Little Falls weekly transcript. (Little Falls, Morrison Co., Minn.) 1894-19??, 1898-08-26
PREACHER AND HoRsE THIEF


II.
Amos T. Whitman, preacher, horse thief,
biganist and forger, has Just been trans
ferred from the penitentiary at Michigan
City TO- the one ~ Columbus, O., and
when he has served three years there ILL.,
nois will reach out and olaim him. So
will Missouri. Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa
and Kentucky. He has lived . double life
and for years was undetectsd. By day he
was q preacher, engaged in the work Of
spreading the Hight Of the gospel BY
night he was the leader Of desperate
gang Of criminals, who robbed his converts
of their purses and stole their horses.
Thus he spent many years OF his life un-
til the stern hand of the law reached out
and seized him and compelled him to halt
Whitman was born In Darke county, o.
He was one Of those preoocious youths
who caught on readily, and In his homo
training and Sunday school days be gath
cred slnattering Of Biblical knowledge
which served him In tho life which he aft
onward led. He was bright, and, though
he never received anything moro than a
country school education, he gained a
great fund Of information.
He was possessed OF meek eyes and q
dignity of carriage which made it easy for
him In after years to assume the part and
the name of preacher. His home train
Ing was excellent, but at an early age he
showed q marked tendency to get at vari-
ance with tho law. He married at his old
home, but his crosses with the law made
that union anything but a happy one. At
last, two years ago, his broken hearted
legal wife was granted decree of divorce.
Whitman's career as q criminal on q
large scale commenced In 1885. At that
time no forged q note, stole few horses
and skipped the country by night. For
this crime he Is now serving term in the
Ohio penItentiary.
After that he branched out as an evan
gelist under an assumed name. It was
while thus engaged that he succeeded in
organizing and putting In operation his
band of horse thieves and their subter.
ranean railroad >,e = l,
During his engagements he would live
around among the members of the flock.
He played the part of q man In modest
circumstances and without luggage, 80
that he was invited to sleep and dine here
for one day and there the next. Thus he
got among oil of the brothers and sisters
He would pray with them In their parlors,
ask grace over their food and admonish
them to keep In the straight and narrow
path. After dinner he would stroll out on
the farms and size up the situation. II
the brother or sister had good horse, he
admired him and found out all he could of
his nature. He would then observe how
and where he was kept and how the own
or cared for him. 49,, '@'~~
He aimed to make q round Of the best
horsemen In his first week. His memo.
randum was then mailed, and about the
sixth or seventh night after he began his
services the work was done. The good sis
ters and brothers would wake up the next
morning and five or six of the best horses
in the community would be gone. So far
as yet known, there was never hitch,
and the horses were always out Of the
country before the losers missed them.
Evangelist Whitman would mourn their
loss and would try to console the men who
were robbed. He would then see that they
gave chase in the wrong direction. ,"