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of the gang, who had become the constable of
Sangerfield; in the conflict, Wash Loomis was killed. At first, the gang tried to carry on as before, but people had lost much of their fear of the outlaws' power. In 1866, another mob attacked their farm, burning the house and half-hanging Amos "Plumb" Loomis, in retaliation for depredations that had been laid at their door. After that, the Loomises went downhill fast; they lost their farm to tax arrears and faded into obscurity. Rhoda, Denio, and Cornelia spent their final years at
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helped ensure that the locals would not be willing to give evidence against the Loomis Gang to outside authorities attempting to gather evidence against the family and its associates. Most people were either in the Loomis' debt or afraid of them. Anybody who complained to the law about the Loomis' activities ran the risk of mysterious fires on their property, and the Loomis Gang always had plausible alibis.
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convenient location for storing stolen goods. The Loomis Gang avoided conviction, due to confusion about who had stolen what and who owned what goods, but Wash decided to leave the vicinity for a while. Along with thousands of other men, he migrated West to try his luck in the
California gold fields during the
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George
Washington Loomis, through the influence of his wife, Rhoda Marie Mallet, was considered to have disgraced the entire Loomis family in America, by that time quite large. Virtually every relative for the next hundred years took great pains to distance themselves and their own families from the
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A legend in the neighborhood of their farm is that Wash Loomis' last words predicted violent death to any non-Loomis person who tried to own their farm. Other legends speak of Wash Loomis' ghost appearing, portending death to someone, and of spectral horsemen riding the roads on
October nights for
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In 1865, things rapidly came to a head. Many men from the area were veterans of the Union Army, and four years of war had made them less willing to yield to the gang's intimidation and bullying. A mob attacked the Loomis farm under the direction of James
Filkins, a blacksmith and outspoken opponent
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Wash became the head of the Loomis crime organization in the early 1840s. He expanded the organization into a multi-state syndicate, which consisted of regions north, south, east, and west of their farm. Bill Loomis managed the northern region in
Hastings Center; he directed a ring of horse thieves
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In 1849, exasperated local people managed to obtain official sanction for a large raid on the Loomis farmstead, finding twelve sleigh-loads of stolen goods. The Loomis Gang had become overconfident, keeping the goods at their farm rather than hiding them in the nearby Nine-Mile Swamp, which was a
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For many years, the Loomis Gang was careful to cultivate the goodwill of their neighbors; they generally did not steal from people who lived near them. When their neighbors suffered from thefts, those who went to the Loomis farm for help often received aid in recovering their property. This aid
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Occasionally a member of the Loomis family or an associate would be arrested. However, between bribed officials, the Loomis' excellent lawyers, and their willingness to make sure that inconvenient paperwork or evidence disappeared, they almost always avoided conviction.
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A few years later, Wash returned, and the Loomis Gang was back in business. Gang members had kept a low profile while he was gone, since he was the acknowledged brains of the outfit. Despite increased pressure from people such as
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and sold the horses in Canada. Grove Loomis managed a ring of horse thieves in the southern region while an associate, Bill
Rockwell, led a similar set up in the western region. Wash directed activities in the eastern region.
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George
Washington Loomis Sr. (1779–1851) and his wife Rhoda Mallet (1793–1887), are considered to be the founders of the Loomis Gang of outlaws. Rhoda was the daughter of Zachariah Mallet, an officer in the
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composed of youths from their area, as well as criminal elements from elsewhere. They were successful enough, both in crime and legitimate agriculture, to be able to buy protection from the authorities.
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The Loomis family descendants may be found in
Central New York to this day. Many are proud of their descent from what was, in its time, the largest family criminal syndicate in the United States.
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army. He had embezzled money from the French government, and fled to the United States with his family to avoid arrest. He was arrested and sent to prison in 1812.
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was descended from the Loomis family and supposedly changed his name from Loomis to Weston, his mother's name, to distance himself from the criminal gang.
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during the mid-19th century. The patriarch of the gang, George
Washington Loomis, was a descendant of the immigrant Joseph Loomis , who arrived in the
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in various ways, mainly by large-scale horse theft for sale to the Union Army.
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371:"INLAWS AND OUTLAWS, A TALE OF TWO HOMESTEADS: THE LOOMIS FAMILY IN AMERICA"
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http://www.watervillepl.org/files/2013/05/LoomisGang1877.pdf
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Frontier Justice: The Rise and Fall of the Loomis Gang
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In 1806, Loomis Sr. bought property in Hubbardsville,
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393:Luskey, Brian P.; Woloson, Wendy A. (2015).
50:Learn how and when to remove these messages
305:revelry where the Loomis farm once stood.
180:Learn how and when to remove this message
162:Learn how and when to remove this message
107:Learn how and when to remove this message
204:from England in the early 17th century.
196:was a family of outlaws who operated in
70:This article includes a list of general
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397:. University of Pennsylvania Press.
134:tone or style may not reflect the
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445:Outlaw gangs in the United States
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144:guide to writing better articles
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39:or discuss these issues on the
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309:highly distasteful matter.
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418:History of the Loomis Gang
450:Gangs in New York (state)
357:Luskey & Woloson 2015
345:Luskey & Woloson 2015
333:Luskey & Woloson 2015
235:The sons specialized in
202:Massachusetts Bay Colony
405:by E. Fuller Torrey, MD
138:used on Knowledge (XXG)
91:more precise citations.
427:Loomis Family History,
395:Capitalism by Gaslight
142:See Knowledge (XXG)'s
429:by Norman R. Cowen –
411:by George W. Walter.
271:California Gold Rush
228:with a local judge.
215:French Revolutionary
291:Hastings, New York
283:American Civil War
415:The New York Sun,
314:Ezra Loomis Pound
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245:counterfeit
226:reading law
194:Loomis Gang
152:August 2015
89:introducing
439:Categories
347:, pp.17–18
320:References
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312:The poet
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241:rustling
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380:9 July
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297:Legacy
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