The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1899-05-27

LAST STAND OF THE MAJORS BOYS.
they gave battle, and Archie Majors fell
with a bullet in his body. Abe, the
younger, stood his ground and avenged
his brothers death with a shot that ended
the life of Brown. Surrendering, he gave
his name as James Morgan and said that
the dead bandit was George Morgan, his
brother, claiming Chicago as their resi-
dence.
On the dead bandit were found two
photographs. One was of an infant in
long clothes, taken in Seattle, and the other
of a handsome young woman, with the
inscription on the back, my dear wife,
| Lena and with the imprint of Mast, a
photographer of Park street, Alameda,
Utah, on the front. Securing a 0 Of
the woman's picture from Utah, the San
Francisco Chronicle found that the sub
ject was Lena Stone, a former Salvation
Army lassie of Oakland and Alameda,
who married Archie Majors about a year
N a half ago. From this photograph the
identity of the captured bandit and his
dead brother was easily established.
TIE story of the career of Abe Majors
| reads like a dime novel. His latest deed,
participated in by his brother, who was of
the same stripe, is but the elimination of
a long series of crimes, but it shows in
vivid colors the desperate character of the
boy who is yet in his teens.
Recently, on the outskirts of Brigham,
county seat of Box Elder county, two men
confronted James Hampton, a drummer
for a silverware firm. and, at the point of
a pistol, compelled him to walk to a Sc
| cluded place. Here they robbed him of
everything Of value, including his sam
pies, bound his hands and feet and gagged
him. The younger robber changed shoes
with the drummer, and they left him in
his plight.
Hampton worked his feet free and walk
ed some miles to give an alarm. Sheriff
Gordon and Deputy Thompson ave chase
and intercepted the men half way between
| Ogden and Brigham. A running fight
ensued at 2 O'Clock In the morning, and
| the robbers escaped to the hills. Help was
called by telephone, and Captain Brown,
| with Sheriff Layne and Deputies Belnap
and Bailey, responded. They cornered
the men in a rocky glen. The pair tried
to run out, and all three officers fired, one
killing the older bandit.
The other robber took deliberate aim at
Brown, holding the pistol with n hand
and resting on the other. He missed on
the first shot, but the second ended
Browns life instantly. After a hot ex-
change Of bullets the younger robber sur
rendered and was taken to Brigham and
lodged in Jail.
James Morgan, or Abe Majors, since
being put in Jail, has carried himself with
the same brayado shown during his In
generation in California. He has never
divulged his real name or given 4 nix
ling Of his identity. The people of Utah
were worked up to a high pitch by Cap
tain B4own's murder. He was a brother
in-law of ex-United States Senator Frank
Cannon, and for ten years had been a
member of the Ogden police force.
Abe Majors first ran afoul of the law
when he was captured with Bert Willmore
In Oakland, Cal, eafiy IN the morning of
Feb. 6, 1896. For weeks that city had
been terrorized by a supposed gang of
cracksinen, who looted stores, drilled safes
and robbed dozens of business houses and
residences. The boys were finally arrested.
They had their pockets filed with re-
v~olvers, burglars tools. fuses, sticks of
| dynamite and other accessories of the
trade they piled. Willmore was IA years
old then and Majors II. After repeated
! denials of their guilt they confessed to 40
burglaries in a space of three weeks and
implicated Mrs. Willmore, the mother of
one of them. Abe Majors and the VIII
more boy were sentenced to ten years Inn
prisonment in Folsom penitentiary a few
weeks after their capture. Superior Judge
York of Los Angeles, sitting in San Fran
cisco, said that he found no mitigating
circumstances. The record of their crimes,
he said, was the most remarkable ever
brought to his notice. He deemed the
boys unfit to be at liberty.
The details Of the burglaries of Majors
and Willmore, as related in their confess
sions, were almost incredible. Abe Ma
jors, even then under an alias, planned
the jobs. He said he had learned only
eight months before of his fathers death
on the gallows, when some one tainted
him about 1t. He Immediately left home
for Fresno, where he changed his name.
Ha was brought back through the efforts