Tonopah bonanza. [volume] (Butler City [i.e. Butler], Nev.) 1901-1909, 1907-09-14

Southwest, in which practically every
train robber Of note was killed or
sent to prison.
BLACK Bart" Lone Bandit
Not the least interesting part of
Mr.. Pinkerton's "reminiscences was
his description of BLACK Bart, the
famous lone bandit" of California.
He says:
From 1877 to 1883 stages ii the
mountains of California wers held up
by a lone highwayman, ALWAYS wear
ing a jute meal bag on the lower part
OF his legs, an old linen buster, his
head and face covered with q white
flour sack, through which cleaned
bright black eyes, with a conical cir
Gus clown hat. He was always TO
lite to the passengers, and especially
to the ladies, never robbing them,
but always requesting the stage driV-
or to throw out the box aud mail
bags. Then the lone robber, at the
point of a rife, would order the stage
driver to pass on. Altogether this
lone highwayman committed twenty
TIN ee robberies.
"'Blaek Bart was also known as
Charles L. Benton and Charles E.
Bowles. He had lived at an ur.pre-
tentious boarding house in San
Francisco where he informed the
landlady and his acquaint ances that
he was a mining man, which ac-
counted for his occasional absence.
He was originally from Decatur ILL.,,
near which place he worked on
farms. He enlisted in Company b,
One Hundred and Sixtieth Illinois
regiment, serving three yeas in the
Civil war and was known to his reg
iment as Wrestling Charlie
After his capture he pleaded
guilty to n of the ~robberies, bat
s%trenuously denied that he was tine
former stage robber, and declared to
the court that it "a only an urgent
necessity that drove him to commit
this crime, as a result OF which, On
November II, 1888, he was sen
fenced to six years in prison at San
Quentin, Calf, Since his release he
has been seen more or less in honest
occupations on the Pacific coast.
During Black Bart's' career as a
robber he never took the life of or
injured a human being. He was A
remarkably good story teller"
Exploits OF the Daltons
The story of the exploits OF the ia
nous Bill Dalton gang W.. wildly
told by Mr.. Pinkerton. Eigh. mem
bers of the gang Wece killed While
resisting arrest. The others were
captured.
OF the BLACK Jack Mcdonald
gang" every member was killed.
One of the sensational train rob
berries of more recent date was thus
described by Mr.. Pinkerton:
Edward Estelle. alias Con Eddy;
George Gordon, alias Brooklyn
Blacky; William Browning, alias
Browney; Thomas Clark alias r. A.
Butch, and Johnny Bull, all yegg-
men, on August 5, 1902, held up a
train of the Chicago, Burlington &
Quincy railroad neal Marcus, ILL.,.
stealing $4,000 therefrom, after sub
DUNG the engineer, fireman and con-
ductor, and shooting up and down
the railroad track to intimidate the
passengers.
George Gordon, alias Brooklyn
Blacky, approaching from the front
Of the locomotive, was mistaken for
a railroad man and shot in the thigh
by Estelle. who, when he discovered
he had wounded a member of the
gang, endeavored to have Gordon fee
with him, but the latter said he was
too badly wounded, whereupon Els
telle blew Gordon's brain out. utter
ing an oath and telling him that he
would not be left to squeal on any
body. Estellc, who was an escaped
life convict from the Leavenworth,
Kan, ~penitentiary, wanted to burn
Gordon's body in the fire box Of the
engine, but Clark would not consent
to this.
Holdup Near Chicago
Another recent tragedy in the
Grain robbing line also touched Chi
cago closely. Mr.. Pinkerton's story
Of ii follows:
"A gang Of yeggmen held up a
through train Of the Illinois Central
railroad near Harvey, Ill, on the
night of August 1. 1904. The ex-
press ear was not attacked, but at
the point Of reyolvers tho passengers
were compelled to delive" to the rob
bers their money AMI ~valuables.
These holdups were traced to a ST
Louis clearinghouse by st. Louis and
Kansas City police detectives, and as
he was leaving the house one of the
mel suspected of having committed