The Pioche weekly record. [volume] (Pioche, Nev.) 1877-1900, 1895-02-07
VITALITY OF CRIME,
Sam Greene Comes Honestly h.,
a Thieving Propensity.
THE FAMOUS LANCASTER OUTLAWS
One Family Has Been Furnishing WorL
for the Criminal Courts Since
the Year 1873.

In 1856 the District Attorney of Ian.
caster county, Pa. was trying man
named Greene for burglary, and he
stated that the prisoner belonged to a
family that had been criminals and
law breakers since the Revolution, and
that the records of the courts Of both
Chester and Lancaster counties show
that indictment had been found against
men of that family as early as 1879.
In 1890 the Pennsylvania "Gazette"
warns travellers on the State road, near
the Gap, in Lancaster county, that
they are liable to be attacked by
"Greenes Banditti," said Greene be.
ing giant negro uf the most desperate
character. A few years after he and
his party attacked some 'PittsburQ
wagoners and Greene was shot.
This week Lancaster papers an.
nounce the capture of Sam Greene, one
of the most desperate Of the Welsh
Mountain outlaws, who is wanted on
numerous charges of robbery. and who
has eluded arrest for over year. His
associates were taken, and are now in
Jail serving out long terms.
Here is striking instance Of the
vitality of crime. For five generations
the Greenes have been persistent out
laws, living in wealthy and thickly-
settled community. The women and
men are light in color, all tall, power
full and comely in appearance. Some.
thing is due to their surroundings
The mountain borders on the Pequea
the most fertile valley in the State
and the farmers are Mennonites, who
are opposed to applying to the courts
for redress. Perhaps with more vigor.
GUS neighbors these outlaws would have
been driven away. The family has not
increased in numbers within the last
fifty years, but has maintained its
physique and savage independence. In
1850 there were seven of the men and
one woman in the jails of Lancaster
and Lebanon. With one exception,
none of them has ever been convicted
of willful murder. In 1928 a peddler
named Alburty disappeared in the
vicinity Of the Welsh Mountain, and
long time after pile of bleached bones
found in a ravine was identified as his
remains. A round hole in the skull
indicated how he lost his life. Jim
Greene was arrested, but the evidence
was not sufficient to convict, and he
was released.
About 1880 man named Scott drove
cattle over the pike. mostly from Vir.
ginia. He was powerful man and
resolute in character. He had sold his
cattle in Philadelphia, and was re-.
turning to his home in Dauphin county,
and was halted by man just at night.
fall near New Holland. He drew his
heavy holster pistol and pulled the
trigger 1t snapped. He then strr ok
the robber with the butt. breaking the
stock and laying the man out on the
pike. Scott then rode ON. The
robber was Rube Greene, Jim S brother
His skull was fractured, and he died
and was buried on the mountain before
the officers could take him.
There is not in this State. it is be-
lieved, another instance of family that
has thus for over a century defed the
laws and public opinion, its members
maintaining in all that time their ex.
istence as outlaws in one locality
Philadelphia Times