The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1899-11-25

the time and talked with Ill of them,
but was unable from the conflicting state
ments to get a satisfactory version Of the
fight. This much, however, is known:
The three officers and the two despera-
does met. and the surrender of kuhns
was demanded. The bandits reply was,
81 will never be taken alive" and when
the smoke from the battle of bullets that
followed had cleared way Mease and
Officer Kennedy lay on the ground help
less, the former shot in the leg and the
latter with a bullet in his head and also
one in another part of his body. Kuhns
was shot three times in the back and
! once in the breast, near the left lung.
Wilkinson and Jackson were unframed.
Kuhns had lost his revolver in the fight
and, tearing himself away from the two
officers. escaped by jumping into a road
! cart near by and driving at b~Tenkneck
speed out Of town. Wounded, as he was,
almost unto death, with four bullets in
his body, one Of which it Was thought BY
the doctors for some days a~fteVyard
would cause his death, he drove four
miles into the country alone, secured
lodging at a farmhouse and about 2
O'Clock the next morning was found in
bed there by Sheriff Viberg and Officer
Wilkinson. Unable to make any resist
ance, he quietly submitted to arrest and
was taken to Fort Wayne and lodged IN
jail.
Life for Kuhns hung upon a slender
thread. When | visited him the morning
after his arrest and be lay on his cot in
the hospital department of the jail, he
looked as if his last hour were near, and
yet. in reply to my question, How do
you feel? he said, with an attempt at q
smile: "You think I'm done up, don't
you? III pull through all right yet
And pull through be did. In the course
of a few months be was removed to the
jail at Tifiin, o., where his trial for the
murder of Campau took place. 1t ended
with his conviction. The evidence against
him was entirely circunstantial, but il
was of such a strong character that it
left no doubt in the minds of those who
heard it that he was guilty. He was
given a life sentence and taken to the
pcnitentiary at Columbus, where at diff
ferent times | have met and talked to
him for the purpose of learning some
thing about his desperate career pre-
vious to the murder of Canlpau at Eos
teria. What | give below was learned
from him and gathered from persons liv-
ing around his old home who were IA
miliar with his history.
The parents of kuhns lived in Green
township, Noble county, Ind, in which
there were several small lakes. surround
ed by thick forests, which afforded safe
retreats for the outlaws who infested
that section of the state when they were
pursued by the officers. From his youth
he was a daredevil. fearless of danger,
but always cool when facing it. He
early drifted into a reckless sort of life
and for several years was one OF tie
most noted horse thieves in northern In
diana. his courage and success in plan
ming robberies finally making him the
leader Of a band who operated in that
neighborhood and who were a terror to
the farmers because of their many acts
of lawIessness and their swift punish
ment of any person who instituted pro-
ceedings for their apprehension and ar
rest.
He was arrested once for drunkenness
and held on suspicion by the officers of
being a horse thief. In the Jail at the
time there was another criminal named
| Howell. Together they formed a scheme
to attack the sheriff and escape. 1t was
| successfully carried out. The sheriff was
terribly beaten while inside the bars, and
the desperadoes got away safely. How
ell was ~recaptured, but Kuhns, although
surrounded, knocked down two officers
and escaped.
But justice finally overtakes the mast
shrewd criminals, and it overlook huhns.
| He was arrested for horse stealing, tried,
| convicted and sent to the northern Indf-
ana prison at Michigan City. He served
out his term and was released. Return
ing to his old home in Noble county, he
found things "a little too hot for him
| and concluded to go to fresh fields, where
he was notSso well knoyn and where the
| officials were not continually Holding him
! under surveillance. He went to Napole-
on and the towns t~hereabout and after
ward to Prospect, in the central part Of
the state.
His old crimina life YES recommended,
and in it he displayed even more Of the
bandit spirit than before and was holder
and more reckless than he Ind been ii
the past. In Henry county ne "<ruek it
rich,' raising d few hundred dollars,
and, fearing detection, left for central
Ohio. His headquarters were at Pros
pect, and his ostpnsible business was that
Of "a horse trader and In that be sell
dom got the worse end Of the bargain. I"
know il horse from the tip end of his tail
to the tip end of bis nose,e he said 70 me
when ] was talking to him n the Ohio
penitenfins5. s*a1ld there Init fellow In