RUBE BURROW RETURNS TO LAMAR COUNTY--JOE JACKSON JOINS HIM IN MARCH,
1888--THEIR TRIP INTO BALDWIN COUNTY, ALABAMA.
Rube Burrow, having effected his escape at Montgomery, and successfully
eluded pursuit, it was supposed by the detectives that he would go
down into southern Alabama or Florida, as the presence of himself and
brother at Montgomery seemed to indicate. Rube, however, was restless
and anxious concerning the fate of Jim, and at once made his way back
into Lamar County. Soon after reaching home he learned, for the first
time, of his brother’s incarceration at Texarkana, and also that his
old comrade, William Brock, had disclosed the whole history of their
operations in Texas, and particularly of the Genoa, Ark., affair.
Rube was heard to say: “Never mind; when I get my partner, Joe Jackson,
from Texas, I will wreak my vengeance upon the Southern Express
Company.” Rube knew, although he had never participated in any of the
many robberies which the Sam Bass gang had committed, that the name
of “Joe Jackson” was a terror wherever the fame of the Bass gang was
known, and that Joe Jackson was the only member of that brutal band
of highwaymen who had escaped justice when their chief, Sam Bass, was
shot, with a small remnant of his followers, in the streets of Round
Rock, Texas. It was thus he sought to herald, as the comrade he was
about to select to fill his brother’s place, the guerrilla who had
unfurled the black banner at Lawrence, Kansas, under the leadership of
the notorious Quantrell, and who had drifted into Texas to join Bass
and his unholy gang.
While in northern Texas in 1886, Rube had met a young Alabamian
who went under the name of Lewis Waldrip. Rube had Waldrip in his
employment while herding cattle, and had witnessed his unflinching
courage on several occasions while associated with him. Waldrip had, in
confidence, given Rube the story of the troubles which had caused him
to flee from his native State and seek refuge in Texas. Soon after his
return to Lamar County, in February, 1888, he wrote Waldrip to join him
there. The correspondence was conducted through Jim Cash, and about the
first of March, 1888, at the house of the latter, the two men, who had
separated in 1886 in Texas, met again for the first time. Rube recited
his recent history, and acting upon the advice of his friend, whom he
had christened “Joe Jackson,” the two left for southern Alabama, as
Rube had knowledge of the fact that the vicinity in which he was then
hiding was being constantly watched by detectives.
Leaving Lamar County afoot, the pair traveled through the woods until
they reached Columbus, Miss. They went thence, partly by rail and
partly by boat, to Baldwin County, Ala., locating at Dunnaway’s log
camp, on Lovette’s Creek, some forty miles from any railway line, and
in one of the most sparsely settled sections of southern Alabama. The
trail thither, by the circuitous foot journey out of Lamar County, had
been completely covered, and here Rube and his newly found comrade
were not only lost to the detectives, but to all the world besides,
save the little squad of day-laborers who gathered about the camp-fire
at nightfall, after the day’s labor was over. This rustic audience
Rube was wont to regale with many a humorous tale. Mr. Ward, as he was
familiarly called, was the hero of many an adventurous story, and the
very life and humor of the camp. Rube’s fame had preceded him, even
into this retired spot, and he would often bring up the subject of his
own outlawry, that he might get an expression from those about him as
to the thrilling adventures of which he himself was the hero.
After a stay of some three weeks, during which Rube and his partner
labored not only with diligence but with increasing skill (for here it
was that Rube was heard to say that John Barnes, who afterwards figured
somewhat in his final arrest, taught him how to saw logs), the camp
was broken up, Mr. Dunnaway moving his force to a point near Perdido, a
station on the Louisville and Nashville Railway.
Rube and Joe then, about May 1st, left the camp, for the reason,
perhaps, that the locality was more public, and for the additional
reason that Rube began to conceive the idea that he could find a safe
refuge among friends in Lamar County, and might render some help to his
brother, who was then a prisoner in Arkansas. Setting out, the two men
walked until they reached Forest, Miss., where Rube purchased horses
for the two. At Dixon, Miss., Joe, finding his horse a poor traveler,
traded him for the “snorting steed” which he subsequently rode in the
Duck Hill robbery, and which the detectives finally traced from the
scene of that robbery into Lamar County. From Dixon they rode via
Oxford, and thence to Berryhill’s, a brother-in-law of Rube Burrow, who
moved, soon after his marriage to Rube’s favorite sister, into that
section of Mississippi. Here they remained two days, and about the 15th
of May rode into Lamar County.