The Butler Weekly Times Newspaper, July 7, 1886, Page 2

WEROES OF THE HELOTS. | someon Comptnions in Crime and Rivals in Love. . —_+ 02 0-— History of the Rise and Fall of the Great Gang. —— Startling Revelations Brought by a Desire for Revenge. About aus Full Details of the Killing of Frank Harris. sowe- Horrors Revealed and Others Concealed by the Caves. -ooe The Gosling Murder—Bones With Boots on—The Scotts in Jail. neat San Antonio, June 18.—The old- est inhabitant can yet when West Texas was the tavorite haunt of the desperado, who came trom nearly every State and Terri- tory in the American Union, many | coming from Missouri. Becoming too hot for him in that State, ever, he donned that requisite Mexi- a how- can sombrero, cart-wheel spurs, navy terrorizer and a bottle of rot, which gave him a passport into the best border society, and soon became so famous in song and story that his reckless exploits, hair-breadth es- capes and stage-robbing deeds of blood and plunder have served for the manufacture of thousands of tons ot yellow-back literature. But bis days are numbered. and wooily Comanche and howling coyote, thanks to the iron horse, the man with the hoe and the efficient peace officer, the haunts the will and caves which knew him soon once know him no more forever Stage robbing was his tavarite occu- | pation. Ton years ago a stage go- ing west from San Antonio was as certain to be robbed and the passeu gers relicved ot their change and jewelry as that the sun would go down in the west. ex pected it and so did his horses. So accustomed were the animals to the demand of Hait and throw up your hands,”’ that they, would stop with out assistance from master, and the driver would throw out Uncle Sani's mail bags without turther delay In fact, such occurrences were so com The driver mon in the flush times of the desper- ado and gambler that when a stage taade, a trip to the Rio Grande wi out being robbed by bandits or the passengers murdered by Cc the fact would be duly recorded in the local press ia big type and flash head-lines. While the road-agents were as thick as the cactus mosquito brush, which luxuriant upon the western plains, they worked IN GANGS OR BANDS, nancl es grows so as being more safe and congenial, and perhaps the worst and most des- perate of them all was that which had its home in the hills and caves | around the Helots, 18 miles north- west from San Antonio. Here they plied their nefarious profession tor many years, and as fast as their toes | were turned up to the daises, or found an abiding pla in the peni- tentiaries, their ranks would be re- cruited with a tew choice specimens of Ke This sas or Missouri talent. gaag has committed every crime in | the calendar and splintered Statute into tragments. of them) were educated under Frank and Jesse James. When these lead- ers were either captured or killed and their comrades scattered Some the tace of the earth, they came to | West Texas, where they could oper- ate with more freedom and immunity from arrest. For a season, ané@ rather a long one, their operations | Were as successtul as they were bold, and they were indebted in a great Measure tor their successful depre- ‘ations and escapes not so much to ~ boldness, albeit they were as * as could be, but to the local- they operated. The coun thev made their base of ymprised of a series of t ‘ely clustering laurel ‘ = a dense under- ‘oak and cedar ‘t these hills Be “s from this “anco and *s run| “om t ; ‘I ro +e. remember | Like the wild | every | over! thoroughly explored except robbers themselyes. The officers of lthe law have only made a i exploration of one. and it has suffic lto secure the skeleton of one ot the | dead robbers, murdered members of the band to keep him | by th py other} trom peaching on them, and because | in ht | he crossed the leader ot the gan his love and found favor in the ot th | the c | The caves, all have small entrances admirably e€ mountain maiden, to whom | ief had thrown his kerchief. | which are numerous, | concealed by the dense undergrowth about them, and within five minutes | | at on |} | after robbing one ot, the st y of the roads above alluded tothe | | ar ymen could reach a conven- nwa tly located cave and conceal them- . 5 | ly as to avoid dis- | | selves so thoroug covery. The ground is rocky and | leaves no tracks of the foot of man or beast, while the dark and inky re- cesses of the cayerns would nottempt } exploration under even the most fa- Each | series ot vorable circumcuimstances. caye chambers of is comprised of a various sizes and their approaches are tortuous and mazy. After passing through the labyrinth of limestone and mica by a devious and precipitous downward course the caves. In this was tound the skeleton of their victim, Frank Harrs. He died The pare shin marauders’ reached the cave of with kis boots on. bones and those of his feet were still the officers found them. Only a portion ot the skull was there. The balance had been shattered with a huge club and been | thrown down a deep crevice of the | The teeth of the upper jaw, jin them when 1 | ave. the means cf iden tion of the body, were found and reveaied the jidentity of the bod THE BAND. The gang was comprised of Jim | | Pitts, L. A, Potter, Bill Ditson, Jim McDaniels, Charles Y er, Dick, Cal and Joe Brannon, Frank Harris, T. J. Scott, Frank Scott, Mrs Drowns, Rose Yeage, 1 Scott (afterwards Mrs. Ji: ) | Alice Scott and A Scott. nearly all of whom hav if | Potter and the Branaons came trom { | Missouri, and Pitts, Potter and joe Brannon were ay old Jesse James gang « } mail and highway robbers, all of | whom expected te meet death with their boots on. * Pitts had served a term in the Texas penitentiary with Harris for counterfeiting. The jail- ers could never conquer him. He was frequently beaten mercilessly and held under the pump, but he ;hever gave up, and as long as he could hold his breath would swear his torturers. Harms first found favor in the eyes of Alice Scott, the eldest daughter of Frank Scott. but he soon tired of | Vengeance against | her favors and began to pay court to the second daughter, Melissa, who reciprocated also. and just here is where the first ind trouble began which resulted in the destruction of the organization and the death of its } The each le s eac Scott sisters became jealous of other. Alice and | Malissa were cold and stony-hearted to each other in proport to the |} jwarmth of affe both had tor } Harris. Pitts a for the hand of } consent of her not tr ve consent of the Pitts afterwards got her to | penalty a | consummated, jt he | The saddle was tound defaced and | denuded ot its trappings in a thicket a mile and a half from the domucile of the Scotts, and the grim grin on Harris’ skeleton tace betrayed the identity of the dead man tound near- ly two years atter the body had been cast in the cave. THE DARK DEED was committed about September i5, In October Miss Melissa be- 15S4. came Mrs. James Pitts. Two mo maiden widowhood served to change her pliant heart, and the chief became her bridegroom. Bill Ditson, Pitts’ trusted lieuten- His relatives live Ditson only his stage He used that soubriquet only when he robbed them. When he was at home under his tather’s roof his name was Sneed. ant, was.a Texan. near Lampassas, and name. | Mr. Sneed was also at one time an officer enlisted in the command ot Gen. wise served in the company of Capt. Sam Bass. Gen. Hardin has since retired from the cavalry postal ser- | vic | | o . : . | term of service of the State mm an in- 1 stitution at Huntsville known as the penitentiary. The toes ot Capt.Sam Bass are turned toward the daisies at Round Rock, where a ball from Shenff Dick Ware’s persuasive pis- | tol placed the dougthy Captain, but Lieut. Ditson-Sueed is still enjoying the treedom so much prized by gen- tlemen of his predatory disposition. On the 7th day ot April, 1835 James N. McDaniel, who was born at Mormon Camp, Bardera, and who was convicted with his compan- ion, Potter, of robbing the San An- angelo and Colerado City stage, es- ped from the Boxar county jail. ca He did so to escape serving the hfe fed in the federal court Px ar id also to to himself and keep his promise to wed Saran Jane, the daughter otf Benjamin Coffee, Esq., who resides within a few miles of Robbers’ cave. On the ad day ct June, 18 Me- s haa been Daniel, before his nupti unexpectedly met Deputy Sheriff E.O. Sternes, James, Ed d Garry Van Ruiper, salutation the officers was a shot his Winchester, which grazed the cheek ot one of the Van Ripers. an and his to trom Io replying WITH Winc even more pun THEIR SIX SHOOTERS, officers McDaniel only esters, the were these greetings through his anatomy and instead of a marriage there was an inquest at Coffee’s, and Sarah Jane was the leading mourner. Her lamentations after her dead high- wayman lover were loud and long. He died with only one of his boots and spurs on and she kept the other as a tuken ot her bootless love. Pot ter with McDaniel had robbed the San Angelo stage and both of them had attempted to rob another stage This stage had among its passengers a deputy sheriff and Bob Turnbull, a When Potter told the driver to stop his hor- coming on the same road. lieutenant of State rangers. the latter exclaimed to his *“Waoh, Ballly, oad agents,’’ the ranger and the deputy sheriff concluded that they would take a hand in the game and ses, and animals: here are menced to shuffle with his six shooter but McDaniel Potter dealt first. The deputy sher- Turnbull com and | marry him, but betore she did so he had to tell her that Harris was an Jescaped convict with a price on his | head. When Harris heard this he Was wrathy and swore one of the | Strongest strings of oaths that ever | tell trom the lps of mortal bandits that he was going to have that girl | or he would ‘split’ on Pitts and the itt was killed outmght and Turnbull was badly wounded, but fought unti! he had emptied his pistol, and then took the pistol trom the hands of the dead deputy, compelling Potter and McDaniel to beat a retreat without carrying away any portion of the mails or baggage in the stage. For the stage robbery alone and the at- tempt in which the officer was killed, jentire gang. Melissa wept and | vowed she’d wed none but Harns. | Her father swore she should never be mated save with Pitts. Scott | told Harris to bear the decree in mind. Putts said September was a | better month for a funeral than a j wedding. Pitts was deputized by | Frank Scott as a sub-constable, | Frank Scott being chief high lord | €xecutioner and constable of precinct | No. 2 Boxar county. ‘Harris and delivered the riderless sorrel horse Was seen but once in the settlement i Potter’s mail will be delivered during the balance ot his career at the peni tentiary at Chester, Illinois. Carrol, Joe and Dick Brannon, as well as their mother, lived in Mis- souri up to the time the young men took Greeley’s advice and came to Texas, but their mother still lives in that state, and it was at her house Dick Brannon was captured and Joe Pitts arrested | W8S mddled with bullets, tourteen of | APRI ZE him to the | Which he carried concealed in vari. | TSCive free, a costly box of goods which | Scotts, tather and son. After this | OUS portions of his person wien he of Harris | escaped while the deputy marshals Continued on next page. was | Wesley Hardin, and he hke- |} and has been elected to a long liyed an hour atter the passage of The Mirror is no flatterer. Would you make it tell a sweeter tale? | Magnolia Balmisthecharm- | er that almost cheats the | looking-glass (Continued from last week.) ' | How Watch Cases are Made. The many great improvements intro- duced in the manufacture of the Jas. Boss’ ' Gold Watch Case, have led to similar im- | provements in the making of silver cases. | Under the old methods, each part of a | silver case was made of several pieces of metal soldered together, requiring a great amount of cutting and soldering, which softened the metal and gave it the pliability of lead rather than the elasticity of silver. Under the improved methods, each part of the Keystone Silver Watch Case is made | of one solid piece of metal hammered into shape. The advantages are readily appar- ent, for every one knows that hammering hardens the metal while soldering softens it. To test the superiority of the Ki Silver Watch Case, take one of 3 oz. wi press it squarely in the center when closed, and it will not give, while a case cf same weight of any other make will give enough tobreak the crystal. The Keystone Silver Watch Case is made only with silver cap and gold joints. Send 3 cent stamp to Keystone Watch Case Factories, Phil delphia, Pa., for handsome Illustrated Pamphlet show! James Boos’ and Keystone Watch Cases aro made. (To be continued.) SCHWENCK & OLDEAKER. Boow & Shoe Makers BUTLER, MO. Boots and Shoes made to order The best ot leather used. Shop nerth side ot Squar 49 tf Advertising. Newspaper Dauchy & ©o., ce and 24-26 Murray Street, New York. rs in the . 8. and Canada. $, We will insert a one-inch Special Offer, ,1o.1) inserts onesineh in our selected list of 2 and V klies, covering the U, S., for $260. 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