'Alabama Scoundrels' is unique, colorful Alabama history book

One of the most unique and colorful Alabama history books to hit bookstores recently is “Alabama Scoundrels: Outlaws, Pirates, Bandits & Bushwhackers” by Kelly Kazek and Wil Elrick.

Released last month by The History Press, this 126-page book describes dozens of outlaws with Alabama connections, including more than a few with connections to Conecuh County and Southwest Alabama.

Famous criminals with Alabama connections discussed in the book include train robber Rube Burrow, “Railroad Bill,” gunfighter John Wesley Hardin, former U.S. Vice President Aaron Burr, “Bloody Bob” Sims, Lincoln assassination conspirator Lewis Powell, Bart Thrasher, “Mountain Tom” Clark, Joseph Sanders, Gale H. Wages, James Copeland, Albert Parsons, Steve Renfroe, outlaws Frank and Jesse James, Dan Bogan, Milus Johnston and many others.

I was especially interested in the chapters about Burrow, “Railroad Bill,” Hardin and Burr, who are all known to have operated in and around Conecuh County. Burrow, a native of Lamar County, was a notorious train robber, who pulled off daring and deadly robberies from Texas to Alabama. In September 1890, he single-handedly robbed the northbound Louisville & Nashville passenger train between Flomaton and Pollard before getting gunned down a few weeks later in Linden. Burrow was known to have passed through Castleberry and Repton while on the run from the law.

“Railroad Bill” was somewhat of a mythical character who shot and killed Escambia County Sheriff E.S. McMillan and Baldwin County deputy sheriff James Stewart. “Railroad Bill,” whose real name might have been Bill McCoy or Morris Slater, was rumored to be able to shape-shift, disappear and make bloodhounds lose his scent. None of that saved him though from getting gunned down on Ashley Street in Atmore on March 7, 1896.

Hardin, who claimed to have killed 42 men, lived in Pollard in Escambia County for about 18 months, from late 1875 to 1877. Wanted for a number of crimes, including the killing of a deputy sheriff in Brown County, Texas in May 1874, Hardin was sent to prison in Huntsville, Texas in Oct. 1878. Hardin was released from prison in 1894 and was shot to death by John Selman Sr. in the Acme Saloon in El Paso, Texas in August 1895.

Burr is most famous for killing Alexander Hamilton (the guy on the $10 bill) during a duel outside Weehawken, N.J. on July 11, 1804. Burr became a fugitive from the law and was later arrested in February 1807 at McIntosh Bluff, which was in what is now Washington County, Ala. He later passed through Conecuh and Monroe counties on the Old Federal Road while under arrest for treason and on his way to Virginia to face the music.

These details are just the tip of the iceberg as to what’s contained between the covers of “Alabama Scoundrels.” If you’re interested in reading more about the men mentioned above, especially those with connections to our neck of the woods, I highly recommend that you pick up a copy of “Alabama Scoundrels” today. The book is available in major bookstores across the state, and it’s also available online through such outlets as Amazon and Barnes & Noble.