Evening Star Newspaper, October 19, 1930, Page 106

20 THE SUNDAY STAR, WASHINGTON, D. C, OCTOBER 19, 1930 On the Trail of Outlaws in the Southwest Baffling Pursuit of theNotorious*‘Black Jack” Gang—The Black-Bearded Bandit and Three . 1rain Robberies. AMightyBattle in Turkey Canyon. Headgquarters in the Mountains. EDITOR’S NOTE: The “Black Jack” gang was a far-famed group of desperadoes who, around 1900, were terroriging the Southwest with their bold hold-ups of trains, daring bank robberies and an endless suc- cgssion of other crimes. Operating from the inaccessible fastnesses of the Sangre de Cristo Mountain Range in Northern New Mexico, they successfully eluded capture for many vyears. Finally, however, a handful of gallant officers, taking Jtheir lives in their hands, followed up faint clues and stuck grimly to the outlaws’ tangled trail until, at last, one by ome these murderous super-bandits had all been run down. This ss the first of a series of three articles. BY CARL B. LIVINGSTON, Formerly Assistant Attorney General of New Mexico. N Northern New Mexico there is a vast mountain range called Sangre Cristo, into the lords of these lofty peaks, and they did not intruders. on the slopes of Baldy, a moun- tain deep in the fastnesses of the Sangre de Cristo, the gang would rendezvous for a rest crimes, meanwhile hatching robberies. When all was in they would steal forth through the ountain shadows and perhaps train. Long before pursuit could be "Bh;:k Jack” gang Besides “Black his brother, trick, George . “Butch” Cassidy, Harvey Logan, Ca- mila Hanks (“Deaf Charlie”) and a woman named Della Rose (alias Laura Bullion), who dressed in men’s clothes and sometimes ac- companied the gang. There were, perhaps, three times this number of confederates. ‘The forays of “Black Jack” and his lawless riders have now become almost legendary; they are narrated in isolated settlements and far- tectives, and prison wardens. ON the evening of July 11, 1899, the Colorado and Southern fast was speeding along over a wild stretch of the New Mexico Suddenly there came a muffled boom. The roof of the ex press car was torn bodily off and a shower of debris rained ; ' e iz ¥EE E ' 3 z 5553 THRINGE A and, following the direction of his gaze, the fireman looked over his shoulder. The red glow from the opened firebox re- vealed a huge, black-bearded man standing on the coal tender, a rifle at his shoulder. “Up with your paws—both of you!” he roar- Taken completely by surprise, the two en- ginemen raised their arms, “Now shovel jn the coal and open the throt- tle wide.” “But we may crash into another train,” pro- engineer. ‘So much the better!” came the callous reply. “It will save us dynamite.” With his rifle still pointed at the two men, the black-bearded fellow closely watched every move in the cab. The engineer, as ordered, gave his charge full throttle and she leaped forward. ‘They had traveled only a few miles, however, when some distance ahead a bonfire came into view beside the tracks. Nearing this fire, Tubbs directed to close the throttle and apply the . Two men were seen standing by the signal ne short and stocky, the other lithe and ender. The train presently came to a dead whereupon the bandit ordered the engine- to call out Expressman Hamil Scott. The eer, fireman and expressman were then by this first outlaw while the two men the fire entered the express car. UN’KNOWN to the bandits, there were, among the passengers in the coaches, two sheriffs traveling on duty. Directly he discov- ered the trouble, Conductor Harrington sum- moned them, but the officers were armed only with pistols, and no match for dead-shot ban- dits equipped with high-powered rifles. Har- rington and the two sheriffs held a hurried consultation. The train was headed almost due east. The bandits had their signal fire on the left, or northern side, and had entered the express car that side. down upon the three crouching men. open the safe, was torn bodily off and fell with a crash only a few yards from Harrington and the sheriffs. They had still some distance to go before they reached the horses and in the intense their ears unavailingly to catch the words. Meanwhile the tail lights of the train grew smaller and smailler, until they were mere red-and-green dots on the dark horizon. The outlaws, having finished their talk, swung them- selves into their saddles and rode away. Har- rington and the two sheriffs now found them- selves in a waterless waste. /Luckily, however, the fading points of light on the rear of the express finally came to a tandstill and the three men hurried toward When the conductor reached his train, beat him over the head with the butt of a six- fell unconscious. Five sticks placed on the safe, weighted the does seized its contents—$3,500—and departed. Expressman Scott, Drew’s successor, was well aware of this incident. Directly he was called out in the present hold-up, therefore, he hur- the bandits’ summons. After dynamiting the safe, and finding nothing inside it, the chagrined EARLY next morning, S. H. Reno, special agent for the Colorado & Southern, hur- ried out from Trinidad to the scene of the hold-up. Reno was practically certain it was the “Black Jack” crowd that he had to reckon with. Edward Farr, sheriff at Walsenburg, Colo., was with Reno. The two officers picked up the outlaws’ tracks and followed them into the hills, where, amid the rocks, the trail be- came very faint. Suddenly Agent Reno espied.a slip of paper lying on the ground—a note carelessly dropped by one of the robbers. The author of the mes- sage was undoubtedly the “cripple.” In sub- stance the penciled message read: “No armed guards on train; none of crew armed. Felt for their guns as they carried me and my.crutch around.” The note went on to give the location of cer- tain scattered members of the gang, and Tur- key Canyon was appointed as a meeting place after the hold-up. - The officers’ best plan appeared to be to ate tempt to intercept the robbers at Turkey Cane Time was fast slipping away. bandits would be deep in the Sangre de Cristo again, and once they reached United States marshal; H. and a young fellow named Smith, from Mary land, joined Reno and Farr. The five men seé out from Cimarron on taking pack animals loaded with provisions and ammuni- tion. . On July 16—five days after the robbery—the five officers rode down the serpentine bends of Turkey Canyon. They advanced in single file, keeping a keen lookout. Late in the afternoon, the posse sniffed the aroma of frying bacon wafted upon the gentle Summer breeze. Some- where upwind was a camp. r Tying the pack horses to a sapling, the five men rode on at a pace. Presently some one heard a distant laugh; the camp was beyond the next little rise, Standing in their stirrups, the officers peered over the crest into a grove of tall yellow pines. Thin blue smoke was curling up from a smoldering cambpfire. Beside it sat the black-bearded man described by the train crew, and alongside him was the thick-set fellow who had dynamited the express safe. The couple were seated on a Navajo sac- dle blanket, playing poker. As the officers watched, up from the water- hole, carrying a canteen, came the slender young man who had entered the express car with the thick-set bandit. With complete safety to themselves the posse- men could now have picked their targets and shot all three bandits dead, but that was not the spirit which animated Reno and his gallant men. They would give the outlaws fair play. At a signal the five officers galloped forward into full view, their weapons at the ready, and halted. “Don’t move! You are under arrest!” shouted Reno. Without the slightest hesitation,the startled bandits grabbed up their rifles, leaped behind trees and began firing at the newcomers, who promptly sprang from their horses and, likee wise, took cover behind the trunks of the pines. The black-bearded ruffian’s gun spat and at the same instant Sheriff Farr’s rifl= spoke. The bandit was seen to grab his left arm and reel. Farr fell to the ground. A moment later Deputy Love dropped. The slender young out- law also fell, but he was soon up again, with his rifle death. Presently Posseman Smith was hit in the leg, but another officer’s rifie cracked and the tall desperado went down once more and lay prostrate for a time. Mean- while the remaining outlaw—the stocky man— was pumping metal furiously. Rene felt a piercing sting in his right leg and several bullets ripped through his clothes. Arrm.fime,theywn;bmdflreoovmd himself once more and crawled away, the black-bearded outlaw staggering off beside him, The short man accompanied them, moving slowly backward, with a pistol blazing alter nately from either hand. He was covering his wounded comrades as they crept away, and he fought & wonderful battle. From tree to tree