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Railroad Bill

January 01, 1970

Morris Slater (died March 7, 1896) was an African American, notable for his dramatic escapes from the law in the style of Robin Hood. He acquired the name Railroad Bill. Although there was a price on his head for some years, he evaded capture through ingenuity and exceptional athletic abilities. He was eventually shot dead in an ambush at a store he was known to visit. Slater is celebrated in the folk-ballad Railroad Bill, which has been recorded by numerous artists, including Lonnie Donegan, Taj Mahal, Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, Andrew Bird, Roger McGuinn, Doc Watson, and Dave Alvin.

Railroad Bill
Headstone on Railroad Bill's grave in St. John's Cemetery, Pensacola, Florida.
Born
Morris Slater
Died(1896-03-07)March 7, 1896
Atmore, Alabama
Burial placePensacola, Florida
Years active1895–1896

Early life edit

Little is known about the personal life of the individual who became notorious as Railroad Bill.[1] His true name, location of his birth, and details of his family have been debated since his criminal career ended in 1896.[2] What is known is that he once traveled with a circus and learned showmanship and the skills of a performer.[3] He joined a turpentine company in South Carolina and continued with the firm when it moved to Baldwin County, Alabama, and Bluff Springs, Florida.[4] In the turpentine camps he was known as Morris Slater—a profoundly athletic, "top notch" laborer and affable individual.[3][5]

Trouble with the law edit

Slater became an antagonist of the Louisville and Nashville Railroad after a brakeman found him stealing a ride to Mobile, Alabama, and threw him off the moving train. In turn, the turpentine worker fired his rifle at the brakeman.[6] That altercation led Slater into a personal vendetta against the company, in which he would wound several trainmen, commandeer a train and force it out of the station, and threaten the life of James I. McKinnie, Superintendent of L&N's Mobile and Montgomery Division.[7][8][9] The company responded by dispatching detectives to investigate the offender and offering a $350 reward for his capture.[10] Not knowing Slater's name, detectives simply called him Railroad Bill, which was the alias of another L&N antagonist who lived in Mobile.[11] Slater embraced the moniker, and it became the name reporters typically used in writing hundreds of newspaper articles about his criminal activities.

Slater also became a wanted man in Florida after a deputy sheriff attempted to arrest him for carrying a repeating rifle without a permit as required by the state. The arrest attempt turned into a gunfight in which the turpentine worker armed with a rifle wounded the deputy armed with a shotgun.[12][13] Slater quit the turpentine business and organized a freight-car gang to steal merchandise from L&N trains operating in southwestern Alabama.[14] Their modus operandi was to place a man inside a box car at night just before the train left a station and when it was underway the man would throw cargo from the car onto the track to be retrieved by other members of the gang.[14][12] Legend states that the plunder was given to the poor, but evidence suggests most of it was sold to company stores associated with turpentine camps.[15]

Gunfight at Hurricane Bayou edit

On March 6, 1895, the crew of a freight train found Railroad Bill asleep behind a water tank near Hurricane Bayou, west of Bay Minette, Alabama, and took his rifle and pistol before awakening him. To their surprise he jumped to his feet, ran about a hundred yards, and pulled another revolver and engaged them in a gunfight. He forced the trainmen to seek refuge in a section house where they were reinforced by a bridge crew and armed themselves with shotguns. The trainmen advanced on the outlaw, but just at that time a second train pulled up to the tank. Railroad Bill sprang into the cab and forced the engineer to drive it out of the station. As the locomotive passed the section house, the wounded desperado fired on his adversaries who could not return fire for fear of hitting the engineer. When the train was several hundred yards away, Railroad Bill brazenly got off and preceded back to again engage the men in a gunfight. The gunfight lasted until Railroad Bill ran out of ammunition and escaped into the swamplands.[14][16]

Death of James Stewart edit

On the night of April 6, 1895, Railroad Bill engaged two men in a gunfight on a rural road near Bay Minette, Alabama. Both men escaped to town and alerted an L&N detective. The detective organized a posse that pursued the desperado for several miles before surrounding him in a barn around midnight. In the gunfight that ensued, Deputy Sherriff James Stewart, a member of the posse, was killed,[17] and Railroad Bill escaped.[18]

Rewards offered for the desperado increased to $500, dead or alive.[19] Sheriff Edward S. McMillan of Escambia County, Alabama led the state's effort to apprehend him. He was familiar with the desperado and made a public promise to capture him. In turn, Railroad Bill replied in a note, "I wish you hadn’t made that statement because I love you, Mr. Ed, and I don’t want to kill you."[20]

Death of Mark Stinson edit

To assist in locating the fugitive, Superintendent McKinnie recruited Mark Stinson, a confidant of the outlaw, to serve as an undercover agent and provide information on the desperado's whereabouts.[9] Using information from Stinson, a posse followed Railroad Bill's trail to Pollard, Alabama, on April 12, 1895. But before an attempt was made to apprehend him, Railroad Bill robbed the Pollard armory of rifles and ammunition and fled.[21][22] He also made arrangements to rendezvous with Stinson a few nights later at a remote cabin by a railroad track in Mount Vernon, Alabama. With that knowledge, a posse of railroad detectives assaulted the cabin on the night of the rendezvous, mistook Stinson for Railroad Bill, and killed him. Railroad Bill had learned of the plan and had avoided the attack.[23]

Death of Sheriff McMillan edit

In July 1895, Sheriff McMillan at Brewton, Alabama, learned that Railroad Bill was in Bluff Springs, Florida. The Alabama sheriff, who had also been deputized as an officer of the law in Florida, formed a posse and crossed the state line to capture the desperado on the night of July 3. But as the sheriff and his posse approached Railroad Bill's hideout, they were surprised by the desperado who ambushed the sheriff and had a gunfight with the posse before escaping.[24] McMillan was killed July 3, 1895.[13]

New rewards were offered after McMillan's death, raising the total offered for his capture to $1,250.[25] It was sufficient to attract bounty hunters, law officers, railroad detectives, and Pinkerton agents from as far away as Chicago.[26] The cagy desperado, nevertheless, could not be found.

Castleberry chase edit

Railroad Bill's trail was located in Escambia County, Alabama on July 29, 1895, and a posse followed it into the swamplands of Murder Creek, between Brewton and Castleberry, Alabama.[27] For five days the posse, which swelled in number to nearly a hundred men, sought the outlaw's capture.[28][29] In one incident he exchanged shots with one member of the posse before escaping; in another he got the drop on two posse members before escaping; and in another he killed one of the bloodhounds and escaped.[30]

Emerging lore edit

Railroad Bill's growing legacy of miraculous escapes, which would ultimately number about seventeen, led to a profusion of tongue-in-cheek stories by African Americans taunting the failure of authorities to hem in the nationally-famous desperado.[31] The general theme of their stories was that he could change at will into an animal or an inanimate object to avoid capture.[32] There also emerged an African American folk ballad in 1895 that celebrated his exploits.[33] Titled "Railroad Bill," the ballad has been sung ever since by an inordinate number of musicians employing varying lyrics but always with a bad-man theme.[34] It also became popular in Europe and Australia after Lonnie Donegan, the "King of Skiffle," produced an eminently popular rendition in the 1950s. His version of "Railroad Bill" influenced a generation of young British artists, including The Beatles.[35]

Death of Railroad Bill edit

 
Historic marker placed by the Alabama Folklife Association near the site of Railroad Bill's death in Atmore, Alabama.

On March 7, 1896, Railroad Bill was cornered and killed inside a general store in Atmore, Alabama. Knowing he would come to the store around closing time, the proprietor staged an ambush by positioning two men with weapons hidden from view. The plan was to wait for the proprietor to give a predetermined signal before they opened fire on the desperado. Their scheme was interrupted by a two-man posse that was also hunting the fugitive. One posse member entered the store about the same time as Railroad Bill and waited for the second posse member, Atmore Constable Leonard McGowin, to arrive. When McGowin entered a few minutes later, he saw the desperado seated in front and with his back to him talking with the proprietor. Although no signal to commence firing was given, the constable raised his rifle and fired twice at point-blank range into the desperado. As Railroad Bill rose to his feet and reached for one of his two revolvers he was shot multiple times again by the deputy and two others inside the store. Railroad Bill, veteran of numerous gunfights, staggered forward a few steps before falling dead on the floor.[36] However, according to a correction based on an interview with James Sellars (Robertsdale, Alabama), grandson of Sears Sellars who was an eyewitness to the killing, it was Dick Johns (bounty hunter from Texas) who ambushed Railroad Bill in the store near Atmore. J.L. McGowan was in the "railroad head" working as a telegraph operator when the shooting occurred and ran over to see what happened. Recorded on tape at age 94, Sears said that McGowan telegraphed authorities and collected the reward money, then posed for pictures and charged a fee for his photo with the outlaw's dead body. Sears' son Josh was mayor of Robertsdale, Ala., for 28 years.

Disposition of the body edit

The body of Railroad Bill was embalmed and transported by officers to Montgomery, Alabama, for official identification that would qualify the payment of reward money. There was a great demand in the city to see the body, leading the officers to place it on display for a price, charging twenty-five cents per customer. City authorities condemned the practice, and the body was taken to Pensacola, Florida for official identification to receive the reward offered by the state. It was again placed on public display at a price, and again city authorities ordered the practice to cease. The body was transported to Mobile, but on arrival the officers were met with an order from the mayor prohibiting the display of the body for commercial gain. It was taken to Birmingham, Alabama, to be "petrified" by a process that would allow it to be placed on permanent display—a practice of carnivals and freak shows at the turn of the century. However, it was not again placed on public display. Instead, it was transported back to Pensacola on March 30, 1896, and given a Christian interment in the African American section of St. John's Cemetery. The ceremony was attended by the mayor and various dignitaries of the city. The location of the grave, however, was unmarked and became lost until rediscovered in 2012 using original interment records. A headstone was then placed on the grave to mark the last resting place of this American desperado.[37]

See also edit

References edit

  1. ^ Penick 1994, p. 85
  2. ^ Massey 2015, p. 19-21
  3. ^ a b "Additional Reward Offered - "Railroad" Will Be Captured Dead Or Alive". The Montgomery Advertiser. Montgomery, AL. April 10, 1895. p. 7.
  4. ^ ""Railroad" Again Responsible". The Montgomery Advertiser. Montgomery, AL. July 10, 1895. p. 10.
  5. ^ Philadelphia Times, July 15, 1895.
  6. ^ "Railroad Bill". The Times. Philadelphia, PA. July 15, 1895. p. 6.
  7. ^ Massey 2015, p. 43-45
  8. ^ New Orleans (LA) Daily Picayune, October 29, 1894
  9. ^ a b "Railroad Bill Dead". The Montgomery Advertiser. Montgomery, AL. March 8, 1896. p. 9.
  10. ^ Atlanta (GA) Constitution, April 11, 1895
  11. ^ Massey 2015, p. 18-19
  12. ^ a b "Many Remember Early Outlaws of This Section". The Atmore Advance. Atmore, AL. December 3, 1931.
  13. ^ a b "Sheriff Ed S. McMillan". The Officer Down Memorial Page (ODMP). July 3, 2020.
  14. ^ a b c "A Gang Of Train Robbers". The Montgomery Advertiser. Montgomery, AL. March 7, 1895. p. 7.
  15. ^ McMillan 1927
  16. ^ Massey 2015, p. 47-9
  17. ^ "Deputy Sheriff James R. Stewart". The Officer Down Memorial Page (ODMP). July 3, 2020.
  18. ^ Mobile (AL) Daily Register, April 7, April 9, 1895.
  19. ^ Atlanta (GA) Constitution, April 11, 1895.
  20. ^ Scribner 1949, p. 10
  21. ^ Atlanta (GA) Constitution, April 19, 1895
  22. ^ Montgomery (AL) Daily Advertiser, April 18, 1895.
  23. ^ Massey 2015, p. 58-71
  24. ^ Massey 2015, p. 79-89
  25. ^ Andalusia (AL) Covington Times, July 12, 1895.
  26. ^ Pensacola (FL) Daily News, July 13, 1895.
  27. ^ Mobile (AL) Daily Register, July 31, 1895.
  28. ^ Montgomery (AL) Daily Advertiser, August 4, 1895
  29. ^ Mobile (AL) Daily Register, August 4, 1895.
  30. ^ Massey 2015, p. 104-114
  31. ^ Massey 2015, p. 153-156
  32. ^ Potter
  33. ^ Atlanta (GA) Constitution, August 18, 1895.
  34. ^ Odum 1911, p. 289
  35. ^ "The birth of the Beatles". Liverpool Echo. Liverpool, England. July 5, 2007.
  36. ^ Massey 2015, p. 134-141
  37. ^ Massey 2015, p. 144-151

Bibliography edit

McMillan, Edward Leigh (October 12, 1927). "Gordon MS 3442". Letter to R. W. Gordon. Robert W. Gordon Manuscript Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. Massey, Larry (2015). Life and Crimes of Railroad Bill: Legendary African American Desperado. University Press of Florida. ISBN 978-0-8130-6120-7.

Odum, Howard W. (July–September 1911). "Folk-Song and Folk-Poetry as Found in the Secular Songs of the Southern Negroes". Journal of American Folk-Lore. 24 (93): 255–294. doi:10.2307/534456. JSTOR 534456.

Penick, James (Fall 1994). "Railroad Bill". Gulf Coast Historical Review. 10 (1): 85–92.

Potter, Henderson A. A Brief History of Escambia County, Alabama.

Scribner, R. L. (1949). "A Short History of Brewton, Alabama". Alabama Historical Quarterly. 11 (1–4): 73–79.

External links edit

  • Picture of Constable McGowan and body of Railroad Bill 1896

January 01, 1970
railroad, bill, morris, slater, died, march, 1896, african, american, notable, dramatic, escapes, from, style, robin, hood, acquired, name, although, there, price, head, some, years, evaded, capture, through, ingenuity, exceptional, athletic, abilities, eventu. Morris Slater died March 7 1896 was an African American notable for his dramatic escapes from the law in the style of Robin Hood He acquired the name Railroad Bill Although there was a price on his head for some years he evaded capture through ingenuity and exceptional athletic abilities He was eventually shot dead in an ambush at a store he was known to visit Slater is celebrated in the folk ballad Railroad Bill which has been recorded by numerous artists including Lonnie Donegan Taj Mahal Bob Dylan Joan Baez Andrew Bird Roger McGuinn Doc Watson and Dave Alvin Railroad BillHeadstone on Railroad Bill s grave in St John s Cemetery Pensacola Florida BornMorris SlaterDied 1896 03 07 March 7 1896Atmore AlabamaBurial placePensacola FloridaYears active1895 1896 Contents 1 Early life 2 Trouble with the law 3 Gunfight at Hurricane Bayou 4 Death of James Stewart 5 Death of Mark Stinson 6 Death of Sheriff McMillan 7 Castleberry chase 8 Emerging lore 9 Death of Railroad Bill 10 Disposition of the body 11 See also 12 References 13 Bibliography 14 External linksEarly life editLittle is known about the personal life of the individual who became notorious as Railroad Bill 1 His true name location of his birth and details of his family have been debated since his criminal career ended in 1896 2 What is known is that he once traveled with a circus and learned showmanship and the skills of a performer 3 He joined a turpentine company in South Carolina and continued with the firm when it moved to Baldwin County Alabama and Bluff Springs Florida 4 In the turpentine camps he was known as Morris Slater a profoundly athletic top notch laborer and affable individual 3 5 Trouble with the law editSlater became an antagonist of the Louisville and Nashville Railroad after a brakeman found him stealing a ride to Mobile Alabama and threw him off the moving train In turn the turpentine worker fired his rifle at the brakeman 6 That altercation led Slater into a personal vendetta against the company in which he would wound several trainmen commandeer a train and force it out of the station and threaten the life of James I McKinnie Superintendent of L amp N s Mobile and Montgomery Division 7 8 9 The company responded by dispatching detectives to investigate the offender and offering a 350 reward for his capture 10 Not knowing Slater s name detectives simply called him Railroad Bill which was the alias of another L amp N antagonist who lived in Mobile 11 Slater embraced the moniker and it became the name reporters typically used in writing hundreds of newspaper articles about his criminal activities Slater also became a wanted man in Florida after a deputy sheriff attempted to arrest him for carrying a repeating rifle without a permit as required by the state The arrest attempt turned into a gunfight in which the turpentine worker armed with a rifle wounded the deputy armed with a shotgun 12 13 Slater quit the turpentine business and organized a freight car gang to steal merchandise from L amp N trains operating in southwestern Alabama 14 Their modus operandi was to place a man inside a box car at night just before the train left a station and when it was underway the man would throw cargo from the car onto the track to be retrieved by other members of the gang 14 12 Legend states that the plunder was given to the poor but evidence suggests most of it was sold to company stores associated with turpentine camps 15 Gunfight at Hurricane Bayou editOn March 6 1895 the crew of a freight train found Railroad Bill asleep behind a water tank near Hurricane Bayou west of Bay Minette Alabama and took his rifle and pistol before awakening him To their surprise he jumped to his feet ran about a hundred yards and pulled another revolver and engaged them in a gunfight He forced the trainmen to seek refuge in a section house where they were reinforced by a bridge crew and armed themselves with shotguns The trainmen advanced on the outlaw but just at that time a second train pulled up to the tank Railroad Bill sprang into the cab and forced the engineer to drive it out of the station As the locomotive passed the section house the wounded desperado fired on his adversaries who could not return fire for fear of hitting the engineer When the train was several hundred yards away Railroad Bill brazenly got off and preceded back to again engage the men in a gunfight The gunfight lasted until Railroad Bill ran out of ammunition and escaped into the swamplands 14 16 Death of James Stewart editOn the night of April 6 1895 Railroad Bill engaged two men in a gunfight on a rural road near Bay Minette Alabama Both men escaped to town and alerted an L amp N detective The detective organized a posse that pursued the desperado for several miles before surrounding him in a barn around midnight In the gunfight that ensued Deputy Sherriff James Stewart a member of the posse was killed 17 and Railroad Bill escaped 18 Rewards offered for the desperado increased to 500 dead or alive 19 Sheriff Edward S McMillan of Escambia County Alabama led the state s effort to apprehend him He was familiar with the desperado and made a public promise to capture him In turn Railroad Bill replied in a note I wish you hadn t made that statement because I love you Mr Ed and I don t want to kill you 20 Death of Mark Stinson editTo assist in locating the fugitive Superintendent McKinnie recruited Mark Stinson a confidant of the outlaw to serve as an undercover agent and provide information on the desperado s whereabouts 9 Using information from Stinson a posse followed Railroad Bill s trail to Pollard Alabama on April 12 1895 But before an attempt was made to apprehend him Railroad Bill robbed the Pollard armory of rifles and ammunition and fled 21 22 He also made arrangements to rendezvous with Stinson a few nights later at a remote cabin by a railroad track in Mount Vernon Alabama With that knowledge a posse of railroad detectives assaulted the cabin on the night of the rendezvous mistook Stinson for Railroad Bill and killed him Railroad Bill had learned of the plan and had avoided the attack 23 Death of Sheriff McMillan editIn July 1895 Sheriff McMillan at Brewton Alabama learned that Railroad Bill was in Bluff Springs Florida The Alabama sheriff who had also been deputized as an officer of the law in Florida formed a posse and crossed the state line to capture the desperado on the night of July 3 But as the sheriff and his posse approached Railroad Bill s hideout they were surprised by the desperado who ambushed the sheriff and had a gunfight with the posse before escaping 24 McMillan was killed July 3 1895 13 New rewards were offered after McMillan s death raising the total offered for his capture to 1 250 25 It was sufficient to attract bounty hunters law officers railroad detectives and Pinkerton agents from as far away as Chicago 26 The cagy desperado nevertheless could not be found Castleberry chase editRailroad Bill s trail was located in Escambia County Alabama on July 29 1895 and a posse followed it into the swamplands of Murder Creek between Brewton and Castleberry Alabama 27 For five days the posse which swelled in number to nearly a hundred men sought the outlaw s capture 28 29 In one incident he exchanged shots with one member of the posse before escaping in another he got the drop on two posse members before escaping and in another he killed one of the bloodhounds and escaped 30 Emerging lore editRailroad Bill s growing legacy of miraculous escapes which would ultimately number about seventeen led to a profusion of tongue in cheek stories by African Americans taunting the failure of authorities to hem in the nationally famous desperado 31 The general theme of their stories was that he could change at will into an animal or an inanimate object to avoid capture 32 There also emerged an African American folk ballad in 1895 that celebrated his exploits 33 Titled Railroad Bill the ballad has been sung ever since by an inordinate number of musicians employing varying lyrics but always with a bad man theme 34 It also became popular in Europe and Australia after Lonnie Donegan the King of Skiffle produced an eminently popular rendition in the 1950s His version of Railroad Bill influenced a generation of young British artists including The Beatles 35 Death of Railroad Bill edit nbsp Historic marker placed by the Alabama Folklife Association near the site of Railroad Bill s death in Atmore Alabama On March 7 1896 Railroad Bill was cornered and killed inside a general store in Atmore Alabama Knowing he would come to the store around closing time the proprietor staged an ambush by positioning two men with weapons hidden from view The plan was to wait for the proprietor to give a predetermined signal before they opened fire on the desperado Their scheme was interrupted by a two man posse that was also hunting the fugitive One posse member entered the store about the same time as Railroad Bill and waited for the second posse member Atmore Constable Leonard McGowin to arrive When McGowin entered a few minutes later he saw the desperado seated in front and with his back to him talking with the proprietor Although no signal to commence firing was given the constable raised his rifle and fired twice at point blank range into the desperado As Railroad Bill rose to his feet and reached for one of his two revolvers he was shot multiple times again by the deputy and two others inside the store Railroad Bill veteran of numerous gunfights staggered forward a few steps before falling dead on the floor 36 However according to a correction based on an interview with James Sellars Robertsdale Alabama grandson of Sears Sellars who was an eyewitness to the killing it was Dick Johns bounty hunter from Texas who ambushed Railroad Bill in the store near Atmore J L McGowan was in the railroad head working as a telegraph operator when the shooting occurred and ran over to see what happened Recorded on tape at age 94 Sears said that McGowan telegraphed authorities and collected the reward money then posed for pictures and charged a fee for his photo with the outlaw s dead body Sears son Josh was mayor of Robertsdale Ala for 28 years Disposition of the body editThe body of Railroad Bill was embalmed and transported by officers to Montgomery Alabama for official identification that would qualify the payment of reward money There was a great demand in the city to see the body leading the officers to place it on display for a price charging twenty five cents per customer City authorities condemned the practice and the body was taken to Pensacola Florida for official identification to receive the reward offered by the state It was again placed on public display at a price and again city authorities ordered the practice to cease The body was transported to Mobile but on arrival the officers were met with an order from the mayor prohibiting the display of the body for commercial gain It was taken to Birmingham Alabama to be petrified by a process that would allow it to be placed on permanent display a practice of carnivals and freak shows at the turn of the century However it was not again placed on public display Instead it was transported back to Pensacola on March 30 1896 and given a Christian interment in the African American section of St John s Cemetery The ceremony was attended by the mayor and various dignitaries of the city The location of the grave however was unmarked and became lost until rediscovered in 2012 using original interment records A headstone was then placed on the grave to mark the last resting place of this American desperado 37 See also editList of train songs Harmon MurrayReferences edit Penick 1994 p 85 Massey 2015 p 19 21 a b Additional Reward Offered Railroad Will Be Captured Dead Or Alive The Montgomery Advertiser Montgomery AL April 10 1895 p 7 Railroad Again Responsible The Montgomery Advertiser Montgomery AL July 10 1895 p 10 Philadelphia Times July 15 1895 Railroad Bill The Times Philadelphia PA July 15 1895 p 6 Massey 2015 p 43 45 New Orleans LA Daily Picayune October 29 1894 a b Railroad Bill Dead The Montgomery Advertiser Montgomery AL March 8 1896 p 9 Atlanta GA Constitution April 11 1895 Massey 2015 p 18 19 a b Many Remember Early Outlaws of This Section The Atmore Advance Atmore AL December 3 1931 a b Sheriff Ed S McMillan The Officer Down Memorial Page ODMP July 3 2020 a b c A Gang Of Train Robbers The Montgomery Advertiser Montgomery AL March 7 1895 p 7 McMillan 1927 Massey 2015 p 47 9 Deputy Sheriff James R Stewart The Officer Down Memorial Page ODMP July 3 2020 Mobile AL Daily Register April 7 April 9 1895 Atlanta GA Constitution April 11 1895 Scribner 1949 p 10 Atlanta GA Constitution April 19 1895 Montgomery AL Daily Advertiser April 18 1895 Massey 2015 p 58 71 Massey 2015 p 79 89 Andalusia AL Covington Times July 12 1895 Pensacola FL Daily News July 13 1895 Mobile AL Daily Register July 31 1895 Montgomery AL Daily Advertiser August 4 1895 Mobile AL Daily Register August 4 1895 Massey 2015 p 104 114 Massey 2015 p 153 156 Potter Atlanta GA Constitution August 18 1895 Odum 1911 p 289 The birth of the Beatles Liverpool Echo Liverpool England July 5 2007 Massey 2015 p 134 141 Massey 2015 p 144 151Bibliography editMcMillan Edward Leigh October 12 1927 Gordon MS 3442 Letter to R W Gordon Robert W Gordon Manuscript Collection American Folklife Center Library of Congress Washington D C Massey Larry 2015 Life and Crimes of Railroad Bill Legendary African American Desperado University Press of Florida ISBN 978 0 8130 6120 7 Odum Howard W July September 1911 Folk Song and Folk Poetry as Found in the Secular Songs of the Southern Negroes Journal of American Folk Lore 24 93 255 294 doi 10 2307 534456 JSTOR 534456 Penick James Fall 1994 Railroad Bill Gulf Coast Historical Review 10 1 85 92 Potter Henderson A A Brief History of Escambia County Alabama Scribner R L 1949 A Short History of Brewton Alabama Alabama Historical Quarterly 11 1 4 73 79 External links editPicture of Constable McGowan and body of Railroad Bill 1896 Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Railroad Bill amp oldid 1194113329, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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