The Roanoke times. (Roanoke, Va.) 1897-1977, 1898-01-04
.THESTORY OFBLUECUT
The Scene of Four Successful
Train Robbcries.
MADE FAMOUS BY JAMES GANG.
An Ideal Spot For the Operations of
Bandits-The Craciserneckers Who Dwell
Thereabout Sympathize With the Out
laws, and 1t Is Hard to Convict Suspects.


Thereabout sympathlze With the Out
laws, and 1t Is Hard to Convict Suspects.
Blue cut is on the Chicago and Alton rail.
road, three miles east of Independence, NO.,
and 10 miles east of Kansas City. To one who
sees 1t tho first time 1t is disappointing. 1t Is
not much of cut. Tho blue clay banks OH
either side are scarcely high enough to conceal
train.
Among railroad men blue cut has the
samo dread significance as red light. Both
mean danger.
-Four times the red light has flashed its
warming through blue cut and tho guns
of bandits have been thrust into the train
mon faces. No resistance was ever offered
to tho outlaws. If there had been, the
blue clay of the cut would have been
stained crimson with lifeblood.
Railway secret service men believe plans
are being laid for another hold up in the
vicinity. They think the most cffcctual
way of putting stop to tho series of
crimes is to kill n few train robbers They
Will probably advise tho arming Of train
men, and when tho next timo masked
dospcradocS bar tho way there may be a
sharp, quick battle, and murder NAV bo
done.
Bluo cut was made famous by the
james gang. They selected it for tho sccne
VI ONO Oh thclr most daring hold ups be-
cause 1t was ideally located for such dcs-
pcrate business. Imitators Of the James
boys have selected it for the Same reason
rs well ms because of tho glamour which
hangs over it and the terror which il in
spires.
1t is not the cut itself which is SO we'll
adapted to the train robbers purposes. 1t
Is tho location.
The country roundabout is called Crack.
erncck The oldest citizen, who knows
everything else, does not remember what
gave it the name. 1t is supposed to have
grown out OF tho plcasantries between tho
Missouri bushwhackers and tho Kansas
jayhawkers in the sixties. 1t is simply q
nickname itself meaningless, but infinite
ly suggestive by it's uncouthness of the
wild stretch of country.
The ground is broken and covered with
growth Of scrub timber. Lodges of rock
Jut out wherever the soil washes. Habita-
lions aro far apart, as u rule, but there arc
two or thrco houses within short dis
tance Of tho cut One stands above it on
the hill and another half way down tho
slope on tho other side. The robbers are
not bothered by this, though. They know
that il tho people who live there arc not
their friends they are at least too wise to
interfere
Two of the men suspected of having en-
gagged i'll the last Chicago and Alton hold
up were attending dance at house with
In half mile of the cut the night it oc-
Cured. They stepped out, it is believed
attended to the little business on hand
and went back to tho fcstal scene with a
consciousness of work well done.
Although the spot is so wild, roads lead
from near by in several directions to Kan
sas City. That is why blue cut is pre-
fcrrcd over other lonely spots. Tho bandits
nearly always make their escape to Kan
sas City, where they arc safer than in tho
widest country.
Some of the best people in Jackson
county 1.-Two in the section, but tho major
ity arc Crackcrncckcrs, term always
spoken with significant infection. Usu-
ally when it is used by the people Of tho
county 1T means sympathiZers with train
robbers. At the very least some of them
have seen the inside of penitcntiary and
seem TO want to keep all other Cracker
necks from doing so. There are many at
large who arc believed to be entitled to "a
state living, and many others are proud to
bear the names of men who have left rec
ords OF murder and pillagc. People capa-
bic OF feeling such pride, it need scarcely
be said, arc not the people to turn up train
robbers.
Blue cut is really IL succession of small
cuts. Tho track is very curved The hold
ups have not all occurred ut the Same SPOT,
but all of them have been along the stretch
of track which tho Crackcrnccks call blue
rut.
Tho james boys stopped their train on
the curve in the center of tho series of
cuts. Several were convicted of completely
III that job and one OF two were sent up
for perjury
The second hold up occurred in 1881. In
both OF these the bandits went through the
train and robbed the passengers.
Oct. 49, 1896, west bound train was
Held up just cast of the cut. All that the
robbers obtained was $26 from the engi-
necr and $40 from curious passenger
who went forward to- see what the matter
was. Just two months litcr an cast bound
train was stopped mile and half east of
Independence, near the crossing of the
Chicago and Alton and the Missouri Pa
cilic tracks. The engine, express car and
theatrical car were cut loose The lead
or of the bandits climbed in the cab and
ran it down to tho cut. The safe was rob
bed OF 81, 33l and = lot Of valuable jcwclry.
The engine was then cut loose, the throt-
tlo thrown open and it ran wild through
Glendale at terrific speed Beyond there
it struck a steep grade and died.
The last hold up in tho vicinity was on
tho Missouri Pacific. An cast bound train
was stopped ii mile and half east of the
crossing of tho two roads. The engineer
was commanded to get out of the cab lie
did not obey quickly enough, and several
shots were fired into the cab, but he was
not hurt.
The engine, baggage car and express
car were cut off and run down three quar-
tcrs of u mile to a cut. All that tho rob
bcrs obtained was 50. 20 from the express
messenger ThcY nttcmntcd to hln,y un