AFTER GADSHILL.
The bold act of brigandage at Gadshill aroused the whole country.
The outlaws had become formidable. Missouri and Arkansas were alike
interested, and the citizens of both states were ready to make
personal sacrifices to aid in the capture of such daring brigands.
But who were the robbers? A question not easy to answer with any
assurance of correctness. Some said at once that it was the Jameses
and the Youngers and their associates. Geo. W. Shepherd, one of
Quantrell's most daring Guerrillas in Missouri, and one of those
who separated from him when he went to Kentucky, was an intimate
friend of the Jameses in the old Guerrilla times. After the war
Shepherd emigrated to Kentucky and married at Chaplin, Nelson
county, where he settled down. After Russellville, circumstances
pointed to him as one of the persons implicated in the robbery. He
was arrested, carried to Logan county and tried. The proof was of
such a character that he was found guilty of aiding and abetting
the robbers, and was sentenced to the penitentiary for a term of
three years. At the expiration of his sentence he returned to
Chaplin and learned that during his incarceration his wife had
obtained a divorce and married another man. Shepherd had paid
$600 on the house and lot which he found his ex-wife and husband
occupying. But he left them there and took his departure from
Kentucky. At the time of the Gadshill affair he was somewhere in
Missouri. But there is not a particle of evidence to connect him
with the robbery.
Bradley Collins was a noted desperado in those days, who figured in
Texas and the Indian Territory as one of the worst outlaws in the
business. He also rode at times with the Jameses and the Youngers.
John Chunk was another daring outlaw who infested Texas and the
Indian Territory, and often came into Missouri and co-operated with
the brigands of that state.
Sid Wallace, afterwards hanged at Clarksville, Arkansas, was
another noted outlaw between the years 1866 and 1874. He, too, was
a "friend" of the Jameses. Cal Carter, Jim Reed, John Wes. Hardin,
Sam Bass, Bill Longley, Tom Taylor and Jim Clark, all notorious in
Texas and the Nation, often joined the Missouri outlaws and hunted
with them. Indeed, it appears that there was a regularly organized
band of brigands ramifying through the states of Missouri, Kansas,
Colorado, Arkansas, the Indian Territory and Texas. This banditti
was composed of the most desperate and daring men who had ever
placed themselves beyond the pale of the law in this country.
Whatever doubts might once have existed concerning the personality
of the bandits of Gadshill, they have all vanished in the light of
subsequent events. Jesse and Frank James, some of the Youngers and
their associates, were undoubtedly the men who rode to Gadshill.
The fellows seemed to have had a bit of classical humor in their
composition in selecting a place so named as the scene of such an
exploit.
It seemed to have created a conviction in the minds of those in
authority, also, that the Jameses were the leaders. Governor
Woodson, of Missouri, offered a reward to the full extent of the
law's provisions. Governor Baxter, of Arkansas, communicated to
Governor Woodson his desire to aid in the capture of the outlaws,
and also offered a reward. The express company offered a heavy
reward for the capture of the bandits, and the United States
authorities took an active interest in the movement set on foot
to break up the formidable banditti. Stimulated by the prospect
of gain, the detectives all over the country became active in
the pursuit. The citizens, too, were on the move, and it seemed
that the auguries all pointed to a speedy annihilation of this
formidable gang which infested the West.
Meanwhile another outrage was committed almost on the line of
retreat from Gadshill, which still further agitated the public mind.
During the afternoon of the 11th of February, 1874, five men,
splendidly mounted and well armed, rode into the town of
Bentonville, Benton county, Arkansas. Their entrance was quiet.
They rode to the store of Craig & Son; dismounted and entered the
store; made prisoners of the proprietors and clerks at the muzzle
of pistols, and proceeded to rifle the cash box. Fortunately for
the firm of Craig & Son, they had made a deposit that day and
the robbers only obtained about one hundred and fifty dollars in
money. They helped themselves to about one hundred dollars' worth
of goods; warned the proprietors and clerks not to give the alarm
until they had passed out of town; went out; mounted their horses
and rode away in the most nonchalant manner. In a saloon adjacent,
there were more than twenty men who were uninformed as to what was
taking place in the store of Messrs. Craig & Son, until after the
robbers had departed. Pursuit was made, but the bandits escaped.
The weeks following the Gadshill outrage were busy ones with the
detectives. A carefully planned campaign against the marauders
was at once instituted and prosecuted with great vigor. Allan
Pinkerton, the American Vidocq, was employed by the express company
to hunt the robbers down. The United States Government ordered
the Secret Service force into the field, and the police and
constabulary forces of Missouri and Arkansas, under orders from the
Governors of the respective states, were acting in concert with the
forces of detectives called into service by the General Government
and the express company.
The brigands were successfully tracked through the wilds of
southern Missouri, and their trail led into the hill country of
St. Clair county, and across Jackson county on beyond the Missouri
river. No doubt was left upon the minds of the man-hunters as to
the personalty of the Gadshill robbers. The James Boys and some of
the Youngers were certainly engaged in it. The Youngers, at least
John and Jim, had returned to Roscoe, St. Clair county, "flush
with cash." The detectives were on their tracks. To the force was
added Ed. B. Daniels, a courageous young man of Osceola, who was
thoroughly acquainted with the country. The detective force in St.
Clair county was under the direction of one of Allan Pinkerton's
picked men, Captain W. J. Allen, whose real name was Lull. With him
was a St. Louis "fly cop," well known, and distinguished for his
shrewdness and daring, who for the time had assumed the name of
Wright. Daniels was extremely serviceable as a guide.
One morning, when near the residence of Theodoric Snuffer, a short
distance from Roscoe, these three men were suddenly surprised by
John and James Younger, who rode up behind them in the road. They
were at Snuffer's house, and saw the detectives pass, and started
out with the avowed purpose of capturing them. Approaching the
three men in the rear, they raised their double-barrel shot-guns,
and with an oath commanded them to hold up their hands and drop
their pistols. Taken thus, at a disadvantage, the detectives
complied, and dropped their belts of pistols in the road. James
Younger dismounted to secure them, while John remained on horseback
with a double-barrel gun covering them. For a moment he lowered his
gun. That moment was fatal. Captain Lull drew a concealed Smith &
Wesson revolver from his bosom, and fired. The ball took effect in
John Younger's neck, severing the left jugular vein. In the very
agonies of death, as he fell from his horse to die, John Younger
raised a pistol and fired, the ball taking effect in the left arm
and side of Captain Lull. Two more shots were fired, probably by
James Younger, before Allen, or rather Lull, fell. James Younger
then commenced firing at Ed. B. Daniels. That gentleman also had a
concealed pistol, returned the fire and inflicted a slight flesh
wound on the person of James Younger. But his fate was sealed. A
fatal bullet crashed through the left side of the neck, and Daniels
fell, and soon afterward expired. This tragedy excited and alarmed
the whole country. It was no longer possible for James Younger to
remain in the country. He took the pistols which his dead brother,
John, had worn, and departed for the house of a friend in Boone
county, Arkansas, where he was soon joined by Cole and Bob.
Wright, who was riding a short distance in advance of Captain Lull
and Ed. Daniels, hearing the summons of the Younger Brothers,
turned, and at a glance saw the situation, and, putting spurs to
his horse, dashed away. Although he was fired upon and pursued a
short distance by James Younger, he managed to escape unharmed,
aided as he was by a very fleet horse.
The hunters for the Jameses met with no better luck. One of the
darkest tragedies which ever disgraced the state of Missouri
followed the efforts of the detectives to capture the shrewdest and
most daring outlaws who have yet appeared in this country. There is
an air of mystery about this terrible episode which makes it all
the more thrilling. The full details of this crime are reserved for
another chapter.