by Bill Bowers
The Big Search
The first authentic legal scrape involving the boys was in September, 1848. Allen Abbey had a country dance at Brookfield. Grove and Wash got a crowd of hop pickers together and drove over. The wagon body was filled with clubs. They entered the ballroom without tickets, insisting on dancing, and wound up in a bloody fight. Several heads were broken, and Abbey was nearly killed. Wash was indicted for an assault with intent to kill, and brought before James W. Nye, then County Judge and afterward United States Senator from Nevada. Nye admitted him to bail and repeatedly postponed the trial. Soon afterward old Dan Douglas, of Sangerfield Center, had Wash indicted for stealing a saddle and bridle. Things became so hot that Wash was forced to skip his bail, and put for California.
What is known as “the Big Search” occurred in 1849. Burglaries were of nightly occurrence. Clothes lines were robbed, farmers lost their sheep and horses, and there was a multitude of petty thefts. The farmers became thoroughly aroused, and accused the Loomises of the thefts. A large crowd drove up to the house in sleighs and made a thorough search of the premises. They found a great store of goods, including log chains, umbrellas, whiffletrees, neck yokes, buffalo robes, and an almost inconceivable variety of articles. Square holes covered with boards, and filled with stolen goods, were discovered in a hay-mow. Much of the property was taken to Waterville and identified. A guard was left in the house, but were frightened by the brothers, who fastened them in a room, and spent the night burning and destroying the goods that remained. Some of the family were arrested, but conviction seemed impossible. While all were satisfied that they were a family of thieves, no one could identify the one who stole the goods. Tangible evidence against William was unearthed, and he served a short time in jail. All the others escaped.
Wash remained in California several years. At one time it was reported that he had been hanged by a vigilance committee. In his absence old Douglas died and Abbey froze to death, so that it was an impossibility to convict him on either indictment. He returned from California before the death of his father. His return is said to have been accelerated by the dispute with one Burns over some pasture land. There were high words.
“Are you fixed?” asked Burns.
“I am,” Wash replied.
“All set,” said Burns, “let’s go out and settle it.”
They drew their revolvers and went out. On the way Wash tried to settle the dispute by shooting Burns in the side. The wound was a slight one, but Wash’s treachery told upon the community. They gave chase with a rope. He escaped into a canyon and was followed by a friend on horseback. Wash rode the pony over two hundred miles pursued by Burn’s comrades. It is even asserted that they tracked him to New York.
The old man Loomis died February 26th, 1851, aged 71 years, and the boys were left to their own resources.
[Their escapades and the high numbers of animals they had stolen, secreted, and traded away over the decades led the Loomis Gang to at various times to be in possession of horses of some local repute: one known as the California mare, another called Flying Cloud, and another by the name of the Wygart Mare, the latter one named for the family whose farm from which she was apparently stolen.]
The constable who gave the gang the most trouble, and finally destroyed the [sic] was James L. Filkins, a blacksmith [who stated that he remembered] that Bill Loomis was arrested on the charge of passing a counterfeit bill on a peddler. The peddler swore positively to both bills, but through some hocus pocus, engineered by Wash, Bill escaped. Wash was a genius. He would train a witness in manufactured evidence until he actually made him believe that he was telling the truth.
Robbery on the Highway
In June, 1858, so many sheep were stolen from the farmers that they organized a party, and began to follow the clues that led to the Loomis farm. The Loomis boys became alarmed. They joined the farmers, saying that they also had lost sheep, and had trailed a drove to the farm of Jeremiah Clark, in the town of Hamilton. The party went to Clark’s place and found many of the missing sheep. The Loomises gathered the sheep which they claimed, and drove them off, after a severe fight with Clark, who told the farmers that the boys had sold him the whole flock. Clark charged Wash, Grove and Plumb with highway robbery, and they were indicted. The three men retaliated by putting Clark under arrest for stealing the sheep. They manipulated the law to suit themselves. The indictment for highway robbery was never tried but Clark was sent to State prison.
Filkins was one of the constables who served the warrants on the Loomises for arrest on this charge of highway robbery. It was his first service. With seven men he surrounded the house early in the morning. Plumb tried to reach the swamp through the tall grass, but Filkins outran him, jumped upon his back, and handcuffed him. This unusual treatment alarmed Plumb and he shouted murder. The constable threatened to brain him if he didn’t shut up, and Plumb said he was afraid of him. Long Sile Clark, one of the gang, for whose apprehension Constable Keith had a warrant, reached the swamp. Filkins said he counted fourteen different men in and around the house, all spruce young fellows. Plumb only was captured. They took him to Keith’s hotel in Brookfield.
He had not been there an hour before Grove rode up mounted on the California mare. A short club swung from his wrist, and he was armed with two revolvers. He demanded Plumb’s release. Keith stepped into the house, and Grove, after a moment’s hesitation, dashed away. He afterward said that he was afraid Keith had gone to saddle a famous horse that was more than a match in speed for the California mare. That night Plumb was put to bed on the upper floor, handcuffed to a special officer. In the morning the window was open and he was gone. He had slipped his handcuffs.
Scenes at the Loomis Mansion
In September following they were indicted. The bench warrants were sent to Filkins with letters from the Sheriff and District Attorney, urging immediate arrest, and charging him not to let the next slip through his fingers.
Filkins reached the house early in the morning with two men. It was snowing. He saw Wash, Grove and Plumb in the barnyard. They espied him, and were rushing for their horses. Grove mounted a trained horse without saddle or bridle, and put him through the woods over the face of the hill back of the house. Plumb got into the swamp, but Wash, unwittingly, ran into Filkins’ arms, and was taken to Morrisville, where he was quickly bailed.
On Nov. 15, 1858, Filkins made a third attempt to capture the game. He approached the mansion at 5 A.M. with nine men. The constable and one of his assistants were mounted. The dogs barked. In the first flush of morning they saw a vedette in the road. He turned his horse and fled. It was Plumb. Filkins gave chase, and shots were exchanged and the vedette was wounded. Plumb ran into a posse on foot, headed by Ephraim Conger, who had come up from the opposite direction. He turned short, and Conger fired at him. The shot broke the leg of the horse, and he fell to the ground. In an instant Plumb was on his feet and off for the swamp. They tracked him some distance through the snow, stained by his blood, but he made his escape. In the confusion Grove and others of the gang became alarmed and got away without trouble. Grove and Plumb then quit the country, and did not return until Clark was imprisoned and matters were satisfactorily arranged.
On their return Plumb wanted the Grand Jury to indict Filkins for an attempt at murder. When the work of the jury was done one of the jurymen said: “Filkins, we came very near indicting you for not killing Plumb.”
“The only apology I can make,” said Filkins, “is that it was so early in the morning that I could not see very well.”
About this time Grove was indicted for passing counterfeit money in Oneida County. The Loomis boys heard that District Attorney Munger carried in his pocketbook the twelve ten-dollar counterfeit bills which had been taken from Grove, and which were to be used as evidence against him. Before the trial the District Attorney was met on the street after midnight, and robbed of these bills. Without them the indictment co
uld not be sustained, and Grove escaped punishment.
The Loomises Punishing Filkins
Filkins was made a Deputy Sheriff in April, 1855. He made so many raids upon the gang that they determined to punish him. In May, 1860, they went to Higginsville, Oneida County, and got a warrant from Justice Samuel Marsh for the arrest of Filkins and party on a charge of assault and battery. It was claimed that the offense was committed while the officer was endeavoring to make an arrest at the Loomis house. Filkins stood in his shop when Denio rode up with a Madison County officer, a friend of the Loomises, and served the warrant. Denio and the officer wanted to iron Filkins, but the officer would not consent. They drove to a crossroad in North Brookfield, where they met Wash, Plumb and William. They had Filkins’ old posse in a wagon. The prisoners were shackled.
Filkins then had the Loomises indicted in Madison County for assault and battery. Judge Mason quashed all but one of the indictments, on the ground that Wash alone struck him when they dragged him from his house at night. The jury found Wash guilty and the Judge stultified the effect of their verdict by fining him $25.
Disgusted with this result, Filkins moved to Oneida County. His reputation had preceded him. He was nominated for constable by both parties, and despite the efforts of the Loomises elected by a large majority. He says he accepted the nomination on the promise of the people to stand by him in his efforts to uproot the gang.
At that time he says he could enumerate seventy persons in the town of Sangerfield alone who either affiliated with the Loomises, or stood ready to harbor or bail them. Many were land holders, and nearly all were of fair standing in the community. Filkins was elected March, 1862. When Plumb heard of it he swore that if Filkins ever came upon the premises to arrest him he’d shoot him.
A Beautiful Girl Murdered
Wash made money during the war by forcing the most worthless of the gang into the army and taking their bounty money. He knew their runways and scared them into enlistment by stories that Filkins was after them. In 1862 there was a sad tragedy in the Loomis mansion. In 1854 Wash had formed an intimacy with Anna Wright, a beautiful girl of German descent. She lived with him in the house and took an active part in the management of the farm. She was shot and killed by one Mott, a member of the gang. A coroner’s inquest proved that Mott was near the mantel cleaning the barrel of a gun. The stock had been removed, and the barrels were capped and loaded. As Anna was passing he dropped them in the fireplace. One of the barrels was discharged, and the shot entered the girl’s thigh, severing one of the arteries of the leg. She lingered several days, and died leaving Wash a son, who is still living and working as a farm laborer in Madison County. Filkins says that Mott entered the army soon afterwards, and told a comrade that Plumb and Denio promised him $50 to kill the girl, as they were jealous of her influence with Wash. They cheated him out of the money.
Plumb’s threats against Filkins led the latter to get out a peace warrant. The warrant was served with one held by Officer Beardslee. Plumb made an effort to escape but was caught by Albert Root, one of Beardslee’s posse, and now a dentist at Hamilton. He was taken to Waterville and promptly bailed. He then got out a warrant against young Root, charging him with drawing a revolver and threatening his life. He claimed that Root did not properly belong to the posse, and Beardslee, for some reason refused to swear that he did. Two trained witnesses swore in Plumb’s favor, and the law kept Root from the stand. Plumb, however, swore too much. He knew the revolver was loaded, for he could see the points of the bullets when it was pointed at him. The revolver was then produced, and when loaded the points of the bullet could not be seen. Root was discharged. He denied the charge in toto.
The Operations of the Gang
There were numerous petty thefts in 1862. Messrs. Montgomery and Eastman, the latter a brother of the late Mayor Eastman of Poughkeepsie, drove up to the American Hotel one evening at about dusk. In a few minutes they missed a valuable skunk skin robe. The landlord had seen old Beebe and several members of the gang in the streets. Montgomery made the remark that it was a dark night, but it might be lighter before they got home. Old Beebe lived over a hill a mile from the Loomises. His son, Lavergue, was one of the most daring and active of the gang. That night the Beebe barn was burned. The old man rode over to the Montgomery place and accused the young man of incendiarism. Mr. Montgomery kicked him out of his yard, and that was the end of it. While the barn was burning one of the clapboards fell off, and out dropped a store of revolvers, stolen from G. W. Tallman, a Government contractor in Utica. About the same time a shoe store in Hubbardsville and a tailor in Leonardsville were robbed. Filkins visited the Loomis place with a search warrant. The gang had become so bold, and had burned so many barns belonging to persons who had taken part against them, that the residents were frightened, and Filkins found it impossible to raise a posse. He went to the house alone and found Wash at home. The house was searched. Scores of saddles and bridles were unearthed. Among the things, Filkins found a half dozen of Tallman’s revolvers, a lot of new shoes, and Montgomery’s skunk skin robe. Whips and blankets were found including some of the stolen goods from Leonardsville. Wash was caught trying to secrete the robe, and Filkins arrested him. Wash submitted after a protest, and Filkins took him before Justice Church, who said “Why do you bring the infernal scoundrel before me? Why don’t you hang him?” The Justice held him. During the examination, the Leonardsville tailor saw one of his coats on the back of a spectator, who proved to be George Peckham, who Filkins says was one of the gang living in Hamilton. He said that he bought the coat from John Hall, another member of the fraternity. Wash was indicted but never put on trial.
Farmer Brown missed some sheep, and got out a search warrant. Filkins visited the Loomises on the day after Wash was bailed, to look for them. As he neared the house, Plumb and Denio mounted their horses and prepared to fly. “You needn’t run,” said the constable, “I’ve no warrant for you.” Wash received him with the utmost politeness, and ordered the sheep driven up to the yard, so that Mr. Brown could see them. Brown identified his sheep, and Wash said “There’s a d--d sight of iniquity in this county. Now, John Hall probably stole those sheep and put them in our flock to cast suspicion upon us.” Grove backed up Wash and told Brown to ask any neighbors who had lost sheep to come and look their flock over. Brown took his sheep and made no further complaint.
Assassination
Up to July, 1863, Filkins visited the place on business every week. Scores of indictments were found against the Loomises. At midnight on July 22, there was a knocking at the door of Filkins’ house in Waterville. His life had been so often threatened that he observed the utmost caution. His wife was attending a sick child. Seizing a revolver, Filkins approached the kitchen window and asked what was wanted. A voice replied “I’m Mr. Clark’s hired man. Last evening he came by Van Dee’s and saw Jack Van Dee at home, and asked me to come up here and let you know.” Van Dee was a noted Loomis rascal, whom Filkins had vainly tried to arrest. Satisfied that the voice was that of Plumb Loomis, the officer stepped back. He was in the act of cocking his revolver, but a double-barreled shotgun loaded with slugs and pieces of nails was discharged through the window. Filkins was shot in the right arm and left hand. His hands dropped. The wife screamed, “James are you hit?” He replied: “I’m wounded,” and she heard the blood pattering on the floor. He started for the bedroom, and two more shots were fired through the bedroom window. The blinds were shattered, and the lower part of the sash torn out. The bedroom door was filled with buckshot, and there were fourteen shot holes in the mantel. Seven buckshot and forty small shot had riddled the bed curtains. Filkins became faint with the loss of blood. The neighbors were aroused and his assailants retreated. The floor was covered with blood. Hundreds of persons visited the house on the next day. Filkins exhibited the following letter, which he had received two months before the attempt on his life, and there was much excitement:
“J. Filkins--Dear Sir: As a friend to you and all mankind I set down to write to forewarn you of danger. That gang has offered one of their associates a good sum of money to kill you at some convenient time, and he says he doubts whether they will pay him if he should do so. He is a daring and bold robber. I dare not sign my name.”
Early in the morning Filkins requested an officer to go up to Beebe’s house and look for a double-barreled shotgun that had recently been discharged. The public terror was so great that no one would leave town. When he got well however, he dug up enough evidence to secure indictments against Plumb, Wash, Lavergne and Ezra Beebe, and Thomas Mott. In May, 1865, he went to the office of the District Attorney to see what had become of the skunk’s robe indictment. He found that a nolle pros. [i.e, nolle prosequi, filed to cancel a suit] had been entered, and that the same course had been taken with the indictments for attempted murder. He says he asked Hiram T. Jenkins, the District Attorney, that it was his last term, and he had an agreement with the Loomises to see them clear of everything before he want out of office. He wanted too make his word good, and asked me to help him.”
Burning a Court House
About this time one of the Loomises outraged a girl 14 years old, the daughter of a respectable farmer. He was taken before Justice Ira B. Crandall of South Brookfield, and bound over. Bail was given. On the following night the justice’s docket was stolen. The thieves did not find the bail bonds, because the Justice had mailed them to the County Court.
The girl was then kidnaped to prevent her from going before the Grand Jury, but testimony of the father, mother, and physician secured an indictment. After this some constables got upon the track of the girl and found her in the Loomis mansion. She was taken home, but her terror was so great that she preferred to stay in jail two years as an assistant in the Sheriff’s family instead of remaining at home. She believed that the Loomises meant to put her out of the way.