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Anonymous
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<img src="http://www.boomspeed.com/cleotus/rubeburrow.jpg" align="left" vspace="1"hspace="3"/>Rube Burrow was an outlaw in this area, at least near the end of his outlaw days, and the stories told about him rival those told of Jesse James. His niece, Mrs Trudy Burrow Blake, was my brother in laws mother. She was proud to be his kin and told me many stories about Rube and his exploits. Rube was born in Lamar County Alabama, about 30 miles from where I now live, but in the early 1870's when he was in his teens he and his brother Jim ran away to Texas and became cowboys.
For several years they were honest, hard working cowboys but grew tired of menial labor and turned to an easier way to make a living. Along with two cowboy friends they became train robbers. Their first train heist was at Bellevue, Texas in late 1886. They only got $300 but a couple of weeks later they robbed another train at Ben Brooks, Texas and hit it big. They got $4,000, more money than two poor Alabama country boys could even imagine. Rube became the leader of the gang and for the next four years they robbed train after train. It was widely said that he robbed so many Texas & Pacific Trains that an engineer on one of them is said to have once asked him where he wanted him to stop this time and Rube told him the same place as usual.
Rube's standard operating procedure was to climb on the engine as it was leaving a station, most of the time at night, and force the engineer to stop the train on a trestle leaving the baggage car still on solid ground. It worked well but after three years the law was so hot on his trail that he returned to Alabama. His exploits were well known in Alabama also, the law had been notified he was on the way there and that meant he had to hide out, which he did successfully for awhile. One of his cousins lived a about 5 miles northwest of here, in the community I grew up in. A cave where Rube occasionally hid was less than a half mile from our house, I was in it several times when I was a kid. Rumor was he hid money there but if so it was found long before I was born.
There was a train down in south Mississippi that had steel coaches and express cars. It was said to be so robbery proof that even Rube couldn't rob it. One of the newspapers had an article about the train and published a challenge to Rube to try and rob it. Rube accepted the challenge and he and his gang boarded the train at Buckatunna, Mississippi in late 1889. They escaped with over $3,000 from the mail and express cars. He then tried to rob a train here in Amory, but one of his gang made a deal with the law and they were waiting on him. He stopped the train just west of town, on the trestle over the Tombigbee River, but was captured and put in jail. That didn't last long, Rube escaped in less than a week and went back to Alabama.
Rube robbed another train but the law was so hot on his trail he hid out most of the time. He was captured by Jesse Hildreth, Frank Marshall, John McDuffie and Jeff Carter at a log cabin hideout in Marengo County in December of 1890 and put in jail in Linden, Alabama. Carter took all the money Rube had on him when he was captured. Rube told him he would be after his money shortly as they were locking him up.
There was an around the clock guard on Rube but in less than a week he escaped. He locked two guards in his cell and took one as a hostage. Jeff Carter happened to be in a store in Linden when Rube escaped, somehow Rube knew of Carter being there and went looking for him. They had a shootout, Carter was wounded but Rube was killed, his outlaw days were over.
Rube was, like Jesse James, considered to be somewhat of a Robin Hood. He was looked up to as a hero by most of the locals and there was always someone willing to hide him out or help him. Many stories were told of him helping poor folks, or orphans and widows. One story parallels the story about Jesse and Frank James giving money to a widow to pay off a loan to a banker. In Rube's story, he stopped to ask for food and while he ate the widow told of a $700 mortgage on her property that was past due. The banker was coming any minute to foreclose. After giving the widow enough money to pay the mortgage Rube left, telling her to be sure and get a receipt. Rube then waited in the nearby woods for the banker and robbed him when he left the widow's house. All the stories are hogwash but were widely accepted as true and repeated endlessly, even when I was a kid 60 years after Rube was killed.
JB
For several years they were honest, hard working cowboys but grew tired of menial labor and turned to an easier way to make a living. Along with two cowboy friends they became train robbers. Their first train heist was at Bellevue, Texas in late 1886. They only got $300 but a couple of weeks later they robbed another train at Ben Brooks, Texas and hit it big. They got $4,000, more money than two poor Alabama country boys could even imagine. Rube became the leader of the gang and for the next four years they robbed train after train. It was widely said that he robbed so many Texas & Pacific Trains that an engineer on one of them is said to have once asked him where he wanted him to stop this time and Rube told him the same place as usual.
Rube's standard operating procedure was to climb on the engine as it was leaving a station, most of the time at night, and force the engineer to stop the train on a trestle leaving the baggage car still on solid ground. It worked well but after three years the law was so hot on his trail that he returned to Alabama. His exploits were well known in Alabama also, the law had been notified he was on the way there and that meant he had to hide out, which he did successfully for awhile. One of his cousins lived a about 5 miles northwest of here, in the community I grew up in. A cave where Rube occasionally hid was less than a half mile from our house, I was in it several times when I was a kid. Rumor was he hid money there but if so it was found long before I was born.
There was a train down in south Mississippi that had steel coaches and express cars. It was said to be so robbery proof that even Rube couldn't rob it. One of the newspapers had an article about the train and published a challenge to Rube to try and rob it. Rube accepted the challenge and he and his gang boarded the train at Buckatunna, Mississippi in late 1889. They escaped with over $3,000 from the mail and express cars. He then tried to rob a train here in Amory, but one of his gang made a deal with the law and they were waiting on him. He stopped the train just west of town, on the trestle over the Tombigbee River, but was captured and put in jail. That didn't last long, Rube escaped in less than a week and went back to Alabama.
Rube robbed another train but the law was so hot on his trail he hid out most of the time. He was captured by Jesse Hildreth, Frank Marshall, John McDuffie and Jeff Carter at a log cabin hideout in Marengo County in December of 1890 and put in jail in Linden, Alabama. Carter took all the money Rube had on him when he was captured. Rube told him he would be after his money shortly as they were locking him up.
There was an around the clock guard on Rube but in less than a week he escaped. He locked two guards in his cell and took one as a hostage. Jeff Carter happened to be in a store in Linden when Rube escaped, somehow Rube knew of Carter being there and went looking for him. They had a shootout, Carter was wounded but Rube was killed, his outlaw days were over.
Rube was, like Jesse James, considered to be somewhat of a Robin Hood. He was looked up to as a hero by most of the locals and there was always someone willing to hide him out or help him. Many stories were told of him helping poor folks, or orphans and widows. One story parallels the story about Jesse and Frank James giving money to a widow to pay off a loan to a banker. In Rube's story, he stopped to ask for food and while he ate the widow told of a $700 mortgage on her property that was past due. The banker was coming any minute to foreclose. After giving the widow enough money to pay the mortgage Rube left, telling her to be sure and get a receipt. Rube then waited in the nearby woods for the banker and robbed him when he left the widow's house. All the stories are hogwash but were widely accepted as true and repeated endlessly, even when I was a kid 60 years after Rube was killed.
JB
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