The Cass County Republican. [volume] (Dowagiac, Mich.) 18??-1880, 1859-06-02

From the Cleveland National Democrat May 20. ]
Daring Attempt by Night to Rob the
southern and Western Mafls--Desperate
and Bloody Combat between the Robber
and g Through Mail Agent',-.TeTrific
Leap OF the RObber down an Embank-
ment one Hundred Feet!
| Last evening we learned the particu-
lars of one of the most daring attempts
to rob the mails ever attempted in this
country, and which came near being
successful. The Western and Southern
mails which lett New York Wednesday
evening last by way Of N. Y. & E.
Railroad, were in charge of Mr.. Keck,
through Mail Agent from New York
to Cincinnati. About IL o'clock at
night, when running over the Delaware
Division, near Elmyra, Mr.. Keck lay
down on his back upon the mail bags
to sleep, the door being partially open.
After dosing short time he felt drop
of something like water fall upon his
neck, and opening his eyes dowsily he
was startled by the spectacle of burly-
looking man standing over him with a
sponge, which was afterwards found to
contain cliioroform, in one hand, and a
revolver in the other. Selling the arm
which held the revolver, with sudden
grasp, Mr.. Keck closed in with the
robber, and then followed a most des-
perate combat The Agent is a large,
robust and powerful man, and he repre-
sents his antagonist as being man of
uncommon physical strength and en-
durance, Imagine for one moment the
scene. A man in the mail car of an
Express train, in the dead of the night,
the noise of the wheels efectually pre-
venting any cutlery he might make,
being heard, and thus unable to obtain
aid or assistance from any quarter,
struggling alone for his life with des-
perado, with whom the combat seemed
alike one of life and death.
Mr.. Keck succeeded in wrestling the
pistol from his antagonist, when the
latter attempted to strike him with a
pair of brass knuckles with which he
was provided. The struggle lasted for
full twenty minutes, the train mean
while being under full Roadway, when
Mr.. Keck succeeded in catching hold
of the bell-cord and giving it strong
pull. The robber then made desperate
efforts to break away from the Agent,
and before the speed of the train had
Stacked very much he succeeded in
doing so, and sprang out of the door.
The train was stopped as soon as pos
sible, and backed to the spot where
the robber made the leap, which was
down an embankment one hundred feet
high! Although the sand bore traces
of his descent still nothing could be
found of the desperate. 1t was a
fearful leap, and the Agent said his
escape from death was nothing short of
a miracle.
Mr.. Keck passed through Cleveland
last evening, and having had no oppor-
tunity of changing his clothes he showed
all the evidences of the severe conflict
he had passed through. He was bloody
from head to foot, and bore numerous
sanguinary cuts and bruises on his per-
son. He has the sponge, revolver and
overcoat of the robber, which he will
retain as mementoes of the most ex-
citing event of his life. He can only
account for the presence of the robber
in the car in the following manner: He
says they received at New York two
separate loads Of mail bags, and thinks
the fellow got in and secreted himself
in the car after the arrival of the first
load. 1t was several hours before Mr..
Keck recovered from the effects of the
chloroform.