Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1901-08-08
SI,3oI, ooo %
ROMANCE OF TWO DESPERADOES
How the Younger Brothers Were Re-
leased After Serving Twenty
FIVE Years Imprisonment

| leased After Serving Twenty
FIVE Years Imprisonment.
| 1t was a sisters love and devotion that
| resulted a few days ago in freedom after
| . yea RS of Imprisonment of jim and col"
| Younger, two Of the most noted of Ameri-
| car dosperadoes. This devotion has been
| supported by Senator stephen B. t,lkns
who has repeatedly in the last FIVE years
| given his influence in favor of tho parole
| OF the men. iom9ntic tinge Is given to
! the reasons assigned for his interest in
| tho case by the unsupported story that his
| life WAS saved during the Civil War by one
Of tho brothers
Fifteen years ago Miss Retta Youn ger
! began her work for their pardon or parole
She has never ceased since then 10 nght
for them although time and time again de-
feated by tho legislatu
In prison the two surviving brothers
have been models They have studied
medicine, tho law and theology They
have never discbeved orders Warden al
ter warden has testified not only to their
obedience, but to the belief that they
would make good cit'zers IL freed
Despite their long imprisonment the
foungers are still comparatively yolng
men. Thomss Coleman Younger, familiar
ly called 'Ccle" was born in 1874 James
in 1850 and Robert, who died in the PEN
itentiory SON years ago, in lSi3 The DID
est of the trio was. therefore. II years Of
age when the Civil War began. but he liv-
cd in country and at time when boys
did the work end had the daring Of mon.
For several years before the war the Dor
der countries CT Missouri and Kansas We're
virtually in a state of ciVi! strife. Raid
by todies of armed men were common
both In Missouri and Kansas. Noondly
torays and n idnight assassirations wcra
OF weekly occurrence. The "Javha wlSerS'
and Border Rufins" carried on a cease
1IE tvff 11,-
ish brutality.
When the Civil War broke out there
fore, it found both sides so embitterad
that the conditions were present for a 1es-
ler1te struggle. Col Henry ". Younger.
father of the conyicts. sf oceetrsrlu
father Of the convlcts, suffered So terribly
from the raids of Jennson end others that
he was reduced from affluence to poverty.
ana his son Cole in a wild desire 70 - e.
Nenge the wrongs of his family, enlisted
in the guerrilla band led by the notoric rs
4 Quantrell. With 2 small party. numbering
anywhere from 20 to 200 men. this noted
guerilla made his name a terror word in
Western Missouri and Eastern Kansas.
While acknowledging n SORT of a'lcclanco
to the Confederacy. he acted evervwhera
and at all times on his OWE responsibility.
ana waged war with the ferocity of a wild
beast
TRAINED BY QUANTRELL.
But there were beasts Of prey on both
sides in those cruel days and each seem
ed anxious to rival the other in the at-
tempt to establish a reputation fer savag-
cry. Cole was soon Joined by his brother
James. and the training they received IN
der Quantreli was the worst that could
be ina gfned, a fit preparation for the life
they afterward led The Younger Lroth.
ers quickly distinguished themselves
among even the reckless spirits Of the
guerrilla band.
The federal troops and militia were con-
stantly on the trail Of Quantrcl but the
Familiarity of the CucrilllS with the cOuu-
try in which they We're operating Z. ncral r.
ly enabled them to take advantage Of their
opponents when an attack was deemed adj
NiSable. and, when hard pressed. greatly
facilitated their escape cole and his
brother seem to have been i'm nearly ever.
one of the little but desperate tattic;
fought by Qulntrell They were 1t Tate's
house when it was surrounded hy the fed
erals, ana narrowly escaped capture They
We're at both fights at Blue Cut and at the
t0ttles of Walnut Gre elk. Independence.
Lone Jack and a score Of other euga &c
monts, hardly worthy of the name of Skin
mishes, yet which formed notable events
. in the history of the border warfare which
went unnterrupte eddy for four years.
lIAIR-BREApTH ESCAPES.
Numerous were the hair-breadth escapes
OF Cole and his brother The former seem
ed to bear a charmed life In this first
5 fight under Quantrcll he became separa-
t ted from his companions. was pursued by
l nearly a hundred infantry and cavalry, yet
although on foot. managed 10 ESCAPE not
= having received scratch On another oc-
l casion, by a clever piece of strategy. he
effected, not only his own escape but the
+ deliVerance Of the band from perlous
. situation. 1t was in February, 1862. Guam
I trell was ercamped on Indian Creek. II
: Jackson county, about ten miles from IN.
= dependence. There were only about &
I lntr in the guerrilla party, and the feler
ais imagins that their capture would be
an easy matter moved cut from lndepen
p. dence with over 700 men and surroundec
the camp at night making an attack al
/, day-break of the nCrnng or the 26th.
y, The eucrrillas maze u stubborn defence
I but finding themselves completely sur
rounded realized that their capture of eX-
termination was only matter Of days
Just hack Of the federal line was a large
, farmhouse with yards, containing a con-
siderable herd of cattle. Wien night came
on the gucrrllas began to fell trees o-,rn-
, sitlY to siren gthen their position, and
, while the attention Of the tciCrl.~ was
n thus diverted, cole Younger with three o'
I four companions. Crept through the tclCr
al lines reached the yard, tore dow
the fence and stampeded the cattle I'm tn,
4 direction OF the federal force Tho ousa
, of the frightened steers was mistaken ir
. the darkness for a cavalry charge, AMI ir
< the confusion that onsued the guerrilll
| band made its escape.
: Another time when Cole was visiting
0 his mother, his pres nee became known t.
: the federal militia, who surrounded thu
house in an attempt to capture him, ant
he escaped through the stratcgem OF al
, Old colored woman. y ho concealed him be
- meath her pctucoats ard venerable
y, counterpart has'il, added TO her costume
: The Youngers seem 20 have followed The
y fortunes of Quautrcl Until about the close
= of the war, when they returned to theh
home but soon found that they would uo
be permitted to live there in peace or, in
y deed, at all Several members Of the Gam
= ilv had been murdered ny the Kansas
: Guerrilas Two Of the ladies had been i'm
= prisonod in an old building, which fell ~
- them during "A storm and caused iujGrie:
- that resulted in death; the family estat,
had been ruined and the YoungerS, viii
their brother Bob, aged Il, the James boy.
and number Cf others similarly situated
made the fatal mistake Of turning to a nf,
of crime. They might have emigrated 4
o one of the southern states, but refused
/. to do so, being partly actuated no doub