Mysteries of Warren County, Indiana: The Redwood Bandits

The Redwood Bandits are cloaked in the mysterious past of Warren County, Indiana.

The Redwood Bandits, Notorious Horse Thieves

Of Warren County, Indiana

Illustration Modified from Little Pets

(Chicago: Belford, Clarke & Co., Circa 1887)

In 1926, the Indiana Magazine of History published “Tri-County Historical Itinerary”—transcripts of talks that J. Wesley Whickcar (occasionally spelled Whicker) presented at intervals throughout a tour of historical sites in Warren County and neighboring counties in Indiana. At Kate’s Pond, Whickcar presented this information:

“The farmhouse that you see a few rods southeast of here [by Kate’s Pond] at the last turn in the road and off to the right is situated on a farm of one hundred and twenty acres including a portion of this lake. That house was the home of Dan Claflin who married one of the High girls, a sister to George High. Claflin and his wife were connected with the Redwood Bandits. They were married at Redwood Point in this county and they began housekeeping on the forty acres of land where the town of Pence now stands. This forty acres of land, out on the open prairie, and far removed from any other residence, became one of the most frequented places for both counterfeiters and horse thieves during the time that they flourished in Warren County. George High was finally captured at Redwood Point by Sant Grey [John Sanford Gray], the founder of the Horse Thief Detective Association, and the members of the Horse Thief Detective Association of both Warren and Fountain counties. Dan Claflin was shot through the hip, while George High made his escape. Dan Claflin and his wife and his sister-in-law, Iva High, who afterwards lived in Attica and owned an interest in this farm, and other members of the High family were convicted and sent to the penitentiary. At the expiration of their term, they bought this tract of one hundred and twenty acres of land, and both Dan Claflin and his wife died in that farmhouse.”

Ten years earlier, Whickcar had given a more detailed account of the Redwood Bandits in his book entitled Sketches of the Wabash Valley:

“Among the first settlers of Warren county were certain brothers by the name of High, who came from Pennsylvania and were thrifty, industrious people. … The Highs came into Warren county between 1826 and 1830, took up their claims from the government and became well acquainted with all the government lands on the prairies north of Redwood so their homes soon became the centers for the home-seekers who came into Warren county from the East. … Isaac High’s oldest son was George High. … Soon among the many settlers who had learned of the hospitality of the Highs there came many persons from the East and the South, who were criminals running away from the law of the eastern and southern states. George High became acquainted with many of those persons. Some of them as they came thru would steal horses in Ohio, Kentucky and other states and bring them into the Redwood neighborhood. Soon George High and his brothers and sisters became not only interested in protecting these horse thieves but George became the leader of an organized band of horse thieves and counterfeiters. They would bring their horses to near Portland, and cross the river in the neighborhood of Hanging Rock at the mouth of Redwood. Redwood was bordered by a dense thicket from where it empties into the Wabash river to the prairie, and if a horse once got across the river into the brush of Redwood the High organization was able to so secrete him that he would never be found. This organization grew until it had ramifications in almost every state in the East and South. Some of their members were on almost every boat that went down the Ohio or Mississippi rivers. They had a rendezvous on the Salt Fork of the Vermilion river and one at Bogus Island in what is known as the Gifford swamps in Jasper county. All the horses were first brought to Redwood Point. Some of them were taken from there to the Salt Fork of Vermilion and some were taken to Bogus Island. If they were taken to the Salt Fork of the Vermilion river they were then taken to Iowa, Kansas and Nebraska and sold; if taken to Bogus Island they were taken to Chicago, Wisconsin or Michigan and disposed of. All of the organization carried and dealt in counterfeit money. … Finally Sant Gray, of near Wesley, in Montgomery County, organized the Horse Thief Detective Association whose object and aim was to break up the horse thieves and counterfeiters of Redwood. He kept steadily at work until he had organizations all over Fountain, Warren and Montgomery counties. … They arrested George High, tied him on a horse and started to Williamsport with him. When they came to the steep bluff near the Sulphur Springs below Williamsport, George High, by some ruse, managed to get free from his bonds, leaped off his horse down the embankment where a confederate had his splendid stallion, Truxon, waiting for him, and mounting his horse he started west. The members of the association followed and the chase was a thrilling one. Out past his headquarters at Redwood High [he] went but did not stop there. Heading straight for the state line he soon crossed it. Undaunted his pursuers followed and clear across the state of Illinois the chase continued, with scarcely a stop for rest. When High reached the Mississippi river he was five hours ahead of his pursuers and Truxon was still so strong that his master did not hesitate to attempt to swim him across the great river. He was seen to enter the river near Nauvoo, Ill., but nobody knows whether he ever reacht [reached] the opposite shore. This was the last ever seen or heard of George High. … The detective who was pursuing [Dan Claflin] shot him thru the hips. Some of the High family were sent to state’s prison. Claflin and one of the High girls moved to Attica and afterwards Claflin moved on to a farm near Independence where he lived for many years. … [Claflin and his wife] made their home on the prairies where the town of Pence now stands [and later moved to the area of Kate’s Pond]. This organization of counterfeiters and horse thieves was a great menace in Fountain, Warren and Montgomery counties for many years. … Some of the best fortunes now enjoyed in Fountain and Warren counties had their foundation in this organization of outlaws.”

Beth High Rasmussen has added numerous details to Whickcar’s account, including Abraham Lincoln’s efforts to clear George High and the speculation that High was secretly hanged; her lengthy account can be viewed here: http://www.ingenweb.org/inwarren/Redwood_Gang.html.

Family Histories of Montgomery County, Indiana (Paducah: Turner, 1988) reports, “‘Captain’ Gray as he was known organized the Wabash Valley Detective Association in the [1840s]. This was a unit of the National Horse Thieves Detective Association, a vigilante group of men sworn to put a stop to horse thievery … . Capt. Gray was in charge … of the capture of the famous Redwood gang. In gratitude, the national Horse Thieves Detective Association erected a monument over his grave in Wesley Cemetery.”

In 1996, my father told me that John Edgerton had found a badge that had belonged to a member of Pine Village, Indiana’s Horse Thief Detective Assocation (HTDA). The governor commissioned these associations for towns throughout Indiana. Members were authorized to carry guns. My father remembered an HTDA contingent marching in Pine Village parades. By the 1920s, the HTDA’s reputation suffered when several chapters became associated with the KKK. According to HistoricIndianapolis.com, “By 1933, Indiana lawmakers had repealed all laws that gave the HTDA [law] enforcement powers. All such groups had dissolved by 1957, after horse thievery ‘had ceased to be a major problem.’” Not until the 1970s were the HTDA chapters officially abolished, when outdated laws were expunged from the books.

Badge of a Branch of the Horse Thief Detective Association