The daily morning journal and courier., 1904-01-14
PARDON OF AN OLD TRAIN ROB-
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C1arleS 1efSSrs WnO Was Schflii6 q AilS sentence in penitentiary at Chester. ILL, for robbing the mails in one of his numerous train holdups committed in Texas, was pardoned few days ago by President Roosevelt. It is stated that Yerger is on his way back to Texas. He is bent with age, and few of his old time acquaintances whom he knew twenty years ago, when he entered the doors of the prison. would recognize him now.
 Yerger was a notorious train and stage rebber. He was member of the Robbers cave" gang, who terrorized this part of the State in the early eight ies. For several years they eluded the officers of the law, and committed one bold robbery after the other. In the 1 Helotes hills, situated about fifty miles south of Austin, Tex. are a number of caves wher the outlaws made their rendezvous. The story is told that the
 big amount of valuable plunder and money which the robbers gained in their
 numerous hold-ups was never recovered
 by the officers. and that it Is believed to | DC ui0uOA4 III OtiC Ol A4lC SdfCOs
 Yerger participated in a terrible tragedy after his conviction. The
 United State marshal for Austin district at that time was Henry L. Gosing. He
 was brave officer and a popular i frontiersman Gosling's fearlessness led him to be careless when in the pre- sence of danger. It was this carlessness that caused him to lose his life.
 After the conviction of Yerger and
 Pitts, Marshal Costing came to Austin
 to convey the prisoners to San Antonio,
 where they were to be placed in jail for safekeeping, pending their transfer to the Illinois penitentiary. He was accompanied to Austin by Deputy Mar shal Manning and Long, who took ac- | tive charge of the prisoners when they had been placed on the train. The seat occupied by Gosling was situated three seats forward of the prisoners. His seat companion was H. s. Garfield, a former Texas ranger, and at that time employed on San Antonio news paper. He afterwards acquired con- siderable fame as a writer of fiction.
 He committed suicide in Chicago only a
 few weeks ago. Garfield was unarmed. When the train was about to depart
 from Austin depot Mrs. Pitts, the pretty wife of one of the prisoners, came up to Gosling and pleaded to sit by the side
 of her husband. She also asked that
 Rose Yerger, sister of the other prisoner, be granted a similar privi-
 lege. Gosling's tender heart was moved | by the tears oe the woman and he granted the favor. Double seats, front
 ing each other. were made, and the two 1 desperate men and the two women sat facing each other.
 l It was about nine o'clock at night
 when New Braunfels, fifty miles south of Austin, was reached. During the two hours ride the prisoners had been very quiet, the sobs of the women being the only sounds. The two deputy marshals sat three seats behind the prisoners
 The train had just left the station at New Braunfels when Yerger and Pitts stealthily reached their shackled hands under the folds of the dresses of the women and each drew forth six shooter. They sprang the aisle of the car and began firing at the three officers. The first two shots of the prisoners were aimed at Gosling. The two bullets hit the brave marshal square in the back and he pitched for ward on his face into the lap of Can- field. The prisoners then turned their pistols on Deputies Long and Man ming. The latter were both out of their fc he anf 1,a 6ref movement of the prisoners. The cylin- der of Longs pistol would not work and he was powerless to give Manning any aid, although he begged the loan of a pistol from other passengers in the car. Manning, however, as soon as he could draw his own pistol, began shooting at Yerger and Pitts as they backed towards the door of the car.
 Yerger and Pitts disappeared in the darkness. The train was stopped, and when the car had cleared of the smoke an accounting was taken of the casual ties. Gosling was lying on the floor dead: Rose Yerger was shot through the thigh, and onother woman, Mrs. Drown, was fatally wounded, dying the following day. Deputy Manning soon lost consciouness, but finally recovered, and is still living on the Rio Grande border.
 The next day the dead body of Pitts was found lying in bunch of weeds ner New Braunfels. He had been shot twice through the body. Yerger had re- leased himself from the dead man by cutting off the latters right hand at the wrist. Yerger was found wandering in the hills several miles west of New Braunfels late in the evening of the same day. He was demented and made no resistance when the officers called upon him to surrender. The shackles were still on his hand and to it was daughling the dismembered hand of his dead partner in crime.
 Tha terrih1e eyperienrn had na11eed