The New York herald., 1921-02-21
NEW ROBBERY IDEAS
END STARR'S CAREER
Aged Outlaw Fails to Reckon
Bank LoOting Isn't Done
as in Days of Yore.

Special Despatch to THE NEW YORK HEaA,D.
OKLAHOMA CrrY. Feb. 2O.-"I knew
he'd do it; knew he'd do it if they
didn't watch him
Bill Tilghman, dean Of peace officers
of the old Southwest. ran back down
the history Of a quarter century and
reflected upon the rise and fall of his
friendly enemy" one Of the greatest
bank robbers that ever lived-Henry
Starr, who was probably fatally shot
few days ago while robbing a bank
at Harrison, Ark.
Tilghman, now motion picture pro-
ducer sat before a CRATE fire in his
Oklahoma City home, but his minds
eye was out on the plains again, where,
as gunman on the Side OF the law, he
earned the title Of "the Marshal who
drove the outlaws from Oklahoma"
80 he's dying with his boots on" he
remarked Of Starr 'Well. that's the
way he always wanted it. and heaven
knows he took plenty of chances to
make il come true"
The veteran bandit fighter. though
almost 20 years old, still stands straight
the light touch of youth. He paced
about to illustrate his story Of the years
Of Starr's prime.
What puzzles me-" broke in time and
again on his narrative. "is what Henry
was doing with that motor car. He
made the same old mistake trying to
come back in a game that is played in
new ways"
IF Starr dies the Oklahoma outlaws
will have passed forever" said the old
time marshal "Al Jennings, Emmett
Dalton and the rest Of the motion picture
outlaws are fakes"
starr, though Bill declared, "ar-
ways has been q bad man. / always
have believed him the greatest outlaw
of them all, and TO my personal knowl-
edge he has robbed more banks than
any other man that ever lived. / saw him
IN Kansas City a few weeks ago and |
knew from the restless look in his eye
that he was going back TO the old game.
Henry was just a natural born bank
robber and we all believed il he hit
hard times he'd try the business again.
He was paroleG only because the state
had promised him that and had got
value received in advance for the favor"
The statement attributed to the Okla
homa Bankers Association that Starr Is
the master mind behind bank holdups
Of the last six months in the Southwest
is decried by Tilghman.
"I believe this was Starr's first at
tempt at a comeback" Tilghman said.
Present day bank robbcries arc not
well planned like the old ones You
don't see any defence worked out in adj
vance or the desperate battles the old
timers put up.
THE modern rohbeI is a young fell
low. who thinks he's a hero when he's
back of the bars smoking a cigarette
and being pointed out as stickup. He
lives In n boarding house in city. and
not out in the open like the real bandits
did No wonder Henry got caught with
pals like that"
The old marshal scorns what he calls
the sob stuff that has been written
about the bandits and the false romance
that has been woven into the stories of
their careers. But his eyes softened
and his white moustachc bristled n BIT
less fiercely as he read In the papers
the account Of the shooting at Harrison.
Ark.
ITS too bad he couldn't have lived
tho decent life he promised when pa
roled' said Tilghman. "but I'm glad 70
wasn't a young sprout that shot him,
though. Of course. it would have been
lot more fitting If an old time marshal
could have been the man 10 make the
capture"