Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1913-06-25
UNCLE SANS WAR
ON THE YEGGS." ="
Continued from Second Page.)

| -----'
Continued from Second Page.)
worth taking a risk to procure. He,
in the parlance of the yegg, was
never a "piker," and only "big
money" lured him. Together with
| Frisco Slim and Buck" Ballard he
blew hundreds Of safes, and from
, these he extracted loot totalling hun
dreds OF thousands of dollars, but, as
with all men of his class, money came
easily and it went quickly. When
flush with funds Hutch" and "Slim"
lived on the fat of the land. They
were lavish in their tips, and they
| were always willing to help a fellow
yeggman when he was broke" down
and out. Their operations extended
| from coast to coast and from Maine
| to Texas. No sooner would they
| make a rich haul in one section than
they would light out, and the next
| heard of them they had just blown a
safe in some State far distant from
the scene Of the previous job I'm
| like the yegS of to-day, these two
criminals never believed in making a
| cleanup in State, jumping from
! little, town to little town where only
few miles separated them. They
wanted big money, and big towns
were their game.
Jail breaking was little more than
a pleasant pastime for these men, and
/ repeatedly they escaped from prisons
! which were deemed almost impregna-
BILE. 1t is recorded that with "Shee-
n.y. Harris, Goat Hinch" and 9TH
ers of their kind aid regulations
! Kearney conceived the plot by which
all burrowed their way out Of the
prison at Schoharie, n. Y, which at
that time was looked upon as a mod
ern prison. They had no difficulty
seemingly, in piercing its walls and
| then burrowing out of the outer wall,
! which alone separated them from
/ liberty. They never paused to con-
| slider the risk of any undertaking so
| long as the object in view was worth
| striving for.
Kearney Certify" Man.
Kearney was a man of exceptional
| grit and nerve. In one escapade a
/ fight ensued between town watch
man and band Of yeggs led by
Hutch" They had arranged to rob
/ the town bank, and all was progress
ing smoothly until the prying watch
man put in an appearance. A fusil-
| lade of shots was exchanged and be-
/ fore long the watchman rolled over
on his side, shot .lrough the heart.
Two of the yeggs were shot, Kear-
ney one of them. Kearney's comrade
was shot through the hand, while
| Kearney received a bullet in his
shoulder. They all hid in barn two
miles beyond the town limits and one
of the yeggs dug the bullet from
Kearney's shoulder with a pen knife.
A day later Kearney was arrested and
! it was suspected that the wound in
his shoulder was from a bullet. The
police based their hopes Of clinching
! their case against the yesg by find
ing q bullet in the wound If the
pellet found in the prisoners shoul-
der tailed with that fired by the
watchman, then, they argued they
would have a strong link in their
chain of circumstantial evidence
Kearney, although suffering untold
agony from the open sore in his
shoulder, told the policemen to pro-
cure a surgeon and probe the wound
and If they found bullet there he
would be willing to have them rail
road him to jail as speedily as they
liked. The surgeon came and did
probe the wound, but, Of course, no
bullet was found. Kearney fatty. re-
| luSeQ 10 take an anaeSth9t1C and
withstood this pain racking ordeal
without fiinching. The next day he
was discharged for lack of sufficient
evidence. He went to hospital,
where his injuries were attended to.
This is but one of many instances
where Kearney's iron nerve stood
him in good stead, and his quick wit
was equally valuable in cases of
emergency. Wherever he was called
on to match wits with others, no mat
! ter how sharp theirs were, he invari-
! ably scored He was plausible to a
| degree and could convince the most
suspicious of those pursuing him of
his innocence IL given a chance. He
could rake up more alibis, and at
short notice, than any other man the
police had to deal with, and almost
Invariably these served to act as a
stay against a jail term for him.
A negro yeggman who was one of
! kearney's most apt pupils, and who
/ later became almost as daringly sue
cessful as his preceptor, often said
that ED" Kearney knew and had
j forgotten more about bank and post
/ Office robberies than any man alive.
NEXT WEEK