Western Kansas world. [volume] (WaKeeney, Kan.) 1885-current, 1908-10-24


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 IAN old
miser" on a 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 second robbery at the
Lamar depot, Sutherland's autobiog-
raphy says, my old schoolmate, who
was night operator, put a bullet into
Craig's lungs, from which he died.
Hiding Place for Gang.
After reciting the details of half a
dozen other ssbold 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
made fast about his neck and he is
who is rather kind-hearted, decides
on a council of war; and orders
Sutherland hauled down. 1t is while
this council" is in progress that Suth-
er1and escapes.
Sutherland joins his pals a short
distance away. The vigilance COM
mittee pursues them, and Nellie Err
rington, learning of the committees
movements, jumps on horse and
goes to warn the robbers She is mis-
taken for one of them and killed
Free-for-all shooting followed, several
of the committee were wounded, but
the desperadoes got away.
Did Honest Work for Time.
Sutherland then worked for time
as delivery clerk in the Creek Ma
ton, after which he committed more
robberies and was arrested for the
first and only time in his life by the
sheriff of Lamar, Mo. He spent some
nine months in reformatory, escaped
and Joined the army as a musician
under the name of Jack Ames. He was
ambitious to become an army officer.
but Errington bobbed up again, and,
knowing that he would be found out
sooner or later, Sutherland went back
to the old life.
Going to Los Angeles Sutherland
and his pals planned several crimes,
among them the KIDNAPPING of a mil
1ionaire and holding of him for $780,
900 ransom. This was spoiled, he
wrote, because the selected victim
suddenly went abroad.
The autobiography tells of numer-
Gus car hold-ups in San Francisco; of
several murders, and then of the time
when he married and determined to
reform for good Sutherland contin-
ued- Il 1onged, oh, how much, for
clean name, home, friends and to be
somebody"
Sutherland was now clerk in the
University club at Los Angeles. His
wife had been a telephone operator.
She knew nothing of his duplicity-his
double hfe-and she was happy They
decided to buy a ranch in Oklahoma
out of their savings, and were well on
the way to achieving the one desire
they had SO longed and planned for
when the panic came and all went to
smash. Sutherland lost his job; with
it went the ranch in Oklahoma He
pondered over his plight He could
see no way but the old way That
was the easiest; he would follow it for
a time, then when he got enough
money together he and his wife would
go to Oklahoma~buy back the ranch
and live happily ever after.
So it was, Sutherland found another
pal. They robbed and pillaged; the
Los Angeles police found them out.
and--he rest of the story has been
to1d.-Nsw York World.