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CHABIi ROARK’S RECORDa .,An Outlaw and De*perado—WellKnown In Kansas and Missouri.Now that all is over in the case af Roark the* t _express robber, says the Utica Observer, somefacta in his life may be. made public. On thesixth day of March, 1879, in Butler county, Kart-^sas, Michael Roark was convicted of robbery in the first degree, committed on one AndrewKingekade. He was sentenced to be confined in♦the State Penitentiary at Kansas for a period often years, and in addition to pay the costs of prosecution, which were taxed at $1,168.16.On this occasion he robbed Ringskade,.wko was agent of Atchison, Topeka Santa Fe Railroad company, of $3,000; December 16 1879, the Supreme Court of Kansas granted a new trial on some technical ground, but for some reason the second trial was never had. George Goodell, deputy sheriff of Leavenworth, Kansas says ;“I know Michael Roark. I have known himsince 1878. _ I was engaged iin the capture for reward of Michael Roark:, Bill Tillstnan, Dan Dement, Dave Rudebaugh and others wanted forexpress train robbery at or near Kinsley station, Edwards county* Kansas, in the year 1878. Incompany with Balt Masterson I was hunting forthe Kinsley gang down on the Canadian River inthe Pan Handle of Texas, and then and'there wecaptured Dave Rudebaugh, Mike Roark, Bill Tills-man and Bill Welsh, while they were eatingbreakfast aboutforfcy miles below Tuseosa, Texas. They came out of the cave in. which they quartered. After capture we took them to DodgeCity and put them in jail there. This is the only time I was ever after Roark, though I have long heard of him as an outlaw and desperado Ahd ah associate of other outlaws and desperadoes. Ihave this day been shown photographs which I recognize as being good and true pictures of Mike Roark or * Big Mike.’ ” * * sRoark’s record in Missouri was even worse than% * -in Kansas, as will be seen by the following extracts from affidavits made by officials of that state and now' in possession of the Oneida county authorities. Oliver M. Spencer, in 1880 Prosecuting Attorney for the State of Missouri, in his affidavit says :“ Mike O’Rourke was indicted by the Grand Jury of Buchanan county, Missouri in November 1880, for the crime of robbery, it being alleged that he and three others robbed the express company of over $5,000, near Winthrop, Mo., a small town on the east and opposite side of the river from Atchison, Kansas. The charge in theindictment was robbery, the lowest punishment for which is ten years imprisonment in the penitentiary. I was prosecuting attorney for the state at the time. When the case was called fortrial O’Rourke was permitted to plead guilty to the crime of grand larceny, viz., to the stealing of the alleged amount of money from the express company sometime prior to November, 1880, as charged in tholndictment, and was sentencedto the penitentiar^ffor a term of two years, the lowest penalty under the law.” Ttoarke made hisescape from the penitentiary.J. A. Raynor, agent for the United States .Express Company at St. Joseph, Mo., during. I860,certified that he was present at the trial of Michael Roarke for the robbery of the express company’smessenger, Prank S. Baxter, at or near Winthrop,, Buchanan county, Mo., while en route from KansasCity to St. Joseph, on the K. C. St. J. C. B.Railway. He recognized the photograph takenin Utica as that of Roarke. He also certified tothe general reputation of Roarke as that of an outlaw and desperado.
Newspaper Details
Ogdensburg Journal
Ogdensburg, New York, US
Fri, Jul 01, 1887
Page 4
Full Page
Clipped by
Kokomo-Howard C.
IN, USA 16 Mar 2023
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