Beware of Ginger Snaps …and Nick Carter, Master Detective!

 


☞Beware of Ginger Snaps …and Nick Carter, Master Detective!

☞Today in Old-West History -- On today’s date 132 years ago, Thursday, October 9, 1890, infamous Old-West outlaw & train-robber Reuben Houston “Rube” Burrow (1855-1890) met his earthly demise at the age of 34 when he was shot to death on the streets of the town of Linden in Marengo County, Alabama.

☞Rube Burrow & his gang robbed trains all over the South in the 1880s, twice near the frontier town of Marinda in Tarrant County, Texas. On June 4, 1887, Burrow & his gang boarded the Fort Worth bound Texas & Pacific Express at the Ben Brook Railroad Station in the town of Marinda (present-day city of Benbrook). Burrows had the engineer held at gunpoint & forced him to stop the train on the bridge over Mary’s Creek outside the town. This was meant to discourage passengers, who would have to “brave the heights & meagre footing” in order to interfere with the robbery. The bandits then forced the engineer to break down the door to the express car with a coal pick, after which they absquatulated with $1,350.00 in cash & three registered letters. 

☞Three & one-half months later on September 20, 1887, the Burrow Gang robbed a second train at the same spot. On the second occasion, news reports estimated that Burrow & his gang escaped with anywhere from $12,000 to $30,000. The bridge where these robberies occurred has been known ever since as “Train Robber’s Bridge.”

☞During the final years of the Victorian Era & the Old West, Rube Burrow became one of the most hunted outlaws since the days of Jesse James. From 1886 to 1890, he & his gang robbed express trains in Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, the Indian Territory, & Texas whilst pursued by hundreds of lawmen, including the Pinkerton National Detective Agency, throughout the Southland of the United States.

☞On October 7, 1890, Rube Burrow was captured by two black men, Jesse Hildreth & Frank Marshall, with the help of two white planters, John McDuffie & Jeff “Dixie” Carter, at George Ford’s cabin in Myrtlewood, Marengo County, Alabama. McDuffie had suspected that Burrow would be in the area & had warned Hildreth to be on the lookout. When Burrow showed up at Ford’s cabin, Hildreth was inside & was able to get word back to McDuffie. Hildreth & Marshall jumped Burrow & held him for McDuffie & Carter who took him to the jail at Linden, Alabama, with Burrow entertaining them all the way with funny stories. Rube offered Hildreth a hundred dollars if he would let him go. Hildreth said “I couldn’t use it then, ‘cause you’d kill me first.”

☞During the early morning hours of October 9, 1890, Burrow complained of hunger & talked his jailers into handing him his bag, which had some ginger snaps inside. Burrow’s bag also contained a gun, which Burrow held at the head of one of the guards. He escaped, locking two guards (including McDuffie) in his cell, & taking another guard with him to find Carter at Glass’s store to get back money that had been taken from him. Burrow reportedly believed that Dixie Carter was Nick Carter, the famous fictional detective. Carter was in the store, & when he came outside, he & Burrow exchanged gunfire. Afterwards, Burrow was dead in the street & Carter was wounded.

☞The October 1890 post-mortem photograph depicts the corpse of Old-West train robber Rube Burrow in his pine-wood coffin propped up against a railroad freight car awaiting his final train ride.


Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Doctors Remove Huge Cucumber From Lady's Body. Nigerians React (Graphic Pics)

Remembering the Bangladesh Liberation War: The Struggle for Independence and the Atrocities of 1971.

WARNING! Graphic Content Below Are Frank Discussion Of Rape, Execution. Not Meant For The Weak.

Sleeping With the Enemy

Artist becomes online celebrity after hanging naked in unsuccessful performance

See Man In Excrutiating Pain After His P£nis Was Cut Off In Broad Daylight

Terrible! "Wooden Horse Or Spanish Donkey" Method Of Punishment

Suspected Thief Killed And Hanged.

Shameful Pictures Of Europeans Placing African People In Human Zoos.

When Liberation Meant Demonization: France’s “Ugly Carnivals”