| Show NABBED jo basli succeeds in re them THEY DECLARE THEY DID NOT ROB THE L R G EXPRESS and say tibey can prove their innocence by witnesses the last issue save an account of the capture of the D K G train robbers and their getting away from jo hush the detective who euc cee dedin ar them wednesday D II 11 G express no 3 brought alie robbers aiuto Provo en route for the penitentiary salt lake city in custody of jo bush and alfred taylor the man happened to be in i he when they landed there and succeeded in setting from t acm lcm the of arrest alic prisoners were landrun ed toce lher and eat quietly aide by side they gave their jamea a a diaries curtis and john curtis is the larger man standing about G feet he is only 21 years old and has n air of boyish simplicity about him he has light blue eyes light hair and lias a heavy growth of down on his face is au years old and smaller lie too has light hair and blue eyes and both men were dressed aa cowboys they conversed freely with the reporter and their chief anxiety seemed to be to ascertain when their examination would come off both men were not at all reserved in manner on the contrary they seemed to be desirous of telling their story and alio they were both denied any knowledge of the robbery said lie was in colorado three hundred miles distant on that day and eliat if he is allowed he can prove hie statement by a hundred witnesses he came into utah abent a week after the robbery and found employment among cattlemen in the bauo mountains before then he had lived in arizona curtis says he has been in utah since last spring and was engaged by some cattlemen in the blue mountains at the time of alie hold up when deputy franks went down after alie robbers he was with him for a whole day then was tho first time he heard a robbery had been committed A day or two before he was arrested he and started for the navajo reservation to get some horses that bad gone over in that direction when the posse came up to arrest them they did not understand what was up but as soon as they learned that aliey were officers they quietly submitted whenn asked why they tried to escape and their reason for staying out so long they said we did not like being chained we done anything to deserve it it was quite easy for jim to get his boot off and he did so besides wo had no means of giving bail when we got to salt lake as we were not known and we did not like to lay in jail we saw a good chance and jumped from the wagon we got into the rocks but could not get out the others were so close we had started out and ilke to give it up so concluded we would give bush all the trouble we could to find us hoping he would give up and get far for us to find our way out but he got the indians to help him and its no use to try to get away from them just as good at trailing as anything you can find whenever we made a mark going down for water they got on to it and followed it right to the rocks they were close to ua every day and as aliey were mostly mounted we could watch them easily we had to aliide liide in pretty close places and we got pretty hungry but we could have stood it several days longer we got up the wash and hid under the bluff some of the searching party were above ua and we watched their movements we saw the indians come down but it was no use to run or we would have been killed we laid as low as we could but knew eliat we were seen when aliey fired three volleys over us to keep us still we did lie still and when a white man came along and tolo us to hold up our hands we just obeyed orders that was all we dont know what they are going to do with us but we do know that we are not the men who robbed the train and wo think we can prove it the clory of first capture and escape has already ben told in tho it was about 9 on the evening of wednesday august 21 that they were being taken out of moab toward thompson springs their lega had been chained together and they occupied a seat in the wagon behind deputy bush and mr vance the latter being a justice of the peace in emery county A guard also rode behind them while they were proceeding this way slipped off nis boot and thus freed himself the rear guard had dropped behind a few rod saud a clump of willows was reached ahe two prisoners make a break for liberty they alighted in thecil lows and were out of sight before the officer could turn he heard the clanking of tha chain on gurtis leg ag the latter reached alie ground and fired two shots the teamster had dropped alie lines and jumped from the wagon and the shots alie horses which started off bush sprang from the wagon and started into the brush and in the meantime the frightened team ran away and next morning was found on the opposite side of the river mr bush kept a strict watch but could find no trace of his game word was sent to moab and next morning half a dozen white men and about fifteen indians and utes engaged in alie chase alie tracks found but aa the fugitives biad taken off their boots and stepped on bushes and rocks the trail was loar the officers de gloved their men ao that it would be almost impossible imposible impo sible for alie fugitives to net away but there was a large field for them to roam over in the willows and upon the locky hillsides hill sides all day tuesday the search was kept up the indians ever and anon striking a new trail which would disappearing disappear in the rocks this was kept up during friday satur dav Sunday and monday the posse were to think men biad got away though this did not seem possible f rom the vigilant we h that had been kept yet they had been without food for five days and should be almosa starve dout jn the afternoon ot monday tho indians got onto another trail that led up mill creek can along the stream that supplies sn oab about four miles from town a bluff was reached and some of the in deans crawled down to alie bed of the ravine A few minutes luter the sound of came from where they had gone and it was known that the fugitives had been discovered others quickly hastened down and burtia and were found lying in the bottom of the baab this was about 5 p m monday they taken to moab and started out for thompson springs under guard of mr bush justice wade arthur and shafer and wilson when they were put on the train wade and wilson returned and the others passed through provo aa stated As it lias been rumored around that the man curtis was not one of the robbers but that he had been in the company of Sheriff Fowler deputy franks and jo bush when out lh third day after thy road alic man called at the of sheriff fowler aliis marn aggra requested him to give what information ho was in possession of in regard to tho matter nud also his to capture hie J II 11 G W train robbers the Ebe rift willingly complied lie said this was my third trip after train robbers but my first failure hence I 1 do not feel very well over it because I 1 still think we ought to have captured them I 1 firs theard of the holdup hold up on the morning following the robbery about six when the plundered train passed through provo I 1 shortly afterwards spoke to the operator to no tily superintendent bancroft that owin to the companas comp anys courtesy to me that I 1 was anxious to assist them in capturing the bobbera if possible I 1 waited around before receiving an answer until eleven when the regular passenger arrived from ogden I 1 found deputy U S marshal E A franks and jo bush on that train bound for the place of the robbery A few minutes conversation with sir franks convinced me that he was under instructions from superintendent bancroft at his request I 1 boarded the train with them ae arrived at thompsons springs ite that evening which would be about twenty four hours behind the robbers to our disappointment when we got there we found that we could not get saddle horses for love or money and were told that there were none within thirty miles we then telegraphed to green river and the farrer boys said they would ship us four horses and saddles for ten dollars per day I 1 had taken my own saddle along with me we answered after wiring bupt supt bancroft Bon croft in regard to having them shipped to send them as quickly ag possible came on a special and we put out at daylight I 1 found mr leveret brown an old acquaintance of giue from lehi at thompsons Thomp sons springs lie had been out that day and had found the track of the robbers from the rail road at the point from where they held up the train to where horse biad been tied ho followed their tracks from where they had got on their horses into alie road leading to moab mr brown coined us three in the chase as he was acquainted with the countey and a stockman we followed the track of the robbers until afternoon when we found eliat they had left the road and gone toward ten mile wash and from there to the back part of what is known as court house rocks I 1 think they probably made that point by daylight on the morning after the robbery and they must have stayed near court house rocks most of the the reason that the nightie nig htwe were at thompsons Thomp sons the robbers passed a four horse team camped about six miles south of court house rocks and took two of the horse sand left their two when we to court house rocks we heard of this circumstance and found the two we pushed ahead crossed the grand river to moab and found that the robbers bad passed there in the night previous and had stolen two horses more we got a change of horses here and supper we then rode all that night making two nights in the saddle next morning daylight found us near the carlyll ranch called fifty eight miles from moab this place is near the foot of the blue mountains when we got here we had a tired lot of forsea the road passed over having been very sandy and heavy I 1 think this is one of the most forsaken countries in america here we found the camp where the robbers had baited for a while in the cedars they must have left there on fresh horses but how they got them we can only conjecture we went to the carlyle ranch in liapes of getting fresh animals but on account of them having just started a large herd of beef to durango all their saddle horses were away that day we baw a man who met the robbers after they left the vicinity of alie ranch the account we got from this individual was the first description we had of the men we were after it was slow traveling that day as we were not able to change horses we pushed along around the blue mountains and hung up for the night next morning we tracked our men to what is called alkali springs and in the language of jo bush its an appropriate name we tracked that vicinity in a ten mile circle but never could find where ou game left we then held a council and decided for bush and brown to push on to bluff city on the san juan river and franks and myself to start for the elk mountains in the hopes of picking up the track we could find nothing however to encourage ua in that direction we then hired two indians to assist us but they worked all day and made no headway although we found where the robbers had been but a short time before and had killed a calf and had a fire in the rocks we then went down to the L C ranch here is where we first met the man curtis who is now under arrest I 1 practiced shooting with him all one day we became satisfied from his actions that he knew where our men were and that he was giving them information of our movements very possibly furnishing them with food we decided to watch him closely in the meantime the boys returned from bluff city with no of our men finally curtis left us and joe buh and another man followed him to try and find out what hia business was considering all these circumstances we concluded to scour the country in the hope that our men must be in that section somewhere this is a country where you could pass within ten feet of a man for miles and not track him for ha can go lor miles on the rocks leaving a track we offered reward for information that would lead to the arrest we finally overtook a team in which were two men from the durango country these men claimed to have met our men making for the big bend of the dolores kiver some fifty miles east we then thought possibly they might have taken the back track and gone that way if so we concluded eliat the condition our horses were in and the cli ances of catching up to the robbers were against us we decided however eliat if the railroad com would pay our expense ns we might get around to rico or durango and yet head them on not hearing anything more from buech we had no idea how he was making out we still think bad the railroad company dispatched a special on alie night of the robbery with horses to thompsons Thomp sons springs that mhd rob bars could have been caught at the crossing of grand river but as it is we worked hard with poor success and entailed considerable expense which will have to be suet by somebody the experience we gained is orth north n something however the anxiety with all on the trip to capture was high for first the reputation of an officer when he undertakes anything is at stake the service he can do his country in endeavoring to put down lawlessness is another consideration what about the bloodhound asked the ENQUIRER man he help you at all yes he trotted along for the first twenty miles but his feet in the hot sand burned to a blister so that he could not go any further and we were glad of a chance to get him back to thompsons Thomp sons in the mail carriers wagon where lie was cared for until our return alio track was too old for the hound to keep while it was enough for us to go without water without the dog having to suffer how many did you think there really were oh there could not possibly have been more than two that was all we tracked to the railroad or from the scene of the holdup hold up two is all we heard of at any time the robbers only stole two horses and only left two alie only timo we ever heard of three was the we met president ham mond at kauo springs and those three persons were not traveling together the party mentioned by hammond stopped at the hatch ranch that evening we parsed him in the night and afterwards saw him and conversed with and knew him he never saw tho thieves the seln juan country after passing the la saho mountains from emoery county is the best rendezvous render for thieves that there 3 n america I 1 arn certain if the colorado aad officers take the right kind of a trip through there that they could pick up several fugitives from justice we were told all the way through that f all the colorado and other had been through there after bad men that they had neverseen never been able to take one out I 1 told them we designed changing the record on that how far did you go on that trip we must have traveled some seven hundred miles the route we took going from and returning to thompsons Thomp sons springs was a dry barren country and we went long distances without water or food the sand and rocks were hot enough to barn eperson sp erson in fact 1 l is a dangerous country to travel in with at a guide yesterday morning the examination of curtis and the suspected train robbers was held in salt lake city they were represented by M E mcenany while united states attorney varian conducted the prosecution the defendants were arraigned and pleaded not guilt yand ahe examination was then proceeded with thomas flavin was the first witness called the evidence will be given in the next issue of the |
