El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1897-10-18
BLACK JACKS GANG.
They are Comfortably DOmiciled in the
Sierra Madre Mountains.


A prOspector VINO recently returned
from the Sierra Madre mountains states
that while prospecting in that section
he was surprised one day when he sud
denly came upon the residence OF eight
white men who were pleasantly located
in beautiful valley Ia the mountains.
The men invited him into the house,
and wnen all of tue party came in he
was greatly surprised, DIS IN three OF
the men he recognized Black JACK and
two of his gang. the prcspectOr said
he had known Black Jack for long
time and that ten years ago he was u
gambler in the old Gem gambling
house in this city. The other t.O men
whom he recognized were from Texas
and they were men OF nerve and des-
perate characters, whOm he had often
heard men Toned as part o. the Back
Jack,gang, and who havesfOr the past two
years been robblng trains, banks and
stores in ArizOna and New Mexico.
the prospecbor says the whole party
are very comforiapIy situated, have
their servants aud ride around the
country at will, but are careful not to
get into towns where there are any
great number of people. Toe whole
party have plenty OF money and are
well armed and mounted ana are TAX
ing things easy in their mountain
home.
They are in easy reaching distance
of the United Stats line and when
their funds run short they can easily
make trip acf Oss the border, hold up
a town, bank or a train ana re-crOss
the Mexican line befOi e pursuit can be
actively begun. They are all men of
nerve and their lives nave been spent
on horseback ana in the handling of
guns, so that they are fully capable OF
carrying out their designs and get
away with any ''swag" they may pick
up in their raids.
The fact that this gang was in Mex
leo has been known to The officers on
this side OF the river for some time, but
of course they were out of their
Jurisdiction and the officers were only
waiting for them to make a raid on this
side of the river so they could go after
them Their rendezvous was also
known to the Mexican author ties and
bout two weeks ago an effort was
made to capture them, foe they are
charged in Mexico with having stolen
a number of head of cattle from the
Mormon settlers in the neighborhood
where they are located but the effort
to catch the robbers tailed from some
cause and the gang is still taking life
easy in a beautiful valley away up in
the Sierras.
1t has been thought by many that
Black Jack had BEEN killed last winter
just as he was leading his gang out of
the mountains to make raid near
Clifton, Arizona There was a man
killed then that many people thought
was Black Jack, but just as many peo-
pie who saw the dean man denied his
identity, and a doubt has always re-
NAMED in the minds of the public as to
whether the ma1 killed was Black Jack
or not. The main evidence that was
produced to convince the public that
the man killed near Clifton was Black
ack was that the dead man had a
diamond ring on his finger, valued at
$3.50, that was recognized as belonging
to the store keeper at Separ short
time before the killing of the man
near Clifton. After the man had been
killed somebody took the ring off OF
the dead mans finger and 1t was next
found in an Ell Paso pawn shop, but
the ring was fully identified and the
store keeper at Separ is now supposed
TO have it again in his possession. just
who pawned the ring here cannot be
found out as the pawn broker said he
did not Know the man.
Thus it will be seen that the man
who was killed near Clifton was only
partially recognized as Black Jack,
and out of the number of people who
saw the dead man and who said they |
knew him, some said it was Black Jack |
W bile others cOntended it was not him. |
Many made the wish father to the !
belief and were thus satisfied that the |
nan killed near Clifton was no other |
han the notorious Black Jack.
The pro-pector who is just In from |
he Sierra NJ adres says he knows Black |
lack well AMI that he and his gang are |
low IN the Sierras and are so located |
hat they can raid the railroads near
'he border when they want to.
E,a hi q s hollt q