_Barton's Confession.--The Express Robberies and the Outlaws'
subsequent Experiences fully set forth therein.--A Clue that
had been suddenly dropped taken up with so much Profit, that,
after a desperate Struggle, another Desperado is Captured._
"I am twenty-two years of age," said Barton, "and my native place was
Columbus, Mississippi. When quite young, I left home and took to
following the army. About five or six years ago I moved to Normandy,
Tennessee, and lived with the family of Major Landis, and two or three
years later, I went to work on the Nashville and Northwestern Railroad
as a brakeman, remaining as such over two years. About three years since
I formed the acquaintance of Hillary and Levi Farrington, at Waverly,
Tennessee. These are the men otherwise known as J. H. Clark and Edward
J. Russell. Afterward I opened a saloon in Nashville, and Levi
Farrington visited me there several times. Last April or May he was
arrested on suspicion of counterfeiting, but as there was no case
against him, he was discharged. After a short time, I went down to visit
Levi at Mrs. Farrington's; she lived at the head of Tumbling Run Creek,
twelve miles back of Gillem Station. Hillary was in jail at Memphis at
that time, charged with murder and horse-stealing. When he got out of
jail, Levi, Hillary, and myself all made a trip to Little Rock,
Arkansas, gambling by throwing three-card monte, and we won about
thirteen hundred dollars; we then returned to Gillem Station, where we
remained until the twenty-first of July, this year. During this time,
Levi, who frequently rode back and forth on the express trains, spoke of
the feasibility of robbing them.
"On the morning of July 21, Levi, Hillary, and myself left Gillem
Station for the purpose of robbing the express train at some of the
stations either on that road or on the Mobile and Ohio Railroad. At
Union City we changed cars, and arrived at Moscow just after dark. The
plan was, that we all three should enter the car and overpower the
messenger; but Levi and Hillary were the only ones who entered. I
remained on the platform of the first passenger coach and kept watch.
When the train was passing the water tank, they slacked up the speed,
and we all jumped off and struck for the woods. The messenger had
nothing whatever to do with this robbery, so far as I was ever informed.
"As I said before, we struck into the woods and reached the river just
above Hickman, where we stole a fisherman's skiff, and all three of us
started down the river. Finding that we were pursued, we left the skiff
on the Tennessee shore, near Island Number Ten. We then took the river
road and walked back as far as Lester's Landing, arriving there about
dinner-time, July 23. Levi divided the money, giving me one-third of one
thousand dollars, which was all, he said, in the safe, although I always
believed there was more.
"So far as I know, neither of the Farringtons had ever met Lester
before, and I am sure that I had never set eyes on him until we went to
his place at this time. On account of the spot being so lonely and
isolated, Hillary proposed that we put up a store there, as it would be
a good cover for our actual business. We started the store, and applied
to the postmaster to establish a post-office, to be known as Lester's
Landing; our object in this move was, of course, to give an added color
of respectability and _bona fide_ business to our transactions. From
this time until the middle of October, I remained at the store nearly
all the time; Hillary was also there most of the time, but Levi very
seldom. During one of the latter's western trips, he said he had been
out to see his Aunt Durham.
"Along in October, Levi proposed that we again strike the express
company when the train stopped for supper at Union City. Hillary had
been in the habit of riding back and forth on the engine, and he
understood how to run a train. Levi suggested that we take a man named
Bill Taylor into the robbery with us; he was then employed chopping wood
for Lester, and when Levi approached him on the subject he agreed to go.
Levi left Lester's a few days before the robbery. Hillary and I did not
leave until the nineteenth, when we went up to Columbus by steamer,
taking along a large quantity of fish. Having sold our fish, we took the
train for Union City, where we arrived the same evening. On getting off
the train, we met Levi and Bill Taylor on the platform, and the only
conversation which took place was when Levi asked why we had not arrived
sooner, to which we replied that we came as soon as we could. The next
morning we met again, having slept in separate places so as not to
attract attention, and went down the road some distance toward Hickman.
While camped in the woods that evening, about ten o'clock, an old man
named Hicks came along with a bottle of whisky and stopped at our
camp-fire quite a time. There were present Hillary, Levi, myself, and
Bill Taylor. We remained in the woods all that night. The next day we
moved further into the woods toward Hickman, and at night, just at dark,
we came back to Union City.
"We had been there only a few minutes when the up train came along; she
stopped and backed down a little ways, when all the train hands left her
and went to supper. Hillary and Taylor then boarded the engine, and Levi
and myself jumped aboard the express car. The messenger was eating his
supper when we went in, and, seeing Levi point a Derringer at him, he
exclaimed: 'Don't shoot me! I will surrender.' Levi compelled him to
unlock the safe, and we took all the money. Levi then swung the
messenger's lantern, and the train stopped, when we all jumped off and
started down the railroad to Hickman. Our intention was to go to the
wood-yard near Union City, and steal a ride on a freight train to
Hickman. We hid under the platform at the wood-yard, and while there
Levi accidentally shot himself in the thigh; but the wound was very
slight, and it hardly interfered with his walking. As the freight train
did not stop, we were obliged to walk to Hickman, where we arrived
Sunday night. We had had some provisions when we first camped out, which
Bill Taylor had carried in a valise; but he had left the valise and all
its contents on the engine, so that we had very little to eat.
"While in the woods we divided the money, but Levi, who carried it,
showed up only twenty three hundred dollars.
"Sunday night we stole a skiff in Hickman and went down the river to
James' Bayou, and while there, on Monday morning, we saw Messenger
Cross, whose car had been robbed, making inquiries about us in a
grocery-store. We then started off on foot, going down the river on the
Missouri shore. About a mile below James' Bayou we found the skiff which
we had previously set adrift, and which had evidently been picked up by
some one. Taking this skiff again, Hillary, Taylor, and I dropped down
to a point about a mile above Lester's, leaving Levi on the Missouri
shore, where we started from. We landed on the Tennessee shore, and
walked down the river road a short distance, when Taylor left us,
remaining in the woods. Hillary and I met Lester on the road soon
afterward, and told him that we had come down on a steamboat which was
then tied up, on account of the heavy fog. Levi arrived next day, having
come across the river with a fisherman.
"The following Sunday, October 29, Hillary left on a steamboat, taking
with him a woman named Slaughter, with whom he said he was going to
Davidson's wood-yard, nine miles above Cape Girardeau. He expected to
return in a few days.
"The next thing of any importance which occurred was on the Tuesday
night following, when Messrs. Pinkerton and Connell rode up to Lester's
house. At the first glance, I thought they were officers, and Levi told
me that he thought the same. I saw him pull his pistol out of his
pocket before getting out of his chair."
[The moment Connell opened the door, Levi knew that he was a detective,
having seen him acting in that capacity in Memphis, when Hillary was
arrested for horse-stealing the previous spring.]
"When I made my escape from Lester's house," continued Barton, "I ran
right back through the cornfield; I heard all the shooting, but did not
see it. In a short time Levi joined me in the cane-brake back of the
cornfield. Levi told me that he had had a shooting match with the two
officers, but he did not know whether he had hit either of them or not;
they had not hit him, but he had had a very narrow escape.
"After awhile we slipped up to the house, and saw that the officers were
gone; so we went in, got our supper, and took our pistols, besides a
shawl and blanket. We then got an old skiff, crossed the river, and
slept in the woods on the Missouri shore. The next day we remained under
cover until nightfall, when we recrossed the river, and went through the
woods to Union City, spending Wednesday night and Thursday in the woods
on the way. On Thursday night we took the train from Union City to
Gillem Station. The conductor of the train was Conductor Roberts, on
whose run I had formerly been brakeman; and, being afraid he might
recognize me, I laid down in my seat and covered up my face, while Levi
paid both fares. We arrived at Gillem Station about three o'clock in
the morning, and reached Mrs. Farrington's house about daylight.
"I gave Mrs. Farrington five hundred and fifty dollars in money to keep
for me, this amount being the proceeds of both express robberies, and
she still has it in her possession. Before leaving Lester's, Hillary had
given most of his money to Levi to take to their mother to keep for him,
and Levi left with her nearly the whole of his share of the plunder
also.
"We had been at Mrs. Farrington's a week when Hillary arrived. Before
this, we all thought that the officers had captured him, and we were
quite surprised to see him safe. He said that Detective Connell had
arrested him at Mrs. Gully's, and that he had made his escape by jumping
out of Connell's wagon into a thicket near Allenville; he had then gone
right back to the house where he had left Mrs. Slaughter, where he got a
pistol and some money, and had his irons removed.
"At the time Hillary arrived at Mrs. Farrington's, the old lady had been
gone a day and a night on her way to Texas or Missouri. It was
understood that Levi and I were to meet her somewhere on the road, or at
Holton's farm, near the line between Lawrence and Dade Counties,
Missouri. The day after Hillary arrived, we started for Missouri; I was
riding a sorrel horse; Hillary, a chestnut-sorrel horse; and Levi, a
large brown mule. We spent two days at the house of Mr. Douglas, near
Mrs. Farrington's, and then crossed the Tennessee River at Cuba. We
crossed the Mississippi River by the last ferryboat on Friday evening,
November 10, at Hall's Ferry, opposite Point Pleasant, Missouri. We saw
no men on guard at the ferries. We struck right out through Nigger-Wool
Swamp to Bloomfield, where Levi left us. He said he was going to
Farmington, Illinois, as that was a good place to keep under cover.
After he left us, nothing important occurred until our arrest. We knew
where Mrs. Farrington was every night, and also knew all about the two
men who were following her; we did not mind letting them follow her, as
they could not have captured us, and we could have shaken them off at
any time if we had wanted to do so.
"Levi and Hillary frequently spoke of making other raids upon the
express company, and said what a soft thing it was. It was my intention
to separate from them as soon as I could get my money from the old lady,
as I wished to return to my friends below Columbus, Mississippi.
"The foregoing is all I know of the Farringtons or the express
robberies.
(Signed), "WILLIAM BARTON."
It will be observed how completely this confession corroborated our
investigations, there being few new points learned. The information that
Mrs. Farrington had possession of nearly all the stolen money was
valuable, and I sent instructions to Cottrell, at once, to attach all of
her property in the name of the Southern Express Company, if it could
be done. But the most important feature brought out was the hiding-place
of Levi Farrington, which was given as Farmington, Illinois. It will be
remembered that William found, at the store at Lester's Landing, some
pieces of paper, upon which was scribbled, "Kate Graham, Farmington,
Illinois;" that I sent a detective to that place to see Mrs. Graham;
that the latter answered, with every evidence of truthfulness, that she
did not know Russell, Clark, or Barton; and that the clue was dropped
immediately. From Barton, however, William learned that Mrs. Kate Graham
was a cousin of the Farringtons, and that, being a highly respectable
and conscientious woman, she knew nothing of their _aliases_, nor of
their crimes. It was there that Levi Farrington had gone to hide.
Barton's confession was made on the fourteenth, and William instantly
sent me a cipher dispatch containing the important features of it. By
the evening train of that day, my other son, Robert A. Pinkerton, took
passage for Farmington, accompanied by Detective W. T. Brown, of my
force. They arrived there about noon the next day, and soon learned that
Levi Farrington was staying with his relatives. Having presented letters
of introduction to one or two influential men, Robert obtained an
introduction to the city marshal, who promised to give all the aid in
his power to arrest Farrington.
About two o'clock they saw the latter coming down the street, and, by
previous arrangement, Robert allowed Levi to pass him, both walking
toward Brown and the marshal. Levi Farrington was a very powerful man,
standing six feet in his stockings, with a frame and muscles in
proportion to his size. Remembering the desperate character of the man,
Robert did not deem it advisable to give him any chance to draw a weapon
or show fight; he therefore followed Farrington closely until he was
about ten feet from the marshal, and then, springing at him, he pinioned
the desperado's arms by clasping him tightly around the body just at the
elbows. Farrington did not stop to question the cause of this
proceeding--he knew the reason of his seizure well enough--but,
gathering his whole strength, he made one jump away from the two
officers who were approaching in front, and landed nearly in the middle
of the street, taking Robert along with him. Robert clung to him like a
vise, however, and before he could make another such an effort, the
other two were upon him. A terrible struggle now ensued in the street,
during which both Robert and Brown were badly bruised by being rolled
upon and kicked by their powerful prisoner. Robert knew that Farrington
was desperate enough to fight to the bitter end, and that he would kill
as many as he could before being killed himself; to release his arms,
therefore, would enable him to draw a weapon, as he was undoubtedly well
armed, hence Robert never relaxed his hold. Having a professional pride
in securing his prisoner alive, moreover, he did not wish to resort to
extreme measures except to save the lives of other persons, and, as a
large crowd had gathered around the moment the struggle began, there
would have been evident danger in allowing him an instant's freedom.
Over and over they rolled together, therefore, Farrington striving with
all his strength to break Robert's clasp upon his arms, while the other
two officers were doing their best to pinion his legs. After a ten
minutes' struggle, they succeeded at length in holding him down and
sitting upon his legs until he could be tied with ropes. By this time,
the whole party were pretty thoroughly exhausted, but, after resting a
few minutes to recover their breath, the officers got handcuffs on their
prisoner's wrists, and took him to the railroad station, where he was
searched. Little money was found on his person, but he had a large
revolver, two Derringer pistols, and a large dirk concealed about him.
He was then placed in the freight office, while Brown and Mr. Graham,
Mrs. Kate Graham's husband, went to the latter's house to get Levi's
baggage. On their return, the whole party took passage for Chicago,
where they did not arrive until next day, owing to the failure to make
connections. In Levi's valise were found two revolvers, some jewelry,
and a very large sum of money.
They arrived so late on Saturday that there was no train for Cairo
before the following evening, and meantime the prisoner required the
most careful watching, as none of our handcuffs were large enough to
fit his wrists without cutting into the flesh. Robert and Brown were
completely prostrated by the strain upon their muscles and the injuries
they had received, so that they felt the effects of the struggle for
several days.
The moment that Robert arrived in Chicago with his prisoner, the latter
was taken to the First Precinct police station, where he was placed in a
cell for safe keeping. During the afternoon it was learned that he had
sent for a lawyer to obtain a writ of _habeas corpus_. The arrest had
been made without any warrant, and no requisition had been obtained for
use in Illinois, as I had expected to capture all three of the men in
Missouri. Should Farrington succeed in getting the desired writ, I
should be forced to give up my hold upon him, and, before the
requisition of the Governor of Tennessee upon the Governor of Illinois
could be received, he would be probably beyond the reach of pursuit.
I therefore procured a closed vehicle and took the prisoner out for a
drive, carefully bound, with two reliable men as guards. The afternoon
was thus spent, and, after dark, there being no longer any object in
driving around the suburbs of the city, Farrington was taken to my
office and kept all night. He behaved very well, and did not seem
anxious to get away by force. He tried, however, to induce Robert to let
him go, telling him that it would be worth a very large amount of money
to him to do so. Finding his offers disregarded, he appeared to take his
arrest very coolly, saying that he guessed he had money enough to see
him through.
On Sunday evening, Robert and Brown took him to the railroad station,
and the party embarked for Cairo.