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PERSISTENT MOBS IN IOWA
lynching parties looking for the Barber Boys
THE OFFICERS HAVING GREAT
DIFFICULTY IN GUARDING THEIR PRISONERS
--- THE BANDITS IN A
REPENTANT MOOD.
Chicago,
June 7. --- A dispatch to the Tribune from Cedar
Rapids, Iowa, say the excitement ereated by the capture of the
Barber brothers was so great in and around Waverly that the
authorities have had hard work in keeping the outlaws out of the
hands of the mob. The bandits were last night taken from
Waverly to Waterloo, a distance of 20 miles, and were there put
aboard the Illinois Central passenger train for Independence.
Horsemen were riding all night in every direction determined to find
them. William, the younger, was very much excited in the Waverly
Jail on hearing the news from various places that mobs were on the
way to hang them, and he pleaded that he would like to see mother
once more before he died. The outlaws were finally landed late last
night in the stone jail at Independence. This morning at
Independence there was great excitement when it was learned that the
notorious outlaws were in jail there, and throngs gathered about the
town to discuss the situation. Word was received from West Union
that the crowds that had been disappointed by going to Waverly would
come to Independence, and it has been arranged to take the boys to
the Animosa Penitentiary in case there is anything like a warlike
demonstration from the north. They asked the Sheriff to-day for
clubs with which to protect themselves in case a mob should come.
After considerable urging the Sheriff permitted a photographer to
take several pictures of them in the jail. When the subject of
sending a picture to his wife was mentioned, Ike broke completely
down and wept like a child. He is the older and more
intelligent of the two. He is 25 years old, has been married five
years, and has two children. His hand has done all the fatal and
bloody work. Marion Sheperd, Henry Kersting, Jr. and his father have
all died by shots from his revolver, and Deputy Sheriff Jarvis and
the two young men wounded on the night of the capture were all shot
by him. He is uncommunicative, but has a head that denotes his
character very plainly. William is the larger one. He is 23
years old, has been married five years, and has three children. He
is very proud of his record, and glories in telling about it. Henry
Kersting, the brave German who was shot in the back and killed by
Ike while alone grappling with William, mastered him empty-handed,
while the outlaw had two self-cocking revolvers and was using them
on him.
The
prisoners say they had no intention of leading the life they have
until after they killed Sheperd, and then thought people would look
down upon them and be against them the same as against Jesse James
and the Youngers, and they decided to fight it out on that line.
They say that many of the men who were hunting them with guns after
they shot Shepherd met them and ran away, and that was one reason
why they dared to come back again. They believed the people would
fear them, and they claim to have purchased railway tickets and
ridden to Independence less than a week ago. They intended to visit
all their sisters and friends and then leave the country for good.
They say they would have joined their mother at Glendive, Montana,
where she went about six weeks ago. They have nothing on them except
shirts, trousers, and waistcoats, and their fat faces, heads, ears,
and hands are badly bruised and cut from rough usage. During the
last week they threw their boots away, waded in the river a
considerable distance on Sunday in order to elude the pursuers whom
they saw at various times near them.
There is
intense excitement throughout that entire portion of the State, and
it is the one general theme of conversation. After they were
captured the father of the dead boy put one of the revolvers to
Ike's head and tried to shoot, but did not know how. If he could
have discharged it he would have blown the brains out of both of
them on the spot. The old man died to-day.
A later
dispatch from Waverly says the jail at that place, where the outlaws
were kept until the train started for Independence, was surrounded
and forced by a mob of 1,000 men about this morning. The lynchers
arrived about four hours too late. There are fears that the jail at
Independence will be attacked to-night, and the officers will hurry
the Barber bandits by the first train to the penitentiary at
Anamosa. There are, however, several mobs yet to be heard from.
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