Abilene weekly reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1888-1935, 1893-12-28
THE WOOTEN GANG.
Tho Recent Ho,dup South of Cot
feyvillo, Kan.
THE GOVERNMENT TAKES A HAND.
Bioodhounds Put on tho Trail Five United
states Drputy Nar.hnis aud Posses
1ahe Part In tho IInnt
for the u, bbera


on the vSly border Of the city has
ar used the people e. the highest pitch
and deep led determination TO rid
tho country 81 the bold dcsperddoes
has taken hold 81 the officials. All
lay long marshals were Selling upon
CLOVIS and following up information as
TO who compose TIE gang
\ young Cherokee, who was arrested
here ON saturday on charge Of steal.
ing pair " pants from one OF the
stores whoa questioned yesterday
morning admitted that he had been
sent to Cotfeyvlllc Ny man, ut whose
house the robbers stopped on Saturday,
for two quarts OF alcohol for the gang.
lie was To meet Thorn Mt certain point
about ten miles from here, and, us he
failed to show up. they evidently came
TO Seminole station Co intercept him,
and planned the robbery while they
were waiting for him on Saturday
evening and returned ON the same
evening TO carry their purpose into
effect They were seen near the sta
tion on Saturday evening and on Sun
day they were observed at several
points on the Vcrdigrs only few
miles from town.
This holdup has n feature that Is
new in this section. In no previous in
stance has the United States mail been
disturbed. The robbers not only went
through the postal clerk, but they
opened the mail bugs, riiicd the regis
tered packages and carried off n lot OF
mail matter This certainly will nut
the United States authorities on their
mettle, and II Is TO he hoped that the
strong powers of the general govern
ment will be used 60 catch the perpe-
traitors OF the outrage.
Last evening five deputy United
States mnrshals and their posses with
u carload OF horses and number Of
bioodhounds, were unloadcd ut Semi
mole station. A telegraph station was
established In the box cur that figured
in Sunday nights affair and II vigorous
! pursuit Is now under way. The dircc-
tion taken by the band has been as
ccrtaincd and full description OF the
men obtained from parties who saw
them on Saturday and yesterday.
They are undoubtedly the Wooten
gang, and two young men ard two
boys I'LL white, composed the outfit.
They were all very poorly mounted on
Saturday, and were very lndfrcrently
clothed This accounts for the
oagerness with which they seized
upon ovcrcoats ana other pieces OF
clothing. They took the newsboy's
coat and pocltcted lot Of his goods,
which proves that they were hard up
The gang has been In the brush since
July, and are in desperate straits.
DETAILS or THE ROBBERY.
LITTLE Rock, Ark, Dec 20. The de-
tails Of the Kansas g. Arkansas Valley
hold-up ut Seminole, |. r., Sunday
evening, reached Little Rock when the
robbed train arrived.
Seminole, the scene Of the robbery,
Is nine miles south Of ColTeyvillc, Kan.
There II no town there, and nothing To
mark the spot save sde-track and a
small platform. Train No. 282 reached
Seminole Sunday shortly after dark.
The switch had been turned, throwing
the train on the siding. The switch is
ON n heavy upgrade, and the train
soon came u q standstill. There were
no crrs upon the track, as reported.
When the train stopped three men
sprang upon the engine aud began by
robbing Engineer Bush Harris OF hl,
watch and sID in cash They then pro.
cocded to the mail car and rined the
mail pouches. Mail Clerk II B. pinclS.
ncy, who was In charge, was forced tc
deliver the registered packages After
abstracting the cash the letters were
handed back TO the clerk Pincl,ncy
was relieved Of his witch and 81 cent
In change, % cents Of which was re-
turned 10 him 10 buy lunch. Al
entrance to the express car was gained
without resistance on the part OF the
express messenger, as there WINS moth
ing Of value ON board. The robber,
commanded Messenger Ford 10 oper
the safe from which they took tive
small packages, value unknown, ant
800 In money.
Finishing their work In the express
car. the robbers turned their attention
20 the coaches. Two men went through
the cars while the other two main
tanned constant firing on the outside
So much time had been consumed II
robbing the mail and express cars tina
the passengers had ample opportunity
10 sccrctc their valuables and very III
tie OF value was obtained In the coaches
The robbers appropriated all the over
coats and watches In the cars, but tn,
sum total Of cash they secured will ap
proximate less than $500 Several pas
sengers saved large sums by hiding
their purses under the car seats.
; Both Of the men who went through
the coaches were young men, neithe
: being over 20, and had the appearance,
, Of being unsophisticatcd countrl
youths. When they went through tn,
slcepcrs they displayed an utter ig
norance Of sleeping cars The robber
did not use any abusive language /,
a.. the passengers and offered no violence
None of the passengers were armed
: there were no acts OF herolsm or un
usual incidents The train was hell
one hour and twenty minutes. II
/, stated p sitively that the railroad Off
cials here have the names Of the fou
robbers, and II Is believed their captur
IS only a question of few days
.
The extensive plant Of III Democratic
u City Of Mexico daily newspaper, whicl
was coniscated by the government sey