The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1899-08-27

There was another Reno brother named Jack
who had been concerned In their last robbery
lie was not captured at the time the four ran ava,
10 Canada, but was taken afterward and sen
fenced TO a term In the ponitentiary. One day
years after tho lynching, he walked into the Chi
caEo Once Of tho Adams Express company. askec
for the manager. and announced that no wa,
Jack Reno. the last Of the gang, saying also tina
| he had Just been pardoned lilo asked tho com
pany's representative what he intended to de
| eainst him, as there were other charges pending
| He produced a marble Bible" which he had mad,
whom a convict, and laid IL on the desk as ovi
denoc Of his good Intentions Tho e1 press mana
ger told him TO 60 homo Jack remarked that the
business did not pay enough 10 equalizo the pun
ishment II entailed. went back 10 Seymour and
settled down 10 work. lie 10 thore now a respected,
tax paying citizen
The lynching Of these ton men In Indiana ap-
pears 20 have discouraged prospective robbers
for little while They broke out ag ain. however.
In 1870. On July FL Of that yoar eight men tore
up the track Of the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific
road near Council Bluffs Iowa The train was
dorailed, the engineer was killed and more than a
dozen passengers were badly injured As the
crash came the outlaws rushed from hiding places
near the roadbcd robbed their wounded and tor
riled victims and took SO 600 from tho express
car This was known as the Council Bluffs
outrage" and the daily papers Of the time were tre-
mendousy wrought up over Il Thirty thous-
and dollars was offered as a reward for tho cap
turc. dead or alive, Of the perpetrators but they
got clear with their booty Tho Council Bluffs
affair was reasonably successful from the crimi-
nal point OF view. yet strangely enough, II was
followed by long stagnaton in tho business
II was 1875 before the country was startled by an
attempt TO rob a Vandalia line express car at
Long Point Ill Tho bandits shot and killed the
engineer. Milo Eames, unoouplod tho express
car from the remainder Of tho train and ran IL
two miles down the track. Tho express messen-
ger refused TO open up the safe and fought like
tiger They wero still battling with him and
apparently as far from success as ever. when
they woro frightened away by the approach Of
the train conductor. who headed party OF armed
passengers These robbers were not the genuine
article and had little nerve They threw away
not only their weapons In the flight but at vari-
GUS places on their headlong stampede they threw
away body suits OF mail which they had worn
under their clothing. An offered reward Of S40-
900 failed TO land any OF them In jail
In this year the James boys, who were genuine
all through, came TO tho front as train robbers
They had been previously merely raiders OF banks
and stage coaches They forced the station
agent at Gadshill Mo, on the Iron Mountain
road, 10 flag q passenger train. which they held
up with little trouble Their booty was S12, 900.
taken from passengers and express messengers
alike A year later. at Otterville, Kan. they
robbed Missouri Pacific train Of $4,000. On
Oct T. 1877, tho James and Younger boys took
SIS. 900 from Chicago q Alton train at Glendale.
Mo Their biggest haul was made at Muncie,
Kan. in Dec. 1873, when they held up Kansas
Pacific train obtained S55. 600 and led into the
Indian Territory. They reappeared as train rob
bers In 1881. AT Winston Mo-, they boarded
Rock Island train Conductor Wcstfall, who made
some show Of resistance. was shot dead by Jesse
James A passenger named Mcmillan. was
killed by random bullet Thoy got only $1,000
on this raid Two months later they went through
q Chicago b Alton train at Glendale and rode
away with $40, 900 in money and jewels. This
was the last train robbing exploit Of the James
boys jesse was shot by the Ford brothers next
year, and Frank fed into Tennessee, subsequent
ly standing trial. getting an acquittal and set
Ting down TO a quiet life. He Is now Tho door
keeper of a fash theatre in ST l.. lis
In tho latter part OF the seventies train robbing
was in q hourshing condition in many parts Of
tho South and West II was in 1877 that ono Of
tho most successful jobs OF this kind ever planned
was put into execution Out at Big SprinEs Neh.
O party OF six Texas cowmen, headed by Hank
Mcdonald. boarded an overland train on the In
ion Pacific without attracting especial attention,
got into tho express car and helped themselves
TO $4,000. A long pursuit followed, three Of
the robbers were killed and $40 600 OF the money
recovered. The rest OF Il and the men who had
IT. with ono exception, wcre never heard OF again.
The afterward famous Sam Bass was Q member
OF this gang. He got back TO his own State or
gained a band, and for some years terrohzed
a large extent of country. He was killed by rang
crs in a running fight in tho eastern part Of tho
state.
From Sam Bass 10 Rube Burrows stretched
long line Of knights OF the road some OF them
showing great ability and others not In general
they were reasonably successful making much
moro money than they could have earned in legiti-
mate pursuits and, 80 long as they kept clear Of
murder, there was nothing worse ahead OF them
than q sentence 10 the penitenuary. provided al
ways that they did not resist posses attempting
their arrest In such cases they were invariably
killed
One OF the most celebrated OF them was Brack
Cornett also Of Texas, better known as Captain
Dick" Tho Southern Pacific railway was his
special prey He robbed It's trains FIVE times in
year, always obtaining respectable booty.
On one occasion he cut of the ears OF an ex press
messenger who had resisted him and subsequently
mailed them TO his victim. After holding up a train
cast OF Del Rio, he kept In duress for an hour
aged maiden school teacher and compelled her TO
dance upon the prairie to lewd cowboy ditdes
accompanying himself on guitar. Captain
Dick" was killed across camp fire by Alfred
Alice. who shot him through the heart for a re-
ward Of So 500. Rube Burrows affected the Texas
and Pacific road. but occasionally switched to
the Illinois Central On a train OF this railway
in 1888 he killed Chester Hughes, a passenger
who resisted and thereafter fed fast from the gal
lows He was captured finally in Alabama and
killed while endeavohng TO escape
OF all the bloody men Of the road, individually
the shrewdest and one of boldcst was John Som
tag, of California, He was trapped and shot in
the Sierra Nevada, but not until he had sent four
detectives 10 their long account He seemed TO
have genius for detecting detectives and liked
IN kill them. His passing left but ono band Of
organized train robbers in the country. This
gang was composed mostly of tho famous Dalton
brothers, family OF dead shots, which had tho
peculiarly OF shooting rifles always with the
rife butt below tho hip Holding a gun in this
way, Bill Dalton would account for three men
In ten seconds at distance of two hundred yarda