| Show HIS SKULL WAS CRUSHED Sensational Suicide of a Train Robber In Prison Another o the Rube Burrows gang has gone suddenly to his peace S C Brock better known as Joe Jackson jumped from the highest gallery in the penitentiary peniten-tiary at Jackson Miss and dashed out his brains upon the brick floor some fifty feet below He left a written confession that he and Rube Burrows committed the Duck hill train robbery in December 18S8 and that he Brock shot Chester Hughes who was in pursuit of them He and Rube Smith in conjunction with Burrows also committed the Bucatumna robbery 1 rob-bery The confession m confes-sion also contains minute details of many other crimes the whole making a very exciting F I ex-citing chapter in criminal annals 9 He made this confession con-fession he said ia the hope that he would be condemned con-demned at once in the federal courts and thus get off JOE JACKSON with life imprisonment instead of being tried in the state court for the murder of Hughes and hanged Later however ho changed his mind and decided to die The occurrence was a trying one for the officials Brock and Rube Smith were being be-ing taken out for trial when Brock suddenly sud-denly turned and ran up the stairs to the highest point he could reach crying out to stand clear below for he was coming Two officials seized a mattress and held it so as to catch him thereon if possible while the others sought to reason with him I They say this lasted an hour but it was probably much less He shouted out his real name and added I would make j 1 I statement if there was a reporter here He threw down his new derby hat saying Give that to the convict who keeps the white mice in his cell he is a very clever fellow The officer on the gallery now tried to reach and seize him but Erock evaded him and made the leap He turned over as he fell and just missing the mattress struck on the back of his head His skull was crushed to fragments and driven into his brain yet he breathed occasionally for half an hour This leaves Rube Smith the last of the famous trio and he will doubtless end his days in prison I |
