The Indiana State sentinel., 1874-02-10
GAD'S HILL


count of the recent robbery of the train on
the Iron Mountain road at Gad's Hill, Mis-
souri,. The conductors story is: Train No.
z. Little Rock express, left st. Louis Satur-
day morning at O'Clock, and arrived at
Gad's Hill, l20 miles from st. Louis,
at quarter to 5 p. NJ, nearly an
hour behind the time, being due there
at 6 minutes after p. M We aIways
stop at Gad's Hill, although there is no sta
ton house, but simply a platform. The
place Is in the woods, has but two or three
houses, and there was once a sawmil. in op-
Grafton there. Our tram c5mprised the mail,
express and baggage-all in the same car
The train consisted of two coaches and
sleeping-car. On arriving at Gad's Hill there
were about twenty-five passengers on the
train, going through to Little Rock, Hot
Springs, and points beyond. On nearing the
place saw some people on the platform,
and one of them waved red flag
as signal of danger ahead. On coming up
TO the platform, the train was balted, and
the switch on the south was turned on the
side-track while the switch on our rear was
also thrown on the side-track as quick as we
passed 1t. so that the train could not move
forward or run back. Soon the indications
showed the true condition of matters. A
number of persons were on the platform un-
der guard, and it was ascertained that all
the residents of the place, including boys
and piCls, had been captured. They were
SdtucIou dDOuI n nTo III L06 open air 10 Keep
them warm. 1t turned out that the place was
in possession of five desperadoes, three
of whom were armed with double barrel
guns, and all had navy revolvers. As soon
as got there, on seeing the red flag,
jumped off the train, thinking that the track
was torn up. A man advanced and caught
me by the collar and stuck pistol in nv
face. He was least six feet in height and
wore mask on his face composed of white
cloth, like handkerchief, and the lower
portion was tucked in his bosom. There
were holes for his eyes and nose. / was a
little surprised but understood his object
when he shouted, on thrusting his pistol in
my face:
''sTAND STILL OR I'LL BLOW THE TOP OF YOUR
HEAD OFF,"
He at the same time yelled out: eff a shot Is
fred out of the car will kill the conductor" !"
By this time two ofthe ruffians, masked all
alike, went to the engineer and fiteman of
the train and made them come down. An
other Of the robbers, also masked and armed,
took position on the opposite side OF the
train, and as any of the passengers stuck
their heads out ofthe windows, he drew a
bead on them with double-barreled shot
gun, and shouted: "Take your heads
summons which they thought
prudent to obey, or take the contents of
his gun. The captured engineer and fire.
man were brought to the platform where 1
was held prisoner, and were told to stand
there or they would be shot. The robbers
then ordered the brakeman and baggage
man to stand beside me. Two of the despe-
radoes then went into mail-room of the bag
gage car, and accosting the mail agent, de-
manded the registered packages. They then
rummaged over the packages, tore them op-
en-, threw them on the floor, and then plac-
ed the mail agent in company with the
crowd under guard. They then went
made him give up his keys
and his pistol. The express messenger had
his pistol drawn on one of the robbers, but
another one of the gang covered him with a
shotgun, and was ready to blow his head
off had he not Immediately surrendered.
The robbers next went to the safe and took
out the money packages. They overhauled
one package marked 'watch," opened it and,
finding it was silver time-piece, threw it
down on the floor. At this time the gang
was disposed as follows: There were two of
them in the baggage car rumaging among
the money packages and valuables, one
standing guard on each side of the train, and
guarding us near the platform. They
looked through the boxes, broke open nv
satchel, and took therefrom my pistol. They
then started through the train,
In this operation they were boisterous, and
punched some of them in the ribs and face
with their pistols, ordering them to give up
There were twelve or fifteen gold watches on
the train and only one was taken. They
took my gold watch, but the baggage master
said: "For Gods sake! you won't take it,
for it is present" ;" and the watch was given
back to me. They got away with four or five
pistols in all. They didn't bother the bag
gage in the least. Besides what they robbed
izen Of Gad's Hill, and also his rife. They
did not appear to be under the influence of
liquor, but were very noisy. They would
exclaim: "Giye me your pistol you son of a
b--h, you've got more money than
all that comes to!" "Shell out
With such threats and calculations, Colonel
Morley, chief engineer of the Cairo and Full
ton II. r. expostulated and made an effort
to remove some of the property, but pistol
was showed in his face, and he was told to
sit down and mind his business. 1 asked
could go on with the train. They said yes.
They allowed me to shut up the switch in
the front and the switch in the
rear was closed by the brakeman. A
member of the legislature got off here to 60
to his home, and found his son, who came
to meet him, under guard OF the robbers.
I don't think the legislator was rob-
the robbers shook hands with the
engineer, VIM. Wetton, and told him when
ever he saw red flag out he ought to stop.
Tney then strolled off to thier horses, tied
up about hundred yards distant, and rode
out of sight before we got under way. They
went southwark. think they are a regular
set of robbers, and am positive that they are
the same gang wt4 robbed the coach at Hot
Springs, and probably were among the Iowa
mail train robbers: 1t was ascertained that
they took dinner on Tuesday at Moaks,
near the state line, and also at Mill Springs
on Friday, the day before the robbery of
our train. They left special dispatch with
a passenger of the sleeping car for the st.
Louis Dispatch, which referred to the
about the Hot springs
this contained a true account
of the present affair. 1t il evident that
they are men used to the business. One of
them, when robbing the express messenger.
entered on the book "Robbed at Gad's
Hill," and remarked that he had signed that
book before. Before our arrival they had
been at Gad's Hill a couple of hours, and
were with US about forty minutes. The re-
suit was that they took in all about 81 800