Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1896-09-17

Wells, as he fell back dead on his CO.
in the Anamosa prison last Saturday /
morning, at the age OF 50 years.
Next to the famous James brothers.
he had no rival as an outlaw He
boosted Of killing some fifty Indians
and a dozen white men. When Wells
was u years old he ran away from
home and went to the far west and be-
came cowboy. Here he remained ten
years. He had many narrow es-
capes from death III various ways. and
became acquainted with Slade. the no
tCrious stage robber; Billy Gay. the
Montana cowboy; California Joe, the
noted guide and hunter, and the re-
nowned Kit Carson.
In May, 1879, Wells says he commit
ted his first highway robbery. Then
followed one express train and three
bank robberies. With two compan-
ions he rode in the same coach with
three Pinkerton men who were looking
for him and 10 whom he was pointed
cut by Conductor Hemingway, but Nc
attempt was made to arrest him,
though they rode from ST. Joseph to
Council Bluffs.
In the fall of 1875 said Polk Wells,
in recitfng the story Of his life to the
prison guards shortly after the Union
Pacific train robbery at Big Springs,
Neb., by Joel Collins ana other COM
Tades, l undertook the most daring
scheme of my life. l joined party at
Medicine Bow station on the Northern
Pacific in Wyoming for the purpose Of
kidnapping Jay Gould. When Mr.
GOuld's train arrived it was, by reason
OF the recent robbery, heavily guarded
and was of course allowed to pass I'M
mOlested. Then il was proposed TO
ditch his train on its return eastward,
but I objected to this, and the gang. af-
ter a general row in which | came
nearly being killed, dissolved partner
ship. Our captain, a once New York
capitalist, claimed that Mr.. Gould and
Jim Fisk had robbed him of his for
tune in railroad speculation, and Fisk
being dead he proposed to make Nj.
Gould settle the account in full. -
Wells Il d been keeping a hotel fol
about two years in Randolph, Wis. He
was traced there by Dan Farrell sherir
of Mills county, Ia, and the capture
occurred in the dining room Of the
hotel. Both drew revolvers at the
same time. Wells shot first, hitting
Farrell on the head. He fell, anC
, Wells feeling sure of his shot, jumped
In hnI fn,
the door. The ball simply grazed the
scalp, and in an instant Farrell was or
his feet and shot Wells, who turned
back. They clinched, both nring a:
fast as possible. Wells WAS shot in the
wrist, in the lungs and head. They
fell and Farrell got on top. People
& rushed in and were about TO mob Far
rell, but he said:
Il am the sheriff of Mills county
and this man is a criminal fleeing from
Justice
In a helpless condition they were
carried from the room. When Wells
was able for trial he was tried for rob
/ berry and sent up for ten years in the
Fort Madison prison, but in a shor
; time he planned an escape. He
dragged the guard, who died, and es
capped, but was captured in a day Of
two, tried for the murder of the guard
and received a life sentence.
He tried for a pardon from the legs,
]ature last fall, but failed and was
transferred to Anamosa by his own re,
quest. There were some twenty-eight
bullets in his body which could be
easily felt through the skin. Some
have been taken out since his death as
relics. His remains will be shipped
to his wife, Mrs. Nora Warnica Halls
! Mo, where she is still living with the
man Polk Wells found her married tc
on his return from the west fifteen
years ago. Wells expressed himself
as perfectly willing to die