The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1899-06-24

stockmen made superhuman efforts to
head off the road agent band after they
had looted the treasure safe of the Union
Pacific and started to retreat to their lair
in the fastness of the Hole In the
WALL
There is a price of $1,000 on the head
of each maj who participated in the
hold up. Every man is known The lead
ed is Laughing Sam" Carey, the most
notorious bandit, cutthroat and despera-
do in the west, who has a career of crime
extending back into the palmy days Of
Deadwood's fame as a treasure camp.
Several times has his bands been wiped
out, but he appears to bear a charmed
life. His companions are the two Rob-
erts brothers, wanted for many murders;
Jack Kennedy, a gambler, horse thief
and man killer, with a bad record, and
"Mexican Jo," a half breed, who has been
chased over several western states by
vigilantes and who would be hanged on
sight.
There are a large number Of kindred
characters in the area known as the
"Hole In the Wall" The few honest
ranchmen in that section are forced to
give protection and food to those rough
characters or suffer the loss of their
herds and their lives The place is full
Of desperate fugitives from many states.
Most of the men know they must fight or
be hanged when captured, and for that
reason all efforts to take them alive are
met with bloodshed.
The Hole In the Walr' lies south of
the Montana state line, west of the Big
Horn mountains, east g the Yellowstone
park and north of the great wall of gran
tie from which it takes its name. This
natural barrier of stone runs east and
west from the Powder river range to the
Little Big Horn mountains, and it is one
of the freaks OF nature of which this Sec
ton is full. The southern entrance to
the Hole is through a narrow defie,
which can be easily guarded by a dozen
expert rii1emen and an army defied.
From Montana it is entered by a some
what similar trail. OvAr the rough wall
of stone surrounding the place as a whole
no horseman can ride. The Indians and
half breed outcasts from civilization have
used this place as a refuge when hotly
chased by officers of the law for two gen.
erations.
The inmates of the territory know the
hand Of every man beyond the mountain
barrier is against them, and they help
each other largely as a matter of self
preservation. If one is threatened, all are
in danger, and they rally to the support
of one another on the slightest sign of
troubles. The majority of these outlaws
lead a very migratory existence and can
move as quickly and as rapidly as In
dams. Every man is a dead shot. In
fact their very existence depends upon
their dexterity with the rifle and revolv-
er. The law of the state, has no standing
there, and the authority of the nation is
held in the utmost contempt.
Very primitive frontier justice is the
rule, and the gun settles all disputes. The
men live in harmony as a rule, because
they do not dare to quarrel. Outlaws
from many states have gathered there
year by year, until the colony now num-
bers perhaps 100 as desperate a band of
hunted men as was ever gathered in any
spot on the world. No officer has ever
been known to venture into the place.
Death would be certain and swift.
The nearest approach to a raid in that
direction was the effort of the stockmen
to clean II the raiding parties from the
Hole in 1892, when they employed 100
Texas "killers" to go into that section
and shoot every man they met. The
KILLERS were we'll armed and mounted.
but they had killed but eight or ten Of
the tough citizens Of that community
when they were surrounded by the Hole
In the Wall element and their sympa-
thizers, and il the cavalry from the adja-
cent posts had not been sent to their re-
lief none would have returned to tell the
storv of fhe fierce fighters they had met.