Lyr Req: The Crime of the D'Autremont Brothers

Subject: D'Autremont Bros. Train Robbery song search
From: Sourdough
Date: 19 Jul 99 - 05:15 AM

I heard a song years ago about one of the last old-time train robberies, in the 1920s. The song was on a record that I loaned and lost. It was a simple song that told the story of this last robbery.

I looked for some information in the Postal Inspectors site and found this:

1926--Postal Inspectors successfully concluded a 3-1/2 year, worldwide manhunt for three train bandits known as the D'Autremont brothers. The brothers killed four men and blew up a mail car which they thought was carrying half a million dollars in gold.

I liked the song but I never felt connected to it until I read a little squib in the paper twenty or twenty five years ago that the last surviving brother had been released from prison and was teaching in a Sunday school in Washington State.

Does anyone know "the rest of the story" or where the song might be located?

Sourdough

Subject: RE: D'Autremont Bros. Train Robbery song search
From: Dale Rose
Date: 19 Jul 99 - 10:49 AM

I have a copy, but no time at present. It is on an old RCA Vintage (purple label) album of train songs, Johnson Brothers, I think. If no one else comes up with it, I'll try to dig it out for you, but it may take me a while.

Subject: RE: D'Autremont Bros. Train Robbery song search
From: Dale Rose
Date: 19 Jul 99 - 11:01 AM

Tough Men, Tough Country, Ellis Lucia, 1963. (the colorful adventurers of the Northwest ~~ including the D'Autremont Brothers) Available from Barnes and Noble ~~ used prices $18-84, but perhaps you can find it through your local library.

Subject: RE: D'Autremont Bros. Train Robbery song search
From: Mark Cohen
Date: 19 Jul 99 - 11:34 PM

An old friend in Oregon, Jinx Davis, recorded a song about the brothers that I think he wrote...maybe it's the old one and he didn't write it. If I have time I'll try to track down the words. I haven't seen him for about ten years, so I don't know if his songs or recordings have made it east of the Cascades or south of the Siskiyou.

Subject: RE: D'Autremont Bros. Train Robbery song search
From: Sourdough
Date: 19 Jul 99 - 11:51 PM

This is such an amazing place. Somehow, I knew that someone would know about the D'Autremont song and now there's a possibility someone knows the writer!

Yesterday, I was looking at the Waterbug site to see what an old friend, Rick Lee, had been up to. They have audio clips from some of the CDs they publish at Waterbug. There were clips from Rick's albums but I noticd that there were also clips from some guy named Art Thieme whose albums they puiblish, too and I had the chance to listen to two the voice behind the posts. That was a pleasant surprise (the opportunity, not the quality of the performance).

It seems as though Mudcatters are spread around pretty generally.

I'm glad I found you all.

Sourdough

Subject: RE: D'Autremont Bros. Train Robbery song search
From: gargoyle
Date: 20 Jul 99 - 12:15 AM

Sourdough....what is the URL for the Waterburg site?

THANX

Subject: Lyr Add: THE CRIME OF THE D'AUTREMONT BROTHERS^^
From: rich r
Date: 20 Jul 99 - 12:26 AM

THE CRIME OF THE D'AUTREMONT BROTHERS

(Johnson Brothers, Charles and Paul, 1929)

Way out west in Oregon in nineteen twenty-three,
The D'Autremont brothers wrecked the train as brutal as could be.

"Twas train number thirteen of the Southern Pacific line,
They had just passed through Siskiyou and were making regular time.

When going through the tunnel upon the engine they came,
Shot dead Bates and his fireman, and then they wrecked the train.

Then they killed the brakeman and the mail clerk,too
And endangered all of the lives of the passengers and crew.

Then they fled to the mountains to hide their brutal crime,
Leaving death and destruction on the Southern Pacific line.

For nearly four long years they were sought in vain,
To pay for the lives and the wrecking of this train.

But God is always good and just, as we all know well,
They were finally caught at last as the time will always tell.

Now they are in prison for the lives they led,
Without any hope of pardon until they are dead.

The tune is a deriviative of "Polly Wolly Doodle"

rich r

Subject: RE: D'Autremont Bros. Train Robbery song search
From: Sourdough
Date: 20 Jul 99 - 12:57 AM

rich r:

Thank you a whole lot for posting the words. It's a good song, maybe it will help keep the song alive.

gargoyle:

The link to Waterbug is:

http://www.waterbug.com/

Sourdough

Subject: RE: D'Autremont Bros. Train Robbery song search
From: Dale Rose
Date: 20 Jul 99 - 01:02 AM

Looks like you are on line at the moment, Sourdough. WHEN I find it, would you like a RealAudio of the song? I have got that pretty well figured out now.

It also looks like I got it right when I said Johnson Brothers, as that is what rich posted.

Subject: RE: D'Autremont Bros. Train Robbery song search
From: Sourdough
Date: 20 Jul 99 - 01:50 AM

Wow: I sure would love a Real Audio of the song! How can we make this happen?

Sourdough

Subject: RE: D'Autremont Bros. Train Robbery song search
From: Dale Rose
Date: 20 Jul 99 - 02:23 AM

I'd need your email address (put it here if you like, or if you want it done privately, send it to me through the Mudcat Message System ~~ I'm in the book!) And you would need to have an account capable of receiving approximately 700KB. That's all there is to it.

And of course, it depends on my finding it, too!

Subject: RE: D'Autremont Bros. Train Robbery song search
From: rich r
Date: 20 Jul 99 - 08:28 PM

An historical note, the song is usually spelled as in the thread title but the correct spelling of the family name is "DeAutremont" with an "e" instead of "'" One of the brothers was paroled in 1958 and died of cancer in 1959. Another was paroled in 1961. Both had been model prisoners. The third was deemed insane and committed to an assylum.

rich r

Subject: RE: D'Autremont Bros. Train Robbery song search
From: Mark Cohen
Date: 20 Jul 99 - 11:26 PM

Now I have to find Jinx Davis' tape, because his song about the DeAutremont brothers is definitely worth hearing and sharing. I'll post the lyrics when I find them; still haven't figured out how to post tunes. I believe Jinx still lives in the Portland area.

Subject: RE: D'Autremont Bros. Train Robbery song search
From: Dale Rose
Date: 21 Sep 99 - 09:44 PM

Guess What? The album turned up today. (Surprise, Surprise ~~ it was NOT where I expected to find it!) The notes for the song are: Hugh, Ray, and Roy D'Autremont robbed a Southern Pacific train at Oregon's Siskiyou Pass on October 11, 1923, murdering the engineer, fireman, brakeman, and mail clerk by shotgun and dynamite. This brutal event's ballad was composed after the Northwest loggers were imprisoned in 1927. Crime of the D'Autremont Brothers by the Johnson Brothers, like some other broadsides, is folk in style but with no life in tradition. Charles and Paul Johnson were from eastern Tennessee. Recorded 5/24/28, Camden, New Jersey (Notes by Archie Green)

SOURDOUGH, the song will be on its way to you as soon as I get it encoded. Sorry it took so long!

Subject: RE: D'Autremont Bros. Train Robbery song search
From: Sourdough
Date: 20 Sep 00 - 01:53 AM

This article is a very interesting telling of the story of the crime.

http://www.angelfire.com/wa/andyhiggins/Greattrainrobbery.html

Sourdough

Subject: RE: D'Autremont Bros. Train Robbery song search
From: GUEST,Here's some great info on it
Date: 07 Feb 05 - 12:23 PM

http://www.postalmuseum.si.edu/exhibits/2c1d_robberies.html

Katy

Subject: RE: D'Autremont Bros. Train Robbery song search
From: Mark Ross
Date: 07 Feb 05 - 01:11 PM

Recently picked up a bio of the D'Autremont Brothers written by an Oregon reporter and a Portland policeman. Real interesting. Seems that one of the brothers spent some time in jail in Vancouver Wahington for carrying an IWW red card. The book was signed by Ray D. I'll give Archie Green a call and see if the RCA LP is going to be reissued(he produced it).

Mark Ross

Subject: RE: D'Autremont Bros. Train Robbery song search
From: Ebbie
Date: 07 Feb 05 - 08:12 PM

I have Jinx's CD with his song 'The DeAutremont Brothers'. I met Jinx a couple of years ago and he mailed me a double CD - 'Song of Oregon' and 'Oregon Country'. That particular cut is 4:58 minutes in length and is quite different from the Johnson Brothers song, although it of course tells the same story.

Just now I played it, and it appears that there is damage to either the CD or to that cut, even though none is visible. )Part of it sounds over-dubbed.) I have some friends who do that kind of repair- I'll see if they can retrieve it.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Crime of the D'Autremont Brothers
From: GUEST,Jim Dautremont, first cousin once-removed of
Date: 25 Feb 05 - 10:24 PM

Yo Mark Ross --

    I would like to share some stuff with you about my cousins. They weren't ALL bad! The killings were not planned. It was "All for Nothing" as a book about the events explains. Please contact me.

               Best regards,

               Jim Dautremont

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Crime of the D'Autremont Brothers
From: Mark Cohen
Date: 26 Feb 05 - 01:21 AM

Ebbie, if you happen to see Jinx, say hello for me. I saw him in 2000 at Singtime Frolics. It was wonderful to catch up with all my Oregon folkie friends back then, just as it was to catch up with my Bay Area folkie friends at Harmony this year.

I looked all through my old cassette tapes, and couldn't find Jinx' "Oregon Country." Found some other great stuff, though...

Aloha,
Mark

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Crime of the D'Autremont Brothers
From: Mark Ross
Date: 26 Feb 05 - 11:29 AM

Jim.
Would love to talk to you. My e-mail is

[e-mail]

Mark Ross

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Crime of the D'Autremont Brothers
From: GUEST,Robert Bechtel
Date: 14 Nov 07 - 01:23 PM

Would like to learn more about cousin who was still living in 1977
This is in connection with article I read in philatelic magazine.

I believe I met your cousin, in Dallas Or. Was he at any point in a
nursing home there?

[e-mail]


Thanks 775-289-6560

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Crime of the D'Autremont Brothers
From: GUEST,Charles Bushong
Date: 01 May 09 - 09:47 AM

Charles Johnson was my maternal grandfather. Mom sometimes talks of "Daddy and Uncle Paul," but we only learned a few years ago that they'd had fame outside Ohio. I'm named for him.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Crime of the D'Autremont Brothers
From: GUEST
Date: 06 Oct 09 - 02:35 PM

i would love to speak to Charles Bushong or Jim who are related to the twins. I am from Ashland Oregon and am researching this incident. I can be contacted at [e-mail]. I am currently residing in London, England and would like to write about this incident.

Lisa

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Crime of the D'Autremont Brothers
From: GUEST,Clinton Dautremont
Date: 02 Apr 10 - 12:52 PM

Well I am also related the the brothers. I live in Alberta, Canada.
I would be interested in corisponding with you on the topic, as I am Also interested in this. I have found some information on the brothers. Please let me know if we could discuss this topic. thank you.


Clinton Dautremont


[e-mail]

Subject: Lyr Add: THE DeAUTREMONT BROTHERS (Jinx Davis)
From: GUEST,amore
Date: 05 Jun 10 - 09:07 PM

Hey,
I have a crazy connection to this song as well. One of my dad's great old friends who used to work as a hospice nurse actually cared for Ray DeAutremont as he was dying from cancer. Jinx Davis' wife was also a hospice nurse with my dad's friend Jan and that is how he came across the story...straight from the source.

I love this real outlaw story, and Jinx Davis' song is fantastic so a while ago I did my best to transcribe it.

If anyone is still checking this post I hope they enjoy it.


THE DeAUTREMONT BROTHERS
By Jinx Davis
Album: Oregon Country

It was early October in 1923.
Oh, high up in the Siskiyou, the eagle she flew free.
While forests they was tinder dry, and little sign of rain,
The DeAutremont brothers they set out to rob a train.

Now Hughy was the youngest boy. the twins were Roy and Ray,
And they was young and desperate as they set out that day.
High against the sky so blue the eagle could be seen,
While the boys they sat there waiting by the tunnel called Thirteen.

Now the train they called the Gold Special was headed south that day.
Pullin' out of Ashland, it was rolling on its way,
Climbing through the Siskiyous and heading for the top,
And as the train rolled slowly by, up Hugh him and Roy did hop.

Well, they ran up aboard that train and brought it to a stop
Inside the tunnel called Thirteen just as she reached the top.
Ray he grabbed the dynamite to blast the mail-car door,
And down the mountains and the canyons you could hear the roar.

Well, the blast ripped the mail-car door. It killed the mail clerk too.
The fire raged. the smoke poured out. Ray turned a pale hue.
Knew that he had ruined the job, he made an awful sound.
And the brakeman stumbled through the smoke, Ray gunned him down.

Then Hugh and Roy they panicked too, and they killed the engineer.
They also gunned the fireman down whilst he was standing near.
All three brothers took off running down the mountainside.
Just stumbling and a-lookin' for a place that they could hide.

In Medford and Ashland and the little towns around,
Posses they was forming up where able men were found.
Sheriff says, "We'll catch 'em, boys, and justice will be done.
Now grab your guns and hunting dawgs. We'll get 'em on the run."

But the brothers knew the mountains well. They made their getaway.
Shaking hands then, they split up. Each went his separate way.
For four long years the lawmen searched the country up and down.
Finally they brought them in. Each brother had been found.

Well, they brought them back to Medford. The jury had their say,
For murder of the railroad men that black October day.
Sent up to Salem to the penitentiary.
When the boys walked through the gates, they threw away the key.

And the years rolled by and Hugh died, Roy he went insane.
Now Roy's only prison is the one inside his brain.
Ray grew old and weary till they finally let him go.
Now he has desires to watch the shadows grow.

In memory of railroad men in Oregon today,
They still recall the murders of the railroad crew that day.
The uselessness in wasted life, where not one thing was gained.
In tunnel 13 on that day when death in fire rained.

And down in southern Oregon up in the Siskiyous,
In autumn when the nights grow cold and the leaves turn many hues,
Eagle she's still soaring there against the sky so blue.
She hardly ever worries about the crazy things men do.

[Repeat first verse]

[End]