The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1907-06-30


of Arkansas, who were part of the Da.-
ton gang. and the Carver and Fitzpatrick
brothers of Texas.
How the Game Started.
..The 'holdup' robber originated among
the bad men of the gold mining camps,
unsuccessful as a prospector ana too lazy
to work, and with enough 'bravado and
criminal instinct to commit these crimes.
He first successfully robbed prOSpectOrS
and miners of gold dust and nuggets. on
foot to stage stations, becoming holder,
lOOting stages. and eventually after the
railroads were built held up railway trains
and robbed express cars.
During the Civil war there were
number of dare devils from the south
west engaged in guerrilla warfare who
were the pride of the states which sent
them to the front and as result OF their
ambusCades. raids and lawless acts dur
ing the war were received as warriors
when they returned home.
This can especially be said of the
James boys. the YOungers the Renos, the
Farringtons, and the bands who operat-
ed Immediately after the war. During the
war they experienced reckless life which
ing in these crimes The overdrawn
newspaper accounts of the exploits of the
Renos. Jameses, Youngers and others of
their class were responsible for many of
their imitators.
Began in Indiana.
Mr. PinkertOn then took up his reminis-
censes of the various bands of train rob
beers, beginning with the depredationS in
Indiana shortly after the clOseOf the Civil
war. 1t was in Indiana that the Reno
brothers operated. They made their head
quarters at Seymour and headed a large
gang of desperate men. They committed
robbery after robbery. principally on the
old Jeffersonville and Indianapolis rail-
road, now a part of the pennsylvania
system. They terrOri1ed the whole part
. 49, Nwn1r
Eventually Allan PinkertOn ran the
Reno gang to earth. in the winter OF
1S67-6S John Reno robbed the county
treasurer of GaiIatin Mo-. of $4,000. and
and six Missouri deputies seized Reso a
the railway station at Seymour and, put
ting their prisoner on board train. got
him beyond the reach of writ of habeas
corpus and landed him i'm Jail at Gal
latin He served twenty years in prison.
Frank Reno and three others were cap
tured by w. A. PinkertOn in Council
Bluffs after they had robbed the county
treasurer at Glenwood, Iowa, OF $4,000.
They escaped from Jail and went to Can
ada. where they were arrested and brought
back to New Albany Ind; A vigilance
committee entered the jail and hanged
Frank, Sim and William Reno. and
fourth member of the gang.
Story of the James Boys.
Mr.. Pinkerton then took up in detail
q
and Jesse James were the leaders and
which terrorized western Missouri for so
many years. He says:
Among the Kentuckians who settled in
Clay county. Missouri, before the war,
were DR. and Mrs. Samuels and their
sons, Frank and Jesse James. who were
sons by previous marriage, who, when the
war broke out, Joined the Quantrel band
carrying on a guerrilla warfare. After
the war the James boys. under the lead
ership of Bill Anderson. with some other
members of QuantrelPs organization, be-
gan providing through west and southwest
Missouri and eastern Kansas, looking for
what spoils they could get
From that time until April 3, 1882, on
which date Bob Ford, for reward of
$1,000 offered by Governor Crittehden
for Jesse times. dead or alive, killed him
i'm his home at st. Joseph. Mo-, and until
October ;, 1882. when Frank James sur
rendered to Governor Crittenden in JEFF
ferson City, Mo, these outlaws, operating
with Colt Jim. John and Bob Younger,
Clell and John Miller. Charles Pitts, the
Tompkins brothers, Jim Cummings, Dick
Liddell. Bill Anderson, and other mem
beers Of QuantTelFs band, committed a
series of the most despicable crimes of
that period in Missouri. Kentucky. and
Minnesota. holding UP with force of arne
banks in the day time robbing trains at
night, numbering respectable citizens who
attempted to aTerst them.
"The published tales of their deeds Of
daring were ridicul0usly Overdrawn and
misleading. dnG contained many S1dFlllS
misgtatements.
Jesse James First Job.
The first robbery undertaken by the
James and Younger brothers is thus de-
scribed by Mr.. Pinkerton:
June g. 1871, the James and Younger
brothers on a raiding expedition visited
CorydOn, Wayne county, Iowa, having
learned the taxes were collected about
this time, and intended to rob the county
trea sllrer. whose office Jesse James enter
ed requesting that a S100 bill be changed.
but the clerk informed him that the coun-
ty treasurer. who held the combination of
the locked safe, was attending a public
meeting on the outskirts of the town.
where a proposition to build a new
schoolhouse was being discussed.
"Just as James was leaving the build
ing the clerk told him that he might get
the bill changed at the new bank across
the SQUARE which had been opened that
day and had one-half of It's capital on
deposit Hearing this James consulted
With his associates, and the robbery OF
the new bank was agreed upon. When
James offered the 500 bill the cashier
opened the safe to change it, but, facing
the new customer, found himself looking
into the lni1szles of two reviewers.
"Other members of the band had mean
while entered the bank, all forcing the
president and cashier into back room,
emptied the contents of the safe. about
SIS 0OD, into saddle bag, and. just as they
were leaving the bank. they met a new
depositor, a negro preacher, with a hand
drop his money in the saddle bag which
he did.
aud IN fleeing frhFD the town passed the