The Roanoke times. [volume] (Roanoke, Va.) 1890-1895, 1893-07-04

Referring to detectives in a recent con-
versation with reporter, Jim Younger
said 81 saw Allan Pinkerton only once in
my life, and that was at the Palace hotel
in San Francisco, where had the honor of
eating supper with him and Yankee BLY,,
the great Louisville detective. One night
Yearly in May, 1876 I was walking down
Market street in San Francisco when n
lady touched me gently on the arm and
said, Mr.. Younger. l believe. | replied
chat it was my misfortune to bear that
name, and in a moment l recognized the
lady as an old Missouri girl whom had
befriended years before when she was little
moro than child. She hadn't seen me for
nine years, and during that time had
grown full beard, changed my Missouri
SLOUGH hat for n silk tile and got into the.
habit of wearing broadcloth clothes, yet
that woman knew me at Il glance.
After talking about our old Missouri
friends few minutes she said, DO you
know that Pinkerton is in town. | replied
that did not. WELL lie is said she. He
is up at the Palace hotel, and bly, is with
him Now, a Han Pinkertom had made his
boast that ii he ever saw Jim Younger he
would know him. bly, had seen me five
years before in Louisville and had come
along with Pinkerton to take me in.
II had curiosity to see the two creates.
detectives in America, and wanted to show
Pinkerton that he did not know jim Youn.
ger. So / asked my friend il she would
walk up to the Palace hotel with me She
was astonished mt such foolhardy proposal
and begged of me not to think of doing
such thing. was determined to see them
and finally prevailed on her to go with me.
We went to the hotel, aud | registered and
ordered supper for two.
AS good luck would have it, the head
waiter led us TO the very table where Pin
kerton and bly, We're | sat down opposite
Pinkerton and the lady opposite bly,. Did
L eat hearty suppery Well, no. My
companion gave me some uncasincss She
was pale and nervous, thinking of course
that might be recognized and m attempt
be made to take me. But | enjoyed that
meal az much as any ever ate in my life
Il always had a profound contempt for
detectives. They had come on from New
York and Chicago in drovcs to capture us
until we got SO used to their ways that it
was positive enjoyment to have few of
them around. had a worse opinion of
detectives than ever after eating supper
That night. The very man they had trav-
elcd across the continent to take had
walked right into their arms. or course
they couldn't have taken me anyhow, and
1T was fortunate for them that they didn't
know me No, it wasn't detectives that
brought us down at last. After dozens
of detectives and hundreds Of uniformed
state militia had hunted us for weeks and
finally gave up the chase crowd of farmers
with muskets and pitchforks got after us
down near Madelia, Mimi. and brought us
here. We have served now over 20 convict
years, and both Cole and | are getting to
be old men. Do we expect to be par.
doncds Well, of course we hope to he par
doned some day. No, we will never try to
break Jail. 1t would be an easy matter to
get out of here, and we have had good
many chances, but we were hunted down
once, and it would be an easier Job to catch
us again. ii we ever walk out of here, it
will be as free men.
I'VE are trying to live down our notori-
ETY., but it's pretty hard thing to do in
one lifetime. The fellows that write this
blood and thunder literature have been our
worst enemies No, there isn't more than
a half dozen pages of truth about us in any
book ever saw-nothing but lot of
fairy stories got up to sell. Most of the
books about us, you know, have me down
as having been with Quantrell during the
war. Now, / was barely IA when the war
broke out. I enlisted in the Confederate
army and served as spy. l carried dis
patches from friends of the Confederacy In
the north through the Union lines"