The Delta independent., 1893-10-18
Berry.
sinesS OF Robbing
Passengers.

espsrndocs Who Died
On-7T The Only En-
< NJ DesiirE with
= Robbery to attract
EoccurTed less than
f Gad's Hill, small
faes Mountain railroad.
ySns stunned by the
ekterprise, and it has
~ recovered from the
Louis Republic.
4}fn mask on his face,
10 train and bullies
he, has been from
with an heroic per-
not his due. He is.
l3l hot think of risl1ing
l6ss by pursuing the
3! ~ Siitable but more
Azafd oeenpation of stealing
y 8ccapac his Jay was unique the train
fehbcr Vns accepted from the first us
p king nfnong. outlaws, aud though it
has seen demonstrated again and
again that n train, With its sleepy
passengers, its unprotected express
ratssenger, its engineer, in whom
the instinct of self preservation
is strong, and its conductor, who
is more or less human, is easier
to hold up than hen roost
sentineled by q faithful house dog, the
train robber will have imitators as
long us morbid fools read yellow
backed literature.
!. Every year since the Gad's Hill affair
q new crop has been produced. True,
the sheriff has usually been ia ut the
harvest as chief reaper, occasionally
adding the duties of hangman to
those Of gnolkceper. The lack of ade-
quatc returns, which is peculiarly char
actcristic Of the industry, does not de-
ter the ambitious neophite, who has
intoxicated his Go-callcd brain with
''Sixtecn-String jack"
The "Janes Boys" and Younger
Brothers" who were pioneers in the
business, nrc mostly dead or in the
ponitcnticry; Sam Bass, their earliest
md nblcs. ipitator, was, with his en-
tire following, wiped off the face of
ihe earth during the first year of his
career; Cove johnson and his three
lieutennnts were hanged at Clarksville,
Ark, on one sc&ffof,i three months
.aftor they quit holding up plow-hnndlcs
and went in for holding trains MS
means of livelihood; Rude Burrows,
who was for time thought to be in
vinciblc, drew on his boots one morn
ing and died before he had chance to
take them of. It was learned that his
strength was in the main geographical.
He knew the country. His neighbors
also knew it, and when they finally
went out after the reward that had
they got it and him.
The fate Of the Daltons is too recent
to require comment. Dozens of the
smaller fry Of the profession are in
the pcnitentiary;, Every mothers son
of them hns beep or will be the subject
pf q certain book, the tito OF which is
phsngea rom time to tiWe for obvious
.feasoeI3 This book is the genealogical
tree n ~ 4rain robber. Itpropagates
tho spccicG
Remedies inrumerable for the train
.robbing habit, which just now seems
to be epidcmic, have been suggested.
The most rational and thoroughly
practical is to make It q dangerous un-
dcrtaking. If it were.a capital offense
in Missouri to attempt to rob q train
the statute might result in driving the
bandits hcross the state line, but it
would not rcduee the number OF rob-
berries half OF one per cent.
Viewed from any standpoint the trnin
YNbbcr promises to be with us as long
as tho printing press and the free
school. This is pn argumentagainst
either Of these agencies of civilization.
The naturally vicious will be bad in
any event, and they run their course
sooncr, perhaps, in this line than they
would in any other.
Dead train robbers are absolutely
harmless, and the most rational way
to trent any mcmbcr of the guild is to
shoot him whenever and wherever he
is found plying his vocation. Let the
railroads put guards on their trains
whose business it will be to kill any
train robbcr who shows himself. Such
men ere easily found and when the rail-
roads begin to haul in dead bandits as
well rs dynnmite-shnttered express
cars, the business of train robbing will
soon cease to thrive.