author

George W. Agee

Best remembered for a vivid true-crime account of the outlaw Rube Burrow, this late 19th-century writer brought an insider’s view to one of the South’s most famous manhunts. His work mixes brisk storytelling with the perspective of a railroad-and-express official who had firsthand knowledge of the chase.

1 Audiobook

Rube Burrow, king of outlaws, and his band of train robbers : An accurate and faithful history of their exploits and adventures

Rube Burrow, king of outlaws, and his band of train robbers : An accurate and faithful history of their exploits and adventures

by George W. Agee

About the author

George W. Agee is identified by Project Gutenberg as George Washington Agee, and he is known for Rube Burrow, King of Outlaws, and His Band of Train Robbers. The book presents itself as an "accurate and faithful history" of Burrow’s exploits and was dedicated to Agee’s fellow workers in the express service.

The strongest surviving details about his career come from the book itself and later historical references. In the text, Agee is described as Superintendent of the Western Division of the Southern Express Company. A scholarly article on Rube Burrow also notes that he was instrumental in organizing efforts to capture Burrow, which helps explain the book’s confident, close-up tone.

Clear biographical information about Agee’s wider life appears to be limited online, so the safest picture is of a working professional turned chronicler: someone who used direct experience in the express business to tell a fast-moving story about crime, pursuit, and the rail lines of the late 1800s American South.