The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1901-01-20
BANDIT CHIEF BURT ALVoRD.
Reported Death of the Southern Ter
rur Dfscredited.
(From the Chicago chronicle.)

ror Discredited.
tFrom the Chicago Chronicle)
Phoenix, AriZ.-Of all the desperadoes of
the Territory, Burt Alvord WAS the most
dashing, riotous and gay. He may be dead,
| but the people of dozens of towns will not
believe that he has "cashed in unless bet
. ter evidence is forthcoming. Bill Stiles,
| whose surrender to the authorities led TO
the report that Burt was dead, will tell
| nothing about the fate of the bandit chief.
Alyord was one of the queerest chaTac-
tiers in Arizona. At one time he was mar
| shal of Wilcox, and TO this day the citi-
Zsns say no better officer ever lived than
Burt Alvord The Territory was wider
than it is now and the desert and hill
country were infested with bandits. Al
word went after the most desperate of
men, hunted them untiringly and never
failed to bring his quarry back. He was
the admiration of the whole Southwest,
and was in fair way to gain nation wide
fame as the most dashing OF all the mar
shals in the land of lawlessness.
Suddenly he souTed on civilization. He
| become morose and announced he was go
ing into the desert to live. What wrought
the change no one knows. There was a re-
port of a woman he loved. but who loved
another. Other, stories were that lack of
! appreciation Of his work by the people
| and Impotence on his part because he
/ could not earn as much money as he
| needed made him first sullen and then
| desperate. Whatever the reason, Burt Al
word rode out OF Wilcox one bright day.
and the next his friends heard Of him he
! was "rustling" cattle on the range. A
/ ''rustler" is man who steals cattle and
I drives them to a distant market for sale.
! Alvord had joined a gang made up for
Bravo Juan, Bill stiles. Three-Fingered
Jack. Will and Lewis OwiBgs, Bob Brown,
and others. Some of these men nasquer-
AIDED as good citizens. Stiles was Wells,
Fargo & Co.'S agent at Wilcox, and the
/ Owings brothers were highly respected at
Pearce. Later on it was discovered that
the occasional trips these good citizens
/. took were for the purpose Of Joining AL
word and the gang in some cattle raid.
1t was only short time until the form
er marshal was in command Of the gang.
Alvord kept them so busy rushing cattle
that the cattlemen rose in a body and
hunted the Territory over in search of
them. They struck the rustlers trail at
last, and in long running fight, which
was practically victory for Alvord, two
of the pursuing party were killed and two
of the rustlers wounded
Alvord escaped with his wounded men
to a mountain fastness, and then, while
the cattlemen were looking for him to
make another great raid, he startled the
officers by swooping down upon the town
of Cochise, on the Southern Pacific, hold
ing up train, blowing up the express
car and the safe and getting as loot a
great quantity of gold and silver So
large was the haul made by the robbers
that they could not carry all the coin
away. For several miles out from the
town their trail was marked by silver
that fell from their pockets and saddle
bags as they rode along.
While the officers were hunting for the
bandits they were enjoying life in their
own peculiar way in the places from
which men had volunteered for their ap-
prehension.
This 50 elated Alyord that he went to
the very extreme of recklessness. He
gathered his gang together and shot up
various towns and plundered right and
left just for the fun Of the thing To
tantalize the sheriffs and marshals he
wrote gay letters to them. which by some
means. ne had placed on their doorsteps
or delivered in Their houses or nailed to
their doorpOsts when he was many miles
away. Letter writing was a fad with
him. and he kept the peace officers in a
ferment TO solve the riddle of his move
ments.
Alyord got the first serious check when
he planned to rob a Southern Pacific train
at Fairbanks.
In the hcld-up at Fairbanks Alvord's
gang ran against J. d. Milton, a Wells
Fargo messenger, who proved himself a
hero. When the train stopped Milton put
his head out TO see what was the matter.
He saw the barrels of a half dozen re-
voivers pointing at him. Without hesita-
tion he reached for his gun. Three revolv-
ere spoke and Milton dropped desperately
wounded AS the robber tried to Chamber
into the ear Milton opened on them and
two OF them, Three Fingered Jack and an
othel, were wounded.
Alvord had 10 call his men of and take
to the desert. The trail of blood from
Three Fingered Jacks wound gave the Of
fcers an easy line to follow Not far from
came upon Three-Fingered Jack He had
been abandoned and was dying With his
dying breath he cursed Alvord and told
the sheriff Of the location of the outlaws
stronghold and how it could be approach |
ed in safety.
Wakefield disposed his forces SO skill
fully and attacked so suddenly that the !
bandits were taken by surprise and sur
rendered without firing a shot.
Award, Stiles, and Bravo Juan were |
lodged in jail in Tombstone and carefully /
guarded. Then Stiles offered to turn
states evidence and his offer was accept |
ed. He made so good an impression upon |
the Wells-Fargo people that they ap- I
pointed him a special detective. One day /
he went to the Tombstone Jail and asked |
to see Alvord and Juan. Permission was /
granted. There was a sudden turning of /
keys and out of the cells stepped Alyord |
and Juan. two pistols in hand. The two /
guards were overpowered. and the three !
robbers jumped onto horses Stiles had in /
waiting. The desert swallowed them up, /
II seems. for hunt high and low, no trace |
of them could be found
Soon Alvord was sending more gay mes
sages to sheriffs and marshale. shooting
up towns and robbing right and left AL
word seemed to be master of the desert
Occasionally Alvord and his gang
swooped down upon towns and made
raids. but the old spirit was lacking The
Owings brothers had been captured and
sent to prison. So had Bob Brown.
This reduced the gang to small proper
tons. few months ago Stiles went to
Tucson and surrendered. He has given no
information, but the report became cur
rent that he had shot Alyord in a fight
and that Bravo Juan had fed to Mexico
Stiles will tell nothing. While the re-
port OF Alvords death has many believ-
ers, the knowledge OF Stiles trickery and
Alvord's ability to hoodwink the officers
make the majority of the people look
upon 1t as but another Of the clever ruses
sprung to outwit his pursuers.
Reasonable Request.