CHAPTER IX.
JIM BURROW ARRAIGNED—TRIAL POSTPONED—HIS RETURN
TO LITTLE ROCK PRISON—LETTERS HOME—HIS
DEATH IN PRISON.
Meanwhile Jim Burrow, at his preliminary examination at Texarkana, soon after his capture, admitted his guilt when confronted with the confession of Wm. Brock and the strong chain of circumstantial evidence that had been woven about him. But while ruminating in the penitentiary, during the interval preceding the fall term of the Miller County Circuit Court, he had evidently reconsidered his original purpose and determined on making a defense and risking the chances of a jury trial. Consequently, on September 10, 1888, the day succeeding the failure of Rube and Joe Jackson to effect his rescue at Arkadelphia, his case was called for trial at Texarkana, on the charge of robbery of the express car at Genoa, Ark. His attorney filed an application for a continuance, on account of the absence of witnesses in Alabama, by whom he alleged he could prove an alibi, and his case was thereupon continued, and he was returned to the state-prison at Little Rock, pending the spring term of the Court. Two days after his return there he wrote to J. A. Cash and his wife the following letters:
Sept. 14, 1888.
Mr. J. A. Cash:
I am not well but not very sick. I have put off my trial. you Send $20.00 to my lawyers if you get the order from them. tell Elizabeth and the children that I would like to see them. James you have all the money on hand by the 1st of Oct. that you can. I will send one of my lawyers back there on the 15th of November, he is about such a lawyer as Frank Summers. You was speaking about furnishing me a lawyer from that county. When my lawyer comes back to you send him to Summers, he will take the case. don’t any of you come out until I write for you to come—they got three bills against me for train robbery, and the other two for attempt to murder. I think I will come clear. You collect in my money as fast as you can.
J. B. Burrow.
Mrs. M. E. Burrow:
As I feel better this morning than I did yesterday I will write you a few lines. Elizabeth you all rest easy about me for I think I will best my case—my trial is set to come up the first Tuesday in March. You have $200.00 on hand by the 15th of November to pay my Lawyers with. One of them is a better lawyer than Frank Summers is. So if you could employ Summers to help them in my case it would be an advantage to me to have counsel from my own state. Tell pa that I will answer his letter soon. Tell the children that I will see them again. Brock’s trial was put off so he could be a witness against me. Write all of the news.
J. B. Burrow to Mrs. Burrow.
But Jim, not being a convict and therefore not required to labor, soon began to chafe under the restraint of prison life, which was aggravated by a depressing attack of nostalgia, which soon developed a fever, resulting in delirium. During his ravings, which were continuous for about a week, he talked about his wife and children, his home in Alabama, the stolen money he had hidden, his boyhood adventures and his experiences in Texas, but his statements were so incoherently mingled that it was impossible to make an intelligent narration of them. On October 5, 1888, his earthly career was terminated by death, and his unhonored grave is surrounded by those of such hapless fellows as have succumbed to the rigors of prison experience, leaving their bodies with their captors, while their spirits have slipped through the bars and gone for final trial before the Last Tribunal.