The Younger's fight for freedom; a southern soldier's twenty years' campaign to open northern prison doors - with Anecdotes of war days

Front matter

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THE YODNGERS' FIGHT FOR FREEDOM

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Contents

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A Word of Preface 5

Introduction 9

Introduction

IN presenting this volume to the public I am not unmindful of the fact that it has been preceded by many cheap books and pamphlets dealing with the sensational side of the careers of the Younger brothers. They have been prepared mostly by irresponsible persons, who have drawn heavily upon their fevered imaginations and made either heroes or demons out of these unfortunate men. Cole Younger, in one of his letters to me, while he was yet serving sentence at Stillwater, said that at no time had he ever given anyone authority to write a book concerning the adventures of himself or his brothers.

This volume has been written and compiled along wholly different lines from the startling fiction evolved from the flighty brain of dimenovel authors. While an attempt has been made to enliven its pages at proper intervals with entertaining incidents and episodes, my principal aim has been to give a history of my twenty years' work toward the liberation of the Youngers. I believe I am justified in the assertion — though it may violate good taste and modesty — that there is no other instance

[10] Inti'oduction.

in American history where a similar effort has been made. That is one excuse for my putting forth this book.

Humanly speaking, twenty years is a long time. Taken out of the ordinary life, there is but scant space left. Into this period was crowded such continuous toil, repeated disappointment, and wearying suspense as would attach to few other undertakings. At first it seemed an absolutely forlorn enterprise. Some of my best friends ridiculed the idea of any Missourian, and especially an ex-Confederate soldier, succeeding in the liberation of Coleman, James, and Robert Younger. Had they not escaped capital punishment by a mere technicality of the law, and had not the very lightest sentence possible been imposed upon them? Therefore, it seemed like a bold assurance that one of their own former fellow-citizens should arrogate to himself the duty of interfering with the righteous mandate of a Minnesota judge and jury.

The purpose of this volume is neither to vindicate nor condemn the Youngers. Two of them are beyond the influence of praise or censure. The strange and thrilling story of their lives has passed into history, but what I wish

Introduction,

to emphasize is the fact that the liberation of the Youngers was due primarily to the sympathetic generosity of the people of Minnesota. This generosity possibly has no parallel in the history of any other community, and I desire here and now to acknowledge my profound recognition of this fact.

It would give me exceeding pleasure to print on these pages the name of every man and women who aided me in my efforts to obtain the release of the Youngers. Many of these persons displayed lofty courage in the firm and noble stand they took, simply that mercy might be shown and justice done. They had nothing material to gain, whatever the issue, but rather much to lose. They had to face frowning friends and endure severe criticism. Men in public life who hoped for still further honors were willing to sacrifice these simply for the sake of three guilty, but unfortunate, men at Stillwater. All were noble and true and not a few of them have passed to their ultimate reward in a better land.

I wish also to record my gratitude to those friends outside of Minnesota who so cheerfully upheld me in my mission of mercy. They responded nobly to my requests for words of rec-

[12] Introduction.

ommendation to the powers in the far north, and many of them afforded financial aid for legitimate purposes.

It would be difficult for anyone not seeing it to appreciate the great mass of correspondence involved in this undertaking and covering a period of nearly twenty years. This correspondence has served me not only in the preparation of this book, but it vindicates my claim to being the originator and chief agitator of the pardon. Certain other persons have already arrogated to themselves all the credit for the movement leading to the release of the Youngers, but there is enough correspondence, shown in this book alone, to place the credit where it properly belongs,

W. C. BRONAUGH.

Clinton, Missouri, July 10, 1906.

COLEMAN^ YOUNGER.

CHAPTER 1. A Preliminary Sketch

HAD there been no Civil War in this country from 1861 to 1865, there would likely have been no story, good or bad, to write of Coleman, James, and Robert Younger, or of Jesse W. James and Frank James. There would have been no raid and murder at Northfield, Minnesota; there would have been no assassination in a certain little frame building in St. Joseph, Missouri ; three brothers, of good family in this state, would not have been confined in the historic prison at Stillwater — one of them to die within the dank shadows of its walls — the other tw^o to spend a quarter of a century there, shut closely in from fair skies and green fields until the fine flower of their fresh young manhood had w^ithered and faded away and they had become prematurely old men — only one of them to return alive to the scenes of his youth and the homes and haunts of his kindred.

Volumes have been written by a hundred different authors on the border troubles between Kansas and Missouri, that preceded the opening of the great drama, that covered a continent and engaged the attention of the whole civilized world for four of the bloodiest years in modern history. It was a fit curtainraiser for a stupendous tragedy that made a crimson gulf between states, counties, communities, kindred and neighbors.

The struggle began in the Territory of Kansas in the middle '50's, primarily and practically over the vexed question of slavery. Should Kansas be admitted with or without this institution was debated in Congress, on the stump and in the pulpit by the oratorical and forensic giants of the land. It involved the neighboring state of Missouri, between which and the new territory flowed only a narrow and insignificant stream.

The East, and especially New England, sent thousands of colonists into this new western land of promise to establish a free state. Among these colonists were many daring spirits and notorious adventurers, who were determined to plant there the anti-slavery practices and principles that were the forerunners of the great Civil War. Pre-eminent for audacity and as abolitionists were John Brown and Jim Lane — one of whom was to die on the scaffold in Virginia, and the other to fill the dishonored grave of a suicide.

Missouri was a slave state and also had her share of reckless and domineering leaders, who saw with alarm and frowning faces the anti-slavery invasion of a neighboring territory. Feuds and reprisals arose between the two sections. The little Kansas river, hardly wide enough or deep enough to float a barge, was crossed and recrossed by the opposing parties, armed to the teeth. John Brown came over into Missouri and ran off slaves from their owners, also committing other depredations. Dare-devil Missourians went over into Kansas, meddled with the local elections, and did other wrongs. Murders were numerous. Border warfare — savage and stern and relentless — reigned night and day. Cass, St. Clair, Jackson and Bates counties, in Missouri, were sufferers at the hands of the hated old John BroAvn and the despised Gen. Jim Lane. The latter, in command of a force of Jayhawkers and Redlegs, in the fall of 1861, made a sudden descent on Osceola, thebeautiful and quiet little county-seat of St. Clair county, looted stores, insulted citizens, and burned the town to the ground. In the summer of 18G3, in retaliation for this outrage, the bloodthirsty Ouantrell, with a large band of Confederate rough-riders, perpetrated the massacre at Lawrence, Kansas.

In Cass and Jackson counties the parents and other kindred of the Younger boys resided. The whole atmosphere was surcharged with anger and hatred and blood, and in this atmosphere the Youngers were growing up, their youth keenly susceptible to the prevailing influences of the time.

The Civil War came on, and found H. W. Younger, a resident of Cass county, Missouri, a pronounced southern man and slaveholder, although he opposed secession and still stood firmly for the Union. He had a United States government mail contract and was in Washington City, looking after his interests in that particular, when Kansas Redlegs made a raid on his livery-stable and stage line at Harrisonville, looting and destroying much of his property.

Not long after this Mr. Younger, while returning home, on horseback, from a business trip to Kansas City, was waylaid, murdered, and robbed. A Federal captain named Walley and his men were charged with the bloody crime. A young woman cousin of the Younger boys, while held by the Federals as a prisoner in a dilapidated building in Kansas City, was killed by the house falling in, it being alleged that the walls had been secretly undermined by the Federals for the purpose of causing the death of the inmates.

Added to the above outrages, the mother of the Younger boys was cruelly treated by the local militia, finally being driven from her home. All these things made Cole Younger, the oldest one of the afterwards noted brothers, desperate, and it was but natural that he should seek service in the army. He joined Quantrell's band. However, it will be plainly shown in the course of this narrative that Cole Younger always fought in open warfare, though at times he may have been compelled to ride under the black flag.

At the close of the war Coleman and James Younger — the latter of Avhom had been in the Confederate army but a year or so — were outlawed and denied the privilege of living at home. A price was set upon their heads and they became wanderers, desperadoes, and finally train and bank robbers, though many crimes were placed to their credit of which there is abundant proof they were never guilty.

At the session of the Missouri legislature in 1875, a bill was introduced in the house by the late Gen. Jeff Jones, of Callaway county, offering amnesty to the Younger and James Brothers, designating them by name, from all their acts during the war and pledging them an impartial trial on any charges against them arising since the close of the rebellion.

The bill was approved by Attorney-General John A. Hockaday, was favorably reported by a majority of the committee on criminal jurisprudence, but an unhappy incident occurred while the measure was pending with fair prospects of success, and it was defeated by a single vote.

The bill in the main, read as follows :

''Whereas, by the fourth section of the eleventh article of the Constitution of Missouri, all persons in the military service of the United States, or who acted under the authority thereof in this state, are relieved from all civil liability and all criminal punishment for all acts done by them since the first day of January, A D. 1861; and,

"Whereas, by the twelfth section of said eleventh article of said Constitution, provision is made by which, under certain circumstances, may be seized, transported to, indicted, tried and punished in distant counties, any Confederate under ban of despotic displeasure, thereby contravening the Constitution of the United States, and every principle of enlightened humanity ; and,

''Whereas, such discrimination evinces a want of manly generosity and statesmanship on the part of the party imposing, and of courage and manhood on the part of the party submitting tamely thereto ; and,

"Whereas, under the outlawry pronounced against Jesse W. James, Frank James, Coleman Younger, James Younger and others, who gallantly periled their lives and their all in defense of their principles, they are of necessity made desperate, driven as they are from the fields of honest industry, from their friends, their families, their homes and their country, they can know no law but the law of self-preservation, nor can have no respect for and feel no allegiance to a government which forces them to the very act it professes to deprecate, and then offers a bounty for their apprehension, and arms foreign mercenaries with power to capture and kill them ; and,

"Whereas, believing these men too brave to be mean, too generous to be revengeful, and too gallant and honorable to betray a friend or break a promise ; and believing further that most, if not all, of the offenses with which they are charged, have been committed by others, and perhaps by those pretending to hunt them, or by their confederates ; that their names are and have been used to divert suspicion from and thereby relieve the actual perpetrators ; that the return of these men to their homes and friends would have the effect of greatly lessening crime in our state by turning public attention to the real criminals, and that conim.on justice, sound policy and true statesmanship alike demand that amnesty should be extended to all alike, of both parties, for all acts done or charged to have been done during the war; therefore, be it

"Resolved, by the House of Representatives, the senate concurring therein, that the Governor of the state be, and he is hereby requested to issue a proclamation notifying the said

JAMES YOUNGER.

Jesse W. James, Frank James, Coleman Younger, James Younger, and others that full and complete amnesty and pardon will be granted them for all acts charged or committed by them during the late Civil War, and inviting them peacefully to return to their respective homes in this state, and there quietly to remain, submitting themselves to such proceedings as may be instituted against them by the courts for all ofifenses charged to have been committed since said war, promising and guaranteeing to them full protection and a fair trial therein, and that full protection shall be given them from the time of their entrance into the state and his notice thereof under said proclamation and invitation."

The fatal and final feat of the three Younger brothers — Bob in the meantime having become a member of the gang — was the memorable and murderous raid on the bank at Northfield, Minnesota, the following year. Never was a more foolhardy or disastrous expedition undertaken by any body of men. The party for this trip was organized in 1876, and was composed of Coleman, James, and Robert Younger, Clell Miller, Bill Chadwell, Charlie Pitts, and two others known as Woods and Howard.

Reaching Minnesota, the i^^ang' spent several days in Minneapolis and St. Paul prior to their descent on Northfield, which took place on the morning of September 7, 1876, after the town and surrounding neighborhood had been thoroughly reconnoitered.

The death of Cashier Haywood, in the bank, the battle with the citizens in the streets, in which several of the invaders were either killed or wounded, the flight, pursuit, and capture are an old story that call but for a brief rehearsal here.

Gov. John S. Pillsbury offered a reward of one thousand dollars for the capture of the six men who had escaped, and this he afterwards changed to one thousand dollars for each of them, dead or alive. The Northfield bank offered seven hundred dollars and the Winona & St. Peter Railway Company offered five hundred dollars.

The whole country was aroused and the chase was immediately taken up. After two weeks had passed the fugitives were brought to bay, September 21, eight miles southwest of Madelia, Minnesota. Woods and Howard escaped, Pitts was killed, and the three Youngers, shot and mangled and utterly undone, surrendered themselves.

CHAPTER 2. A Confederate Picket

IN the beautiful and quaint little town of Buffalo, situated on the banks of the romantic Kanawha river, in what is now West Virginia, I first beheld the light of day. J\Iy parents were native Virginians and of good old Revolutionary stock. My father, Christopher Columbus Bronaugh was a native of Stafford county, and my mother, whose maiden name was Anne E. Waters, was born near Warrenton. Both localities are among the most historic and interesting in the South and there, during the four years of fratricidal strife, were heard the tread of hostile armies and the roar of battle.

After some years spent in merchandizing at Buffalo, whither he had gone from Stafford county, my father and family removed to Henry county, Missouri, in the early '40's and settled on a farm some eight miles northeast of Clinton. The frame dwelling which he erected there was at that time the most pretentious buildino^ in all this part of the country and was known to neighbors and travelers, passing to and fro, as the ''big white house." The view from it at that early day swept over many miles in all directions, but there was little else to be seen save the tall prairie grass and great stretches of timber along the water-courses. Habitations were few and far between. This old house, still in good state of preservation, sheltered many a weary pilgrim and under its roof was often dispensed to friends the old Virginia hospitality in which both my father and mother were skilled.

The soil was virgin then, the woodlands were dense and dark, and the prairie grass reached to a man's shoulders, wild game was plentiful and the silvery streams abounded in fish. Here my father was engaged in agriculture and stock-raising, when the black cloud of the coming conflict between the states loomed ominously upon the horizon. Naturally enough, being of old Virginia birth and lineage, he and his three brothers — Thomas Jefferson, Addison, and William Y. Bronaugh, who had preceded him to Missouri — and their sons were ardent in their southern sympathy, and the fact that there were twenty-one Bronaughs, from various states, in the Confederate army, eight of whom enlisted in Henry county, is sufficient evidence of their devotion to a cause which they loved and believed to be right.

In August, 1861, I enrolled myself as a member of Company C, which was a part of the regiment commanded by Col. Thomas Owens, of Clinton, Missouri. Our brigade commander was Gen. James S. Rains. I served with this command until after the battle of Pea Ridge, Ark., in 1862, when we were ordered east of the Mississippi river. After campaigning for some time around Corinth, we were assigned to the Trans-Mississippi department.

My first meeting with Col. Vard Cockrell, a brother of United States Senator F. M. Cockrell, took place about this time near Van Buren, Arkansas, where he" organized a force of eight hundred men and on August 1, 1862, started for Missouri on what was known as the Lone Jack expedition. Thursday night, August 14, we encamped near Dayton, Cass county, Missouri, and on the following day passed through Lone Jack, in Jackson county, and encamped seven miles west of that little village. That night our command moved back toward Lone Jack, where a large force of Federals under Major Emory S. Foster had arrived and encamped in the town.

The details of this sanguinary engagement — one of the bloodiest of the war, considering the number of combatants engaged — are too familiar to readers of history for reiteration here. The ball opened at daylight and the desperate struggle continued until nearly noon, without a moment's cessation. The hollows and hills and hedges were strewn with the dead and wounded of either side. Federals and Confederates each losing at least half their numbers.

At nightfall Saturday, August 16, after the battle. Colonel Cockrell moved his shattered but victorious little command back to a camping-ground west of Lone Jack. Early the following morning a comrade and I, beginning to feel the pangs of hunger, determined to ride out a few miles and get breakfast. On returning, having been absent three or four hours, we found the camp deserted and learned that Colonel 'Cockrell had removed his forces to- V. ard Lone Jack again on a forced march, having been gone about two hours.

We immediately set out in a swift gallop to

ROBERT YOUNGER.

overtake them. Arriving within a mile of the battlefield of the previous day, we suddenly came upon a group of Confederate pickets, at the left of the road we were traveling. One of these pickets hailed us and we halted. He inquired if we belonged to Cockrell's command, and being answered in the afifirmative, he said:

"Colonel Cockrell is on the east side of the town, on the Chapel Hill road, in full retreat, and General Blunt is in Lone Jack with 1500 Jayhawkers and Redlegs from Kansas."

This information was both surprising and alarming to us.

We tarried and talked there nearly an hour with this picket. He was an exceedingly handsome young fellow, stalwart, alert, and intelligent and every inch a soldier. He wore a black slouch hat, dove-colored trousers and a colored shirt. Around his waist, suspended from a glossy black belt, was a brace of fine revolvers. He had tied his horse a little way off, and was afoot while conversing with us.

This youthful Confederate picket, by his splendid military bearing, made a peculiar and powerful impression on me, and also won the gratitude of both my comrade and myself, for.

undoubtedly, had he not given us timely warning, we should have ridden into Blunt's troops and been captured or killed. Little did I suspect, at that time, the identity of the young soldier whom we had unexpectedly encountered by the roadside, and much less did I dream of the events, personal to ourselves, that awaited us in future years, in a distant state, long after the clouds of war had cleared away. But from the hour I met him, I had never forgotten his face. It was indelibly stamped on my memory and fairly haunted me for weeks and months thereafter.

This alert and entertaining young picket was no other than the now famous Cole Younger, whose name for daring and endurance is known in every state and territory of this union. Then but a beardless boy, he had played a prominent part in the sanguinary battle of the day before and had performed prodigious valor and heroism.

The late Major Emory S. Foster, U. S. A., in recounting incidents that took place on the bloody field of Lone Jack, said that "during the progress of the fight my attention was called to a young Confederate riding up and down in front of their lines distributing ammunition to the men. He rode along under the most g-alling fire. He went the entire length of their long line and when he reached the end at last our boys recognized his gallantry in ringing cheers.

"My brother and I were severely wounded in the fight and we were taken prisoners. After we were put in a cabin a Confederate guerilla came in and threatened to shoot us both. As he stood over us, pistol in hand, the young man we had seen distributing ammunition to the Confederate line rushed in, seized the guerilla and shoved him out of the room. Other men entered and addressed the newcomer as Cole Younger. My brother had $300; I had $700. This money and our revolvers Cole took from us at our request and delivered safely to my mother at Warrensburg, Missouri."

In one of his letters to me, during his imprisonment at Stillwater, Cole Younger made reference to the battle of Lone Jack as follows :

"In the last Weekly Republic I saw an account of the battle by Major Foster, who commanded the Federal forces. It is very good, though there are some mistakes. He overrates the number of Confederates, but. his account of the fighting is correct. However, he mentions parties on the Confederate side that were not in the fight at all.

"Without knowing it he gives me a compliment. Speaking of our side getting out of ammunition, he says that one of the Confederates rode along the whole line within thirty yards of his command, distributing ammunition to the Rebels, while the Federals were all shooting at him, and he got off unhurt.

"Major Foster says *he (meaning me) was a good man, but I don't suppose he knew who he was calling a good man.

"The Yankees gave me a rousing cheer, but I thought they were doing it because they supposed they had killed me as I jumped my horse over a fence.

"When I got around behind a log house, I told them to halloo and be d — d, they hadn't killed anybody.

"I was the only person on the battlefield on horseback during the fight, except Cockrell, and he stopped under a hill and hitched his horse.

"I ran the g-auntlet twice, when Col. Upton Hays told me positively that if I attempted it again he would shoot my horse himself. He then sent me to look for Coffee's command and take them around to the rear of the Federals. When they saw us flanking them they broke ranks and started on the retreat. Coffee and his men were dismounted.

•'That man you saw in Howard county, with no arms, and myself were on horseback piloting Coffee and his men and when the Federals started to run we took after them."

Bidding our newly made friend farewell, my companion and I rode westward to Blue Springs and joined Col. Upton Hays' command. I remained in active service thereafter and participated in the battles of Prairie Grove, Helena, Pleasant Hill, Jenkins' Ferry, and many minor engagements in the Trans- Mississippi department, finally surrendering in June, 1865, at Shreveport, Louisiana. Returning to my home in Henry county, which I had left in 1861, I engaged in farming and stock-raising.

CHAPTER 3. A Wedding Trip Northward

EVER since the Centennial year, 1876, when the three Younger brothers, shattered by bullets after the Northfield tragedy, had been landed in the Stillwater penitentiary under life sentences, my sympathy for them had been deep and keen. Being anxious to see them, if possible, and to give them what aid I could, I proposed to my bride that we should make a wedding trip to Minnesota, meaning to add to our matrimonial felicity a mission of mercy to these unfortunate men.

Upon our arrival at St. Paul we registered at the Merchants' Hotel and after a brief stay there I went to Stillwater, twenty-five miles distant. Before leaving the hotel, I stated to Capt. Allen, proprietor, my desire and intention to call on the Youngers, if such arrangement could be made, and requested him to give me a letter of introduction to the warden. Capt. Allen hesitated. He remarked that Mis- CBS]

sourians were regarded with much suspicion in Minnesota. Though the Youngers had already served eight years in prison, the memory of their crime had not in the least faded from the minds of the people of Minnesota and the citizens of that state not unnaturally still cherished resentment toward Missourians, especially those who dared to come so far north and openly express or manifest any feeling of friendship.

After some further persuasion, however, Capt. Allen wrote out and handed me a courteous note of introduction.

Reaching Stillwater, I immediately went to Warden A. J. Reed's office. This gentleman was sitting at his desk when I entered and presented the little document which would likely lead the way to my seeing the boys behind the bars.

Mr. Reed, with whom I was rather favorably impressed at first glance, took the note, opened it and read and reread it, showing considerable surprise and unusual interest.

When he had finished his perusal, so intently and scrupulously made, he looked up at me and remarked :

"My friend, Capt. Allen, states in this note to me that you are from Missouri."

The peculiar tone of his voice and the penetrating glance of his eyes w ere not at all reassuring and I instantly felt a blush of additional embarrassment mount to my cheeks. I was not ashamed of grand old Missouri. Far from it. Neither did I apprehend personal insult or bodily harm of any kind. But there I stood, a bashful bridegroom, fresh from the matrimonial altar, very far away from home and friends.

However, I put on a brave, though not arrogant front, and replied :

•'Yes, I am from Missouri and am proud of it."

*'Well," said the warden, rather stiffly and wath sharp emphasis, ''we look on all Missourians here wdth a good deal of suspicion."

To deny that this remark somewhat nettled me would not exactly be confining myself to the truth. It included not only myself, but also a certain little woman who was awaitmg my return to St. Paul.

But T kept my composure and concealed my feelings as best I could. I well knew it would be indiscreet to show any signs of irritability or resentment, as that might block right at the threshold my cherished object. I was

COL. H. \V. YOUNGER, Father of the Younger Brothers.

painfully aware that I was in the enemy's country and must use all the cool judgment and nice diplomacy at my command.

After making a polite but firm defense of Missourians in general, and setting forth their feelings in reference to the wrong the Youngers had inflicted on the good people of Minnesota, to which Mr. Reed gave respectful attention, he reluctantly called in Deputy-Warden Hall, saying:

''This gentleman," pointing to me, "wants to see the Youngers and says he is from Missouri. You have him bare his arm to the elbow and you closely listen to all he says when in the presence of the prisoners."

With these instructions we entered the corridor of the grim prison. The heavy keys, huge locks, massive bars and the forbidding stone walls and iron ceilings looked as though they were built to withstand the crack of doom itself. It would be hard to describe my feelings as I passed along the corridor, my shirt sleeve rolled up to my elbow.