The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, February 5, 1899, Page 21

20 THE SAN FRANCISCO OCALL, SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 1899. JANE:. FROM A PHOTo HIS romance is like all others in the beginning, for it began with love. The strange and un- usual story of an outlaw’s bride, it began with love and found love’s old sad end—despair, death, even worse. It began at the altar and is a pa- thetic tale of a woman's devotion, a 's fidelity, whose wretchedness dear to her in suffering for the ne she loved. It is the history of an accomplishel California girl who left a home of and refinement to become the wife of a foreman on her father's ranch. That foreman was BRBill Dalton, the bandit It a story of ce: ss, hopel love, and its scenes shift from the pa- rental roof to a peaceful valley home in Southern California; to a court of justice, where the wife waited hours, days and months for the jury's verdict; to the prison, whose doors opened at last only to admit him to the wortld whose doors had closed; to that death in life, the civil quarantine, from which no outlaw who has a price upon his head ever escapes; and finally to a golitary grave in a barren, desolate field of her girlhood home, where with her father’s little ones she buried that which the law did not demand—the body of her dead. Dalton was the idolized and gifted daughter of a prominent Merced County rancher. All that love and all that wealth could give had been lav- ished upon her from childhood; and when she left this home of plenty to ghare the vicissitudes of fate h one ghe loved, frugality had no terrors for her. Life was but a glorious promise of that perfect home that w to be. They started their new life of con- tentment and hope together on a little ranch in San Luis Obispo County. Bill Dalton was a graduate of a Ken- tucky university and had come West to outlive a name already made no- torious by his bandit brothers; to out- live a name and throw off the shackles of heritage, for he was a cousin of the James brothers. He w the seventh son of a family of fifteen, and deter- mined to lead the life of an honest man, despite the associations of his kindred. He felt secure in the peaceful valley home, surrounded by purple mountains and fllled with the love and devotion of a good, true woman. He was strong, and united industry with science in the cultivation of the soil; she, the tender wife, became a fond mother, and both of them loved that cozy nest and dreamed of the day when by labor and economy they could pay for this little home and possess it as their very own. Fortune favored them at first. He was willing to work overtime, and helped the neighbors with their plow- ing; and she saved the proceeds from poultry and dairy and helped the neigh- bors with their sewing. The money thus gained was applied to the fund for the purchase of that home. Yea: after year they saved and hoped and toiled, little dreaming that a shadow was to darken the prospect of their lives; that it was even then waiting at the door. His brothers came to California, leav- ing their old field of criminal opera- tions for pastures new; came unbidden and red handed from the robbery of the express; came to this cozy home for from the hands of the law. They were given shelter—even more, for Bill Dalton helped his brothers to escape. - He went with them until they i re safe beyond the borders of the State, safe from the clutches of the law This he did for his brothers. ‘Would any man do less? It was his first offense, this kindness to his own. It was the beginning of the end. He assisted his brothers to escape, but his solicitude cost him dear. He was absent just two weeks, and the neighbors did not greet him kindly when he returned. That feeling for his brothers cost him the trust of friends and neighbors, his liberty, and eventually his life; but whatever it cost him, it could not de- prive him of his wife's love and fidelity. That was his to the last. He was arrested on suspicion— they could not find his brothers, and 80 they arrested him. He was released after a while, only to be thrown back in jail upon other charges. These court proceedings continued one year. In the meantime farming im- plements, household furniture and the stock—a wedding present from her fa- ther—had been sold at a sacrifice to pay the lawyer's fees. Nothing was left. The earnest hopes they had set their hearts upon had turned to ashes. When his trial was ended and he came forth a free man, he found every man his enemy and one woman his friend. He went East on a visit to his moth- er, leaving his wife and children here, with her brother, until he should pre- BiLL DALTONS FAITHFUL WIFE RN 4 Wl ! D'“_l. pare a home for them in a new country. Now for the strangest and most dra- matic career that ever befell a Cali- fornia girl, the history of a woman who followed her husband into exile; pur- sued night and day; banished from home by her fidelity to the bonds that no r can put asunder; fleeing from justice that knows but one end, the price of a human life—this, and more, Dalton experienced because of love Something of her unusual life is best by the woman who suffered it. f I had but known the life he in- tended to follow when he sent for me to join him I would have remained here, not because I did not love him, but because of that love, which I knew to would Have brought him back to us some day. He was devoted to the chil- dren, kind and indulgent, and I shall 1w believe that this love would have redeemed him from the past if I had refused to leave California; but, of course, I did not know. “I joined him at his mother’s home in Kingfisher, Oklahoma Territory. It was here that I first learned of his in- tention to lead an outlaw’s life. When the trouble began I think I suffered most. 1 was unacquainted with grief then, and for the first time in my mar- ried life I was left alone with the chil- dren—left alone, while Mr. Dalton set out upon the uncertain journey -to help his brothers to escape from the State. He was gone two weeks, and it seemed two years to me. I walked the floor night and day in the anguish of antici- pation. Perhaps he dead, perhaps wounded or taken prisoner along with his brothers. ““When the neighbors called I had to entertain them with smiles and light words while my heart was breaking. They were not to know why he was ab- sent. I could not write home about my trouble, for I had not pleased my parents in my choice of a husband, and my pride kept me from seeking their consolation. “‘Misery needs no calendar, but dur- ing the last year of my married life I m ured time by heart-throbs. “We started on our journey from ivilization at Kingfisher, a party of seven adults and four children. Three of the men had their wives with them. We traveled in two covered wagons through the trackless wilderness of Oklahoma and Indian Territories, our destination nowhere and our desire anywhere to avoid the man-hunters, for each man in our party had a price upon his head. “Sometimes we pushed on and on, traveling night and day and in fear of pursuit. O, God! the eternal memory of those horrible hours haunts me now. The wretchedness of the first night's camp is a thing apart in its intensity from all my other trials. We suspected that we were being followed, and so camped that night without a fire and without sleep. The plaintive cries of the wildcat, the rattling leaves stirred by lizards or snakes, would have been enough to dispel all thoughts of slum- ber; but the soul-stirring fear that the sun might rise over the dead bodies of our loved ones kept us awake. “After that night we women took turns as sentinels, for the men always returned at evening exhausted from their long day’'s tramp, hunting for game and new roads that were safe to travel. The first time I took my turn in guarding the sleepers I was neariy wild with apprehension. I had been staring into the deep forest until I imagined every light spot a human face and every tree trunk a body. If a twig broke or a leaf fell my ears magnified the sound and my eyes were constantly on the alert for some treacherous foe. The moon was full and the shadows from the pines played ghastly tricks with my imagination. “I was very nearly distracted with nervous fears, and with no intention of firing I reached for my gun, thinking to while away a moment in taking a quiet aim at a tree some fifty yards away. I raised my gun to take aim and saw what made my blood curdle in my weins; the flgure of an Indian at whom I had unconsclously leveled my gun! I was dumb with terror and the Indian gave the first alarm by a peculiar cry that awakened my hus- band. J “In an instant he was by the Indian's side. It was ‘Indian Jake,’ a friend, who brought us news that we were pur- sued by a party not seven miles away. We broke camp immediately in the dead of night and resumed our tiresome Journey, broken of rest and disturbed by dangers. This Indlan had warned Mr. Dalton time after time, because he had once saved his life when dying from starvation. “It was a terrible life, this roving, fieeing existence. The men themselves felt no safety, but tried to keep their fears from the women. I never knew one of them to have a sound night's sleep during the whole of that madden~ ing career, "Occulo‘n&lli’ We came Across a lone. ly hut, a rendezvous for highwaymen, a sort of boarding house on the ‘Robin FOLLOWED HER OUTLAW RUSBAND AND LEFT A GOOD HOME Train-Robber Bill Dalton’s Wife Tells of Her Eventful Life After She Left Her Peaceful Merced Home and Went With Him to Indian Territory, Thinking She Might Help and Eventually Save Hood’ plan, where no price was charged for board and lodging, but a booty was given by the guests when a big haul was made. To add to our hardships, we all were taken sick with malaria, and my little daughter is crippled for life from the effects of this dreadful disease. “There was an Indian uprising, and for weeks the men left the camp neither night nor day. Those were days of ter- ror and suspense, and we patiently ), DALTON —~ THE BA FROM A PHOTO.. NDIT - + + + + + + + + + OHANNESBURG, Jan. 2.—“Barba- rlan” Brown, otherwise R. E. Brown, an American, has just been awarded damages .amounting ‘to nearly £60,000 by the Transvaal Government. It is the sequel of the wild- est gold-farm rush of South . Africa, in which Brown pursued the tactics of’the football fleld and had himself driven through an immense mob of lawless rush- ers by a flylng wedge of 300 armed men, It was an exploit of a football captain and frontler American, Twelve thousand miners, the very roughest men in the gold fields, made up from nearly eyery nation on the globe, took part in this rush, which occurred on A level stretch of yelvet in Beptember, Him. waited for the sign that ‘Indian Jake’ had promised to give up when the trou- ble had subsided. He never failed in any of his promises, and often traveled thirty miles to tell the boys that they were shadowed. “The harrowing details of my Ilast week in Indian Territory are forever sureing through my brain. We were camping at a robber’s rest cottage, pre- paratory to moving into Mexico. Mr. Dalton had come home sick, after a two months’ absence. The other boys had gone off hunting for teams and wagons to haul our provisions to this new home. I was commissioned to go to Ardmore, the nearest settlement, to buy provisions for this long journey. “‘Our men never ventured near a set- tlement. I expected to be gone two days and was accompanied by one of the women and a young fellow who had been at the house for several months. He had always seemed a little envious of Mr. Dalton, who was the leader of this band, but further than that no one pald any attention to his disposition, and they generally thought him a good fellow. “Upon this all-eventful morning, as 1 was about to start for Ardmore, I turned to bid my husband ‘good-by’ and suddenly had the strange convics tion that we would never meet again. A fearful forebading took possession of me. ‘It was unlike anything that I ever felt before. “‘He saw the look of terror in my face and with a tenderness that was ever his nature tried to quiet my nervous fears. When we- drove away from the house I was smiling through my tears, but I had a heavy, heavy heart. “My feeling of gloom soon. developed into suspicion as we rode along, and I found myself staring at the driver in a most singular manner. Was I going mad? Had my anxieties and the hard- ships of the past year affected my mind? I pulléd myself together with a jerk and entered into the conversation, only to fall back into this sullen revery. Throughout this journey my eyes were riveted upon that man, and I felt intu- [N K i v~ oy AT ey > |ND;ANT\éAKE CONE5 WARN THEM AR SRR R R R S e T e T R PR R S R AR S R A BROWN’'S FLYING WEDGE. How It Won Him a Fortune in the South African Go'd Fields. L R R S R R o R o S S S S A R A e R R R R R R b R S R R e A e R R R 1895, and the goal was a galvanized iron shanty, six feet square, wherein stood a Government Mining Commissioner, whose business. it was to sell licenses for claims on the Witfontein farm. : This farm lay directly on the gold reef and belonged to the Government. It was one of the last of the rich' farms whereon the old Boers had for years been ralsing thelr crops of mealles all unconsclous of the hidden wealth. The exodus began ten days before the opening, The whole Rand was In an up- roar. Every mining company there pre- pared for the occaston, It was well known that the Wiifontein lay along the richest part of the reef, and that & clalm there would yleld fortunes, The Pretorlan Government knew this, itively that he was a traitor. To this day I believed it was he who informed the deputies at Ardmore of my hus- band’s hiding place. “‘On the first day. when we entered the store, no one gave us unusual at- tention, but on the next morning quite a crowd had collected and eyed us curiously. I became alarmed and sus- pected trouble at once. We turned to leave the store and were stopped bv a Sheriff, who put us through a sham trial over a liquor purchase in order to delay our journey home. At last we were set free and immediately started for home, filled with apprehensions of danger. “‘On the way we met one of the Sher- iffs, who insolently inquired my name. - I refused to give it and then he said, ‘Well, old girl, if you are Mrs. Dalton, we have got your husband back there in the wagon.’ 3 “I fell down at his feet. Only too well I knew what that meant. That he would never be taken alive, Mr. Dalton had always sworn, and I felt that the end had come. It was a moment of agony too deep for words, and the ‘wagon came nearer and nearer, bear- ing the form that for ten years had made my life one of love. “The children had first discovered the deputtes on a ridge just above the house and warned their father. He saw the men, and, with his hand on the gun which had never left his side dur- ing the whole of this eventful year, he jumped the fence and started for the Woods, but was stopped by a shot from the Sheriff, who was hidden from view in a ditch. “The changeless round of suspense, anguish and fear was over at last, and I thought that life held nothing more excruciating than what I had already suffered. But this was not all, for the man who killed my husband asked me for his belt and pistols; and the man who hunted him down wanted his body for a traveling exhibition.” Oh! what was love made for, if 'tis not the same THEDITC Through joy and through torment, through glory and shame. This bandit’s children call another man ‘‘father” now. That other man walted all these years—these years of hardship, trial and heartache—waited until the outlaw s wife returned with her fatherless little ones to the grave in the bleak, sandy fleld; waited from early boyhood when he romped and played with the rancher's daughter; walited with faint heart until he learned that she was to be the bride of another; waited patiently for the fates to bring her back to him. > Then he offered her a Tefuge in her time of trouble, a fireside, a home. + + + + + + +4 too, but had not counted on any such demonstration as followed, or the claims would have been disposed of by lottery, the plan afterward adopted. The procla- mation In the Pretorian Press gave per- ‘mission to any one to prospect the farm, 80 that all buyers had an opportunity for “locating the best claims. But first they must obtaln a license at the little iron shanty three miles from the farm. Consequently every vehicle in Johannesburg had been hired or bought to transport men to the spot. The road from Johannesburg to Kierks- dorp, which lies near the Witfontein, looked like the route of an army trans- portation. Tents, cooking outfits, cases of whisky and roulette tables were all Jjumbled together on a wagon. THE SHERIFE STorpep HIM WITH A S MO T Feom | g OMETIMES we pushed on Sand in fear of pursuit. the first night’s camp isa ation.” WEES+++4 4450444444444+ 444444 +EE 3 | | B+ 444444 It was estimated that on the day of the opening 12,000 men occupied the camp, in addition to many Boers who came from all parts of the Transvaal to witness the scene. John Hays Hammond was then con- sulting engineer for the Consolidated Gold Flelds Company, and he assumed direc- tion over nearly one thousand men, who were expected to tear a hole right through the mass and smash everything. The whole camp was armed to the teeth. Every man carrled at least one revolver and expected to use it, for it was a fight for big stakes, and each company prom- ised protection to its men. There was practically no danger of arrest, however, for the Zarps, or Boer policemen, trem- bled with fear at that armed mob. The. plans of each company: to effect the coup were much the same. Barney Barnato, J. B. Robinson Beit, the Joels and every one interested in gold mining in Johannesburg, great or small, took a vital interest in the struggle, and put forth every effort to gain the prize. Each company hoped to push their man up to the window first, purchase the licegse, hand it to an armed rider and hurry it off to the farm, where the engineers and peggers were walting to jump in and stake off the richest claims. Six firms even went so far as to sink strong wooden posts just by the window and to these lashed men with ropes, so that they could not be pulled away and passed back over the crowd. precautions avalled nothing, for when the struggle began sharp knives severed the thongs and both men and posts landed on the outskirts of the crowd. Personally, Brown was not formidable. ‘With five feet eight inches of height and smooth, boyish countenance, he was not a dangerous looking man. But those who had seen him glance down the barrel of a 45-Colt without so much as moving an eyelid knew him as absolutely fearless. Brown, while he associated with the bet- ter class of Americans on the Rand, was on speaking terms with the rough element and he utilized these to form a flying wedge, which at that time had just been developed by the American football play- ers. To get all these men under one flag he hired the seven most desperate characters on the Rand—Alec Love, Jim and Jack Maloney, Manny Garchel, “Butch” “Wil- son, Jack Hildebrandt and Danger. They were men who would fight at the drop of a hat, and cut your throat and take chances on escaping punishment. Love, who s now serving a sentence for highway robbery, was a good looking man, well educated and quite gentlemanly when sober. He had recelved a college training in the States. He wore red hair and a red mustache, was very handsome and massively bullt. Brown selected him for his captain, and gave him carte blanche financially. Each ringleader brought his particular friends, and Brown promised them $25 a day and good bonus if they pushed him through. ‘When this regiment of toughs made its first appearance in the little town' of Klerksdorp, the citizens fled for thelr lives. When this company reached the camp many firms-immediately made overtures to the men and tried to win them over with drink and money, A number of Americans started for John Hays Ham- mond’s camp, but Alec Love stood gin front with a drawn revolver and threat- ened to shoot the first man who left, Brown found that the only way to hold R AR SR ARSI [ IR e nasasaas s s e a e e A aRs Oh, God! the eternal memory of those horrible hours haunts me now. all my other trials. We suspected that we were being followed, and so camped that night without a fire and without sleep. The plaintive cries of the wildcat, the rattling leaves stirred by liz- ards or snakes, would have been enough to dispel all thoughts of slumber; but the soul-stirring fear that the sun might rise over the dead bodies of our loved ones kept us awake. «After that night we women took turns as sentinels, for the men always returned atevening-exhausted from their long day’s tramp, hunting for game and new roads that were safe to travel. The first time I took my turn in guarding the sleep- ers I was nearly wild with apprehension. into the deep forest until I imagined every light spot a human face and every tree trunk a body. If a twig broke or.a leaf fell my ears magnified the sound and my eyes were constantly on the alert for some treacherous foe. shadows from the pines played ghastly tricks with my imagin- ® JUUUUUUUUUITOUIISS IS SRSV UTTUITUTUUIUOURRY | | 300000000 PPAVAANRAAAININA G- 11 But these and on, traveling night and day The wretchedness of thing apart in its intensity from I had been staring The moon was full and the +444 4444444444444 44444 44444444409 BEC+ 4444444440044 44 0440 40044+ HER his men was to keep them drunk, so for five days previous to the opening, whisky flowed like water and the ringleaders boosted up their cohorts with bad liquor. On the day of the rush, however, no man was so drunk as to forget about the fiying wedge, which had been thoroughly explained and illustrated. At the very peep of the dawn the great mass began to push, though the sale was not until9 o'clock. Lines were formed and the en- tire gathering was : soon engaged iIn a viclous free fight. Men emerged with ears bitten off, eyes blackened, noses broken and teeth loosened. As soon as a company got its man to the window he was dragged away and either passed back overhead or nearly trampled to death. Many succeeded in reaching the spot, but it was fmpossible to hold a man there long, ‘for he was soon borne down by force of numbers, v Brown and his henchmen, in the mean- time, held their position on the outskirts. It was not until half an hour before the time appointed to open the window that he began to form his wedge. Probably 6000 men were massed between him and the goal at that moment, but this never feazed the indomitable Yankee. With thongs of rawhide he lashed himself to Alec Love and Jim Maloney, and with his feet barely touching the earth, gave the signal to move. At the first impact with the human wall there was a terrific howi of pain follow- ed by the most surpassing imprecations, and a man staggered out of the crowd with the blood spurting from his leg. Ma- loney had run his knife into him several inches. In a few minutes these cries echoed on all sides and the attention of the mob became divided, some turning to face .the wedge, which hung together without a break and seemed to gain in velocity as it neared the goal. Maloney and Love, with heads down, darted into every opening, and where there was none, made it with the jab of a knife. Brown was hustled along breathless and bleed- ing until within a dozen rods of the win- dow. Here several hundred Cornishmen, great hulking fellows, with plenty of strength and grit, made a stand that bade fair to spoil the rush. They smashed the apex and were mowing down the pugilists when the rest of the wedge broke through and cleared the way. Brown, though badly bruised, continued to shout out promises of reward to his men i they pushed him up on time. There were but a few minutes left then, and the office was rocking to and fro with the tide of humanity. Pounded and beaten on every side the great flying wedge made one last effort, and with a zigzag movement angl many knife thrusts, finally broke through and fairly hurled Brown against the office. ‘With a good right-hand blow a pugilist smashed in the window and Brown clutched the frail partition with a death grip. At the some moment a gun was fired, announcing 9 o’clock, and the whote mass, as one man, heaved up against the little galvanized {iron booth, crushing Brown almost flat. Surrounded by a remnant of his flying wedge, however, he continued to hang to the window, and was just getting at his wad of five-pound notes when the Govern- ment Commissioner threw open the door and announced President Kruger's order suspending the opening. It nearly cost him his life, for bullets rained in the shanty from all sides and the mob push- ed harder than ever, and Brown was on the point of giving up his position when one of those happy inspirations which oc- cur to men of quick thought and action urged him to demand a license. “Here I am,” he yelled at the fright- ened commissioner, sticking through the window a face covered with blood, “here’'s my good, hard-earned money. Now give me my license, or I'll sue the Government for £1,000,000.” A sudden pitch of the mob nearly pushed the plucky fellow through the window and shattered his® shoulder blade, but he waited to hear the re- fusal and have- it witnessed, and then al- lowed himself to be passed out on the veldt. Out of the thousands there he was the only one who had the foresight to do this, and though It took a long time he finally recelved his indemnity. This amount has been kept secret, but it is variously esti- mated by the Johannesburg papers be- tween £50,000 and £75,000. During the entire time that the' suit was being tried, and it passed through & number of courts, the flying wedge hovered about Brown, many of them not doing a stroke of work, all existing on the hope of receiving their share of the award, but as Brown left Johannes- burg before it was granted these choice spirits were doomed to disappointment. —_—— 0000000000006 00060009 @ The Sunday Call, 32 pages, delivered at your home by mail for $1°50 a year. Subscribe for it. XXX XX X4 L X XX XX QOO0 OOOCOO000000 6 “These horseless carriages are great ~things.” “Yes, Indeed. I had one once.” “What did you do with it?"” “Outgrew it,"—Jewish Comment,