the james boys, and especially frank, have remained in seclusion for a considerable period, and[pg 113] with the shooting of jesse—whom many still believe to be dead—it was thought that the old remnants of guerrilla plunderers had entirely disappeared. it is positively known that frank james resided in baltimore during the winter of 1879-80, and his home was located on one of the principal resident streets. at that time he wore full whiskers which were very long, reaching to his waist. the name he bore while in baltimore the writer has not been able to learn, for obvious reasons. he disappeared from that city in march last, and it is reported by kansas city police officers that frank was seen in jackson county, missouri, by two of his acquaintances in the latter part of july, 1880, and that his whiskers were cut short. the following account of the robbery of the mammoth cave stage again brings frank james and jim cummings prominently into notice.
settling an old score
the concord stage running between mammoth cave and cave city, in edmonson county, kentucky, was captured by highwaymen on the afternoon of friday, september 3d, 1880, and the passengers despoiled of everything they carried.
at this season of the year mammoth cave is visited by thousands of tourists and sight-seers, who are usually people of means, furnishing fat pickings for the robbers. one of the routes to the cave, and the one selected by the large majority of its visitors, is by way of the louisville and nashville railroad to cave city, and thence by the concord stages to the[pg 114] cave, which is about eight or ten miles distant. the stage road is through a lonely and rocky region, and about midway on the route it runs through a dense wood, which adds considerably to its dreariness. about 6 o'clock friday evening, while the coach from the cave was coming to cave city, it reached this wood, and while coming through the narrow road in a walk, two men, one mounted on a thin black thoroughbred horse, and the other on a fine sorrel, rode out of the dense forest, and, dashing up to the stage, covered the driver and passengers with their revolvers and called a halt. the stage was pulled up, the driver was ordered down and to the door of his vehicle, and then calmly dismounting and holding their horses by the bridle reins, the work of delivering the booty began. the rider of the black horse, a man about thirty-five years old, with a straggling red mustache and beard, was the leader and spokesman. he was rather small, not appearing to be over five feet six inches in height, and would weigh about 140 pounds. he had light blue eyes, a pleasant smile and distributed his attentions to the defenseless party of eight passengers with a sang froid and easy politeness which did much to alleviate their feelings. his accomplice was about the same age, with black whiskers and mustache rather ragged in trim, and had a pair of black eyes. he was rather slow in his movements, but the business in hand suffered nothing for that.
[pg 115]
"come out of the stage, please," said the spokesman, in a light, high pitched voice.
the passengers looked through the open windows and saw the muzzles of the impassive revolvers covering the whole length of the vehicle, and, as there was not a weapon in the party as large as a penknife, they could not resist or parley. there were seven gentlemen and one lady in the coach, and the lady naturally was nervous and alarmed. in the excitement and bustle attendant upon rising and leaving their seats, mr. r. s. rountree, of the milwaukee evening wisconsin, who was making the trip with relatives, slipped his pocket-book and gold watch under the cushion of the seat.
very few words were spoken, though the highwaymen seemed impatient and ordered them to "hurry up." as each gentleman stepped out he was covered with the muzzle of a revolver and told to take his place in line and hold up his hands. the lady, a daughter of hon. r. h. rountree, of lebanon, ky., was permitted to remain in the stage. after the passengers were all out the leader of the two villains tossed his rein to his accomplice, who covered the line while the spokesman proceeded to rifle their pockets, talking pleasantly as he went. j. e. craig, jr., of lawrenceville, ga., lost $670; hon. r. h. rountree, of lebanon, ky., handed out a handsome gold watch, valued at $200, and $55 in cash; s. w. shelton, of calhoun, tenn., gave up about $50; miss[pg 116] lizzie rountree, of lebanon, ky., lost nothing but rings, one of them a handsome diamond; s. h. frohlichstein, of mobile, ala., lost $23; geo. m. paisley, of pittsburg, gave up $33; w. g. welsh, of pittsburg, lost $5 and a handsome watch. r. s. rountree, of milwaukee, saved his money as stated. hon. r. h. rountree felt very sore over the loss of an elegant engraved watch, which was presented by hon. j. proctor knott, the member of congress from the fourth district.
the spokesman of the marauders explained that they were not highwaymen, but moonshiners, and were pursued so hotly by the government officers that they were compelled to have money to get out of the country. he asked each passenger his name and place of residence, and noted them down, saying that some day he would repay them their losses. when he came to mr. craig, of georgia, he remarked that he hated to take his money because he had fought in a georgia regiment during the war, but the case was a desperate one and he was compelled to do it.
when miss rountree gave her name and place of residence at lebanon, a pleased smile lighted up the robber's face, and he asked:
"do you know the misses —— of lebanon?"
"quite well," answered the young lady.
"so do i," he rejoined, "and they are nice girls. give them my regards when you see them, and tell them i will make this right some day."
[pg 117]
after getting all the valuables of the party the marauders returned the pocket-books with the railway passes and tickets, and giving the passengers orders to get in, mounted and rode off. they told the passengers, for consolation, that they had robbed the out stage, getting $700 from mr. george croghan, one of the owners of the cave.
the rider of the black horse was frank james, and his companion was jim cummings. these facts have been fully established by information of an indisputable character, which came into the possession of the writer since the robbery.
