Bass Blood Runs Deep (3)
one of Sam's gang, "Sebe" Barnes, was wounded in both legs. Sam shot him, but not to kill, only to maim. The largest haul the Bass Gang ever made was during the Big Springs robbery, which involved a Union/Pacific train. Walter Prescott Webb stated in The Texas Rangers "Jack Davis had come from California with the news that large quantities of gold were being shipped over the Union Pacific to the east, and it was thought that he suggested the robbery of one of these gold trains." All the gold coins were minted with the date 1877. (*f-6) Big Springs was a watering station for trains, located eighteen miles outside of Ogallala, Nebraska. The gang entered the station, ordering Agent Barnhart to cripple his telegraph after giving the signal for an imaginary pick up around 10 PM. Their take was sixty thousand dollars in newly minted twenty dollar gold
FOOTNOTE: (*f-6) Webb, Walter Prescott 'The Texas Rangers' page#373 University of Texas Press 1935 ________________________________________________________________________
pieces, another thirteen hundred dollars from wealthy passengers, and four hundred and fifty-eight dollars from a smaller safe. It could have been even more, but Sam couldn't manage to open one other larger safe, suppose to have been on a time lock. He tried cracking the safe with an axe used for fighting fires on the train, to no avail. It would have yielded near another two hundred thousand dollars. (*y-2) The gang buried their loot near the South Platte River for a few days, until they felt it safe enough to come back and divide it up. They split up then into pairs, so they would not draw as much attention to themselves. Sam Bass, Joel Collins, Jim Berry, Bill Heffridge, Tom Nixon, and Jack Davis were the ones responsible for the Union/Pacific heist, and the ones known as The Black Hills Gang. Webb reports this is the only KNOWN time in which any Bass Gang member buried their takes, but rumors flew everywhere, with some people saying the gang numbered sixty with eight to ten participating in every robbery. Bass positioned spies on trains to warn of armed guards, and there were friends in Denton who warned them of every stranger that happened to show. (*g-1) Yet people still search for money and/or gold that was suppose to have been hidden by Sam Bass and his gang.
FOOTNOTE: (*y-2)Wild West Magazine's 'Great Train Robbery', December 1989 issue (*g-1) Webb, Walter Prescott 'The Texas Rangers page#375 University of Texas Press 1935 ________________________________________________________________________ They paired off as follows- Collins and Heffridge, Berry and Nixon, Bass and Davis. Considering money taken in the Big Springs heist, the weight of coins per outlaw would have been just shy of forty-seven pounds. One account of this particular robbery has them sewing the coins into the lining of their britches. Sam, and his partner, even rode along with a portion of the posse out to capture them without detection. They pretended to have the same motive in mind. Jack Davis was reported to have headed for South America after splitting from the rest. And Nixon who was not captured until years later, was said to have headed to Chicago, and then back to Canada. Joel Collins was identified as one of the gang by Andrew Wylle who rode with Collins previously. When Jim Berry was caught and killed about the middle of October near his home of Mexico, Missouri with about twenty-eight hundred and forty dollars on him. It is said not much of his take was recovered due to his drinking and gambling habits. This robbery took place on the 18th of September in 1877. After Joel Collins and Bill Heffridge were killed by a Sheriff Bardsley and ten United States soldiers at Buffalo Station, Kansas their bodies were reported to have been taken to Ellis for identification.
________________________________________________________________________ Supposedly, approximately twenty-five thousand in gold pieces was found on their packhorse. (*y-3) If this is true, they were then returned to the spot where they were killed for burial! 'The Trail Drivers of Texas' compiled by J. Marvin Hunt a John Wells of Bartlett tells of a cattle drive going right past the graves of Collins and Heffridge near Buffalo where they'd been killed years before. (*y-4) Frank Jackson carried, strapped to his saddle, a wooden cage with a woodpecker he named Ol' Honest Eph. It was in honor of Sam Bass' Denton nickname. Sam became a folk hero to many, because he left the small people alone. He aimed his robberies at big business and big businessmen. He was Texas' first popular Yankee after the Civil War. He became known as the Texas Robinhood, because of his generosity with his share of the robberies' takes. Sam never robbed anyone he felt couldn't afford to be robbed. If that makes sense. He often gave a portion of monies taken back, so people didn't go hungry traveling to their destinations. Not much fuss was made over train robberies, in those days, by the average citizen, because they objected to what they considered high rates on shipping their freight. The cost was one dollar for every one hundred pounds of freight every one hundred miles traveled.
FOOTNOTE: (*y-3) Webb, Walter Prescott 'The Texas Rangers' page#373 University of Texas Press 1935 (*y-4) Hunt, J. Marvin 'The Trail Drivers of Texas' ________________________________________________________________________ Sam Bass and his gang, when pursued, would hide out in the brush and thickets around the creeks. They were fairly certain they would not be followed due to the obvious dangers. After spending one evening with a widow woman who graciously fed them, Sam left her money enough to pay her rent. This to keep the landlord from throwing her out. The very next day, after the landlord came around to collect his money and was again far away from the widow's house, Sam simply took his money back. This way the widow was safe with her paid receipt, and Sam got his money. Everyone involved was happy, except for the landlord. He was, of course, madder than hell. This is one of the reasons for Sam's picking up the handle The Beloved Bandit. A man by the name of Charles Finnell who is in the Texas Legislature told me of a story passed down for generations in his family. Years ago the Bass Gang stopped at one of his ancestor’s home, asking if they might have something to eat. They were all invited in for supper. However, they were asked to leave their weapons out on the front porch, because someone in the house suffered from a heart problem. This Sam and his gang did, leaving one person outside as look out and guarding the weapons. He was brought out a plate of food while the others sat eating supper inside. Sam left a twenty dollar double eagle gold piece as payment, then said his good-byes and left. They were reported to have actually made nice dinner guests.
________________________________________________________________________ General Sheridan once commented, if he owned Texas, he "would rent out the whole state and live in hell." "Arkansas" Johnson murdered and raped in his lifetime, but this was not discovered by the Bass Gang until after his death. It was known, however, that he was an ex-convict at the time of joining Sam's gang. Once, the gang caught a man named Dawson who was on his way to join Eagan and his posse. They gave him a good scare by holding a mock trial of their own before turning him loose. The name given the electrical discharge coming off the tips of ears on livestock was referred to as St. Elmo's Fire. It was during these kind of storms The Ballad of Sam Bass was said to calm restless cattle. The song was said to have a soothing effect on them. According to *'The Texas Rangers' by J. P. Webb (pg#220) Adjutant General James Davidson of Austin organized the State Police Force, compiling a long list of fugitives suppose to be located in the many counties around Texas. About the time Sam Bass was making his way to Denton, Davidson reported nearly one thousand of these to be captured. He also reported thousands of dollars worth of stolen merchandise returned to its original owners. (The Davidson Cemetery is now fenced in a highway medium near Austin, in what used to be known as Burdette's Prairie, now Del Valle.) (*a-?)pg#220 The TX. Rgrs, Webb
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According to Walter Prescott Webb, "In those days in Texas the legend of Sam Bass yielded nothing to Robin Hood, Dick Turpin, Claude Duval, or Jesse James. Every old Texan along the Frontier either saw, chased, or entertained (most aware) this ubiquitous wraith, this knight of the road, this generous and open-handed highwayman. Sam supped in every home, sat at every campfire, and scattered newly minted gold pieces of the Union/Pacific robbery wherever he went." (The Texas Rangers, pg# 371) The original organizer of The Pinkerton Detective Agency was Allen Pinkerton, born in Glascow, Scotland in 1819. Immigrating to the U.S. in 1842 he set up the first office in Chicago, Illinois. His office had the responsibility of guarding President Lincoln on his inaugural trip to Washington, D.C. in 1961. Public poverty plagued Texas in 1876, and its' people didn't give in willingly to the authority of the new government. This being especially apparent along the Western Frontier, because of rowdiness and a hankering' to make a name for themselves. The idea of becoming known as a tough guy overcame more than just Sam Bass. The most common crime of the day was horse theft. Sam Bass resorted to horse stealing only towards the end when forced to stay on the run from Texas Rangers.
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Everyone who knew Sam thought him a carouser, as well as being a gambler of cards and horses. Timing was not right for horse racing, and Sam's love of the sport. Today he would have been considered someone out for a good time, and one who continually tried to make himself life of the party. The way indications go, he was a tremendous flirt, but a coward when it came to serious romance. Sam was a 'wolf'.
________________________________________________________________________ Chapter V More On the Bass Gang
Henry Underwood was born in 1846 in Jennings County, Indiana, at the same time Daniel's Uncle Solomon married Catherine Sheeks. He served in the Civil War from Indiana, and married Mary Emory of Labeck County, Kansas on the 10th of January in 1871, his twenty-fifth birthday. They moved to Denton, Texas this same year. Sam Bass was seen dropping off money to Henry's wife on occasions when he was unable to do so himself. Underwood stood five feet and nine inches with a dark complexion, black hair, and dark brown eyes. He was of Indian descent. Sam Pipes and Albert Hernden were jailed, however, President Grover Cleveland pardoned them after their volunteer work, as nurses, on a plague ship out in New York Harbor was completed. Frank Jackson was born on the 10th day of June in 1856 in Llano County, Texas. His father, Robert, died in 1863 and mother, Phoebe, 1864. Frank had two sisters, a Mrs. Crypt and a Mrs., B. A. King. He also had two brothers, Werner and William. The children, like Sam Bass, were taken care of by a maternal uncle, Joseph Parker. Parker moved them to Arkansas for a time, moving back to Texas in 1871. The children were then separated, going to live with different family members. Frank went to work for Dr. R. S. Ross at the age of fifteen, then living with
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his sister and brother in law, Mr. and Mrs. B. A. King. He grew to be six feet tall, and had a sunny complexion. His hair was light brown, and eyes were blue. Seaborn "Sebe" Barnes was born in Tarrant County in 1853. He was a cowboy, also learning a potter's trade from A. H. Serrens. Serrens lived approximately five miles from Denton. Jim Murphy's father was, Henderson Murphy. He also had a brother named John. Ben Thompson was born in Yorkshire, England in 1842, moving to Austin in 1851 with his parents. He was made to stand trial, for the first time, when he was only thirteen. Ben learned the newspaper trade while in Austin. He served in one of Texas' regiments during the Civil War. He was promoted to Captain after showing true courage during the Sabine Crop Roads Conflict. He set out for Mexico for a time after the end of the war. joining Maximilian's Army. Then, returned to Austrin. He ran a saloon in Abilene for a time, then returned to Austin once again where he considered himself at home. A famous outlaw in his own right. "Ben Thompson was a remarkable man in many ways and it is very doubtful in his time there was another man living whom equaled him with a pistol in a life or death struggle." Ben Thompson died in 1884. (*d-9) (*d-9)(Masterson, "Bat" and DeMottos, Jack, Famous Gunfighters of the Western Frontier, pg#15-16, Weatherford Press 1982) ________________________________________________________________________ Tom Spotswood was caught shortly after joining the Bass Gang. He was never heard from again. He was known by a right eye disfigurement. According to Huffaker in 'Profiles of the American West' four consecutive train robberies nearly ruined the Texas railroad business. People knew Sam was not robbing passengers, but knew he could and quit riding trains while others cashed in their train tickets for more suitable transportation. And, thinking Sam wasn't going to leave the banks alone for very long, people decided to close out their accounts at their local banks before the money was stolen. Newspaper writers who flocked to Denton County only found hotel rooms taken up by police and/or Texas Rangers. Allen Pinkerton's son, William, took over the LaGrand Hotel with a battalion of assistant investigators. (* u-1) Sam Bass would have to have been in ten places at one time to do all the robberies accredited to his name between 1874 and 1878. In 'The Traildrivers of Texas' it says- Seen in San Antonio were The Yeager boys, Pitts, one of Jesse James' former lieutenants, the Suttons and Taylors, of the Sutton-Taylor feud, Sam Bass and others used to disquise themselves, dash into town, frequent the various drinking and dancing places and dash out before the law could touch them. (*p-1)
FOOTNOTE: (*u-1) Huffaker, Clair Profiles of the American West's 'Saga of Sam Bass' page#247 Pocket Books 1968 (*p-1) Hunter, J. Marvin 'The Traildrivers of Texas page#826-27 Argosy/ Antiquarian LTD, 1963 ________________________________________________________________________
John Wesley Hardin, who killed thirty men to Sam's having taken part in one (making him the worst of the gunmen), attended Greenwood Masonic Institute while living in Round Rock with his brother, Joe, where they both studied law. And Sam Bass only came to Round Rock to rob a bank. (*m-1) Nearly all the young cowboys in Texas anticipated the chance to go, at least once, up the Chisholm Trail with a herd of beef. If only to be able to brag to those who hadn't. In the book 'Road Agents and Train Robbers' by Harry Sinclair Drago Sam Bass was depicted as "an ignorant blundering cowpuncher". It also states "They say that Sam Bass could slap a coiled snake on the shoulder and invite it for a drink and the snake would insist on buying." (*m-2) Legends of buried gold not only are to do with the Bass Gang, the Reno Brothers, and anyone else considered to be a famous robber of their time. Most of which is only wishful thinking on the public's behalf. But who knows? Some may very well have buried (or hidden) their take, thinking they would be able to come back after it later, never getting the actual chance. The likelihood of the Bass Gang doing this doesn't hold much credibility. Sam Bass spent his last twenty-dollar gold piece in the Ranch saloon in Waco. (*m-3) FOOTNOTE: (*m-1) Welch, June Rayfield 'People and Places in the Texas Past' page#40 GLA Press of Dallas 1974 (*m-2)Drago, Harry Sinclair 'Road Agents and Train Robbers' page#?, Has been taken out of library system. (*m-3)Webb, Walter Prescott 'The Texas Rangers' page#382 University of Texas Press 1935 ________________________________________________________________________ In 1875 Galveston was literally destroyed by rain and high tides. It was rebuilt on a higher level by hauling in dirt to raise the town's foundation. Then seventy-eight year old Clarice Harlow Barton, better known as Clara, made her last known public appearance to oversee the relief effort. (Miss Barton was born on Christmas Day 1821 in Oxford, Massachusetts, and died on the 12th of April in 1892.) (*k-8) The Bass Gang frequently hid out in what was known as Cave Hollow in the northwest corner of Denton County. They had several other escape hatches they would use to catch up on some much-needed rest from time to time. Many of the railways were built by what was called "Navvies". They were mostly immigrants from Ireland who wandered from place to place, looking for jobs, with no apparent homes of their own. (These were the type people who gave Sam a drink of water when seeing his plight outside of Round Rock.) "The original pioneers (to the west) were a gutsy, determined, slightly madcap bunch- Yankee traders out to make a dollar, Protestant missionaries out to convert the Indians, and at least one adventurous rascal a half step ahead of the law. But all had one thing in common; they showed the way for the grand procession of pioneers to come." (*u-5) FOOTNOTE: (*k-8) Haley, James L. 'Texas An Album of History' page#267 Doubleday and Company 1985 (*u-5)'The Pioneers' by Time/Life Books (introduction) ________________________________________________________________________ Amazingly enough, all the water wells in the Southwest were dug by hands of pioneers themselves. Some Sam, undoubtedly, drank from in his day. Windmills were also built by hand, providing the energy to pump the water. (*s-1) Types of wagons like the Mayes family used in traveling west were- Conestogas, Rockaways, Dearborns, and Jerseys. John Chism, often mistaken for Jesse Chisholm of Chisholm Trail fame, started a ranch in Denton County before the Civil War. However, he (like Loving) was a beef contractor for the Confederate Army during the war. Loving acquired a wound in the arm, turning to gangrene. Even though Army doctors amputated, he died on the 15th of September in 1867. Charles Goodnight served in the Civil War's Frontier Regiment under Colonel James Norris. Goodnight's boss in Texas was J. G. Adair who was born in Illinois and one day old when the Alamo fell. Goodnight was the one to go retrieve Loving's body the following spring in what is known as the longest funeral procession in U.S. history. It was some seven hundred miles to Weatherford, Texas, and Loving is buried there with Masonic honors. Loving's life story is almost identical to that of Gus in the Lonesome Dove series, played by Robert Duvall. (Part, or maybe all, of those events are some of the reasons for boys, like Sam Bass, went west.)
FOOTNOTE: (*s-1)'The Pioneers' Time/Life Series page#202-03 ________________________________________________________________________ Charles Goodnight established his own ranch in Palo Duro in 1876 while others crowded into the Panhandle area to take advantage of free land. The horse thief and the cow thief were in evidence from any direction. Colonel Goodnight earned the title 'Father of the Panhandle'. (*p-3) The Goodnight-Loving Trail was blazed from the Ft. Griffin-Dodge City trail through New Mexico, to Colorado about 1860 by Oliver Loving, first cattle trail driven from Texas. (*p-4)
FOOTNOTE:(*p-4) (Dooley and Dooley, Why Stop (2nd Edition), pg.#326, Lone Star Books, 1978) (*p-3) Webb, Walter Prescott 'The Texas Rangers' page#395 & 422 University of Texas Press 1935 ________________________________________________________________________
Chapter VI Career Of the Bass Gang Comes To An End
The round table shaped rock positioned in the midst of Brushy Creek once pinpointed a low water crossing for Indians and early Texas settlers. They say hundred year old wheel ruts are still visible at the bottom of the creek. Building stones for early homes of some pioneers were also found at Brushy Creek. Named 'Brushy Creek' in 1851 it was changed to the town of 'Round Rock' in 1854. (*e-1) Of course, everyone in Texas knows the story of the plan to rob the Williamson County Bank in Round Rock on the 20th of July in 1878. Sam Bass, Jim Murphy, "Sebe" Barnes, and Frank Jackson were the four remaining Bass Gang members. They hid out near the Round Rock Cemetery (then on the outskirts of town) while making their preparations. On the 19th in the afternoon they came to Round Rock with a plan to rob the bank at 3:30 PM on Saturday. They came for a third time in order to check out the bank once more. They hitched their horses in the alley on a side street, and Murphy managed to go his own way. Bass, Barnes, and Jackson crossed the main s to Kopperel's store, which was located next-door to the bank. Deputy Grimes and Moore saw them, decided at least one was armed, and went into the store. There the three were purchasing tobacco and talking to the clerk. The shooting started when Grimes placed his hand on Barnes' shoulder and asked him if he was armed. FOOTNOTE:(*e-1)Dooley and Dooley, Why Stop (2nd Edition), pg.#427-28, Lone Star Books a division of Gulf Publishing Co., 1978 ________________________________________________________________________ Dubbed 'The Littlest Ranger of Them All' in Unsung Heroes of Texas' Major John B. Jones was only 5' and 8" tall, weighing 135 pounds, but always took pride in getting his man. Grimes and Moore, forewarned to leave the bandits to the Rangers, took it upon themselves to accost Bass, Barnes, and Jackson at Kopperel's store for hidden weapons. Major Jones ran over from the telegraph office to join in the fight. Jackson, Barnes, and Bass drew on Deputy Grimes simultaneously. As for Murphy, he slipped away, hiding in the doorway of another establishment, keeping watch with shaky knees and his heart in his throat. His is quoted as having said "I was sitting in a door at Old Round Rock when they came by, and Frank was holding Bass on his horse. Bass looked pale and sickly, and his hand was bleeding, and he seemed to be working cartridges into his pistol. Jackson looked at me as much as to say, "Jim, save yourself if you can... I then saw Major Jones go by, and hallowed to him, but he did not hear me. I then went into the new town, there was a good deal of excitement, and someone asked who the dead man was. I said... it must be Seaborn Barnes. Someone asked how they would know. I said he has got four bullet holes in his legs- three in his right and one in his left leg, which he got at Mesquite. They
________________________________________________________________________ found the wounds, and was going to arrest me, when Major Jones came up, and shortly after recognizing me, and I went down with him and identified the body as that of Seaborn Barnes." Sam Bass was eventually found under a tree near the prairie north of Round Rock the next morning. When men approached him, he held up his hand, and said, "Don't shoot. I am the man you are looking for. I am Sam Bass." He'd ripped up his clothes to try and bind his own wounds. (*c-11) Barnes made a deal with Texas Rangers, and it was a trade off for dismissal of charges against him and release of his father. Deputy Maurice (or Morris) Moore of Travis County was shot through one lung, and survived. Sam Bass was shot through the right hand, almost severing one of his fingers, and through the back. The back shot piercing his liver. One account of the shooting had fifty rounds of ammunition being shot in a span of three or four minutes. This account was told by Luke Robertson who was a mere child at the time of the incident. Even Robertson believed the legend of Sam Bass was blown all out of proportion. According to a web site "The Story of Sam Bass" courtesy of the City of Round Rock Planning and Community Development (last updated 01/07/99) Frank Jackson took the time to warn a little girl, playing in a tree, to get to the house as they were fleeing and guns were being
FOOTNOTE: (*c-11)Webb. Walter Prescott 'The Texas Rangers' page#387-89 University of Texas Press 1935 ________________________________________________________________________ fired. And The Williamson County Sun reported that after the bandits picked up their things at the hideout near the cemetery they turned up the present day Chisholm Trail Road, formerly known as Georgetown Road. Then they turned down a lane and headed for the woods. Out of concern for their own safety The Texas Rangers decided to
Copyright © 1999 Linda Marie Brainard |