Evening star., 1899-03-29
BANDED TOROB AND MURDER
Alleged Gang of Criminals Operating in the
Southwest.
Long List of Crimes Charged to Them
by Former Member Now
i'm Prison.

EUREKA, Kan, March 29.-The report
from Wichita of the arrest of Frank AL
good and four others for the murder or
Joseph New, and the story OF the alleged
confession Of a penitentiary prisoner fixing
the crime upon them, find few believers
| fere where the murder of New created
| great sensation, and where the evidence
| against Mrs. New and Joseph Dobbs was
| very carefully followed.
When Mrs. New and Dobbs were put upon
trial the crcumstantial evidence against
| them was almost conclusive. 1t is recalled
| also that while the jury was deliberating
| upon the evidence Mrs. New, who was de-
| tanned in room adjoining the court room,
broke down, and in the presence of two
persons confessed that she and Dobbs were
| guilty of the murder of her husband.
| The Kansas City Star yesterday printed
a three-column story regarding the arrest
| of remarkable gang Of Kansas criminals,
who have for years lived by means of rob-
berry and murder. One of the gang is be-
| lieved to be the murderer of Joseph New.
who was killed in Greenwood county, Kan,
| two years ago. for which crime News wife
ard George H. Dobbs are now serving life
sentences. So firmly does Warden Lands
| of the Kansas penitentiary believe in the
innocence of Mrs. New and Dobbs that he
will Immediately urge Gov. Stanley to par
! don them.
| Frank Altgood, alleged to be the real
murderer is in Jail at lola Kan. under
| charge of forgery. Alvin Ballard, serving
an eight-year sentence in the Kansas peni
tentiary for horse stealing, has confessed
| that he, AltgoOd and BILL Turner We're
the murderers of New. and that Mrs. New
and DObbS are absolutely innocent. Turner
| has not been found.
1t seems that the very men who murdered
New and robbed his dead body conspired
afterWard to convict the widow and Dobbs.
The supposed murderer, Altgood, according
a n
| on the jury which convicted them. Ballard
goes on to say that he, Altgood and Turner
were members of an organized gang of
| thieves and murderers that operated IN
southeastern Kansas.
AS a result of his confession eighteen
stolen horses, bag of counterfeit silver
dollars and counterfeit outfit have been
| recovered. Besides Altgood, B. l.. Mathes
| Mary Mathes and Herbert Simpson
der arrest. Fifty other horses stolen by
! the gang have been located. The officers
are on the trail of other members of the
gang. Ballard also alleges that Algood
! murdered William Coulter near Eureka in
1889. Officers who have been working
| the case have corroborated many of Bal
| lards statements.
| Ballard confessed to the prison officials
| several days ago, and the arrests noled
We're the outcome. Ballard said:
| We had runs from Texas and the terri
| tory all through No Mans Land, the sand
! hills south of Hutchinson Kan. We stole
| horses buggies and cattle There are caves
| ern part of the territory and Kansas that
| We're dug found by the gang. Up in the
sand hills they have lots of plate r1Schin-
| cry, where We turned out the money.
| Mathes' ranch, near Hutchinson, is the
headquarters of the gang. Mathes has d
| corral on the ranch, in which stolen cattle
| and horses are driven from the territory
| and then shipped There tools hidden
| all around the ranch house, and few
| graves, too.
| Ballard described these graves, smiling as
! he said that no one knew who were their
| occupants.
| "A few stragglers'' he said
Mrs. Mathes, Ballard said, kept a diary
| OF the gangs dOings, and was thus enabled
| to aid in procuring alibis.
| This gang, continued Ballard. did lots
| of things the Dalton boys We're credited
| with The older ones in the gang have rob
| bed trains for twenty years and are guilty
| of crimes others suffering for. Three
| of the men who were in the Missouri train
| robberies have been robbing trains and
| stages in Texas and the southwest for
| tW enty years.
| "A band Of eight men, every one of whom
| | know, did hold-up at Albuquerque two
| years ago. Another robbery was of a train
| near Ardmore. There was a rum too to
| Missouri and Nebraska Altgood and Jim
| Kennedy made several holdups near the
! Blue Cut together. Altgood has done a
| turn in some eastern penitentiary.'
| Kennedy is believed to be the notorious
| Jack Kennedy, now in the Springfield, Mo.
| Jail, awaiting trial for train robbery