Akron daily Democrat. [volume] (Akron, Ohio) 1892-1902, 1899-06-03

! identity CT the captured bandit sand his
dead brother was easily established.
| The story of the career of Abe Majors
reads like 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 II shows in
vivid colors the desperate character of the
boy VINO is yet in his teens
Recently, on the outskirts of Brigham,
county seat of Box Elder county, two men
confronted James Hampton, drummer
for silverware firm. and, at the point of
I q pistol, compelled him to walk to 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 gave chase
and intercepted the men half way between
Ogden and Brigham. A running fight
ensued at 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 one hand
and resting on the other. He missed on
the first shot but the second ended
Iifo No. nv
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 bravado shown during his in
generation in California. He has never
divulged his real name or given an ink
ling of his identity. The people of Utah
were worked up to high pitch by Cap
tain Browns murder. He was brother
in-law of. ex- nited 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, early on the morning of
Feb. 6, 1896. For weeks that city had
been terrorized by supposed gang of
cracksmen, who looted stores, drilled safes
and robbed dozens of business houses and
residences. The boys We're finally arrested
They had their pockets filled with re
volvers, burglars TOOLS fuses, sticks of
dynamite and other accessories of the
trade they piled. Willmore was II 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 Will
more boy were sentenced to ten years i'm
prisonment in Folsom penitentiary 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 confes-
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 taunted
him about it. He Immediately left home
for Fresno, where he changed his name.
He was brought back through the efforts
of his mother, who declared that hrs.
Willmore had ruined both her cons
Abe acknowledged he had turned robber
In order to give presents to his sweetheart
Archie Majors was apparently not con-
cerned in the burglaries, but he certainly
abetted his younger brother in his illegal
acts He WAS of even lower type than
ho 10 oh ~,
a cowboy for year until seven months
previous TO Abe's arrest. He returned in
rags and was clothed by his mother. Aft
erward he stole everything valuable in
the miserable home, stripping the blankets
from his mothers bed.
Abe Majors and Willmore were released
on parole from Folsom penitentiary over
a year ago through the leniency of Presi-
dent r. NJ. Fitzgerald of the board of state
prison directors. Mrs Ballington Booth,
many ministers, lawyers and others joined
in petition for his release Fitzgerald
was convinced of his reformation.
Abe Majors then dropped from sight,
not to be heard OF again until the fatal
battle in Utah.
4 pathetic feature in the tragedy of the
Majors family is the story of Lena Stone,
now the widow of the rDbber killed in the
lonely glen in Utah The eldest of three
orphan Sisters, she Joined the Salvation
Army four years ago i'll Alameda when
she was employed as domestic by j. E.
Baker of Central avenue In the barracks
she met Archie Majors, who lured her to
Sacramento, where they were married.
The couple went to Seattle, but Majors
was not TO be reformed. and wanted the
wife to earn his living, He deserted her
and drifted back 20 San Francisco.
MEIGARORS EHCnoE Linn