The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1893-10-15
Among Umatilla Thieves.


]
Who Went to Arrest Him-Honor
Among Umatilla Thieves.
From the Portland Oregonian.
Strange as it may seem, border out
/ lawry in its most aggravated form still
| prevails in Eastern Oregon. Regularly
/ organized gangs, whose daring equals
/ that of the James or Dalton boys and
whose system of operation is infinitely
! superior, pursue their nefarious business
in open defiance Of the law, and even
threaten to kill officers of the law who
/ have ventured to prosecute them. Five
! years ago these gangs were more numer-
| Gus than at present, and they terrorized
! the good citizens Of the eastern section of
| the state without fear Of consequence. In
| vain did the district attorneys and other
| officers attempt to bring them to justice.
All their efforts were futile, for even
when they captured the offender and had
him duly arraigned the injured party,
fearful of the threats Of his companions,
would refuse to prosecute him.
This was the state of affairs when
! Charles F. Hyde of Baker City was
! elected prosecuting attorney for the
| Sixth judicial district, which extends
! from the Columbia river to the Nevada
! border and comprises seven counties
! Umatilla, Union, Walowa, Baker, NAL
heur, Grant and Harvey. This is the
largest as well as the most lawless dis
trict in the state. When Mr.. Hyde went
into Office the district was overrun with
! desperadoes of all classes. He immedi-
! ately began war of determination
| against them, as shown by the fact that
he sent 2S7 criminals to the penitentiary
! before his first term expired. 1t was he
who prosecuted the notorious Dan
Tarter the Union county fratricide, in
! Union, when score of the criminals fol-
lowers, armed to the teeth. were ranged
around the court room, and declared that
they would kill the district attorney. the
| judge, the states Witnesses and clean out
the entire court room if their leader was
! convicted. "Hang him ana we will show
the district attorney how we do business
in Eagle Valley, and you can tell him So
was their threat to Sheriff Bolles
Knowing the character of the men. that
| officer feared that they would carry their
threat into execution, and he placed
guard on Mr. Hyde Several
armed deputy sheriffs were constantly
in the court room and kept a watch on
Tarter's followers. When the district
attorney left the building they followed
| him until he was safe in his hotel. In
| buIu bu0y were uOEkGu ny UU6 outlaws.
| who wanted to git that darned Internal
| lawyer up a back street and give him a
slash or two" Then they threatened
to kill the states witnesses, but, notwith-
! standing this, Tarter was convicted and
his followers were notified to leave town,
or they, too, would get into trouble.
Harvey county has an organization
called the One Hundred and One Society,
| which has so thoroughly terrorized the
| com unl1pitV that IT, IL inDOSs b1p n cap11ra
conviction when any of the members
are brought to bay. The strongest evil
dence has no effect on the jury and per-
| sons clearly guilty are acquitted in very
| short space of time. District Attorney
| Hyde has received many anonymous let
| tiers, presumably from this society, with
pieces Of rope six inches in length inclosed,
and stating that there will be 'necktie
! party" if he insists upon trying to pros
ecute criminals in that county. Two
| years ago a man named Miller, an en-
! ploye of the Lux & Miller Cattle
Company, which owns $4,000 or 100,0 900
| acres of land and as many head of cattle
| in the eastern part of the state, was MUIR
| dered for endeavoring to gain information
about the dOings of the society. He had
! heard that they intended to roundup the
company's cattle, and to get some definite
! information he crawled under a house
! where the mem bers were in session. A fit
of coughing betrayed his presence and re-
suited in his death. The next day he was
! found dead in a fence corner with four
bullets in his brain and as many more in
his heart. The grand jury returned no in
! dictment, as no information could be Sc
cured. Three years ago Dave Shirk stood in
| his own doorway and shot a man who
was standing within 100 yards of his
| house. The body laid there three days in
| the hot sun before any one dared to bury
it, Shirk was indicted and tried by
! Jury composed of the l01 element, and
was acquitted in fifteen minutes.
For years Baker county was the home
of the notorious McCarty gang, consisting
OF Tom and Bill, brothers, and Eek and
Fred, sons of Bill, and numerous follow
ers. Tom and Fred were recently killed
| by Simpson at Delta, Col. after having
robbed the bank there, Tom was a char
acter in his way He had received his
education in the mining camps of
the Rocky Mountains and it was
a recognized fact that nobody could
! get the drop on him. He could
pull gun and fill man full of lead be-
fore the swiftest cowboy in the country
would be ready to shoot As trick shot
he had no equal. To an officer who called
to arrest him once he gave an exhibition
of shooting that made his hair fairly
stand on end. Placing the ace of clubs on
y
feet, drew his revolver, twirled it around
his finger as rapidly as he could, and rid
died the ace with bullets. Not one hit
the white part of the card. Not once did
he pull the trigger, cOntenting himself
with pulling the hammer back with his
thumb and letting it go. Then he tossed
his hat twenty feet in the air and pierced
it with six bullets before it touched
the ground. It is related that
an officer, armed with a Winchester,
caught Tom as he was turning the corner
Of his house and got the drop on him.
Tom, you'll have to give in now he
said "Yes, / guess 1 will" was the cool
reply. At the same instant a horse
neighed and the officer turned his head
| to see what was the matter. Like a
lightning flash Tom grasped the officers
rife, drew his own revolver and covered
him. Now, 1 don't want any trouble"
he said. Il have never killed man ex-
cept in self-defeuse and l won't now, but
you'll have to leave this vicinity or I'll
| violate law. Don't you think you had
better gof The officer thought so, and
went, after leaving his weapons with
Tom.
Tom McCarty arrived in Baker City
eight years ago with about $50, 600 viii en-,
he said, he had made in a stock
deal IL is supposed that he
got the money by robblng o bank and
went 10 Baker City with the intention Of
hnufUninm IA Uauu IFa (4umnltWu how