Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1873-08-27
No. 43.
L. NLESSNESS
Railroad Robbers at Work ia syig-
souri,.

LAWRENCE, KAN, AUG. 2I.--Dn,
of our merchants, Mr.. W Tignmon:
! gives US the following account of I
fight between the passengers and I
gang Of rufians on the Missouri pa
clhc Railroad last night, in whicl, hs
| participated. It occurred on train No
| /, from St Louis, which reaches Kan.
sas City about Ii o'clock at night.
The passengers had taken supper at
Sedalia, and the train was Within some
miles Of Ho!don, when the engineer
sounded an alarm, and the train cane
to a halt Some distractions were
found on the track, and, while they
were being removed, gang of eight
or ten rufians got into the forward
eud of rear car, As soon as the train
started the conductor, Mr.. Hall, came
into the car and called for their fares
They refused to pay. said they were
vigilance committee in search ct
horse>th thieves, and that they were so
ing to search the passengers. The
conductor told them that they could
DO no searching on that train without
proper authority They sworo they
would, and displayed their weapons;
said they had come prepared. The
conductor Immediately turned to the
passengers and said that If sahicienE
number of them were armed to stand
by him he would see that the villains
were thwarted, as their evident pun
pose was robbery Mr. simmons
Immediately drew bis revolver, and
said that, for one, be woufd stand by
the conductor. Other gentlemen folow-
ed his example, until there were if
teen passengers with drawn revolgers
in the rear end Of the car, headed by
the conductor, confronting the gang
Of rufEans. The women and the ',ou-
combatants made for the forward cars,
and were suffered by the ruffians to
pass. The determined bearing Of the
passengers aWed the scouadre!s, apd,
while they were parleying and appar-
emily undecided as to what to do,
Holden was reached, and the train
stopped The rai1ians then moved IN
a bodyto leave the car. The passen-
gers, fearing they would Gre upoa
them through the windows, followed
them closely. Once upon the plat
form, one of the gang turned upon
the passengers and began to curse them
for set Of towards, saying that they
dare not'fre a shot; that they were
the abetters of ae-thieves, etc, and,
putting bis band to his hip, drew his
revolver, but before he could bring
his hand to level enc of the passen~
gers SHOT him twice, full in the breast
The fellow fell dead in bis tracks.
The others fed, amid shower Of balls,
| which brought second one down, ap-
parently dead. The passengers then
picked up the dead man, laid him
by the depot door. put his pistol on his
breast. jumped aboard the train and
it rapidly speeded- them away.
Az Independence they received "a
dispatch that the second one shot WAS
wounded, but not killed.- The con-
ductor said that this was the third
occasion upon which his train had
been boarded by this OF similar gang
on the pretencs Of hunsing for horse
thieves, but really for the paspose Of
plnnder.
There is no4doubt the ruAians are
| the remnants Of the old bushWhaeking
gangs which infested that part OF
Missouri during the war. Each man
Was heavily armed with two navy-re-
volyers. A. few doses each as they
received GA Wednesday, night will
probably p.ut a stop to the business ;
but it is net every traveller who likes
to wage hand-to-hand fight with a
set of desperadoes>
| kansas CITY. AUG 2l.-A bod
attempt was made last evening to cap
ture the. pay-car Of the Hannibal &St-
Joseph Railroad, between Cameron
and this city. The engineer, when :
few miles out from Cameron, saw j
gang Of men piling lies on the track
Reversing his engine at once, he pu
back into Cameron. This mornins
guard went out from this city Il
escort the car to this place. For !
long time back horses have been sesE
tied to trees near the railroad between
Breckinridge and Cameron. The,
were observed to be wen-kept horses
and fast travelling stock. The Com
pany having received information tia
, 40 attempt would soon be made upoi
, one Of their freight trains, sharl
, watch has been kept for the robbers
It is thought this is the same gan,
who robbed the Rock Island train /
, Iowa few days ago. Most Of IL
, gang live near this city, and are vel
I known desperadoes.
/ Another attempt was made nigh
before last to capture or damage tha
. train Of the Atlantic & Pacific Roa
north of Leavenworth. There wei
several shots fred at the engineer, an
nearly every window in his cap VI;
= broken hy bullets No clue is vel o