Los Angeles herald., 1906-05-09
SUPREME COURT AFFIRMS
SENTENCES
Guilty Of Many crImes--chase and
Capture Of Notorious Pair Of
Hlshwsymen Full Of pra-
matlc Incidents

the erect that the supreme court had
settled the fate of the Castee brothers
by affirming the long penitentiary SEN
tences meted out to them by Judge
Smith nearly two years ago, The men
are now in the county Jail and will be
sent to Folsom penitentiary within the
next thirty days to serve out sentences
aggregating thirty years. Silas Cas-
teel, the younger, will be the guest of
the state for the next ten years, while
Jacob, the older, a man with a long
criminal record, will go to Folsom for
twenty years.
The Casteel brothers were arrested
by Deputy Sheriffs Len c. Cleveland
and B. II. Franklin on the night of
August 27, 1904.
Robbed Peddler
The Casteel boys were wanted on a
dozen charges of highway robbery
burglary and several other crimes. On
the night of August Il they held up
and robbed a peddler named Morris
Ellis on the old Montebello road. Ellis
had camped beside the road for the
night and the Casteel brothers, hap
pening along, robbed him of $50 and all
his merchandise. They then started
"
pedestrians and leaving trail of ter
ror behind them.
Upon Ellis report to Sheriff White,
Len Cleveland and Bert Franklin were
picked as the men to follow the GRIM
inals. Armed with Winchester rifles
and revolvers they started in pursuit.
After days of hard travelling in the
southwest country word was received
that the Casteel brothers were at the
m, nf 1,nfr- Ia ofNI in
on his ranch four miles from the
| mouth of the whitewater canyon.
In Mountain Fastness
| The location of the spot made it al
most impossible for the officers to steal
upon their men, because the only road
| to the ranch house followed the bot
| tom of the canyon, while bluffs $50
| feet high rose on either side.
At dusk on the evening Of August 81
Cleveland Franklin and forest ram
ger went into the canyon and ap-
preached the ranch house.
I'VE knew that we were taking
chances" said Cleveland, yesterday, in
| telling of the capture of the despera-
does, "but after having followed them
| for six days and nights, we were ready
to take any kind of chance.
Franklin and L slipped into the
ranch yard and by luck we caught the
| boys at the only time they had re-
lapsed vigilance during the week.
"They were seated at opposite ends
of the dinner table in a little arbor In
the ranch yard. Titain's family were
| there. single lantern was hanging
from the arbor, lighting up the i'll
terror.
1--WE stepped inside and Franklin
covered Jake with a rifle. / pointed my
rifle at Silas, who was sitting in front
of where Franklin was standing.
Botn Surrender
"The men never said a word, but
| Jakes hand started to creep toward
his revolver and 1 grabbed him by the
chin and pushed his head back over
the chair, while I covered Silas with
the rifle. Silas had his hand beneath
the table and / told him to raise his
hands and that unless both hands
came up empty there would be a long
loose cavity through his body. He
raised his hands and one held a cur
and saucer.
"Then we marched the men out OF
the ranch yard and down the canyon
for a short distance We had then
double cuffed, but because we did not
want to be hard on them we Slipped
one pair of cuffs and left them with
one free hand.
"About a mile down the canyon
Franklin left us to hunt for the wagon
containing the stolen articles. I no
ticed that Jake whispered to Silas and
as it was getting dark 1 ordered then
to step few PAGES forward so that we
could keep them well under gun range
81 held my rifle and Franklin's gun
and was hardly prepared when the two
men after taking a dozen steps for
ward, turned suddenly and with heads
| lowered dashed at me.
Jake struck me and Silas kicked
Soto the forest ranger. Jake seized
the rifles in my hands and swung sud-
denly holding to the stocks, and turned
the muzzles toward me. My rifle was
cooked, so that every time he swung
toward me L thought my time was at
hand. My right thumb was pressed be-
tween the barrels of the two rifles, and
as Jake hurled himself at me felt my
thumb gradually give way and the bone
break. l still held on and forced the
muzzles of the rifles over my shoulder
so that every time Jake tried to grab
the weapons from me lunged forward
and kicked him.