|
I n the mid 1870s he did a stint in
prison in Mt. Vernon County,
Missouri for stealing horses. After he was released he joined up
with the
James Gang and participated in the Glendale,
Missouri train robbery in October, 1879 that netted the bandits
some $6,000. In July, 1881, he was with the gang when they robbed the
Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railroad in Gallatin,
Missouri. Just two months later, on September 7, 1881, the bandits
hit Glendale again, this time taking some $15,000 of the train.
In December, 1881,
Liddel argued with
Wood Hite over the attention of the attractive widow, Martha
Bolton, the sister of
Robert and
Charlie Ford. When the disagreement escalated,
Robert Ford sided with
Liddel and
Hite was shot and killed.
Liddel turned himself in
for the killing and
Ford was arrested. To save themselves,
Liddel spilled the beans
regarding everything he knew of the
James Gang's robberies.
Ford also made a deal to bring down
Jesse
James, which he did on April 3, 1882. Later,
Liddel would turn states
evidence against
Frank James but
Frank was acquitted in
August, 1883.
Liddel died in Kentucky
on July 13, 1901.
Harry Longabaugh, aka "Sundance Kid," Frank Smith, H.A. Brown, Harry
A. Place, Harry Long (1867-1911?) - Born in Mont Clare,
Pennsylvania in 1867, he was only 15 years-old when he headed west
with a cousin. However, by the time he was 20, he stole a gun, a
saddle and a horse from a ranch in Sundance,
Wyoming,
only to be almost immediately captured. He was convicted and
spent 18 months in jail. After his release he worked as a
cowboy before being implicated in an 1892 train robbery by 1897
had hooked up with
Harvey Logan where they robbed a bank at Belle Fourche,
South Dakota
on June 27th.
Longabaugh and
Logan were captured but
managed to escape from
Deadwood jail three months later. In 1900, the
Sundance Kid met
Butch Cassidy and moved to the Robber's Roost in
Utah,
joining the
Wild Bunch.
That same year, they held
up the Winnemucca National Bank in Nevada and then headed for South
America with their proceeds, all the while being pursued by Pinkertons. On
February 20, 1901, Longabaugh sailed with
Butch Cassidy and Etta Place to Argentina. Though it is generally
accepted that both Butch and Sundance were killed by soldiers in Bolivia
in November 1908, some say they both returned to the United States, with
Sundance dying around 1936.
|
|