CONCLUSION.
“_An honest tale speeds best, being plainly told_.”
If the reader has been disappointed in the fact that the hero of this
narrative has not been vested with the glamour of princely wealth; that
he has not been painted a knight-errant of more romantic type; and
that a champion in the field of pillage and plunder should not wear
golden spurs and a helmet of brass, the fault lies not with the author,
but rather with the popular error which pre-supposes these fallacious
results.
The stereotyped question of all interested in his career has been,
“What did Rube Burrow do with his money?”
The accuracy of the statement is vouched for, that in all of the
eight train robberies, from Ben Brook, Texas, to Flomaton, Ala.,
reckoning his share as equal with that of his companions in crime, Rube
Burrow secured not exceeding _five thousand five hundred dollars_.
He invested, in the spring of 1887, about four hundred dollars by
purchasing a one-half interest, with his brother, in a few acres of
land in Texas. Soon after the Genoa robbery he purchased for sixteen
hundred dollars the farm on which his father now resides in Lamar
County, paying four hundred dollars cash and giving his note for
twelve hundred dollars. A few weeks after the Buckatunna robbery this
note, through his father, was paid, some of the currency used being
subsequently identified as part of that stolen at Buckatunna. The
residue, the pitiful sum of three thousand five hundred dollars, was
spent in the vain endeavor to avoid the ceaseless pursuit organized
against him, and which made the latter years of his life an intolerable
burden.
In the autumn of 1889 Rube Burrow made, through one of his kinsmen, a
proposition to the officers of the Southern Express to surrender, upon
the condition that he would not be tried for the murder of Hughes or
Graves. The proposition was, of course, promptly declined.
L. C. Brock, _alias_ Joe Jackson, stated, after his arrest, that he
had at one time made up his mind to seek an interview with Detective
Jackson, with a view of making some conditions for his own surrender,
but Rube’s proposition having been declined he gave up the project.
Although lawless by instinct, training and ambition, these men had
drunk the bitter cup of crime to the dregs, and longed, no doubt, to
enfranchise themselves from the toils that beset them, and which, like
an avenging Nemesis, pursued them to the end.
The Southern Express Company expended, independently of all rewards,
about twenty thousand dollars in the hunting down of this band of train
robbers. The total rewards offered for Rube Burrow amounted to about
$3,500. The rewards of $1,000 by the United States Government, and
$250 by the State of Mississippi, have been, so far, withheld, because
the language of the statutes, both Federal and State, under which the
rewards were offered, required conviction in the courts.
Inspector A. G. Sharp, of the United States Postal Service, who has
been very zealous in urging that the rewards offered by the Government
be paid, writes under date of December 17, 1890, as follows:
“While in Washington recently, I laid the matter of reward for Rube
Burrow and Joe Jackson before the Postmaster-General and the Chief
Inspector, and strongly urged that the rewards for both be paid,
and the question of conviction be waived. I believe the claims
to be just, and that good policy suggests prompt payment. I feel
satisfied that the Postmaster-General will accept my advice in
the matter, and that the rewards for both will be paid in full.
Of this, however, I can not speak positively; but from the reply
made by the Postmaster-General, to my earnest solicitation, I feel
justified in saying that I have strong reasons for believing that
he will make the order allowing the rewards.”
All other rewards for Rube Burrow have been paid to Carter and his
associates. The rewards for Brock and Smith, excepting those offered by
the Government and the State of Mississippi, have also been paid to the
parties interested.
William Brock, of Texas, was in nowise related to L. C. Brock. The two
men never met, and that two of Burrow’s clansmen bore the same name was
merely a coincidence.
The question recurs, “Does train-robbing pay?”
Here were men whose untoward inclinings, fostered by evil association,
inflamed them with a passion for lawlessness. Their brawny arms were
uplifted against the laws of God and man for ambition’s sake. They
loved pillage for booty’s sake.
Behold the hapless fate of the five men who linked their fortunes
together, commencing with the date of the Genoa robbery in December,
1887. William Brock, although sentenced to a short term of
imprisonment, will carry to his grave the stigma of an ex-convict. Rube
Smith has entered the gloomy portals of a prison, in which he is doomed
to spend the remaining days of his life--a fate more horrible than
death.
Rube Burrow, Jim Burrow and L. C. Brock lie in unhallowed graves, their
memories kept alive only by the recollection of their atrocious deeds,
leaving their kindred and friends to realize the bitter truth that
“The evil that men do lives after them;
The good is oft interred with their bones.”
Verily, “the way of the transgressor is hard”--“for whatsoever a man
soweth, that shall he also reap.”
Transcriber’s Notes
Punctuation, hyphenation, and spelling were made consistent when a
predominant preference was found in the original book; otherwise they
were not changed.
Misspellings and poor punctuation in some letters have been retained.
Simple typographical errors were corrected; unbalanced quotation
marks were remedied when the change was obvious, and otherwise left
unbalanced.
Illustrations in this eBook have been positioned between paragraphs
and outside quotations. In versions of this eBook that support
hyperlinks, the page references in the List of Illustrations lead to
the corresponding illustrations.