Mar 30, 1896--Morris Slater, who was better known as "Railroad Bill", was America's most infamous black train robber.  He frequently robbed people and freight cars on the L&N, primarily between Hurricane Bayou and Bay Minette between 1894-1896. He was a turpentine worker at Bluff Springs until he exchanged gunshots with a deputy from Pensacola one day in 1894. He thereafter conducted robberies on L&N trains and shared his loot with fellow blacks he met.  In his brief "career", he wounded two brakemen, became engaged in a gunfight with about a dozen railroad employees at hurricane bayou, killed a deputy named James Stewart at Bay Minette, killed Sheriff McMillan at Bluff Springs and was killed at Atmore in March 1896. In the 1920s he became an item of folklore, and a Negro ballad emerged titled ":Railroad Bill." It swept the south. Carl Carmer in his classic book, "Stars Fell on Alabama," dedicated a chapter to him. He was often written about in retrospective local newspaper articles. In fact, when John Lennon met Paul McCarthy for the first time, John was performing at Woolton with a new band he called The Quarymen. One of the songs he sang that day was "Railroad Bill." Mar 30, 1896--The Daily News (Pensacola) Monday His Body will be Buried in St. John's Cemetery this Afternoon. The last scene in the history of the notorious Railroad Bill will be enacted at St. John's cemetery at 4:30 o'clock this afternoon, at which time his body will be buried. The burial will be made under the direction of the undertaker, Mr. John G. Wood, who embalmed the body, and will be witnessed by Mayor Anderson. Mar 31, 1896-The Daily News Pensacola Tuesday Burial of Railroad Bill. As announced by The News yesterday, the body of Railroad Bill was buried in St. John's cemetery yesterday afternoon, in the presence of Mayor Anderson, Mr. Wood, the undertaker, and two colored grave diggers. Before removing the body to the cemetery the coffin was opened and the dead man's rifle and pistol taken out. These weapons are stained with blood. The wood of the pistol handle is shot away and the butt of the rifle is splintered where it was struck by a ball. Mr. Wood says that the body was in an excellent state of preservation.