Sam Bass

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Sam Bass
Sam Bass

Sam Bass (21 July 1851–21 July 1878) was a nineteenth-century American train robber and western icon.

After failing in a series of legimitate enterprises, Bass turned to crime, and robbed the Union Pacific gold train from San Francisco on September 18, 1877, looting $60,000, to this day the largest single robbery of the Union Pacific. After a string of robberies in 1877 and 1878, including the first train robbery in Texas history, in Allen, Texas, Bass was betrayed to the authorities by a member of his gang. After being mortally wounded, Bass was eventually taken into custody, and he died from his wounds on July 21, 1878, his 27th birthday.

Despite his short career, Sam Bass was colorful and saw extreme financial success in his robberies from 1877 until his death in 1878. The well publicized and unsuccessful law enforcement pursuit of Bass and his gang following their $60,000 take on the Union Pacific train robbery was the event that brought him to the attention of the public and what captured their imagination. That single event, and his evading capture afterwards, led to Bass reaching the status of legend.

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[edit] Early life

Born to a farming home in Mitchell, Indiana, Sam Bass was orphaned at the age of 13. He and his siblings lived for the next five years with an (abusive) uncle, and in 1869 set out on his own. He spent the next year in Mississippi, but in 1870 headed for Texas. In 1871, he moved to Denton, Texas. He acquired a prized racing mare (whom he named "Jenny" and which was known as the "Denton Mare") and made his living from working at first as a stable hand for Sarah Lacy of the Lacy Hotel on the Denton County Square, and later for Sheriff William F. Egan, the Denton County Sheriff of the time.

He was known to race Jenny and make a profit on these races racing horses from 1874 to 1876. He often traveled to San Antonio during this period. In 1876, he led a cattle drive north from south Texas. He completed the drive in Nebraska, but squandered the money gambling. He next tried gold mining in Deadwood, South Dakota, again without success.

The outlaw character that was to emerge was completely out of character for Sam. While in the employ of Sheriff Egan, he often took care of Egan's children, and would haul ice from Dallas to Denton regularly for the Sheriff. On one such trip, Sheriff Egan gave Sam enough money to make the trip to Dallas for ice and to stay the night in a hotel, with money the Sheriff had given him. Sam would get up early enough in the morning to make the ice haul in one day, so as to save the money, and return the unspent money to Egan. For this and other similar actions he earned the nickname in Denton (at this time) of "Honest Eph" for Ephesians in the bible. This contrast in character, a character not out of line with what his siblings remembered of him back on the homestead in Indiana, led his sister to place the phrase, "A brave man reposes in death here, oh why was he not true?" on his original grave marker.[citation needed]

[edit] Life as an outlaw

In 1877, Bass and his friend Joel Collins set up a freighting business. When it failed, they turned to robbing stagecoaches. On the evening of September 18, 1877, they robbed the Union Pacific gold train from San Francisco. Their take was $60,000, shared amongst the 6 gang members. To this day it is the single largest robbery of the Union Pacific, and the one single event that launched Bass to Old West fame. With the Pinkertons and other law enforcement officers on his tail, including lawman Charlie Bassett, he headed back to Denton, Texas.

Bass and the others now began a string of train and stage coach robberies, including the first such robbery in Texas history in Allen, Texas, never netting over $500 at any one time. In 1878, they held up two stagecoaches and four trains within twenty-five miles of Dallas. The gang quickly found themselves as the object of a pursuit in the Denton area by Pinkerton Agents and by a special company of Texas Rangers headed by Captain Junius Peak.

Sam and members of his gang booked a hotel room under assumed names just off the Denton square, knowing full well that the Pinkertons were staying in another hotel on the opposite side of the county square. Sam contacted his hotel's front desk and asked if a baggage boy could come up to his room for an errand. Sam gave the lad instructions to take a note to the Pinkertons expressing his dissatisfaction that they had not found him. The note also contained the famous signature, for which he is known, "Signed Sam Bass, Kiss my Ass." He also gave the lad a $20 gold piece as further proof. The Pinkertons are said to have received the note, but could not believe it was him, and did not even bother to check out the veracity of the story.[citation needed]

[edit] Death

Bass was able to elude the Rangers until a member of his gang, Jim Murphy, turned informant when his father was imprisoned in Tyler, Texas. He cut a deal to save his father, and informed the lawmen about the gang's plans and movements. As Bass's band rode south, Murphy telegraphed Major John B. Jones, commander of the Frontier Battalion of Texas Rangers.

Jones set up an ambush at Round Rock, where Bass planned to rob the Williamson County Bank. On July 19, 1878, Bass and his gang scouted the area before the actual robbery. When they bought some tobacco at a store (Sam was actually also buying candy - as he had a sweet tooth), they were noticed by Williamson County Sheriff A.W. (Caige) Grimes. Grimes did not even recognize the gang, rather he noticed that they had side arms, and Texas had passed a law requiring that all side arms be surrendered when entering town. Grimes approached the men to request that they surrender their sidearms, not knowing it was Bass and Co., and because he was blocking the entrance, was shot and killed. Grimes only got off one round before he died, and a heavy gunfight ensued between the outlaws, the Rangers and the local lawmen. A deputy named Moore was mortally wounded, as was Sam Bass. The gang quickly mounted their horses and tried to escape, while continuing to fire. As they galloped away, Bass was shot again in the back by Ranger George Herold. Bass was later found lying helpless in a pasture north of town. Bass was found by a gang of black men who were working on the nearby railroad; as he was literally dying of thirst, and Bass called out to these men for water. The men, realizing who Bass was, summoned the authorities.[citation needed] Bass was taken into custody, and he died from his wounds the next day, July 21, 1878, his 27th birthday. Coincidentally, Sheriff Grimes was also 27 years of age. The authorities kept interrogating Bass as he lay dying, attempting to get him to give the identity of his gang members. He is reputed to have said, "A man never blows on his pals."[citation needed] His last words were, "The world is bobbin' around."[citation needed]

[edit] Gravesite and legacy

The replica tombstone at the grave of Sam Bass
The replica tombstone at the grave of Sam Bass

One member of the gang, named Jackson, escaped capture and later settled in New Mexico. For many years his family petitioned, without success, for a pardon so that he could return to Texas.

The informant Murphy returned to Denton, where he became an outcast, frequently sleeping in the county jail for his own protection. He died within a year when he swallowed some eye drops; whether the ingestion was an accident is unclear, but the Texas Ranger Hall of Fame states it was suicide [1]. "Rowdy Joe" Lowe, a former saloon keeper, gambler, and a man with somewhat of a reputation as a gunman, also was accused of having ridden with the gang. However, if he did, he was never charged with any crime. He was shot and killed in 1899 after an argument unrelated to his alleged involvement with the gang.

Sam Bass was buried in Round Rock, not far from where he died. A few years after his death, his sister provided a tombstone which read "A brave man reposes in death here. Why was he not true?" Damaged beyond repair by souvenir hunters, the stone was replaced by a large granite replica provided by the "Sam Bass Centennial Commission." His original headstone can be found on display at the Round Rock Public Library.

As with many contemporary figures of the American Old West, Bass captured the public imagination in contemporary stories and songs, being portrayed as was common at the time by some as a ruthless desperado, but by others as a sort of Robin Hood figure whose misdeeds were not visited on the poor, but only upon the monied classes. The infamous confidence man, Soapy Smith, who with his cousin, Edwin B. Smith witnessed the shooting of Bass. The event changed Edwin's mind about taking the criminal path that the two boys were planning.

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

[edit] Further reading

  • Miller, Rick, Sam Bass and Gang, State House Press, Austin, 1999, LC Control Number 99034248, ISBN 1-880510-65-0 (alk. paper), ISBN 1-880510-66-9 (pbk. alk. paper), ISBN 1-880510-67-7 (alk. paper)
  • Martin, Charles Lee, A Sketch of Sam Bass, the Bandit, Worley & co., Dallas, LC Control Number 16004209, no ISBN