The river press. [volume] (Fort Benton, Mont.) 1880-current, 1907-07-17
MONTANA OUTLAW GANG.
Detective P%inkerton Says 1t Has Gone
To South America.

"A. IuherlOO, the mead OF
the famous detective agency, who per-
maps mas a more intim ate knowledge
OF train robbers and holdup men than
other officers, is authority for the state.
ment that the remnants of the Kid
curry gang, which held up the Great
Northern express at Wagner on July
s. a number of years ago, are operat.
ing in South America. About once
. year some string dend locates these
outlaws In their old haunts among the
Little Rockies and ascribes various
imaginary depred atoms to them, but
1t invariably turns out that these
stories are not true. While the PEG.
pie OF northern Montana have long
felt certain that the gang had left the
state, few OF them knew that the des.
persdoes we're in South America.
From the days the James boys and
the Younger and the Reno gang he
has followed the careers of the various
bands, and has come to the conclusion
that no crime in America is go haz.
ardous IS holdup robbery. He de-.
clared recently that over two.thirds of
those who have been engaged in it
have eventually been killed outright
while operating or resisting arrest,
have beer lynched by posses or have
"died with their boots on" Many
were wounded and died from the eff.
fects OF their wounds, while nearly all
the rest have been captured or i'm.
prisoned or driven into exile.
Mr.. Pinkerton tells an interesting
story Of the operations and eventual
fate of the last actual band OF rail.
road and bank holdup robbers who
have operated in the United States.
"The wild Bunch, said the de-
t~ective, "%operated from Wyoming to
Texas. The robbery which broke up
the band was the 'holdup' Of q Great
Northern express train at Wagner,
Montana, from which they stole S4O,.
500 unsigned bills of the National
Bank OF Helena. Ben Fitzpatrick,
alias The Tall Texan was arrested
for this crime in st. Louis, and had q
number Of the unsigned stolen bills in
his possession. He was sentenced to
fifteen years in the Columbus, Ohio,
penitentiary, and has since been trans.
ferred to the United States peniten.
tiary at Atlanta.
"When Fitzpatrick was arrested the
police found a room key Of the Laclede
hotel on him. When they arrived at
the hotel they found Laura Bullion
going away with a satchel containing
a number OF unsigned bills. She was
arrested as An accomplice and sem
fenced TO two years and six months in
the Missouri ~penitentiary.
ION December 13, 1901 a range
got into an alteration with two other
men over a pool game at Knoxville,
Tenn. resulting in a pistol fight. Two
policemen sought to quiet the disturb.
ance. The stranger shot both, held
up the occupants of the saloon, back
ed out of the rear door and jumped
thirty feet into a railroad cut, but was
eventually traced and arrested in an
exhausted condition from icold, ex.
posure and injury from his thirty.foot
jump.
"He was subsequently, identified as
Harvey Curry, alias Logan, vas con.
victed Of uttering forged bank notes
and sentenced to twenty years in the
United States p%enitentiary at Colum-
bus, Ohio. While awaiting transfer to
that institution he made his escape by
holding up the guards in the Jail and
fleeing to the mountains on horse
back. He has not been recaptured.
"'Camila' Hanks, ofTexas, another
of the band, attempted to pass some
OF the notes in Nashville, Tenn. Cir.
culars describing these stolen I'M
signed notes had been sent to every
city, town and hamlet in the United
States, with the request that the local
authorities inform their merchants.
When Hanks offered one of the stolen
notes the merchant became suspicious
and called up the police by telephone.
They responded quickly, but Hanks
observing what had occurred, drew a
revolver, held up the officer, jumped
into an ice wagon and forcing the
driver out, drove rapidly down the
street. Interceptiug a nan in 3 bug.
gy he abandoned the ice wagon for it
and escaped through the marshes to
the Cumberland river, where he forced
two negroes to row him across. He
was shot some months later while re.
sisting arrest in San Antonio, Texas.
Butch Cassidy, Harry Long.
baugh and Eta Place, q clever horse.
woman and rifle shot, fed to the Ar
gentine Republic, where, it is said,
they have been joined by Logan. In
the last two years they have commit
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