaptured and sent bacK
to serve out his time. In 1882 he was
psrdOned.
Since he left prison Squires has been IN
and about San Francisco most Of the time
For little while he was in Lake County.
Wells, Fargo & Co.'s detectives kept track
Of him wherever he went, but4as he pre-
tended to have reformed and seemed am
bilious to lead an honest life, the detectives
let him 60 his way unmoleste6.
Four years ago he settled down IN TINS
city. He has been dealer in wooden goods,
embroidery, etc, and has Kept store on
Turk street
When j. b. Hume. chief of Wels-Fargo's
detectives, read that John Squlreo had been
caught in the Superior Court as a Juror
willing 10 he bT!bed he was 10th to beieVe
that the crooked juror and the ex-stage-
robbeT were one and the same
To satisfy himself. MI Hume went TO
Police Judge JOacAimsen's court Yesterday
morning. where the brbe-taking juror was
arTaigned for hearing
single glance was enough, and it was
evident 10 tie bystanders that tie recogG-
tiOn had been mutual. Squires dropped MS
eyes at once and mOti0ned as II to turn his
face away. But he did not turn. lie only
sat still and sullen with lowered gaze.
Later on, when visited in his cell by
4 fla yalli- ia % bTiDp ItlrOr
denied his past record, denied being an eX-
convict and having been q stage-robber,
and even that his name was John SqulIes.
But denial is useless. His black record IS
only too true and easily enough proved.
II am hardly surprised that Squres
should prove capable Of this or any other
crime" said Detective Hume, ''for believe
be has no scruples. But did think he had
profited by his sad experience as a criminal
and had reformed, if not in heart, at least
from pOllcy'S sake.
December 20, 1870, Squires was sentenced
to the penitentiaTy at Carson, Nv, for par
tieipation III the robbery Of 81, goo from the
express ear on a Central Pacific train az
Verdi. A year later came the prison de-
livery and Squires was one OF those who
escaped.
After being at liberty 10 days he and three
comrades were recaptured and sent back 10
prison with year added t. his sentence.
Long before The train robbery SQuires had
a record as a clever stage-rObber and bis
friends boosted that he held up a stage or
TWO every morning before breakfast, just
by way OF an appetizer. 1t Is fact, at any
rate, that lie often crawled ont Of his bed
room window at night, robbed stage, and
returned before morning.
In those days he was a pal OF Big Jack"
Davis. The two had a mill in SiX-mile
Canyon. just below Virginia City, where
they retOrted the bullion bars stolen from
the stages. They were 0stensibly successful
mining men.
The Verdi train robbery was the first
train robbery on recO D. Squires has been
credited with its planning, but Detective
Hume, who has not a very exalted opinion
oil Squres' headpiece, scouts the idea and
says the robbery was planned by Big
jack and a road agent named C4ckreil.
Ii vas learned that shipment of Sal. 600 IN
coin was TO be made from san Francisco.
and j. T. { apmau was sent to this city to
learn the time of the shipment. His dis
patch announcing to the gang that the ship
ment had been made was:
"Send Mary Ann S6)'
All the bad men Of Nevada rendezvoused
at Verdi at / 80 oclocl; in the morning to
meet the train In their numbers lay the
cause Of their failure. or rather their subSe-
quent capture and conviction. But train
rO0bing was in It's infancy then and these
robbers should not be blamed for their
ignorance.
De details were very nicely arranged.
The express car and engine were detached
from the rest If tile train al Verdi and the
messenger mail-c ERIK and fireman locked
inside. Then at the point Of the pistol the
engineer was made TO run to a point a few
miles from Reno. There the treasure was
taken.
L was not six weeks before all the rob-
bers we're behind prison bars. Chat Rob-
erts and j. f. Chapman we're arrested as
accessories. The principals captured were:
Felt Z. COckrell. L. b. Parsons, A. j.
Davis, the leader; one GIlchTist. Il. 4.
Jones and John SQures
Roberts ana Gilchrist turned states evil
dence and thus escaped the penitentiary.
The others were sentenced from 10 to %
years. Squires got the maximum. The
booty was nearly all recovered.
Squires is the only one of the gang known
TO be alive now. The leader, big Jack"
Davis. was shot to death at Eureka, in 1877,
while in the pursuit of his chosen vocation.
When he was pardOned out of the pen-
Tertiary he went to Eastern Nevada and
resumed his old calling. He stopped the
Eureka and Typo stage. but he never
stopped another. James Brown, the shot
gun messenger shot him dead.
Squires was indicted by the Grand Jury
Tuesday last, Tor embracery. He will be
srraigned for trial in the Superior Court
Saturday next.