the Clan, Wages and McGrath, knowing my ability, and that I was a keen
shrewd and cunning lad, took me under their immediate special charge.
We had a rendezvous at old Wages’ about twelve miles from Mobile, and
another at Dog River, about the same distance in a different direction.
We ranged that season from one place to the other, and sometimes in
town, stealing any and everything we could. Sometimes killing beef,
hogs and sheep, hauling them to town and selling them; sometimes
stealing a fine horse or mule and conveying it to some of our comrades
to conceal; and occasionally a negro would disappear. All this while,
we pretended to be engaged in making shingles, burning charcoal, and
getting laths and pickets, each for himself. We always managed to
furnish the family with all the meat they could use.
We worked on in this way until late in the summer or early in the fall
of 1839, when most of the inhabitants had left the city; and we having
six of our Clan then employed as City Guards, we rallied our forces
and Wages ordered a meeting. It was there resolved that we should
prepare ourselves with boats and teams—the boats to be stationed at
a particular wharf in Mobile, on a certain night, and the teams at a
landing named, on Dog River the next night. It was also ordered that we
should assemble at our Wig-wam on the first night at seven o’clock. The
meeting then adjourned.
The promised evening came, and every member was punctual in his
attendance. It was a full meeting of the Clan. We all rigged ourselves
out with false moustaches, some with false whiskers, some with a green
patch over one eye, and many of them dressed like sailors, and thus
fitted out and disguised, we were ready for action, with all kinds of
false keys, skeleton keys, lock picks, crow bars, &c. At nine o’clock
the City Guards turned out, and by a previous arrangement, those of our
comrades who mounted guard, were on the first watch. They immediately
sent two of their number to inform us where to make the first break.
They had reconnoitered previously and knew what places had the richest
and most valuable goods, and they had also procured false keys for
several stores. Thus armed, each man with his revolver, bowie knife and
dark lantern, about ten o’clock we started out. Our first break was a
fancy dry-goods store which we opened with one of our keys. We took
over $5,000 worth of goods from that store, fine silks, muslins, &c. We
next entered a rich jewelry store, and made a clean sweep there. There
were no fine watches; we got some silver watches and two or three gold
watches, left, we supposed, to be repaired. Our raise there was about
four to five thousand dollars. Our next break was on a large clothing
store. There we took $3000 worth of the finest and best clothing. While
we were at this, some of the clan were packing off and storing in their
boats. We had procured two butcher carts, which would stand a short
distance off and our men packed and loaded the carts, which they hauled
to our boats. About half-past eleven o’clock, knowing that there would
be a new guard out at twelve o’clock, we dispersed and set fire to each
of the stores we had robbed. Soon there was the cry of fire; the wind
commenced blowing, and the fire spread rapidly. Our Clan now commenced
operations anew; we seized and carried out goods from any and every
store we came to, still retaining the carts. We kept them constantly
employed; and before daylight we had loaded two large, swift boats, and
had a large quantity of merchandise in a “wood flat.” A little before
daylight, we left with our boats for Dog River. We arrived there about
eight o’clock, ten miles from the city, and went up the river to our
landing place, where we secreted our goods until that night, when we
had our teams at work, hauling off and concealing goods, which we
finally accomplished the second night. Wages then ordered a meeting
of the clan, and punctual attendance was required. The object of this
meeting was for a report from each member of the amount of goods he had
obtained, so that an equal distribution might be made. From the report
then made, we had procured over twenty-five thousand dollars worth
of goods of almost every description. We had an abundant supply of
groceries and liquors. Our friends in the city had a bountiful supply
of almost everything. We made a division of our plunder, and Wages,
McGrath and myself got for our share about six thousand dollars worth.
We were permitted to select the finest and most costly goods, such as
the jewelry, fine silks, muslins etc., which we could carry in our
trunks.
Having properly stowed away our effects, we took a trip from Mobile
to Florida by way of Pensacola, carrying with us some of the jewelry,
watches and dry goods. We traveled from Pensacola through Florida, with
our pack of goods, as pedlars, each taking a different route, and all
to meet at Apalachicola on a certain day. Wages went the middle route,
McGrath the southern route, and I went the northern route. I traveled
some distance, occasionally selling some of my plunder. I eventually
arrived at a very rich neighborhood, near the Chatochooca river, not
far from the Alabama line. There I soon disposed of most of my goods.
I fell in with a house where a very rich old widow lady lived. She
bought a good deal of my jewelry and other goods for her two young
daughters. I pretended to be sick, for an excuse to stay there. This
lady had a very nice mulatto girl about seventeen years old. During
the time I was there pretending to be sick, I made an arrangement with
this girl to run away with me; I promised to take her for a wife, and
carry her to a free State. She was to meet me on a certain night at
the landing on the river, about one mile from that place. I left the
house pretending to go to Columbus, Ga., and traveled up the river some
thirty miles, where I stole a canoe. I procured some meat and bread and
started down the river. On the night appointed I was at the landing,
and about ten o’clock the mulatto girl came. She had provided bed
clothing and provisions in plenty. I then started down the river with
my girl. We went about thirty miles that night, and lay by in the river
swamp all next day. The next night we made about fifty miles down the
river. The third night we reached Apalachicola, two days previous to
the time appointed to meet Wages and McGrath. I landed a short distance
above town, and left my girl in a swamp just after daylight, and then
went to the city. In looking around I fell in with John Harden, he
being one of our clan. He soon gave me an introduction to a place
where I could conceal my girl, and stay myself. The next day McGrath
arrived; I met him in the street, and gave him a sign to follow me to
our rendezvous. I showed him my girl and told him the way I had got
her; he then told me that he had stolen a likely negro fellow, and had
him concealed in a swamp about four miles from town. After dinner, and
a little before night, McGrath and I went out to the swamp, brought in
his fellow, and concealed him at the same place where my girl was.
The next day about eight o’clock Wages came up; we were all on the
lookout for him. We gave him a hint to come to our place. We showed
Wages what a raise we had made; he then told us that he had stolen
two negroes and two fine horses, and that they were concealed in the
swamp about five miles from town. In fear of pursuit he said we must
leave instanter. We made an arrangement with Harden and our landlord
to take the horses. They gave Wages twenty-five dollars a piece for
the horses, and our board bill. That night Wages and Harden went
out to the swamp; Harden took the horses and left, and Wages brought
in his negroes and placed them with ours. That night while Wages was
gone after his negroes McGrath and I went to a coffee house, and while
there we met some Spaniards that had a little schooner there, and which
was then loaded for New Orleans. We made the arrangement with them to
carry us and our negroes to New Orleans, returned to our place, and had
everything prepared. About ten o’clock Wages came in with his negroes,
and we all went on board the vessel, which weighed anchor and sailed
down the bar. Next morning the captain cleared his vessel, and by ten
o’clock we were over the bar and under way, with a good breeze. On
the second night, a little before day, we landed at the Pontchartrain
railroad, and left in the first cars for the city. We went into one of
our places in the city, got breakfast for ourselves and negroes, and at
nine o’clock we left in a steamboat for Bayou Sara. We landed there,
crossed the river and went to one of our clan—a rich planter—where
we sold our negroes. I got one thousand dollars for my mulatto girl;
McGrath sold his fellow for eleven hundred dollars, and Wages sold each
of his boys for nine hundred dollars. We took our money and left for
Mobile. My girl made considerable fuss when I was about to leave, but
I told her I would return in a month, and rather pacified her. I must
here acknowledge that my conscience did that time feel mortified, after
the girl had come with me, and I had lived with her as a wife, and she
had such implicit confidence in me. My conscience still feels mortified
when I reflect how much better it would have been for me to have kept
her and lived with her than to come to what I have.
On our way to Mobile we stopped in New Orleans three or four days.
During our stay there was one fire. We made a small raise on that of
about one hundred dollars each. McGrath came very near being caught by
attempting to make a second haul. We left next day for Mobile; landed
at Pascagoula, and walked home by land, with our money and the small
amount of goods we had stolen in New Orleans.
We then deposited our money, and gathered all the balance of our fine
goods that we had stolen in Mobile at the great fire, and what we had
stolen in New Orleans, and prepared ourselves for a second tour. We had
realized about four thousand five hundred dollars, which we hid in the
ground, and we took each of us about one hundred and fifty dollars for
our expenses, and an equal share of the goods.
On the 25th day of March, 1843, Wages, McGrath and myself left Mobile
bound to Texas; we went to New Orleans, where we landed the next day.
We remained there about three days and sold a great quantity of our
goods, such as were too heavy to carry. While we were in the city
Wages won about seven hundred dollars from a Tennessee corn dealer by
the name of Murphy. McGrath and myself had lost about one hundred and
fifty dollars each. We left New Orleans, went up the Mississippi, and
landed at the house of an old friend that belonged to our clan. His
name was Welter. We spent one day and night with him; we had seen him
in the city a few days before, and were invited to call, but when we
approached his residence we all pretended to be entire strangers. This
was a strict injunction upon our clan—when traveling never to meet
any of our comrades as acquaintances, but always treat them as entire
strangers, that we had never seen in our life.
Wages pretended to have some business with the old gentleman, and
introduced himself, McGrath and myself under fictitious names. The
old gentleman had two very nice genteel daughters. They were sociable
and refined, well educated, and highly accomplished every way; he was
wealthy, and had a good reputation in his neighborhood, and no one
would for one moment have suspected him of belonging to our clan. But
I afterward learned from Wages that this old gentleman had belonged to
the Murrell Clan for many years; and that was what carried Wages there,
to get some information relative to some negroes that had been stolen
and carried to Louisiana near the Texas line. Wages also informed me
that this same man made all his property by stealing and kidnapping
negroes from Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia, Ohio, Indiana and Illinois.
Having obtained the information we wanted, we made preparation to
leave. We offered to pay our fare, but this was promptly refused. We
were well entertained; the old gentleman furnished us each with a flask
of good brandy, and, after thanking him and his family for their kind,
hospitable treatment, we bid adieu, and took our departure for Texas.
We got on a steamboat and went up the Mississippi to the mouth of Red
river, and up that river to a landing called the New Springs. There
we paid our passage and went on shore, each with his pack and his
double-barrel gun. We stopped at a house about one mile from the river,
where we called for our dinner, which we got, and we all remained there
until next day, during which time we sold a considerable amount of our
goods at that house and in the neighborhood, which made our packs much
lighter. We left next day, stopping at all houses, and selling our
goods, which we did at a rapid rate, as we had stolen them and were
not sufficient judges of their value to know what price to ask, and in
consequence we often sold them at one-half their value, and so soon got
rid of them.
Having disposed of the principal part of our goods, about the fourth
day after we left the New Spring landing, we were approaching the
prairie county on the Texas border. We provided ourselves with bread
and salt; we had ammunition. Shortly before night, we came to a small
piece of woodland, by a ravine. There was a large drove of cattle
of all sizes there; McGrath shot a very fat two-year old heifer; we
skinned the hind quarters and tenderloin; we built up a fire, salted
some of our meat and roasted it by the fire and feasted sumptuously.
The wolves came near our camp and made a dreadful noise, but at
daybreak we shot and killed three and the balance ran off. They had
devoured all the heifer’s meat, but we had provided sufficient for
our journey that day. We set out and traveled in a direction to find a
settlement, then made about twenty-five miles south of Shreveport. That
was the place where Welter had told Wages that the negroes were, that
we were after. We traveled about thirty miles that day, and suffered
very much for water. We reached a settlement a little before night, on
some of the waters of the Sabine River. It was the residence of some
stock keepers; there were some three or four families, and some fifteen
or twenty Mexican drovers, and horse thieves; they had just been to
Natchitoches, and had a full supply of rum; a few of them could speak
English. We quartered with them, and that night we opened the little
remnant of our goods and jewelry, and had a general raffle. By the next
day we had realized from our raffle, sufficient to purchase each of us
a good Spanish saddle and bridle, and a good Texas horse. We learned
from one of these Mexicans the residence of the man who owned the
negroes that we were after, and we also learned that he and his family
were strict members of the Methodist Church. Now it was that one of us
had to turn preacher, so as to reconnoiter around the place. Wages and
I put that on McGrath. We all mounted our horses and started, having
procured plenty of lassoes, &c., McGrath being an Irishman and his
tongue tipped with plenty of blarney.
We traveled for two days very moderately, and, our chief employment was
drilling McGrath, how to pray and sing, and give that long Methodist
groan, and “Amen.” He having made considerable progress, we went to
Natchitoches. McGrath entered that town by one road, and Wages and
myself by another. McGrath went among a few of his brethren that
evening.
To our astonishment it was posted at every corner, that the “Rev. Mr.
McGrath, from Charleston, South Carolina, would preach at the Methodist
Church that evening, at half-past seven.” We attended church. McGrath
took his stand in the pulpit. He made a very genteel apology to his
audience, saying he was much fatigued from his travel; that he had
caught cold and was very hoarse and could not sing; but he read out the
hymn. It was: “Hark from the tombs a doleful sound.” One old brother
pitched the tune to Old Hundred, and they all chimed in, Wages and
myself among the rest; Wages sang bass and I tenor, and we all made
that old church sound like distant thunder. After singing, McGrath
made a very good but short prayer; he then took his text in the 16th
chapter of St. Mark, at the verse where Mary the mother, and Mary
Magdalene found the stone rolled from the door of the sepulchre. “And
he said unto them, Be not affrighted; ye seek Jesus of Nazareth, who
was crucified; he has risen; he is not here; behold the place where
they laid him.” He read several verses in that chapter, and then made
some very good explanations relative to the parables, and prophesies
on the coming of the Messiah, and the mysterious way in which he
disappeared, and wound up his discourse by telling the audience that he
had been a great sinner in his young days, that it had been but a few
years since the Lord had called him to preach, and he thanked his God
that he was now able and willing to lay down his life upon the altar
of God; he then raved, and exhorted all to repent and turn to God; and
after raving about half an hour called all his hearers that wished to
be prayed for to come forward. The whole congregation kneeled down;
he prayed for them all, and finally finished, sang another hymn and
dismissed his congregation, and we all retired, Wages and myself to
a gaming table, and McGrath with some of his brethren. Next day the
members of the church there waited on McGrath to know what was his
pecuniary situation. He told them that he was very poor, was on his way
to see a rich relation of his, about two hundred miles from there; that
he carried his gun to keep off wild beasts, etc. They made up money to
buy him a fine suit of black, a new saddle and saddle-bags and fifty
dollars in cash. We remained there two days, when McGrath left. Wages
and I left by another road. We all met a short distance from town
and made the proper arrangement for our operations. McGrath was to go
on to the house of this man that had the negroes, and there make what
discoveries were necessary. He was to join Wages and myself at San
Antonio on the first day of September following. Wages and I left in
the direction for the Red Land on the Irish bayou.
POISONING THE OVERSEER.
A few days after we passed the residence of an old bachelor who had a
large number of negroes; he was absent at Natchitoches and had left
his overseer in charge. We stopped there, and remained two days;
we procured some whisky from a grocery store a short distance off;
prepared some of it with _poison_, and induced the overseer to drink
freely. We gave him a full dose of the poison, and before day on the
third morning he was dead.
Meanwhile Wages and I had made arrangements to steal a likely negro
woman and two young negroes, a boy and girl, about ten years of age,
besides two of the finest horses on the place. We sent out runners to
let one or two of the neighbors know that the overseer was dead; we
had our negroes and horses concealed about five miles distant, and
about sunrise we offered to pay our bills and left, pretending to go
to New Orleans. After we had got out of sight of the plantation we
made a circuit and went to the place where the negroes and horses were
concealed. Having provided ourselves with provisions, we remained
secreted at that place all that day. That night we started with our
negroes and horses. Wages took the lead; our horses and negroes were
all refreshed. We traveled a brisk gait all that night and till next
day at nine or ten o’clock. We suffered greatly for water, having met
with none after midnight, until we stopped at a small creek. We had
passed no houses after daylight. After we stopped we stripped our
horses, gave them water and hampered them to graze; we got water for
ourselves and negroes, and took a little spirits we had, and eat the
balance of our provisions. After we had rested a little while, Wages
took his gun and went up the creek in search of game; I took mine and
went to the road we had just left, and went on rather down the creek.
At the distance of about two miles I came to a plantation. It was an
old stock place, inhabited by some of the old creole settlers that had
lived there in Spanish times. I inquired the distances and courses of
the country. They told me it was about forty miles to the first river,
and that there was but one settlement on the road where we could get
water for ourselves and horses, at about twenty-five miles. After I
had got this information I purchased some bread and potatoes and a
small piece of dried beef, and returned to our camp. Wages had killed
a fine deer, and he and the negro woman were roasting a fine piece. We
fared well that day. That night about dark we left our camp, provided
with provisions for two days. A little after midnight we reached the
first water. A little before daylight we reached some settlements and
woodland; we traveled a short distance and came to a small, deep river.
We there found a ferry flat and some small boats. We took the flat and
carried our horses and negroes over; took the flat back, and took a
small boat, and Wages and I crossed to our horses and negroes. By this
time we could discern the appearance of day. We mounted and traveled
on; we could perceive we were passing several large plantations; by
sunrise we had traveled four or five miles. We could see at a distance
several clusters of woodland in the prairies. We made for one of
them some distance from the road, which we found afforded sufficient
shelter for that day. We found some water, but not plenty, and very
bad; our horses would drink but little of it. We stripped and hampered
our horses to graze, took our breakfast and told the negroes to go to
sleep. I went to sleep, and Wages kept watch. About twelve o’clock I
was awakened by the report of a gun. I rose up and found that Wages
had shot a fat yearling beef. We skinned and saved the hind quarters
and loin, and salted it a little and barbecued it. While Wages lay
down and took a nap the negro woman and I attended to the meat. About
an hour before sunset Wages awoke, and we all eat heartily. We eat
the last of our bread and potatoes; our horses had finished grazing
and were resting, and about sunset we began to pack up for traveling,
with plenty of meat and no bread. About dark we left our sheltered
woods and started on the road again. We were then about one hundred
and twenty miles from the place where we had stolen the negroes. We
traveled on that night about thirty miles, and reached a large creek
between midnight and day. We passed one or two plantations, and very
little woodland. When Wages came to the creek he examined the ford and
found horse tracks; he rode in first, went over and came back, and
took the bridle of the horse that had the two little negroes and led
him safely across, and the negro woman and myself followed. We went on
some seven or eight miles, and came to woodland and plantations again.
Some of the plantations were very large. We continued traveling till
daylight; after day we passed several fine, large plantations. The sun
was about one hour high when we came to a ferry on a large river. We
called, and the ferryman was a negro; we inquired the distance from the
last river we had crossed; he said sixty-three miles. The negro was a
very intelligent fellow; we inquired particularly for San Antonio, and
told him there was where we were going. We inquired for several other
places, and left; at a short distance we found a place where we could
rest, not far from a plantation. There Wages and myself procured some
corn for our horses, the first they had eaten for several days. We also
procured some bread; after we had fed and rested our horses and slept
some ourselves, a little before night we started again. We traveled
that night about thirty-five miles, and stopped at a small creek and
camped till daylight. We then started, crossed the creek, went out a
short distance and turned our course more to the east. We took a trail
that led us down the creek. We halted about noon to rest our horses,
which by this time were much fatigued. Here we procured something for
ourselves to eat.