On August 5, 1900, the Jones Brothers, using the names Gould and Howard, boarded a Union Pacific train in Lake Station, 15 miles east of Limon, Colorado, and robbed passengers in two sleeper cars and murdered passenger William S. Fay, who was armed and apparently had tried to stop the robberies. One robber shot Fay in the mouth, killing him, then sprayed his berth with four more shots. They jumped off the train near Hugo, Colorado, 108 miles from Goodland, They walked to Flagler, Colorado, 34 miles from Hugo, and hopped aboard Rock Island's No. 94 train into Goodland. Brakeman Charley Stryker forced them to get off at the southwest edge of Goodland.

 

The turn of the century's equivalent to an all-points bulletin had been issued. All law enforcement agencies and media to the east and west were notified to watch out for the desperadoes. However, the news did not reach Earl and Lillian Bartholomew on their farm northeast of Goodland. On August 7, the brothers arrived the Bartholomew farm. The family was completely ignorant of their visitors' identity, but they refused to allow the brothers food and shelter. The robbers said they were from Iowa headed to California. They were carrying guns for protection from tramps. They asked for a few days' stay. Finally, the family relented and the pair bedded down in the Bartholomew kitchen. They refused to go into Goodland, saying that their clothes were too ragged for them to appear in public. Instead, they paid Bartholomews' son to go into town and buy a newspaper each day.