Custer County Republican. (Broken Bow, Neb.) 1882-1921, 1902-03-06
JOHN MuRReL, THE OUTLAW.

JOHN MuRREL, THE OUTLAW.
Notorious Bandit and His Gang Deiied
Officials for Twenty Years.
Many notorious bandits aud train
robbers have terror. ed the Western
plains for many years and 1t Is inter.
estlng to recall Incidents of the life
Of some desperate, like John Murrel,
who dcfled the law for more than 20
years. Many lives and many hundreds
Of thousands of dollars were the trib-
utes levied on the country by Murrei
and the gang that he 80 adroitly or
ganlzed and masterfully ruled. The
government officials were ever on his
trail.
Murrel's adoption Of his criminal ca
reer was delibaterate. OF gentle birth,
! his boyhood was quietly passed on a
Louisiana plantation. The desire to
accumulate millions seized him, and us
he had no desire TO acquire money
through the ordinary avenues of sue
cess he chose safe aud comfortable
form Of piracy to be practiced on the
Ohio and Mississippi rivers. At that
time, 1920, these rivers swarmed with
fiatboats laden with all manner of pro-
duce and manufactured goods, some
times bearing quantities Of gold and
silver coin and other government val.
tables.
One Of Murrers first movee was to
| organize band Of 40 picke,|. men and
establish headquarters, which he did
at Caye-in-Rock, Illinois. About 300
yards from the entrance were stabbed
his 20 horses and near by years pro-
vision for them. The opening of the
| cave, which faces the Ohio river, Is
more than 60 feet In diameter. From a
long corridor filled with wonderful sta.
lactltes deceptive passages branch off
ut frequent intervals. Murrel's own
room was reached by ladder. Miles
Of underground passageway would
serve now as then to bewilder the I'M
initiated hopelessly. One Of these
routes, however, led over a distance
of 80 miles to Equality, Gallatin Coun-
ty. This provided an infallible escape
for Murrel and his confederates.
In the long interval between 1920 and
1850 hundreds Of boats were captured
by the gang. their own men placed In
charge, and the boats crew and pas
sengers held prisoners in the cave
while the pirates took the cargo South,
assumed the real owners name, sold
out the contents and returned to the
cave with the booty. Not infrequently
would the captives be released later to
return az best they could to their
homes. A pretty and winsome lady
was always prize for the outlaws.
and the number that lived and died In
the cave with the gang will never be
known.
MurrePs performances had been no.
forious for many years before the COM
merce OF the central West demanded
relief. He pillaged so long and success
fully that he amassed an immense for
tune. The government placed a reward
of $4,000 for his head Trouble COM
menced among the members Of the
notorious gang and many deserted
| Murrel. Some had become West In,
dia pirates, others had settled in far
off localities, unknown to the world,
and the old leader himself had grown
gray in crime
In 1S49 Murrel was betrayed by one
Of his followers and treacherously shot.
His head was offered to the govern.
ment for the reward, but the bargain
was never completed, owing in part to
the murderer's fear that his own life
would be Jeopardized by the act.