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Tom Burns was born in Boston Massachusetts in 1854. Not much is known of his early life or exactly when he headed west. He would end up in southern California where on March 9, 1881 Burns attempted to shoot a man in Visalia, California but only shot off the man’s sombrero.
He was arrested for assault with a deadly weapon and sentenced to two years in San Quentin prison. He was released in January of 1883. By 1886 he was known to be in Arizona where he would work as a shotgun messenger for Wells Fargo before returning to California.
In 1893 he was working for the Morse Detective agency in San Francisco, California. While working in California two desperados John Sontag and Chris Evans were making a name for themselves robbing trains in the San Joaquin Valley. They had eluded capture and killed several lawmen who had attempted to catch them.
There was a generous reward offered for their capture. The Morse Detective Agency took an interest in the case. They sent one of their operatives, Samuel Black to investigate. In May of 1893 they sent Burns to assist Black in an undercover operation. This is where Burns would get his reputation as fearless and a “bad” man.
To understand how Burns reputation was made from the pursuit of the Sontag and Evans gang, one must learn about the ruthless actions and reputations of Sontag and Evans.
John Sontag was born in Minnesota in the 1860s. He had been a brakeman for the Southern Pacific Railroad when he was involved in an accident where one of his ankles was crushed when it was caught between two rail cars.
He was let go by the company immediately after the accident and did not receive compensation for his injury. He would walk with a limp from then on. From then on, he harbored animosity towards the railroad. Chris Evans had been born in Vermont and was a simple farm laborer in California.
He was married with seven children and well liked in the area. George Sontag was John’s brother and had been born in Minnesota in the 1860s as well.
The gangs first train robbery was in Pixley, California in February 1889. Evans and John Sontag used dynamite to blow up the express car of the southern Pacific Passenger Train #19.
During the robbery, the Brakeman Harry Grabert and Deputy Sheriff Ed Bentley of Modesto California approached the bandits. Grabert was killed by a shotgun blast and Bentley was wounded in the arm. The gang got away with $5,000. On January 24, 1890 they robbed the Southern Pacific Passenger Train #19 of $20,000.
The robbery was near Goshen, California. They killed a man who had approached them right after the blast. It turned out to be a hobo in the wrong place at the wrong time. On September 13, 1891 the gang attempted to rob Southern Pacific Passenger Train #19 again near Goshen, California.
They blew up the door of the express car except this time two railroad express messengers were armed and waiting. They shouted to the gang that they would shoot anyone who tried to come in. Another stick of dynamite was thrown into the express car but turned out to be a dud.
Two railroad detectives, Len Harris and J. Lawson were passengers on the train. They ran to the front of the train and exchanged shots with the gang members. The gang fled with no money but they had severely wounded Detective Harris.
John Sontag and Evans went east and met up with George Sontag. They robbed the Western Union Station in Chicago of $4,800 on November 5, 1891. They were suspected of robbing a stage in Minnesota as well. Pinkerton agents were put on their trail following this robbery.
Near Collis, California, Southern Pacific Passenger Train #17 was their next target on August 3, 1892. The three masked men entered the engine by climbing over the tender. They ordered the crew at gunpoint to stop the train.
They then dynamited the express car seriously wounding the express messenger. Their haul was $15,000. A posse was formed and was soon joined by 12 railroad detectives. The detectives had been ordered to find the bandits at all cost.
Detective Will Smith and Deputy Sheriff George Witty had received information that George Sontag had been talking about the robbery while drinking in a local saloon. They talked with Sontag and under the guise of wanting to have Sontag identify a suspect at the jail, walked him to the jail and then arrested him.
Witty and Smith then went to the cabin of Chris Evans to obtain George Sontag’s property and interrogate John Sontag and Evans. As they approached the Evan’s place they saw John Sontag enter the cabin.
At the door of the cabin they were greeted by one of Evan’s daughters. They asked her if John Sontag was here and she told them no. They called the young girl a liar and stepped into the cabin to talk with Evans about John Sontag. As they began to question Evans about Sontag’s whereabouts, Sontag entered the room from the bedroom holding a shotgun pointed at the lawmen.
Unable to draw their weapons, Witty and Smith ran out through the open door followed by Sontag and Evans. Evans had grabbed his shotgun and both he and Sontag opened fire wounding both Smith and Witty. Smith ran away while Witty fell in the yard. Evans had drawn his pistol and could have finished off Witty in the yard but chose not too.
Evans and Sontag then drove away in the buggy that Witty and Smith had ridden in on. Smith would be vilified in the newspapers for running away while his partner lay on the ground. He was called a coward by the papers and a few lawmen.
The following evening, Sontag and Evans returned to the cabin to get horses and supplies. A posse formed by Dan Overall and four men surrounded the barn. The other members of the posse were Charlie Hall, W.H. Fox, Detective Thacker and Oscar Beaver.
Around one in the morning, Deputy Sheriff Oscar Beaver of Tulare County approached the barn and kicked in the door firing two shots killing one of the horses. Sontag fired back with his shotgun killing Beaver.
Both Evans and Sontag began firing at the posse members who ran and hid behind cover. Evans and Sontag escaped in the dark and fled into the hills.
The House Party Shootout as it became known led to the largest manhunt in California history. Over 300 men were searching for Sontag and Evans now that they knew who they were.
There was a $10,000 reward offered by Wells Fargo and the Southern Pacific Railroad.Sontag and Evans had fled into the Sierra Nevada Mountains. Deputy U.S. Marshal Victor C.
Wilson reported, “The woods were so full of man-hunters that at least eleven deputies were seriously wounded by other officers. Anyone who went deer hunting during this time was in danger of being shot by over-zealous posses.” Sontag and Evans received help from their friends and neighbors in the San Joaquin Valley.
The Southern Pacific Railroad was hated by many people in the valley. Settlers had been homesteading in the area for years. Many small farmers and ranchers had been run off their land or forced to sell at unfair prices by the railroad.
Some had been killed resisting eviction. Many still remembered the Muscle Slough Incident in which five settlers were killed by a Marshal and his “railroad” men and two people on the side of the Marshal in the Central Valley of California in 1880.
The people of the San Joaquin Valley had no issues with helping the train robbers with information, food, supplies and even ammunition. Even with the high reward no one was coming forth with information.
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