The sun., 1903-09-13


officer. and pos ses. the train and bank rob
bers who have infested variou, states al"
Territorie. of the United States for more
han forty-fve wears are at the present
time thing of the past. There rs bt' ore
man still at large who is TO be teareh ne
i, Harvey Logan. alias Kid Curry. who
bribed his way ont of the knoxville penn
Tertiary"
That is statemen, made by James
Mcfarland general superintendent "' 'n'
Western Pnkerton detective agencies w
the course of an account of tn" running" "o""
>f ,l,, last two no, oriou- gangs of hahdNs'
He told the story in this city lew Gays
ag" ,,.~ l..
"'rh" origina,ors Of train rooohg' n'
sail. were the Reno brothers. three IN
number. They came from Seymour. md
originally but driftcd West when Young.
"Tbev we're of Swiss ext ction and served
in the War of the II ,bellion, When they
left the army they engaged IN tram roonine
They associated themselves with t~o "h"r
criminals named Anderson and Johnson
Two of the brothers, with Anderson ana
johnson, were captured after a hard hgh.
IN the latter part of 1898, after all f'e han
robbed he first train ever attacked IN 'he
In;te States. in Indiana The citizens
Of Seymour were shocked. and when the
men were brought in by officers mon tooh
posse. sion of them and they we're lynchei.
John Reno drifted into Missouri and there
was captured after committing similar
crime, and was sentenced 10 twenty-five
years in the Missouri penitentlary
Then came the James and Younger
gangs. Their term at train robbing was
very short After the killing OF Jesse
James by the Ford brothers and the sur
render of Frank James to Gov Cnttendeh
of Missouri there was very little train or
hank robbing for number of years, ex-
cept by tramps and petty operators
Next there came an outlaw by the name
OF John Bass. In 1877, while he was known
as peaceable citizen Of Sherman rex
he organized a band of train robbers. 1t
was composed Of himself as leader. the
three Collins brothers, the three jackson
brothers. all of the vicinity OF sherman.
and Bill Spotswood of Beaton, Tex
Their first work was the holding up OF
Texas and Pacific train the latter part of
~. That was followed by the robbery OF
a Houston and Texas Central train and
the Texas Express Company safe, on board
that train, few months later.
The remnant Of the band was rounded
up at Round Rock, near Geofgetown. Tex.
early in 1878, and regular hog g-killing bee
took place. This was the last ever heard
Of them, and so far as train robblng is con-
cerned. the business had decided setback.
"The next crowd that came into prom
inence was the Rube Burroughs sang OF
Alabama They preyed mainly on the
Southern Express Company and trains
operated in the Southern States. The
Pinkertons were sent after them, and
in a fight in Alabama Rube and several
members of the gang were killed. while the
others were arrested and sent to prison.
Again train robbing was broken up Tor
while.
"Up TO the time Of which ! speak, there
we're few lines Of railway in the Far West,
and the country was sparse(y settled. There
fore the various gangs confined their oper-
ations 10 the Middle Wes, and the South
ern States.
in the latter part Of the sos. three
brothers. John, Loney and Harvey Logan,
who we're born in Kentucky, appeared
under the name Of the Curry brothers.
in Wyoming, where John, the eldest, took
up a ranch John had cattle brand, and
the first knowledge Of his crimes we have
is that he started in to brand mavericks.
This was followed by wholesale cattle
stealing, in which all three brothers par
ticpated Harvey was The baby OF the
family and was dubbed tho kid and IN
after life he was known as Kid Curry
They l,,came associated with criminal
known as Fla'noscd George Curry. Their
,ler,redatiu,la became go great that they
we're, driveu ont oG Wyoming and went
70 Montana there they added murder
to their other crimes. In one encounter
John Logan was killed
Then the remaining three removed
TO Wyoming again. Here 1t was, at the
horne of George Curry, that Harvey Logan
first met Harry Lonahaugh, alias Kid
Ionrabaugh. alias the Sun Dance Kid.
who had juSr been rtlea sed from Wyomn z
renitentiary after sewing ten years
sentence for horse stealing, short time
afterward another notorious cattle thief
and bank hold-up appeared in Wyoming.
He was George Parker alias Butch Cassidy.
'The three newcomers pooled issues with
Elatr. osed George Curry and all engaged in
the cattler -ustling business. But the re-
turns from this were too slow for Parker
and Iongabaugh. who had been accust omed
to quicker met hods They were dissatis-
fed and began TO get another gang in shape.
Living at Thermopolis, WyO., was one
Tom O'pay. IN a few months he was a
fulfil ged member of what was after
ward known as the 'Hole-in-t he-Wall
gang. There were now banded together
five of the mos' daring men Wyoming
ever had within her borders, and their head
quarters was at the Lost Cabin. about sixty
miles from Thermopolis
From Lost Cabin they went 10 Belle
Fourche, s. D.. where in broad daylight they
held up and robbed the Belle Fourche bank.
All the robbers escaped, with the single
exception Of Tom o Day, who was drunk
and fell of lis horse and vas captured
He was never convicted Of participation
in the robbery, however
"A noted criminal named Bob Meeks
took the place Of O'Day, and month after
ward the same gang held mp and robbed
the bank Of Montpelier, Idaho They again
made their escape Bob Mseks was ar.
rested later and eeutcnced to the Idaho
penitsntary for four, cen years. He served
until few days ago. when he made hir
escape