The San Francisco call., 1899-05-14

he was thunderstruck Hello Abe" he
said: what are you doing here?"
The little pseudo newspaper boy was
Abe Majors.
Then came the BOYS confession.
Twenty-Five burglaries and safe jobs had
been carried out by them under the very
eye of the police The boy burglars kept
back nothing. All their plumber that was
not spent was found in a shed in the rear
of the Willmore house. and the boys told
remarkable stories. which resulted in the
arrest of Mrs. Willmore. Nothing definite
could be proved against her and she was
released. The boys were tried and sent
to Folsom for ten years
Curfously mixed with the criminal
careers of Archie and Abe Majors is n
romance Each boy had love affair, and
it exercised a powerful influence over him.
Abe who was is when his career Of
burglary was cut short, was desperately
in love with Ina Willmore.
After being sent to Folsom Ina exerted
herself as much as possible to obtain a
pardon for her convict lover. Several peo-
pie were interested by her in Abe's future.
but it was owing largely to the efforts Of
his mother and of Mrs. Ballington Booth
and many clergymen, lawyers and iurists
that he was paroled several months ago.
Arclle Ma1OTS- after once learning the
secret of his birth, was the more wayward
of tue two boys He struck out for him
self after he began TO realize that his ac-
quaintance with the Willmores was not
beneftlng him. He procured a horse and
went down into Texas and Mexico. and
for some time was a cowboy. About two
years ago he appeared in Oakland and
stayed with his mother for a short time.
1t was then he met and loved a Salvation
Army lass. Lena Stone.
Sister Lena was generally supposed at
that time TO be the accepted lover of
SavatiOnist at Berkeley named Under
wood, but Archie Majors proved the more
successful suitor and induced Miss Stone
to elope with him to Stockton. where they
were married. For nearly a year Archie
and his halleluiah bride Jared we'll They
went to Seattle. where child was born,
but after that their ways appear to nave
parted and Mrs. Majors is supposed to
be in the East with her baby.
For several months nothing was heard
of Archie by his mother, but early this
year he appeared in Oakland and met
Abe, who was on parole and was appa-
rently striving earnestly to live an honest
life. The presence of Archie unsettled
Abe, and some time in March the two
lads disappeared. They gave their
mother no inkling of what they were go
ing 70 do but this did not surprise her,
as they had long been accustomed to
please themselves. No attention was
paid to Abe Majors Until the 1st of April.
on which day he should under the terms
of his parole. have reported to the Oak
land police authorities. His failure to do
this was communicated to the Board Of
Prison Directors and notices were issued
that he was fugitive from justice.
On Mayday the newspapers published an
account of highway robbery and murder
by bandits a a little town in Utah Near
Bingham some commercial travellers had
been 'held up by bandits From a neigh
boring town came similar story Sherifs
and posses went out from several coun-
ties to capture the two bandits. After a
long search they were seen one evening
as they were about to enter a mountain
pass. Both were heavily armed. carving
revolvers in their belts and Winchesters
over their shoulders. To wait for day
light would probably mean the loss OF
the opportunity to capture the robbers.
They were pursued into the pass.
When aware of their danger they turned
on their pursuers and opened fire. The
taller of the bandits was soon a corpse.
but the younger one. apparently worked
up to.desperation by the death of bis com
panion stood his ground manfuily and
calmly fired at the officer nearest him 1t
was Captain Brown of the Utah police
force. and a second later he, too was
corpse. With several guns pointed at
him the surviving bandit threw up his
arms and allowed himself to be taken
prisoner.
He told his captors that their name was
Morgan and that Chicago was their home
but he refused to give any more partic-
ulars. Contented with this information.
the bandit was left in his cell An ex-
animation made of his dead COM
panion. In one of his pockets were two
photographs. One was of young woman
and written on the back was the simple
declaration of love: My dear wife.
Lena" The photograph bore the imprint
of an Alameda photographer.
The other photograph was that of a
baby in long clothes. The picture was
taken in Seattle. With these two remin-
iscences of his happier life the bandit had
gone out to gain stolen fortune or death
A few days later the photograph of
Lena" was sent to Alameda. The iden-
tity of its original was at once discovered
by friend. 1t was the picture of Lena
Stone, the dear wife" of Archie Majors
The rest was soon told. The Morgan
brothers. the bandits of Utah were Abe
and Archie Majors of Oakland
STUART w. BOOTH.