Jasper County Democrat, Volume 14, Number 25, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 15 July 1911 — Capture of a Desperado [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Capture of a Desperado

A Scheme That Was Well Planned

By George Edward Burns

When Bunker, the noted desperado, shot up the town of Eureka, killed the cashier of Phillips’ bank and helped himself to some $20,000 in currency, being his fourth exploit in that neighborhood within a month, it was thought by the citizens to be high time something was done to stop such irregular proceedings. Within half an hour after Bunker and three assistants rode out of town a meeting was called at the looted bank and measures taken to break up the gang. A posse was organized, consisting of a dozen citizens, and later placed under the orders of a detective who was telegraphed for and in a few hours reached Eureka by special train. Pierce Robbins, the new

arrival, had captured a swindler band by stratagem, and it was hoped that he would be able to trap Bunker. Robbins’ first step was to locate the desperado and his gang. He therefore sent out members of the posse in every direction to gather information and communicate with him at Eureka as soon as any intelligence whatever was received of the whereabouts or movements of the murderers and plunderers. Meanwhile Bunker, whose tactics after a raid were to go into Gliding at some prearranged place not far from the scene of his operations, occupied a deserted sawmill in a wood. A railroad ran past the mill, though on the other side of a creek. Bunker’s purpose was to keep quiet till it might be supposed that he had reached some point many miles away, then stop a passing train and ride out of the district where he was especially wanted. Two days after the robbery a boy who was fishing in the creek saw men at the mill. The youngster slipped down off a stump on which he sat and, unseen by the men in the mill, dodging sometimes in the water and sometimes under the bank, made bis way out of the wood. He had fished there often and had never seen, any one in the mill before. Everybody in the region knew of the Eureka robbery, and the boy suspected that the men he had seen were the robbers in hiding. On the fourth day after the robbery a farmer walking along the railroad track not far from the mill met a red headed man who bade him good morning and seemed disposed to chat, finally turning the subject to the whereabouts of Bunker and his men. The farmer told him it was generally believed that the gang bad got so far away with their plunder that it was not likely to be recovered. When the two parted the red headed man, who was one of the gang reconnoitering, went to the mill and reported to Bunker what he had heard. It was determined by Bunker and his men to stop the afternoon train and leave the region on it. Half an hour before it was due the four men left the mill, crossed the creek, and when the train came along Bunker signaled it to stop. The engineer obeyed the signal, and the robbers got aboard, one man climbing to the engine. another to the baggage car, while Bnnker and his other assistant, the red headed man. entered the only passenger car. The conductor hs soon as the men entered the train asked Bunker what he meant by stopping the train. “Do you suppose we were going to walk five miles to a station?” The conductor grumbled, but the men paid their fare, and there was nothing more said about the matter. At the next station two farmers and their wives got aboard. After a coiienttatfcm Bunker sent the man with kias forward with a message to the two wtbertL The train passed the next staflrtu wff bout stopping. The conductor jpitieif Che eord connecting the engine.

tut with no effect Then Bunker said to him: f “Conductor, I’m in charge of this train. We’re not going to do any more stopping just now. and we’re going to move at full speed. You sit down there and keep quiet.” The conductor obeyed the order, but one of the farmers protested. He said that be and his wife were ticketed for the station just passed and didn't wish to go, any farther. Bunker told him to shut up so fiercely that he obeyed the order at once. The man who had gone forward came back and said something to Bunker which seemed to be satisfactory. The train was running at full speed, and the two men were evidently much pleased at their chance for escape. Each held a revolver in his hand, though no one disputed their will. One of the farmers' wives gave evidence of hysterics, while the other, appearing to rely upon being a woman. berated the robbers soundly. Her husband begged her to be quiet, while the husband of the other woman tried to keep his wife from a collapse. The few other passengers in the car sat still, not daring to move a finger. As for the conductor, he sat crouched down in a seat trembling like a leaf.

One of the farmers and his wife were on one side of the car, and the other pair were a few seats behind them on the opposite side.' both being near the middle. Bunker stood with his back against the forward door, while the red headed man stood in a similar position with regard to the rear door. The woman who had protested got up from her seat and turned it over so that she would ride backward. The robbers made no objection to this, and the husband meekly a< quiesced. The two couples were now riding face to face, one couple looking at Bunker, while the other looked at his assistant. The train was going at a furious rate, and whenever it came to a curve the robbers found it difficult to maintain their positions. After one of these turns, with a consequent disturbance of the men’s equilibrium, two shots rang put simultaneously. In a twinkling the status was changed. Bunker sank on the floor, and his pal, who heard the glass in the top of the door behind him crack, looked vainly for whoever had fired. But a second shot stopped his observations. The farmers’ wives, who had done the shooting, unbuttoned their dresses and threw them off, displaying men’s clothing, while their attendants, opening the forward door, rushed over Bunker’s body to the next car. One of them, stopping before the door of the baggage car. threw it open, while the other stood with a cocked revolver pointing into the car The robber who was stationed there, having his back to the farmers, was defenseless and obeyed an order to throw up his hands The baggage man disarmed him, while one of the farmers Went out through the forward door and climbed over the back of the tender The engineer occupied one side of the cab, while the robber guarding him sat on the other side, both looking forward. The din prevented the newcomer from being heard, and he had an opportunity to demand the surrender of the robber, though the latter held a cocked revolver in his right hand. Crouching behind a pile of coal, the farmer took aim at the robber, then yelled at the top of his voice for surrender. The robber hesitated for a moment but, seeing that every chance was against him. complied. Then the engineer, at a nod from the farmer, stopped the train. We must return to the operations of Pierce Robbins. Through the boy who had seen the robbers in the saw mill he bad gained a knowledge of their whereabouts. Intuition told hitp of their plan. Believing that they had the money they had taken on their persons and desiring that they should not have an opportunity to get rid of it, he preferred to take them while on a train to surrounding them in the mill. So he at opce laid his plans accordingly. He placed four good men, disguised, at the station on each side of the point where they would be likely to board the train, not knowing .which way they would go Each train was Watched, and the extra man on the locomotive gave away the presence of the robbers The engineer, the baggageman and the conductor were all in the plot. No one of them was to make any resistance.

Robbins and a picked man played the women’s parts. It was Robbins who made bold to protest against the action of the robbers, and it was he who when in the car with Bunker and the red headed man had arranged and by preconcerted signals announced the attack, though it had been determined that those wearing women’s dresses should fire the first shots, owing to their being better able to conceal weapons and draw them more quickly. When the members of the posse collected in the passenger car it was found that Bunker had been killed Outright and the red headed man badly wounded. All the robbers were searched. and every package of bills they had taken from the bank was found intact. As spon as all was ready the train was backed down to the station last passed, where telegrams were sent announcing the capture, and a new train was made up to take the passengers and the prisoners to Eureka.

The directors of the bank paid liberally for the recovery of the stolen money, and the boy whose indolent amusement of fishing had led to the capture received a check large enough to give him an education. It was not long before every one of the robbers who had been captured alive was convicted and sent for a long term to the penitentiary.

BUNKER SANK ON THE FLOOR.