Anders Anderson (1866-1899) was an American outlaw from Louisiana who led the notorious Anderson Boys gang during the late 19th century. In 1899, he was captured and hanged by the town authorities of Rhodes.
Biography[]
Anders Anderson was born in Sweden in 1866, and he emigrated to the United States at a young age and settled in Louisiana. He became the leader of a gang of notorious robbers and kidnappers, the Anderson Boys, in the Rhodes area, and, in 1899, he and his men were captured in Scarlett Meadows. They later picked the lock on their prison cart as Sheriff Leigh Gray and deputy Archibald MacGregor were inadvertently distracted by the disguised outlaws Dutch van der Linde (claiming to be "Hoagy McIntosh"), Hosea Matthews, and Arthur Morgan (claiming to be "Arthur Callahan"), but Dutch - hoping to be ingratiated with the local lawmen - sent Arthur to help MacGregor capture the fugitives. Anderson and his men hopped aboard a train in an attempt to flee, but one of them was killed when a crane struck him in the head, and Arthur succeeded in beating down the others. He cornered Anderson inside of a boxcar with a locked door, beating him down after a tough fight and snapping his neck in the process. However, Morgan believed that Anderson was still alive, and he brought his body back to MacGregor, after which they rode to Rhodes and delivered Anderson to the local jail. Anderson was later hanged for his crimes.