Democratic messenger. [volume] (Snow Hill, Md.) 1869-1973, 1899-05-13
BOLD OUTLAWS.
Their Daring Depredations Arouse
The Officials of Four States.

Union. Colorado, Utah, Wyom-
ing and Idaho, for the purpose
of devising means to rid the
Businesses of the Rocky Noun
tains of a gang of outlaws that
has pillaged all that came with
in their reach The gang in
cludes 500 of the widest des-
peradoes in the West. This in
the present day may sound like
an exaggeration, but that is
not the case. Under the leader
ship of Butch" Cassidy no
more villainous, rufiianly band
was ever organized. That their
depredations have not been
more extensive has been due to
the safeguards with which
civilization has surrounded the
country.
After the ordinary methods
of hunting outlaws had been
tried unsuccessfully it was de-
cided that drastic means must
be employed. Rewards have
been repeatedly .offered for
Butch" Cassidy, dead or alive,
and after each fresh outbreak
these awards have invariably
been increased. If all the offers
which have been made from
time to time hold good, the
slayer of Butch" should he
ever live to claim his reward
would be entitled to upward of
$40, 900 in blood money.
The forces are subdivided in
to five bands, each controlled
by its own leader, with Cassidy
as the supreme power. The
outlaws now practically con-
troll the sparsely settled region
extending from central Wyom-
ing southwesterly through
northwestern Colorado and
Utah, land almost to the Arizona
line. Marauding and murder
Gus bands conduct their raids
without restraint. The theft of
live stock run into the millions.
Ranchmen are murdered and
are driven out of business, and
the officers of the law are
powerless.
These bands have a number
of strongholds in the mountains.
Each is both a rendezvous and
a fortress, absolutely impreg-
nable. They can only be reached
by traversing deep and narrow
gorges, scaling lofty and rugg-
ed peaks and penetrating the
widest recesses of the Rocky
mountains. In many places the
only trail lies over a narrow
shelf of rock ,.cut by the bandits
along the face of a precipice.
Holes have been drilled into
which in case of close pursuit
dynamite can be placed and
the trail blown into the chasm
below, thus battling all pursuit.
About four years ago Butch"
was shot at from ambush near
Green river by a cowboy known
as Hackney" Huges, whose
only object was to secure the
reward offered by the State
authorities of Utah. The bullet
pierced the lobe of his ear and
the blood streaming down his
face acted upon Cassidy as a
red flag might to a maddened
bull.
With "A howl of rage he turn
ed his horse just as another
bullet passed through the rim
of his sombrero. A puff of
smoke from a clump of bushes
showed where the assassin was
concealed. For unique profanity
Butch" Cassidy hasn't his
equal in the states and on that
occasion he is said to have
fairly surpassed himself. Rip
ping out a string of oaths that
would reach from Dan to Beer
sheba he jumped from his horse
and lodged behind a boulder.
He waited for twenty min
utes and then the cowboy shot
the outlaws horse, which had
been grazing in the open.
That was more than Butch"
could stand. Throwing caution
to the winds he ran towards the
clump of bushes with a pistol
in each hand, barking at every
step.
But Hughes, considering dis
erection the better part of valor,
had jumped on his horse and
succeeded in making good his
escape. But the vindictive
nature of Butch" Cassidy as
serted itself. He had recognized
his assailant, and every mem
Der of the band received in
structions to be on the watch
for him. Hughes left the Green
river country, and it was not
until six months later that he
was located, on the north fork
of the Powder river, up in
Wyoming.
Cassidy was notified, and
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