The Washington herald., 1910-06-26
HON. BIRD MCGUIRE.

years and half 7 prosecuted all the
hcmicide cases In that region
/ Ihe country was new. and many bad
men went there TO escape justice al home
or to pick up a crooked living. The
/ United States had a car. with barred
windows, in which 10 haul convicted per
sons to the pedtentiary. At the end OF
every term OF court we would load the
car with fifty or sixty men who had
been sentenced to Federal prisons. Horse
thieves were numerous and active and
farmers were compelled to organize for
mutual protection Two desperados.
Barley and Brummit by name. would
| periodically make q dash through the
Territory and ride away with string
OF horses. At last a party of farmers
followed them. and there was fight.
/ One Of the farmers was killed and sew
eral other farmers were wounded. But
we caught Berkeley and Brummit. I pros
ecuted them. The court sent them to
/ prison for life. They are IN the peniten-
tiary now, and there they win die. 1
/ suppose.
Craven Never Captured.
But the worst man Of all was Ben
Craven. He was never captured and has
vanished from sight. although officers are
still looking for him and wanting him to
come back. He and WeIty, his partner,
entered a store at o'clock in the even
ing and stood thirty men along the wall.
Welty held the line on its feet. hands
up. with Winchester rife. Craven
| robbed the safe. The cashier entered the
store through back door, with a re-
volver in his hand. and the firing began
! Immediately. Craven and weIty killed
| the cashier at the first volley and got
away. They were followed next dav TO a
log cabin. deputy sheriff pushed open
the cabin door, and was shot dead Welty,
with the money stolen at the store-It
was after dark-escaped through a back
window. and started for a horse and
blackboard hidden In the woods
Craven stood his ground. firing his
rifle 10 cover Welty's flight He followed
Welty in a few minutes. Welty. however.
was delayed by a swollen creek and
Craven reached the blackboard first.
Hearing a noise. and thinking his pur-
suers were following him, Craven fired
and hit Welty in the face and arm with
load Of buckshot. After Welty had
made himself known Craven carried him
TO the blackboard and drove of. But
Welty tainted in a little while, and
Craven dumped him into the road to die,
and even stole his coat After Welty re-
gained consciousness he walked 70 the
house Of friend and there we found
him by and by.
Makes Clean Breast or 1t.
Nobody had seen welty In the face
While robbing the store he and Craven
wore red handkerchiefs over their chins
manner Of disguise that is more efrec-
tive than it seems. We couldn't account
for Weltys wounds, and he refused all
information. He had been in the penf-
Tertiary. you see, and understood the
tactics Of defense and cOnceaIment. Men
who had stood against the wall looked AT
him. but they couldn't swear that he was
the robber who accompanied Craven. Nor
did we know at the time that Craven was
In tho country. l make no excuse for II.
but / deceived Welty I told him he had
been recognized by our witnesses, where
upon he made clean breast of the whole
story. We put him away for life. Craven,
however, is still az liberty"
There are some celebrated wolf hunt
ers In Oklahoma" I said
'Oh. yes" Mr. Mcclure answered.
drawing the word Eyes" and giving it the
upward slant of infection II have
nephew. who. at the age of eleven. per
formed feat that should have popular
lied him all over the country He and 7
were hunting prairie chickens. A hound
had been chasing wolf in front OF us.
The wolf. We could see. was worn our
/ sent my bird dogs to the front and
than ran back for our horse and buggy
MY nephew kept on. When / caught up