Amanuensis Monday: Sheriff Gober and a Stolen Horse

Amanuensis: A person employed to write what another dictates or to copy what has been written by another.

I continue my project to transcribe family letters, journals, newspaper articles, audiotapes, and other historical artifacts. Not only do the documents contain genealogical information, the words breathe life into kin - some I never met - others I see a time in their life before I knew them.

I began this project back on February 16, 2009.  Since I began, many others have joined in on the meme. I am thrilled that this meme I started has inspired so many to transcribe their family history documents. Why do we transcribe? I provide my three reasons in the linked post. You may find others.

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My wife's great grandfather, Louis Pleas Gober (1867-1948), was Sheriff of Scott County, Missouri in the early 1900s. ChroniclingAmerica has archives of several area newspapers from that time, and he appears often. A year ago I shared an article from the St. Louis Post Dispatch concerning a problem he had with some mules. Below is an article from the Jackson Herald -- January 31, 1907, page 1, above the fold.

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A STOLEN HORSE LOCATED HERE

The Owner and Scott County Sheriff Came and Got Animal Stolen Near Benton

L.P. Gober, sheriff of Scott County, came up from Benton, Tuesday, to recover a stolen horse and buggy, belonging to John Gangel of that county. He caught the thief some days ago and placed him in the Benton jail. His name is John P. Paries.

Sheriff Gober got the horse at the home of Judge Bowers of Oak Ridge. The judge traded for the horse through Henry Dow. Paries was captured in St. Francois County. Mr. Gober was raised in this county and has the appearance of a clever and courteous gentleman. He is the sheriff that captured Bank Robber Baxter after he was released by his pals by dynamiting the Benton jail.

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Notes:
1) A Missouri county map may be useful for some. In this case, Jackson Missouri is a reference to a town in Cape Girardeau County in the Southeast portion of the state, immediately to the north of Scott County where L.P. Gober was sheriff. St. Francois County gets mentioned, which is a couple counties further northwest.

2) Naturally, one of the reasons I found this article of interst is that it mentions L.P. Gober was raised in Cape Girardeau County. I know he is in Cape Girardeau for the 1880 census. I haven't found him in the 1870, though I know his father was in Cape during the 1860s.

3) I wonder if the use of the phrase "Bank Robber Baxter," dropping the criminal's given name, was an attempt at denying him notoriety.