El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1900-11-19
Ell paso TEXAS MONDAY. NOVEMBER 49, 1900

at Wilcox and a respected citizen, with
a knowledge of the affairs of that
company which subsequently aided the
gang in capturing the strong box on
express trains. Bravo Juan had beene
a cattle "rustler" and desperate char
acter for years, but deserted this rath
er tame enterprise for the more ex-
citing life of a train robber. Another
noted member of the gang was Three
Fingered Jack" who was killed in his
last engagement with the Southern
Pacific company at Fairbanks, making
a confession before his death. Bob
Brown. who was ferreted out by a spe-
cial detective of Wells, Fargo & Co.,
was convicted in the courts at Tucson
and sent to Yuma prison for ten years.
Two other members of the gang Will
and Lewis Owings plead guilty to the
charge of train robbing and were CIV
en- a sentence of four years in the pen
itentiary. They were formerly law
abiding citizens of Pearce, in south
ern Arizona on the Southern Pacific
and near the scene of the last train
robbery
The bloodthirsty outfit initiated it's
career of crime in Apache county by
cattle ''rustling." Bravo Juan was ex-
pert in this line and the gang oper-
ated successfully for sometime, but
nearly a year ago posse of cattlemen
starting from ST. Johns. A. T., picked
nm fbair trail and foIlowod fhop, bot1v
for miles, the chase resulting in a run
ming fight in which two of the desper-
ADDE'S were wounded and two members
of the posse were killed. They were
Frank Gibbons, prominent citizen of
st. Johns. and James Leseuer, son of
John T. Leseuer, formerly treasurer of
Apache county. After this the bandits
found it difficult to elude officers as
heavy rewards were offered by the ter
ritory. several counties and by individ-
uals, a strong incentive to the posses,
and since they were outlawed with a
price on their heads they planned
train robberies for big gains.
Three Fingered Jack" the noted
bandit who terrorized southern Ari-
zona at the head of a cattle ''rustling'
outfit for years. was captured in Grip
pie Greek, Colo. and returned to Co
chise county for trial, but the terri ,
tory failed to establish a case and |
when he was released he Joined AL |
words crowd. Their first robbery was |
the most successful and artistic ever
nj aH in, ri
how thoroughly familiar were the rob-
bers with railroad and express COM
panies' affairs. The hold-up occurred
at Cochise, a small place on the !
Southern Pacific, where several of the
gang had lived for years, on Septem- :.
Der 9. 1899.
Their Initial Performance.
One bandit climbed into the engin-
GERS cabin compelling the two men in |
the cabin to sit quietly while the en-
gine was detached from the cars. This
bandit. who likely was Stiles, ran the
engine down the track for a mile, and
sat in the cab complacently smoking
a cigarette and joking with the train
a loud explosion occurred showing that
the other bandits had gotten in their
work on Wells. Fargo & Cos. strong
box. Stiles forced the engineer and
fireman to continue the engine in the
direction it had started warning him
that if he did not run it full speed
for mile they would lose their
scalps.
The express car was shattered and
the robbers left with abag of gold
which weighted two of them down.
They had more money than they could
silver dollars along their course.
Horses We're waiting for the bandits
The stretch of country between Will
cox and Cochise is level and large
shallow ponds remain for days after
each rain The gang rode off in the !
direction of Wilcox. but had their ar
so neatly made that it was /,
after one of these rains that the rob- !
berry occurred. and they rode through |
several ponds. consequently circling
in their course and finally made their |
way back to Cochise. where they lived !
and mingled with the people as they |,
had done for several years The first
suspicion was attached to Stiles when |
later he went to Casa Grande and dis
played great deal of coin About !
five men participated in the hold-up
and his equal share was about $4,000. an /
\ mount which h. Nisnlayed To friends