_A determined Party of Horsemen.--The Outlaws surrounded and the
Birds caged.--A Parley.--An affecting Scene.--The burning
Cabin.--Its Occupants finally surrender._
While the telegrams were flying back and forth on Tuesday, the twelfth,
Cottrell and Marriott were busily engaged. Early that morning Mr. Stone
came to Verona, and told them that he had learned that Farrington and
Cousins intended to leave Durham's for the Indian Territory the next
day. The news was doubtless authentic, Stone having heard it from
Smothers, who had said that Farrington had told him so himself. It was
clearly impossible to wait for William's arrival, as, by that time, the
men might be safely hidden in the wild country to the westward. Instant
action was absolutely necessary, and Cottrell so informed Mr. Purdy, who
soon gathered a force of eight men. Very little would have been needed
to obtain even a larger number of recruits, for, had Mr. Purdy and the
detectives publicly told the story of the men whom they wished to
capture, there would have been plenty of eager volunteers, all anxious
to aid in ridding the country of such a band of outlaws. It was not
deemed advisable, however, to summon a large posse, lest the news might
spread so fast as to reach the ears of the criminals before the
detectives could surround them; on this account only a few reliable men
were let into the secret, and they left town singly and in pairs to
avoid observation, having a rendezvous outside.
Just before starting, Mr. Purdy received a dispatch from the general
land agent, ordering him to Pearce City instantly, as several purchasers
of land were awaiting him there; although he tried to have his visit
postponed one day, he was unsuccessful, his orders being imperatively
repeated by telegraph, and so he was unable to accompany the detectives
and citizens on their expedition to Durham's. The party of eight met the
detectives outside the town, and they were joined on their way by three
others, who lived on the road. They were all substantial business men
or farmers, but they were accustomed to a life in the saddle, and they
had all borne arms during the war on one side or the other. In spite of
their present peaceful occupations they were not a body who could be
trifled with, and it was evident that any gang of desperadoes would find
their match in these cool, determined, law-abiding men.
A few miles from Verona they met a young lady riding a large brown mule,
but none of the men in the party knew her. Cottrell felt sure, however,
that she was Durham's sister, and that she was riding Farrington's mule.
The descriptions he had received of the girl from Stone and Wisbey
coincided exactly with her appearance, while the mule could not be
mistaken. He therefore sent a man back to watch her, lest she should
have taken alarm at so large a cavalcade of armed men. She rode on to
Verona, however, without showing any signs of uneasiness, and the scout
soon overtook the party.
On arriving one mile from Wisbey's, Marriott went on to Stone's house
with six men, while Cottrell went to Wisbey's with the other five. Stone
and Wisbey soon gathered a number of the neighbors, among whom was John
Ellis, who owned the house and land where the Durhams were living; he
was a very highly respected citizen, and was not at all displeased at
the idea of getting rid of his semi-disreputable tenants. The management
of the affair was then unanimously voted to Cottrell, and the party
rode rapidly toward the Durham house. It was situated at the edge of a
clearing, with underbrush and woodland close to it on three sides, so
that great caution was necessary, lest the villains should see them
approaching, and escape into the woods. At a reasonable distance from
the house, therefore, the party divided, a part, under Marriott's
direction, dismounting and making their way to the rear of the house on
foot. When sufficient time had elapsed to enable the latter party to
surround the house, Cottrell, with the remainder, dashed up to the front
of the house and spread out, so as to make sure that no one should
escape. As they approached, a man, who proved to be Jim Durham, appeared
on the porch and asked what they wanted; to which Cottrell replied that
he wanted the men in the house.
The words had hardly passed his lips ere Barton sprang into the open
doorway with a navy revolver leveled at Cottrell; but, seeing that the
latter, as well as several others, had him covered, he shut the door
quickly and started for the back of the house. By this time, however,
the cordon of guards had drawn close around, and, as he emerged at the
rear, he found himself confronted by half a dozen determined men, who
ordered him to surrender. He then hastily tried to close the back door
also, and pointed his revolver through the crack; but the discharge of
several shots, which struck close to him, caused him to withdraw his
pistol and tightly close the door. It was evident that the birds were
caged at last, and it was now only a question of time when they would be
taken; as it was only one o'clock in the afternoon, there were still
four hours of daylight to conduct the siege.
Jim Durham, when he saw the rifles and revolvers of so large a force
pointed at him, was thoroughly frightened, and he begged piteously that
they would not shoot him. Cottrell placed his men behind trees, fences,
and other protections, so as to be safe from any attempt to pick them
off by the men in the house, and yet to guard every means of exit from
the place; he then called Jim Durham out and searched him, finding
nothing but a single-barreled pistol. He then sent Jim to the door of
the house to summon the men inside to surrender, telling them that he
was determined to have them--alive if possible, but if not, dead.
They refused to surrender, saying that they would kill any man who
should approach the house. When Durham brought back their answer,
Cottrell sent word that he would give them five minutes in which to
decide whether they would yield peaceably or be burned out and shot to
death. Just then Mrs. Durham, the mother of the Durham boys, begged
Cottrell to allow her to go speak to Farrington and Barton, as she
believed she could induce them to surrender. Accordingly, she went to
the front window and implored them not to have the house burned down, as
all her household goods would be destroyed. They replied that they might
as well die inside as to come out and be shot down. Cottrell sent back
word that they should be treated like all other prisoners if they would
pass out their arms and surrender quietly; but if they tried to fight or
resist, they would surely be killed.
As they still refused, Jim Durham was sent to barricade the doors with
fence rails, so that they should not be able to rush out unexpectedly.
He whined and complained that the men inside would shoot him, but he was
obliged to go, and though they did threaten him, he was able to crawl up
and lay the rails without getting within range. The house was a solid
log cabin, with only two doors and very few windows, so that it was
possible to approach it in one or two directions without exposure to a
fire from within. When the doors had been securely barricaded, Cottrell
ordered him to get on the roof, which was a common shingle roof, and set
fire to the house. Mrs. Durham was carrying on at a great rate, first
begging Farrington to surrender, and then praying to Cottrell not to
burn her property. John Ellis, to whom the house belonged, gave full
permission to burn it, and a fire was built in the open air to make
brands to set it afire.
Mrs. Durham was allowed to make one more appeal to the ruffians inside,
but they would not listen to her entreaties. They asked her, however,
what kind of a looking man Cottrell was, and what he wanted to arrest
them for. Cottrell was standing near enough to hear the question, and
after Mrs. Durham had described his appearance, he told them that he
wanted them for an express robbery; that he would treat them kindly if
they should yield peaceably; but if they should refuse this, his last
offer, he should set fire to the house and shoot them down as they ran
out. He said he had no wish to kill them, but that he was determined
they should not escape; rather than allow them to get away, he would
have them shot on sight; but they would be protected and brought to
trial if they would surrender.
To this they replied that they intended killing some of their besiegers
first, anyhow. Finding further parley useless, therefore, Cottrell gave
the order to burn the building, and Durham was forced to carry the
embers and brands to burn his own premises. Just at this time, the young
girl, whom they had met riding a mule toward Verona, rode up to the
house and asked what was the matter. As Cottrell had surmised, this was
Miss Durham, and she was very much frightened at what she saw.
The afternoon sun was buried in a deep bank of clouds, so that the
twilight was rapidly drawing on, there being just enough light to show
the barricaded doors, the deserted porch, and the determined men
scattered around, with shot-guns and rifles pointed at the low log
cabin, above which a frightened man stood out in bold relief against the
sky, tearing off the shingles and piling them upon a glowing flame at
his feet. Everything was now hushed in deathly silence, and it needed
no explanation for any one to understand that a bloody tragedy was about
to occur if that flame should be allowed to envelop the building. It was
now the prison of its two occupants, but only a short time would elapse
before it would be their tomb.
[Illustration: _Burning out the Outlaws!_]
On seeing the situation, Miss Durham asked to be allowed to speak to the
men, as she said she knew they would listen to her. On Cottrell's
refusal to hold any more parley with them, she burst into tears, threw
her arms around his neck, and implored him to let her speak to Barton
just once, if only for five minutes. Finally, seeing that most of his
party wished to give the girl a chance to speak to her sweetheart,
Cottrell said that she could have three minutes to obtain their arms; if
they surrendered immediately, the fire should be put out; but, if they
should still refuse, their last chance of saving the house and their
lives would be gone. Miss Durham then went to the window, and talked
with the men in the most imploring manner, urging them not to sacrifice
themselves, as they would surely do if they remained in the burning
house. Her entreaties did not seem to affect them at first; and, as the
flames were then beginning to gather strength, Cottrell ordered her to
come away from the house, and leave them to their fate. She made one
more appeal, and Barton handed her a navy revolver; then Farrington did
the same, and she brought them to Cottrell, saying that they would
surrender if they could be sure that their lives would be spared.
Cottrell told her to go back and get the rest of their arms, and assure
them that they should be taken to Tennessee for trial. She soon returned
with another revolver and a shot-gun, and said that the men would come
out. Cottrell therefore removed the rails, opened the front door, and
called them out--Barton coming first, and then Farrington. The latter
proved to be Hillary, not Levi, as he had called himself. It was not
known why he had used his brother's name, but it was supposed that
Hillary had taken his name to enable him to prove an _alibi_ in case he
should be arrested.
Cottrell's party first secured the prisoners with ropes, and then
assisted Jim Durham to extinguish the fire on the roof; the latter was
quite rotten, and it had burned so slowly that very little damage had
been done. The prisoners were thoroughly searched, but nothing of any
consequence was found upon them, the total of their funds being less
than three dollars. A prolonged search through the house revealed
nothing of importance, except the fact that it was quite an arsenal for
arms, there being found six navy revolvers, two double-barreled
shot-guns, and a Spencer repeating rifle. The siege had lasted nearly
three hours, and, another hour having been spent in searching the house
and saddling their animals, it was nearly dark by the time they started
for Verona. Farrington and Barton were carefully tied upon the horse and
mule respectively, and, after thanking the neighboring farmers for their
assistance, Cottrell took the road back, accompanied by the eleven men
who belonged in and about Verona. The greatest care was taken that the
prisoners should have no opportunity for escape, and they were informed
that any attempt to get away would be the signal for riddling them with
bullets.
While riding along, Cottrell learned from Barton that the party had been
very lucky in finding the two men in the house, since their usual custom
had been to spend the days in the woods, coming in only at night to
sleep. On this occasion, however, the weather was so cold that they were
spending the day indoors.
When asked why they had not surrendered before, they both made the same
reply, namely: that they believed the posse of citizens intended either
to shoot them immediately, or to hang them after a trial by lynch law.
On arriving in Verona early in the evening, the prisoners were securely
tied up with ropes, and Cottrell alternated during the night with
Marriott in watching them. A blacksmith was also called up, and shortly
after midnight he completed two pair of leg shackles, with which they
were fastened together. My men were greatly fatigued, having ridden a
large number of miles every day for a week, and the excitement of the
affair added, of course, to their prostration, but they resolutely paced
the floor in alternate four-hour watches, determined that no possible
loophole for escape should again be afforded to such daring villains as
these two.
The result of the expedition was, of course, transmitted to me in
telegraphic cipher at once; but the arrest was kept secret for the time,
in order to prevent a knowledge of it coming to Levi Farrington, who was
still at large. According to Barton, Levi was concealed somewhere in
Tennessee, but this statement was proof positive that he was not in
Tennessee at all, since Barton's object in telling anything about him
was evidently intended to mislead us; hence, no faith was put in his
story, and other steps were taken to capture Levi.
William arrived in Verona on the morning after the fight, and he
prepared to return with the prisoners to St. Louis by the noon train. It
was supposed that Levi Farrington was also on his way to the rendezvous
at Durham's farm, and that he would probably approach by the direct road
through Douglas County. Cottrell and Marriott were left, therefore, to
attend to Levi and the old lady, whose whereabouts were still uncertain.
William saw most of the citizens engaged in the affair, and heartily
thanked them for their aid; being questioned as to whether they should
receive the reward of one thousand dollars offered by the express
company for the capture of the two Farringtons and Barton, he informed
them that he considered them entitled to it, and that he should
recommend its payment, but that the matter would be decided by the
officers of the company. I may here anticipate events somewhat to state
that the company paid the citizens and farmers a liberal amount for
their services in capturing the robbers, and a settlement was made which
was satisfactory to all parties.
William left Verona about noon of the day he arrived, taking Hillary
Farrington and Barton with him, under guard of Galway and Connell. On
arriving in St. Louis, he separated the prisoners in order to induce
Barton to confess; and, after a long conversation, in which he showed
Barton how conclusive was the evidence against all three of the men, he
obtained a very full confession, of which the greater part is here given
exactly as it was taken down from Barton's lips.