Loomis Gang

The Loomis Gang was a family of outlaws who operated in central New York 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 Massachusetts Bay Colony from England in the early 17th century. The first Loomis was highly respected.

George Washington Loomis married Rhoda Marie Mallet, daughter of an officer in the French Revolutionary army. Her father had embezzled money from the state and fled to the United States with his family to avoid arrest. The senior Mallet was eventually arrested and sent to prison in 1812.

Loomis and Rhoda, described as a beautiful woman, settled in Madison County in 1802, near the "Nine-Mile Swamp." They had a large family together, and many of their sons became criminals. It was said that Mrs. Loomis told her children: "You may steal, but if you are caught, you shall be whipped." In addition to training her children to lives of crime, Mrs. Loomis also saw to their education in other ways; they were all well-schooled. The leader of the children, George Loomis, Jr., known as "Wash," had an apprenticeship to "read law" in a lawyer's office for a time but did not find it as exciting as the other side of the law.

The sons specialized in theft of horses and livestock rustling, but did not stick to those activities. They also dealt in stolen goods, burglaries, and counterfeit money. The Loomis family was the nucleus of a gang 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.

For many years, the Loomises were also 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 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 Loomises' debt or afraid of them. Anybody who complained to the law about the Loomises' activities ran the risk of mysterious fires on their property, and the Loomises always had plausible alibis.

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