River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1908-10-15

; Will be taken dead, and l leave you
this and beg you to do the best you
can with it and if you can make any
money out of it 1 beg you to see that
my poor little sick wife gets a third
or fourth of it. 1 know I can trust
you to do this, for l believe you to be
honorable and it is not more than
right, for my wife is a good, true, hon
est and Woodworking little woman; a
lady by birth and nature and from a
good old southern and Kentucky fam
lily. She deserved a far better man
than I.
when it is known that l am an
outlaw, and have been most of my life,
most every one will say: He's a bad
one,' and that's ALL / wish the world
to know the truth, for there are GER
tain few whom l want to know that
was not as bad as they are sure to
paint me. If l am killed l am sure to
become notorious, as much of my past
is sure to crop out and my name is
disgraced, and as that is the case l
may as we'll have the truth told as
just part, and maybe whole jugful of
lies added TO IL.
After giving the place of his birth
as Lamar, Barton county, Mo-, and the
date September 20, 1882, this remark
able autobiography of Sutherland deals
with his family. 1t speaks of his ia
Their being fire marshal of Pittsburg,
Kan, then deputy sheriff, and of his
relatives having fought in every war
this country has been engaged in
from 1775 to the present time, except
the Spanish-American war;
Black Sheep of Family.
"All have been honest-too honest.
in fact, but l." wrote the young bandit.
Il am the last of my race and the one
black sheep. From a delicate, timid
and refined boy 1 grew into a desper-
ate young rascal, ready to shoot any
man."
Next is the account of his meeting
with Joe Palmer, alias Jack Wells the
notorious train robber. 1t was the
turning point in Sutherland's young
life; he chose the blacker side. Be-
cause Palmer had taken his part
against "a big bully on farm in Kan
sas" Sutherland believed he owed
Palmer debt Of gratitude. So, when
Palmer and "his pal, Frank Errington,
tried to hold up depot and a rich
horseman at Oswego, Kan, and later
shot a deputy sheriff and were cor
nered" Sutherland stole a boat and
under cover of darkness slipped by the
camp of the posse that held the two
men on the banks of the Nesho river,
got Palmer and Errington and carried
them on down the stream to freedom.
Events followed swiftly after that
Sutherland and Palmer robbed "an old
miser" on lonely road near Cherry
vale, Kan. Joining the other mem
bers of the gang later, they held up an
M. K. & K. train near Denison, Tex.
Then came the robbery of the depot at
Lamar, Mo. Here Walter Craig be-
came one of the band. When he tried
to pull off a second robbery at the
Lamar depot, Sutherland's autobiog-
raphy says, my old schoolmate, who
was night operator, put bullet into
Craig's lungs, from which he died.
Hiding Place for Gang.
After reciting the details of half
dozen other bold and daring crimes,
the story shifts to Pittsburg, Kan,
where pretty Nellie Errington was
keeping cottage, under an assumed
name, for the gang to run in and rest
up, if necessary"
Next we find Sutherland in the
hands of a vigilance committee which
is about to hang him. The rope is