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QHAEL ROARKS RECORD.An Outlaw ftndKnown in Kauiai and HlMOurl.Now that all is oyer in the case of Roarkthe express robber, says the Utica Observer,some faoia in his life may be made public.On tho the sixth day of March, 1879, in Butler oounty, Kansas, Michael Koark was convicted of robbery in the the first degree, committed on one Andrew Ktngskadft. Ho was sentenced to be confined in the State Penitentiary at Kax s is for a period of^ ten years, and in addition to pay the costs of prosecution, which were taxed at $1,158.16. On this oocasiob he robbed Kingkade, who was .agent of Atchison, Topeka Santa Fe Railrood com pony, of $3,000. Daoember 16, 1879, the Supreme Court of Kansas granted a new trial on some technical ground, but for some reason the seoond trial was never had. Gecrgo Goodell, deputy sheriff of Leavenworth, Kansas says:“I know Michael Boark. I have known him since 1878. I was encaged in the capture for reward of Michael Boark, Bill Til la-man, Ban Dement, Dave Rudebaugh. and others wanted for express train rohbery at or near Kinsley Station, Edwards county, Kansas, in the ye*r 1878. In company with Balt Masterscn 1 was hunting for the Kinsley g*ng down on the Canadian River in the Pan 1 Hindi© of Texas, and then and there we captured Gave Rude-baogh, Mtko Roark, Bill Tillsman and Bill Welsh, while they were eating breakfast about forty miles below Tusoofio. Texas. They oune out of the oave in which they quartered. After eaptwe we took them to Dodge City and put them In jail therm This is the only time Z wit ever after Boark, though I have long heard of him as an outlaw and desperado and an associate of other outlaws and despsradoes. I have this day been shown photcgraptu which I recognize aa being good and true pictures of Mike Roark or ‘Big Mike.”*Bonk's record in Missouri was even worse than in Kmsap, as will be seen by the following extracts from affidavits made by official of that State and now in poaset-alon of the Oneida county aut: ortliao. 01* War 1L Spencer,in 1880 Prosecuting Attorney for the Slate of Hitaouzi,in bis affidavit says :“hike O’Rourke was Indicted by the Grand Jury of Buchannan county,Missouri in November, 1880, for the crime of robbery, it being alleged that be and three ( ethers robbed the express company of over $5,000, near Wmthrop, Ho., a small town on the east and opposite side of the river from Atchison, Kansas. The charge in the indictment was robbery, the lowest punishment for which is ten years imprisonment in the penitentiary.I was prosecuting attorney for the stats at the time. ‘When the case was called far trial O’Rourke was permitted to plead guilty to the crime of grand larceny, via, to the stealing of the alleged amount of money from the express company sometime prior to November, 1880, aa charged in the In d lot. meet, and was sentenced to the penitentiary for a term of two years, the lowest penalty under the law. Boark msd^ his escape from the penitentiary.J.* A. Raynor, agent for the United States Express Co. at St. Joseph, Mo.,daring I860, certified that he was present at the trial of Michael Boarke for ibe robbery of the txprtss oompany’j messenger, Frank 3. Baxter, at or near Wintbrop Buchanan oounly, Mcx, while entente from Kansas City to 8L J^ieph, on tba K. 0. St. J. O. B. railway. He reoognixjd the photograph taken in TJtioa as that of Kcarke. He also certified to the general reputation of Roark© is that of tax outlaw and d»pjrado.
Newspaper Details
Oswego Daily Palladium
Oswego, New York, US
Tue, Jun 28, 1887
Page 4
Full Page
Clipped by
Kokomo-Howard C.
IN, USA 16 Mar 2023
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