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OFFICERS IN HOT PURSUIT
_________ |
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Evans and Sontag
Take Refuge in the
Woods.
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GREAT EXCITEMENT AT
VISALIA. |
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_________
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The Body of Deputy Sheriff
Beaver Removed to His
Home at Lemoore -- Witty's Condition
Growing Worse. |
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_________
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Special to THE MORNING
CALL |
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_________
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.VISALIA, Aug. 6. -- Evans and Sontag, the Collis
train-robbers, came to Evans' house about 12 o'clock last night, and after
eating supper went to the barn.
Five or six men
who were standing guard discovered the team in the barn let, but did not see
the men come in. Undoubtedly they had returned to secure the hidden coin, as a
hole filled with fresh dirt and manure was found in the barn this
morning.
Deputy Sheriff Beaver, while guarding,
saw the men at the barn and opened fire, his shot being returned by the
robbers, wounding Beaver so that he died at 6 o'clock this morning.
Fifteen shots were exchanged, Beaver firing eight. Some
of his shots wounded the horses so that one had to be killed.
While the guard was attending Beaver the robbers
escaped about 2 o'clock on foot and went in a northerly direction. When three
miles from town they tried to borrow horses from an acquaintance.
The officers in pursuit traced the men four miles
northeast, where they entered a field. The pursers' team gave out and they
returned to town. Twenty or thirty men are now in pursuit on horseback. The
excitement is high and the men will be hanged if taken alive. They can hardly
escape as all the thoroughfares are guarded.
Sheriff Cunningham states that no doubt these men have
committed most of the train robberies in this valley.
Deputy Sheriff Witty, shot yesterday, is getting along
nicely and will recover unless blood poisoning occurs.
Thacker, Cunningham and Overall are just starting out
again. |
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_________ |
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MAKING FOR THE MOUNTAINS. |
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_________ |
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The Robbers Met on the Road With No
One in
Pursuit. |
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VISALIA, Aug. 6. --
An ex-Supervisor, living 14 miles north of this city, says the robbers passed
his place at 5 o'clock this morning, evidently making for Stokes Mountain, a
rugged country with plenty of water.
Evans knows
every mountain trail in the Sierras in Fresno and Tulare, and afoot can take
paths that no horse can travel.
J. M. Dyer,
residing 17 miles northeast of this city, is just in town. Evans and Sontag
passed his place at 8 o'clock in a cart drawn by a mule.
They saw a team coming toward them on the Stokes Valley
road and turned back a short distance to take the Nigger Creek road leading to
Drum Valley, Fresno County. Dyer met no one in pursuit.
Deputy Sheriff Witty's condition has changed for the
worse within the last two hours. There is danger of blood-poisoning say the
physicians. |
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_________ |
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BEAVER'S REMAINS. |
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_________ |
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Detail of His Death at
the Hands of the
Highwaymen. |
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VISALIA, Aug. 6. -- The remains of Oscar Beaver, shot
by the train-robbers this morning, were forwarded this afternoon to his home at
Lemoore.
His wife was visiting in Rio Vista and
telegraphed to come home early this morning.
Beaver was unconscious several hours previous to his
death. Seventy-four small shot were found in his body, but the death wounds
were made by buckshot in the abdomen and chest.
He was not more than 35 yards from the barn, the
hiding-place of the robbers, when shot and was in the most exposed
position.
He was a brave and fearless man and has
always been in demand by the Sheriffs when desperate work was required.
A large delegation of friends arrived here to-day from
Hanford and Lemoore to visit him, and they accompanied his remains home this
evening.
His wife and child are expected to
arrive at Lemoore to-night. If so, the funeral will occur to-morrow. A number
are going to it from this city.
Beaver has been
in the saloon business in Lemoore for a number of years, but of late had turned
his attention to fruit-farming on an 80-acre tract he owned near Lemoore.
The robbers undoubtedly escaped from the barn while the
attention of the guard was called to the condition of Beaver.
None of the guard would approach Beaver after he fell
to the ground from his wounds, fearing that they would also be shot.
Frank
Byrd, a brother-in-law of Robber Evans, who was at the house consoling his
sister, was called out to remove the body, and was assisted in doing so by
ex-Sheriff Overall.
Beaver had lain where he fell
all of 20 minutes, and his groans could be heard blocks away. He was taken to
the house of Night Watchman Patnot near by to die. |
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_________ |
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THEY GET A GOOD START. |
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_________ |
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Outlaws Borrow a Mule
to Further
Their Escape. |
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VISALIA, Aug. 6.--It was probably 2 o'clock this
morning when Robbers Evans and Sontag left the barn and started north toward
the mountains. The officers did not leave in pursuit until daylight.
The
men were easily traced along the road for four miles, when they took a field
where no tracks were left.
About 5 o'clock they
were 14 miles from town and called at the residence of ex-Supervisor D. V.
Robinson for a drink of water. Only one of the men went to the house while the
other brought water to him.
Mrs. Robinson was the
only person to see them and afterward described them to her husband, who was
satisfied they were Evans and Sontag. The men were heavily armed.
A few miles further north hey came to the ranch of
Harvey Ward, with whom Evans was well acquainted.
They told Ward that they had killed a man in Visalia
and wanted Ward to supply them with a team.
Ward
had some good horses, but he did not like to spare them, and finally told the
desperadoes that the only animal he had to that would work single was a mule,
and they could have it and an old cart on the place.
They accepted the rig gladly, as they were evidently
tried of tramping; besides, Sontag is just recovering the use of a leg that was
broken a few weeks since.
Ward states that the
men appeared in a cheerful mood, and when he suggested that they might be
captured, they prolonged their stay on his ranch.
Evans remarked, "The officers are not wanting us very
bad; they only arrest tramps."
At 8 o'clock this
morning the desperadoes passed the residence of J. M. Dyer, 17 miles northeast
of Visalia, going toward Stokes Valley. The men were at Dyer's place yesterday
and purchased hay and barley for the officer's team, they were driving, and
thus Dyer recognized them to-day, although they were traveling in a different
conveyance.
As the men were proceeding toward
Stokes Valley, they espied a team coming down the road toward them, which
caused them to turn back and take a road that leads up Nigger Creek and the
Drum Valley Fresno County.
Dyer got on his
windmill, and watched them in their course while in sight, then got on his
horse and went to Orosi, for the purpose of telephoning the officers
there.
There being no telephone connection
between the two places, Dyer came on to town and delivered his message at the
Sheriff's office. The officers left the city to-day on horseback to pursuit of
the robbers.
They went to Stokes Valley, and are
probably close on the track of them, though nothing has been heard from any of
them up to the present hour, 7 o'clock.
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