The record-union., 1895-05-17
THE STAGE ROBBEER, BUCK ENGLISH.
He Belongs to a Family Noted for
Fighting Qualities.
His Brothers and Cousins, the Durbins
Had Desperate Battle Upward
of Thirty Years Ago.


"Buck" English, the Napa stage robber,
by several citizens of that place recalls
bloody affray that occurred some thirty
edd years ago. in which the participants
were the father and several brothers OF
the stage robber and about an equal
number of his cousins, the sons OF Perry
Durbin. At that time "Buck" was either
a very small child or was yet unborn.
The English and Durbin families were.
and are yet, neighbors in Green Nalley,
Solano County. The elder English ana
Mrs. Durbin were brother and sister,
and each family had five or six sons.
They were among the early settlers OF
the State, and came from Missouri.
Notwithstanding their close relation
ship, the families were not friends at the
time referred to. For some cause or
other a feud had sprung up between
them which eliminated in most san
culinary and fatal battle one election day
In the early sixties at the little village OF
Cordelia, the voting place OF the Green
Valley precinct.
All the details of the affair cannot now
be related from memory, though the
battle between the cousins was nerce ana
bloody and produced a sensation through
out the State. All the Englishes and
Durbins were Democrats and outspoken
adherents of the cause OF the South. ana
though sectional feeling was then at Its
hight they were bitterer enemies OF one
another than of their Republican neigh
bors.
English and FOUR or five OF his grown
sons went to Cordelia to vote on the day
in question, and there came IN contact
with the Durbin boys. who had gone TO
town for similar purpose. Late IN tne
afternoon, when the excitement that al
ways attended elections iu those days
was at its hight, the pent-up hatred that
had ranked in the breasts OF the men,
bers of the two families could no longer
be controlled, and the young men De-
came involved in desperate conflict.
On one side was arrayed "old man"
English and his SONS, and on the other
side his nephews. the Durbins. The
elder Durbin was not present, or II so ne
was not drawn into the conflict. Ihe
writer's recollection is that he remained
at home.
All the participants were ''heeled," and
that they were desperate fighters the
terrible result of the melee shows. The
senior English lost an eye IN the con-
hict, and some of his sons were killed and
the others badly wounded. The exact
number killed on either side can
not now pe correctly stated, but as nearly
as can be remembered some three or four
OF the com batants were sent to their
graves, while not one of those engaged
escaped severe injury.
One of the survivors of the English
family was sent to San Quentin and
served short term there for the part he
had taken in the bloody atfray.
There were one or two younger men in
each OF the families who were not voters
at that time and We're not at Cordelia
when the fight occurred. Two OF these
Sim Durbin and one OF the English boys
became quite friendly as the years
rolled by and were frequently together
at Napa, where they had relatives. Young
English was a gam bier and companion
OF rough characters, while sim DurDln
was young man Of quiet ways.
AT the time young Engllsh's brother
was released from the State Prison the
former and Durbin were IN Napa. There
the three met and put in about a week
among the saloons and gaming houses in
company with local tough named
Bulger Rains. The latter had the reputa-
ton OF having been hOrse-thlef ana a
"gun-fighter," and was proud of 1t. 1t
gave him sort OF standing among the
desperate class, but there were those who
claimed to have known him before his
advent in Napa, and they said he was
only buffer and a coward. This esti-
mate of Rains character was soon proven
to be correct by an incident that occurred
in Napa soon after Engllsh's return from
the Penitentiary.
In one corner of Napa was then-and is
now, for that matter-a Spanish settle
ment known as "Spanishtown.D 1t was
made up of tough characters, both men
and women. Nearly every cabin was a
dance-house, and whisky was freely sold
at all of them. The population was COM
- \ Gax-s t,,lf
breeds, native Californlans renegade
SONS of the old Spanish tamilies), negroes
and Indians. Whenever the Sheriff of q
neighboring county wanted to capture a
skulking criminal, he invariably sought
this Napa suburb, and seldom failed to
find his man there.
Rains and the two Englishes were OF
course frequent visitors to SpanishIown,
and one night they went there apparently
for the purpose of raising row with the
"Greasersn ana displaying their prowess
as gun-fighters. They induced Durbin
and youth named Al. Haines, formerly
of Sacramento, to accompany them.
Some hours were spent in dancing and
drinking, when near midnight row was
started. Rains was said to have precipi-
tated the trouble with the Greasers, but
as soon IS the latter began to unllmbel
their batteries he skulked away, followed
by Durbin and Haines, leaving the two
English boys to fight it out.
And fight il out they did to the last
Whatever else may be said of the English
boys, there was never a member OF thai
family who knew what cowardice meant
When word was brought into town, 8
few hundred yards away. that the Eng
fishes had been killed in Spanishtown
the saloons were emptied in JlHy.
Everyone who was not in bed hasteneG
TO the scene of the shooting, where CORY
sight met their gaze.
On the floor OF one of the Gance-houses
lay the younger English dead in a big
pool of blood. He lay on his side, where
he had fallen. his legs drawn up as II il
the act of springlug at some Toe when 6
bullet struck and tore away one side O
his lower jaw. His right hand firmly
grasped a long bowie-knlfe which he haC
been unable to use before he was sho
down.
Stretched on the floor in the Opposite
direction, with his head nearly touching
that OF his brother, lay tho other Englist
-he who had but just been released iron
prison. He lay upon bis back, with ;
bullet-hole in his right breast. lie wa
not dead, but when DIR. Stillwagor
turned him over and saw another hol'
under his shoulder blade, where the bul
let had made its exit. he said the mar
could not live.
Then 1t was that friend of the wounded
and supposed-to-be dyiDg-man ben