The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1903-10-30

"a small army of detectives and
sheriffs deputies descended on Pixley and
! the surrounding country the next day,
but not single clue could be obtained,
and the robbery soon passed into the
limbo of criminal mysteries.
"The most plausible theory was that
some eastern experts, passing through
California, had planned and carried out
the work.
"Eleven months later, in January,
, 1890, the same train was robbed again
by two men, this time near Goshen, and
tramp, who was riding under car and
who stuck his head out to see what was
going on, was filled full of lead by the
same man who carried the same deadly
sawedoff shotgun.
Evans refused to hunt with others for
the robbers, saying that he had family
to support and could not risk his life.
Several more robberies took place, all
successful for the two bandits. Then the
express detectives, who were led by
Capt. Hume, secured clew. They
found that Chris Evans and John Sontag
had settled gambling debts with bills
some of which had been stolen in re-
cent train robbery. The utmost secrecy
was preserved and small posse of three
men was sent to Evans house to catch
him and Sontag.
"They counted on finding Evans unpre-
pared, but he proved to be ready for
them, and when the short fight was end
ed two of the posse were on the ground,
badly wounded, and the third fled. Evans
and Sontag took to the road and struck
out for the mountains. Finally it came
to the ears of the Visalia sheriffs that
the two fugitives intended paying a
visit to the Evans family in Visalia be-
fore making their way to Old Mexico.
So he gathered posse and secreted them
in an old deserted cabin on the road
from the mountains. He argued that
Evans and Sontag would stop at the cab
in before making the last ten miles INTO
Visalia
"His reckoning proved true, and to-
ward the close of one day the hidden
band saw the two men coming across the
field to the cabin Both could have been
overpowered, probably without blood
shed, as they entered the cabin had not
one of the posse in his eagerness stuck
his head out of the door.
Quick as lightning Evans fired at
him. Then Evans and Sontag dropped in
to heap of straw and made prepara-
lions for battle for life. The men in
the cabin fired through loopholes, but it
is probable the bandits would have es-
capped under cover of darkness had it not
been for the presence of Hi Rappelje, a
Mexican deputy, who was dead shot,
Rappelje pumped lead into the haystack
behind which Evans and Sontag had
burrowed. He had large caliber rifle
and his aim was deadly.
| ''He soon had Sontag riddled with bull
lets and Evans badly wounded. But Chris
/ kept up so lively fusillade of buckshot
, that no one dared to venture out to cap
ture. Finally Rappelje tried to flank
him, but the wounded bandit escaped in
the gathering darkness.
bright and early the next morning
the pursuers took up the trail. They
found where the wounded man had made
his way to the nearest house after water.
[ He left the bloody print of his wounded
hand on the fence palings, and they
tracked his trail by the blood spots to a
well that had gone dry.
| afraid to arouse the household, the
man, who was half dead of the thirst
| that comes from gunshot wounds, made
his way to another house mile away,
and there drank his fill. In this all
night search for water Chris Evans suf-
fered the torments of the traditional
purgatory.
! she was out of his head most of the
time and simply kept on, urged by will
power that would not let him give up
until he had secured water. In the morn
ing he was found in an upper room of
the Widow Perkins house, where he had
taken refuge. He refused to surrender
and he kept his pistol by his side until
he fell asleep, when the woman remov-
ed it and sent word to the officers. At
nightfall they came with wagon and
carried the wounded robber to Visalia,
where his hand and portion of his arm
was amputated.
"John Sontag lived few days, but
blood poisoning set in and killed him.
Evans was tried for murder, not for
train robbery, and was convicted and
sent to prison for life"
The real name of the Sontags referred
to is Content, but they used the name
of Sontag.