| THE BARNEY LEWIS TRAIN ROBBERY |
DARING TRAIN ROBBERY
Barney Lewis was a resident of Cocomo, MIssissippi, in Marion County, on the fateful night of May
16, 1912, when he and his compatriots staged one of the most the daring train robberies in the history
of Mississippi, Train #42, which was traveling northeast from New Orleans.
The plan took shape in early April, when he received a phone call from New Orleans, advising him that
#42, which would reach Purvis, Mississippi late on May 16, was set to carry a large sum of money.
That night, Lewis and a man named Jerry Ennis left Hattiesburg, Mississippi and arrived at Okohola,
where Ennis stopped at the switch. Some say Lewis went on to Purvis and boarded the train there;
others say he boarded between Purvis and Okohola, where the train stops for water. What is known is
that Barney Lewis uncoupled the baggage car from the engine while Ennis crawled into the cab and told
the engineer to drive a little further down the track. Lewis went to the baggage car and found that the
safe had a double lock. Boring a hole in the safe and using one charge would not open it, so he bored
two holes and put more charges of explosive inside, which did the job. They made their escape
through the woods on foot. An intense search, using blood hounds, and the work of several posses
failed to turn up their trail.
This is the tale of Barney Lewis and the infamous holdup of Train 42.
HOLDUP GANG MAKES HAUL
Train #42, traveling on the New Orleans and Northeastern Railroad, due to arrive in Hattiesburg at
11:08 p.m., was held up about one half hour ride south of here in Lamar County, last night by two
masked men.
The robbers molested only the express car, in which they blew the safe and robbed it of what is
estimated to be $100,000. Five charges of dynamite were used in blowing the safe. While one of the
robbers worked on the safe, the other stood guard over the train crew. The train had stopped to take
on water when the robbers boarded it. One robber lined up the train crew alongside the train, while the
other entered the express car. The train was carrying a large amount of government money from New
Orleans to eastern points. Two guards were in the express when it was entered. One of them was
disarmed and sent into the passenger coaches to warn the passengers of the fact that the train was
being robbed. The guard was instructed to tell the passengers to hide their valuables.
After looting the express car, the robbers left the train and took to the woods. The chief of police of
Hattiesburg and the sheriff of Forrest County have left with bloodhounds and will endeavor to trail the
bandits while the trail is fresh. A large posse of Hattiesburg citizens accompanied the officer; County
officers were notified. Posses were immediately formed and mounted on horses, started in pursuit of
the robbers, who it's said, took a northeasterly direction, evidently heading for the Alabama State Line.
-- Copied from Marion County records of May 16, 1912
TRAIN ROBBERY SOLVED
Barney Lewis, aged 40, was arrested at his home yesterday in Tangipahoa Parish, Louisiana, on a
charge of being one of the men who held up a Queen and Crescent Train at Okahola, Mississippi, in
Lamar County, on May 16, 1912, and escaped with a sum said to be $92,000. The arrest was made by
Sheriff Ballard of Tangipahoa and Detective T. K. Trigg, of Birmingham, Alabama. Trigg brought Lewis
to New Orleans last night and kept him in the Parish prison there. The will leave at 8 a.m. this morning
for Purvis, Mississippi, Lamar County. Purvis is the Count Seat in the robbery section.
According to Trigg, the evidence against Lewis is conclusive. His trail picked up ten days after the
hold-up, one of the most daring in history. Lewis has been shadowed ever since. The other men, the
detective says, are on the verge of arrest in a town near Birmingham, Alabama. Lewis wouldn't talk,
except to say that he could prove an alibi by friends in New Orleans. He named Dr. Swords as a man
who could testify in his favor. "You won't get nothing from me," he said.
Trigg claims that Lewis made a practical confession on the way to New Orleans last night. He told me
he knew that he was being shadowed for eight or nine months," said Trigg. "This is a relief from an
awful suspense," he said. "A dozen dicks have crossed my path in the last few months. I could pick
out ever one and I knew my arrest was coming. Everywhere I went, I knew a detective was shadowing
me." And then he intimated that it is up to the law to convict him. "We have the goods strong on
him," Trigg went on, "every move that he's made, the detectives have followed him, if he is the right
party, who has served time in the penitentiary in Alabama. I think, too, that he is the same man who
blew up the penitentiary in Jackson, Mississippi several years ago and escaped. One of his early jobs
was at Reform, ALabama, many years ago, when he and others cracked the safe at the Southern
Express Company and made away with a lot of money. He was arrested, placed under a nominal bond
and jumped it."
Lewis will be placed in jail at Purvis, Mississippi today. The guards will be on him all the time.
An effort is being made to connect Lewis with a gang who robbed the express cars of the Illinois
Central at Batesville, MIssissippi, two months ago, according to a statement by Sheriff Ballard of Amite
City, last night. The gang has been traced to the vicinity. Trigg does not place much confidence in that
theory, however. He believes that Lewis has retired from the Yegg gang. Of information against Lewis,
he is a modern alias, Jimmy Valentine. "He wants to live a straight life with the proceeds from the
Northeastern robbery and intended to establish himself as a peaceable citizen." After this work at
Okohola, Lewis came to New Orleans; he was in and out of the city for several months, it is said. Then
he married a young girl, exactly when is not known. But, at his Tangipahoa farm yesterday afternoon,
he kissed a sweet faced weeping woman goodbye, the detective says, for several minutes they were in
embrace, husband in handcuffs. The woman expects his early return to the farm.
After marrying, Lewis went straight to Tangipahoa and spent several days prospecting. Then he
purchased a 400 acre farm four miles from Tangipahoa Station, took his wife there and furnished the
house in elaborate style, prepared to settle down and live a peaceful life. Then the detectives began to
pop up now and then in Lewis' sight and his happiness began to fade, but Lewis did not flinch. This is
according to the detective's story.
Lewis prospered on this farm. He has one of the finest cotton crops in the parish and is said to have
been recently on another deal which would involve $5,000. He did not work the land himself, but acted
as overseer, kept an itemized account. He was highly respected and his arrest yesterday afternoon
created a surprise to his neighbors. He offered no resistance when the officers drove up in the buggy,
but walked part of the way to meet them.
"You are Mr. Lewis?" the sheriff asked.
"Yes," he replied.
"We have a warrant here for your arrest," continued the officer. The Sheriff made further
explanation. Lewis only grinned when Trigg pulled out a pair of handcuffs and clamped them to his
wrist. He agreed to make a trip to Purvis, Lamar County, Mississippi without any extradition papers.
The robbery was committed in the early morning hours of May 16/17, 1912, just out of Okahola,
about eight miles from Hattiesburg, Mississippi, and was committed by only two men of average build,
who succeeded in perfecting their escape through the swamp and woods surrounding the scene of the
desperate deed. The hold-up was done in a truly wild and wooly manner. Riding quietly out of the
station, until they passed Okahola, the two robbers, wearing masks, carrying revolvers, crawled over
the tinder and commanded the engineer and fireman to stop the train.
"Shall I stop here?" queried the frightened engineer when the scare had worn off.
"No, just around that curve," commanded the robber with a flourish of his revolver.
When the train came bumping to a halt, the desperadoes commanded the engineer crew to precede
them to the baggage car. At the door, the engineer was forced to call out to a messenger. When he
responded by looking out of the door of the car, he was looking into the nose of a blue steel revolver.
"Call your friend," suggested one of the robbers with an air of bravado.
Forced to the door from curiosity, the special guards found little consolation in looking down the face
of the heavy gun. The robbery, while theatrical in the extreme, was effected without a shot being fired.
After train crew had been lined up and searched for weapons, one of the robbers stood guard, while the
other attempted to crack the safe. Before the patented lock affair was blown open six shots of
nitroglycerin had to be prepared by the bandit.
Scooping up the fat rolls of currency and as much of the silver as they could carry comfortably, the
robbers, without as much as a glance at the dollars scattered about the car, ordered the train forward.
Then the train had gone out of sight, the two disappeared around a cut in the trees and were later
trailed along a long road with hounds, until the trail was lost in the swamp. They were ultimately
believed to have escaped with the use of a motor boat hidden in one of the numerous bayous
southeast of where the robbery occurred. The robbery entailed $92,000, while $300 was left scattered
around the car and stuck to the safe which had been blown. Owing to the amount of money carried,
the car had been equipped with a special safe with a special lock and carried a special guard. $!,000 was
offered as a reward for the arrest and conviction of the two men by the Adams Express Company.
ENNIS CAPTURED
Birmingham, Alabama, August 17, 1913: Henry Ennis, alleged to be one of the bandits that held up
and robbed train No. 42 on the N.O. and N.E. Railroad on the night of May 16, 1912, and secured
$92,000 from the Southern Express Safe, was captured at 4:45 this morning, seven miles from Carbon
Hill in the western part of Alabama. The arrest was made by a party of Birmingham detectives. Ennis
was brought to Birmingham and placed in jail here. He refused to make any statement.
ENNIS, SERIOUSLY SICK, TELLS OF TRAIN ROBBERIES; CONFESSES HIS PART IN TWO
AFFAIRS; SAYS LEWIS HELPED HIM
Hattiesburg, Mississippi, August 23, 1913: All doubt of a confession from Jerry Ennis has been
removed. The confession was made in the Forrest County Jail and a transcript of it made by Gower
Meader of this city. The release of Henry Ennis, Jerry Ennis' brother, followed the confession and his
connection with the case will end after the preliminary trial of Jerry Ennis and Barney Lewis at Purvis
next Friday before Justice Parker. Express Agents say that the trial will be a calm affair, as they have all
of the testimony necessary to convict both men.
According to the confession, as reported, the men in question held up both the N.O. and N.E. near
this city and the Mobile and Ohio, near Corinth, a few weeks earlier. Ennis states that the booty
acquired at Corinth was only $427 and, after the comparatively small haul, he returned to his Alabama
home and was earning a living by the sweat of his brow. On March 1, 1912, after the Mobile and Ohio
hold up, he (Ennis) was plowing in his field, when Lewis came and suggested another train robbery and,
after much persuasion, induced him to come to Mississippi and take part in the hold up. They came to
the state and on the night of the hold up at Okahola, they boarded the train at Purvis and after a short
run, they covered the engineer and fireman and ordered the train stopped. They marched these men
back to the express car and demanded that the car be opened. Ennis stood guard while Lewis did the
work. P. M. Engineer Marker and Fireman Jones were both taken to the jail and identified the prisoners
as the men who held them up. They stated that they could recognize them by their voices. Ennis
states that, after the work was accomplished, he was handed the largest bag of booty, while Barney
Lewis came from the car with his arms filled with bills. He states that they stopped after having gone a
short distance and burned all papers except money. He says they took no jewelry. He also says that
the story that they made their escape in an automobile is not true, for they walked all that night and
the next day, til they came to a branch line of the Illinois Central (supposed to be the Kentwood and
Tylertown branch) and, after reaching the main line, they went to Winona, Alabama, leaving this point.
They buried their money at some point in Mississippi before reaching the Alabama line. Ennis does not
recall the place the treasure was buried.
The story goes further that on or about September 1, 1912, Lewis came to Ennis' home in Alabama,
bringing him $9,000 and was told that this was his share of the booty. Rumor yesterday was that Jerry
Ennis made his brother, Henry, a present of $1,000 of this money and this was the connection Henry
had in the case. Ennis, it seems, does not know the full amount of money gotten.
R. L. McDaren of Vicksburg, Chief Counsel for the South Bound Express Company, is in the city and
has associated Tally and Mason with him to assist in the prosecution of the accused at Purvis, Friday.
Ennis is very ill in the county jail. His temperature is 104 degrees. Express Railroad Officials are resting
on their oars, having the case well in hand and satisfied with the work thus far. No other persons are
implicated and Detectives Trigg and Bodeker have returned home. -- Free Press, August 21, 1913, Pearl
River County
Barney Lewis was a resident of Cocomo, MIssissippi, in Marion County, on the fateful night of May
16, 1912, when he and his compatriots staged one of the most the daring train robberies in the history
of Mississippi, Train #42, which was traveling northeast from New Orleans.
The plan took shape in early April, when he received a phone call from New Orleans, advising him that
#42, which would reach Purvis, Mississippi late on May 16, was set to carry a large sum of money.
That night, Lewis and a man named Jerry Ennis left Hattiesburg, Mississippi and arrived at Okohola,
where Ennis stopped at the switch. Some say Lewis went on to Purvis and boarded the train there;
others say he boarded between Purvis and Okohola, where the train stops for water. What is known is
that Barney Lewis uncoupled the baggage car from the engine while Ennis crawled into the cab and told
the engineer to drive a little further down the track. Lewis went to the baggage car and found that the
safe had a double lock. Boring a hole in the safe and using one charge would not open it, so he bored
two holes and put more charges of explosive inside, which did the job. They made their escape
through the woods on foot. An intense search, using blood hounds, and the work of several posses
failed to turn up their trail.
This is the tale of Barney Lewis and the infamous holdup of Train 42.
HOLDUP GANG MAKES HAUL
Train #42, traveling on the New Orleans and Northeastern Railroad, due to arrive in Hattiesburg at
11:08 p.m., was held up about one half hour ride south of here in Lamar County, last night by two
masked men.
The robbers molested only the express car, in which they blew the safe and robbed it of what is
estimated to be $100,000. Five charges of dynamite were used in blowing the safe. While one of the
robbers worked on the safe, the other stood guard over the train crew. The train had stopped to take
on water when the robbers boarded it. One robber lined up the train crew alongside the train, while the
other entered the express car. The train was carrying a large amount of government money from New
Orleans to eastern points. Two guards were in the express when it was entered. One of them was
disarmed and sent into the passenger coaches to warn the passengers of the fact that the train was
being robbed. The guard was instructed to tell the passengers to hide their valuables.
After looting the express car, the robbers left the train and took to the woods. The chief of police of
Hattiesburg and the sheriff of Forrest County have left with bloodhounds and will endeavor to trail the
bandits while the trail is fresh. A large posse of Hattiesburg citizens accompanied the officer; County
officers were notified. Posses were immediately formed and mounted on horses, started in pursuit of
the robbers, who it's said, took a northeasterly direction, evidently heading for the Alabama State Line.
-- Copied from Marion County records of May 16, 1912
TRAIN ROBBERY SOLVED
Barney Lewis, aged 40, was arrested at his home yesterday in Tangipahoa Parish, Louisiana, on a
charge of being one of the men who held up a Queen and Crescent Train at Okahola, Mississippi, in
Lamar County, on May 16, 1912, and escaped with a sum said to be $92,000. The arrest was made by
Sheriff Ballard of Tangipahoa and Detective T. K. Trigg, of Birmingham, Alabama. Trigg brought Lewis
to New Orleans last night and kept him in the Parish prison there. The will leave at 8 a.m. this morning
for Purvis, Mississippi, Lamar County. Purvis is the Count Seat in the robbery section.
According to Trigg, the evidence against Lewis is conclusive. His trail picked up ten days after the
hold-up, one of the most daring in history. Lewis has been shadowed ever since. The other men, the
detective says, are on the verge of arrest in a town near Birmingham, Alabama. Lewis wouldn't talk,
except to say that he could prove an alibi by friends in New Orleans. He named Dr. Swords as a man
who could testify in his favor. "You won't get nothing from me," he said.
Trigg claims that Lewis made a practical confession on the way to New Orleans last night. He told me
he knew that he was being shadowed for eight or nine months," said Trigg. "This is a relief from an
awful suspense," he said. "A dozen dicks have crossed my path in the last few months. I could pick
out ever one and I knew my arrest was coming. Everywhere I went, I knew a detective was shadowing
me." And then he intimated that it is up to the law to convict him. "We have the goods strong on
him," Trigg went on, "every move that he's made, the detectives have followed him, if he is the right
party, who has served time in the penitentiary in Alabama. I think, too, that he is the same man who
blew up the penitentiary in Jackson, Mississippi several years ago and escaped. One of his early jobs
was at Reform, ALabama, many years ago, when he and others cracked the safe at the Southern
Express Company and made away with a lot of money. He was arrested, placed under a nominal bond
and jumped it."
Lewis will be placed in jail at Purvis, Mississippi today. The guards will be on him all the time.
An effort is being made to connect Lewis with a gang who robbed the express cars of the Illinois
Central at Batesville, MIssissippi, two months ago, according to a statement by Sheriff Ballard of Amite
City, last night. The gang has been traced to the vicinity. Trigg does not place much confidence in that
theory, however. He believes that Lewis has retired from the Yegg gang. Of information against Lewis,
he is a modern alias, Jimmy Valentine. "He wants to live a straight life with the proceeds from the
Northeastern robbery and intended to establish himself as a peaceable citizen." After this work at
Okohola, Lewis came to New Orleans; he was in and out of the city for several months, it is said. Then
he married a young girl, exactly when is not known. But, at his Tangipahoa farm yesterday afternoon,
he kissed a sweet faced weeping woman goodbye, the detective says, for several minutes they were in
embrace, husband in handcuffs. The woman expects his early return to the farm.
After marrying, Lewis went straight to Tangipahoa and spent several days prospecting. Then he
purchased a 400 acre farm four miles from Tangipahoa Station, took his wife there and furnished the
house in elaborate style, prepared to settle down and live a peaceful life. Then the detectives began to
pop up now and then in Lewis' sight and his happiness began to fade, but Lewis did not flinch. This is
according to the detective's story.
Lewis prospered on this farm. He has one of the finest cotton crops in the parish and is said to have
been recently on another deal which would involve $5,000. He did not work the land himself, but acted
as overseer, kept an itemized account. He was highly respected and his arrest yesterday afternoon
created a surprise to his neighbors. He offered no resistance when the officers drove up in the buggy,
but walked part of the way to meet them.
"You are Mr. Lewis?" the sheriff asked.
"Yes," he replied.
"We have a warrant here for your arrest," continued the officer. The Sheriff made further
explanation. Lewis only grinned when Trigg pulled out a pair of handcuffs and clamped them to his
wrist. He agreed to make a trip to Purvis, Lamar County, Mississippi without any extradition papers.
The robbery was committed in the early morning hours of May 16/17, 1912, just out of Okahola,
about eight miles from Hattiesburg, Mississippi, and was committed by only two men of average build,
who succeeded in perfecting their escape through the swamp and woods surrounding the scene of the
desperate deed. The hold-up was done in a truly wild and wooly manner. Riding quietly out of the
station, until they passed Okahola, the two robbers, wearing masks, carrying revolvers, crawled over
the tinder and commanded the engineer and fireman to stop the train.
"Shall I stop here?" queried the frightened engineer when the scare had worn off.
"No, just around that curve," commanded the robber with a flourish of his revolver.
When the train came bumping to a halt, the desperadoes commanded the engineer crew to precede
them to the baggage car. At the door, the engineer was forced to call out to a messenger. When he
responded by looking out of the door of the car, he was looking into the nose of a blue steel revolver.
"Call your friend," suggested one of the robbers with an air of bravado.
Forced to the door from curiosity, the special guards found little consolation in looking down the face
of the heavy gun. The robbery, while theatrical in the extreme, was effected without a shot being fired.
After train crew had been lined up and searched for weapons, one of the robbers stood guard, while the
other attempted to crack the safe. Before the patented lock affair was blown open six shots of
nitroglycerin had to be prepared by the bandit.
Scooping up the fat rolls of currency and as much of the silver as they could carry comfortably, the
robbers, without as much as a glance at the dollars scattered about the car, ordered the train forward.
Then the train had gone out of sight, the two disappeared around a cut in the trees and were later
trailed along a long road with hounds, until the trail was lost in the swamp. They were ultimately
believed to have escaped with the use of a motor boat hidden in one of the numerous bayous
southeast of where the robbery occurred. The robbery entailed $92,000, while $300 was left scattered
around the car and stuck to the safe which had been blown. Owing to the amount of money carried,
the car had been equipped with a special safe with a special lock and carried a special guard. $!,000 was
offered as a reward for the arrest and conviction of the two men by the Adams Express Company.
ENNIS CAPTURED
Birmingham, Alabama, August 17, 1913: Henry Ennis, alleged to be one of the bandits that held up
and robbed train No. 42 on the N.O. and N.E. Railroad on the night of May 16, 1912, and secured
$92,000 from the Southern Express Safe, was captured at 4:45 this morning, seven miles from Carbon
Hill in the western part of Alabama. The arrest was made by a party of Birmingham detectives. Ennis
was brought to Birmingham and placed in jail here. He refused to make any statement.
ENNIS, SERIOUSLY SICK, TELLS OF TRAIN ROBBERIES; CONFESSES HIS PART IN TWO
AFFAIRS; SAYS LEWIS HELPED HIM
Hattiesburg, Mississippi, August 23, 1913: All doubt of a confession from Jerry Ennis has been
removed. The confession was made in the Forrest County Jail and a transcript of it made by Gower
Meader of this city. The release of Henry Ennis, Jerry Ennis' brother, followed the confession and his
connection with the case will end after the preliminary trial of Jerry Ennis and Barney Lewis at Purvis
next Friday before Justice Parker. Express Agents say that the trial will be a calm affair, as they have all
of the testimony necessary to convict both men.
According to the confession, as reported, the men in question held up both the N.O. and N.E. near
this city and the Mobile and Ohio, near Corinth, a few weeks earlier. Ennis states that the booty
acquired at Corinth was only $427 and, after the comparatively small haul, he returned to his Alabama
home and was earning a living by the sweat of his brow. On March 1, 1912, after the Mobile and Ohio
hold up, he (Ennis) was plowing in his field, when Lewis came and suggested another train robbery and,
after much persuasion, induced him to come to Mississippi and take part in the hold up. They came to
the state and on the night of the hold up at Okahola, they boarded the train at Purvis and after a short
run, they covered the engineer and fireman and ordered the train stopped. They marched these men
back to the express car and demanded that the car be opened. Ennis stood guard while Lewis did the
work. P. M. Engineer Marker and Fireman Jones were both taken to the jail and identified the prisoners
as the men who held them up. They stated that they could recognize them by their voices. Ennis
states that, after the work was accomplished, he was handed the largest bag of booty, while Barney
Lewis came from the car with his arms filled with bills. He states that they stopped after having gone a
short distance and burned all papers except money. He says they took no jewelry. He also says that
the story that they made their escape in an automobile is not true, for they walked all that night and
the next day, til they came to a branch line of the Illinois Central (supposed to be the Kentwood and
Tylertown branch) and, after reaching the main line, they went to Winona, Alabama, leaving this point.
They buried their money at some point in Mississippi before reaching the Alabama line. Ennis does not
recall the place the treasure was buried.
The story goes further that on or about September 1, 1912, Lewis came to Ennis' home in Alabama,
bringing him $9,000 and was told that this was his share of the booty. Rumor yesterday was that Jerry
Ennis made his brother, Henry, a present of $1,000 of this money and this was the connection Henry
had in the case. Ennis, it seems, does not know the full amount of money gotten.
R. L. McDaren of Vicksburg, Chief Counsel for the South Bound Express Company, is in the city and
has associated Tally and Mason with him to assist in the prosecution of the accused at Purvis, Friday.
Ennis is very ill in the county jail. His temperature is 104 degrees. Express Railroad Officials are resting
on their oars, having the case well in hand and satisfied with the work thus far. No other persons are
implicated and Detectives Trigg and Bodeker have returned home. -- Free Press, August 21, 1913, Pearl
River County
Two visitors to the site have contributed additional stories about Barney Lewis. We thank
them both for sharing.
From Phillip Fazzine:
"In 1968, Robert Elman's classic "Fired in Anger" has a chapter on the gun used by Barney Lewis. Railroad
Detective E. W. Starling (he was investigating an epidemic of train robberies in MS and AL from 1905 to 1913)
believed that Lewis had been involved in train robberies and murders of railroad men in MS, but lacked
evidence for indictment. Starling is, also, credited with Lewis' capture and the capture of Billy Miner and Jerry
and Henry Ennis."
________________________________________________________________
From David Holmes:
"My father's grandmother, Laura (Mrs. William Toney), was Barney Lewis' aunt. My father was born in 1911.
When he was in his late teens, he met Barney Lewis at his grandmother's birthday dinner, at her son, Oscar's
home. He and my Uncle Clifford told of Barney's two 38 pistols in shoulder holsters. Barney claimed that they
took $80,000 in gold in the robbery and that he gave the cash to his partner. He claimed that he buried the
gold and, after he got out of prison, he couldn't find it. He marked the location by two large pine trees. Barney
has a great-nephew living near where the gold was supposedly buried."
them both for sharing.
From Phillip Fazzine:
"In 1968, Robert Elman's classic "Fired in Anger" has a chapter on the gun used by Barney Lewis. Railroad
Detective E. W. Starling (he was investigating an epidemic of train robberies in MS and AL from 1905 to 1913)
believed that Lewis had been involved in train robberies and murders of railroad men in MS, but lacked
evidence for indictment. Starling is, also, credited with Lewis' capture and the capture of Billy Miner and Jerry
and Henry Ennis."
________________________________________________________________
From David Holmes:
"My father's grandmother, Laura (Mrs. William Toney), was Barney Lewis' aunt. My father was born in 1911.
When he was in his late teens, he met Barney Lewis at his grandmother's birthday dinner, at her son, Oscar's
home. He and my Uncle Clifford told of Barney's two 38 pistols in shoulder holsters. Barney claimed that they
took $80,000 in gold in the robbery and that he gave the cash to his partner. He claimed that he buried the
gold and, after he got out of prison, he couldn't find it. He marked the location by two large pine trees. Barney
has a great-nephew living near where the gold was supposedly buried."
