Albuquerque morning journal., 1916-02-17
HOWE CASE WILL
BRING UP D0|NCS
Of BAD BANDITS
Former Chief of Santa Fe Sc
Cret Service Has Pistol With
Which Mcclure Is Alleged
to Have Been Killed,

SPECIAL eoNaespoHoeSce TO soaNNe JouRNAll
lei paso, Texas, Feb. l6.--When Bob
Howe was released from the Texas
lpenitentiary last Monday, having COM
pleted a five-years sentence for the
murder of Custom Inspector Connors
at Fort Hancock In 1911, he was
greeted by Julian Meyers, sheriff of
Torrance county, New Mexico, who
awaited his exit from the Lone Star
bastile with requisition papers duly
and truly prepared. There wasn't any
use for the prisoner to deny the reg
ularity of things. so he accompanied
the New Mexico officer to Santa Fe
and there entered the state prison,
where, for safetys sake, he will be de-
taincd until he can be once again tried
for the murder Of fellow being
1t is not unlikely that Ben Williams,
The veteran special officer of the Santa
Fe system. and now head of the Ben
Williams detective agency in this city,
will be present at the next trial of
Howe in the capacity of a witness.
Williams has some evidence in his pos
session 1t Is the revolver with which
j. \. Mcclure was killed, and for
which crime the man Howe will be
tried in the Torrance county district
court next spring.
According to the story Of Mr.. Will
liams the Howe case started more than
five years ago, when he and his com
paniOns We're cndeaVoring to locate the
parties who were robbing box cars on
Santa Fe railway At Abo Pass there
is a steep grade which necesSitates slow
travel as the train climbs the hill.
Prior to the killing of Mcclure, who
was associated with Mr.. Williams in
the railroad detective work, Il number
Of men were known to have boarded
the train at this point, open the doors
of the box cars and throw off provls-
ions and other merchandise of value.
The men would then alight and re-
turn for the loot. In this last in
stance, a sack of corn proved the un-
doing of the robbers and resulted in
the death of Mcclure. one of the
sacks had hole in it and grain was
dropped along the route of retreat
taken by the highwaymen. Mr.. VIII
liams detailed two men ON the case,
j. A. Mcclure ana j. Il. Galusha. The
meen took different trails Mcclure
discovered the corn near the track and
following it, soon arrived at the house
of the robbers. AS he approached tie
place, the inmates seemed not lncllned /
TO take chances-possibly they knew
he was shot five times. /;
His body was thrown into an aban-
loned well.
Bandits Cross Border
Galusha afterwards looked for his
for several days Williams,
who was suffering from an injured
foot in FL Paso at the time, directed
the search for Mcclure and for his
The men on the job fol-
lowed the corn trail again, discovered
traces of blood at a point near the
house and upon making a complete
search. found the body Of their com
oanion in the abandoned well. The
men who had committed the crime
lad departed.
A search was at once instituted for
-he parties suspected, particularly in |
he neighborhood of the border, as 1t
was naturally supposed the men would |
make an effort to cross into Mexico. /
rhe deduction proved to be correct +,
The fugitives. after riding overland +
like two hundred miles. en- /
leavored to get across the interna- 4!
ional border at Fort Hancock, where !