RUBE BURROW AND JOE JACKSON LEAVE ARKANSAS--THEY TURN UP AS COTTON
PICKERS IN TATE COUNTY, MISSISSIPPI.
Crestfallen and dispirited at the failure of his long cherished project
to release his brother Jim, Rube decided to abandon all further effort
in that direction and set out on the return journey. Joe Jackson
proposed to visit Hot Springs, but Rube did not care to expose himself
to the risk of being identified by the cosmopolitan population of that
American Baden-Baden, and resolved to return immediately to the east
side of the river. It has been popularly supposed that Rube Burrow was
accustomed to visit metropolitan places, frequent gambling houses and
saloons, and, with a reckless disregard of his personal safety, herald
himself as a cattle king, or play the role of gambler. Such was not the
case. Bold and fearless as he was in pursuit of his chosen vocation,
he kept aloof from populous localities. His long immunity from arrest
was due chiefly to the fact that, secluding himself in the wilds of the
forest and shunning his fellow-men as far as possible, he habited the
earth like a beast of prey.
The two men, on their return trip, traveled in a northeasterly
direction, avoiding the public highways wherever practicable. Crossing
White River at St. Charles, they rode leisurely on towards Helena, and,
under cover of darkness, crossed the river at that point about one week
after leaving Arkadelphia. Riding up the east bank of the Mississippi
to a point about fifteen miles north of Helena they debouched from the
river bottoms, pushing their way through bog and swamp for fifteen
miles or more, over ground never perhaps covered by horsemen before,
and where no sign of human habitation existed. The robbers were seeking
a secure retreat, and this they found in Tate County, Mississippi, on
the farm of Fletcher Stevens, about eighteen miles from Senatobia, a
station on the Illinois Central Railway. Meantime the detectives of the
Southern Express Company had searched every nook and corner of southern
Alabama, made several expeditions into Florida, and had also become
satisfied that Rube was not in Lamar County.
In the early part of September the fact was developed that a man
answering Rube’s description had been seen near St. Charles, Ark.,
and the trail was taken up and followed into Helena, and thence east
of the river a few miles, but all trace was lost in the ride through
the swamps, which Rube had correctly divined would foil his pursuers
if they should ascertain his presence in that locality. The farm of
Fletcher Stevens, located as it was in a thinly settled section, and
remote from railway lines, furnished a safe retreat for Rube and his
companion, and here they hired themselves as day laborers and began the
business of picking cotton about October 1, 1888. Rube was quite an
adept at picking cotton, but Joe proved rather an awkward hand, as Mr.
Stevens afterward reported; and so Rube, at the price of fifty cents
per hundred, earned the larger share of the compensation received for
their toil.
Strange to state, these men labored diligently and industriously on
this Tate County farm from October 1st till about December 1, 1888,
never once leaving the place. At rare intervals they would take their
pistols down into the swamps and practice shooting at a target with
one or two of their white co-laborers, and in a quiet way made some
reputation for their skill as marksmen. Both Rube and Joe, it is said,
could hit a silver dollar nine times out of ten, with their forty-five
caliber Colt’s revolvers, at a distance of seventy-five yards. During
their stay on the farm they passed for brothers, Rube assuming the name
of Charlie and Joe the name of Henry Davis. Their general demeanor
was so quiet and unobtrusive that they betrayed no suspicion of their
real identity; and although farmer Stevens, a very respectable and
law-abiding citizen, did not relish the fact that his hired help
carried such murderous-looking fire-arms, he gave little thought to
the matter. On or about the first of December the cotton pickers asked
for their pay, which was given them. Mounting their horses, which
were in fine condition from the long rest they had enjoyed, they rode
quietly away from the scene of their plodding labors.