Holmes County Republican. [volume] (Millersburg, Holmes Co., O. [Ohio]) 1870-1895, 1874-02-05
= A REMARKABLE ROBBERY.

ST. LOUIS, January .31.-A- most
daring and successful robbery was
committed this evening on the Iron
Mountain Railway. AS the train
which left here at 9 AS A. NJ. came
in sight of, .Gad's hill station. 120
miles below here at 4:3O P. NJ, it
was signalled to stop. The switch
was turned and the train run on the
side track. As the train stopped,
Conductor Alfred stepped off to as
certain what the matter was, when
he was confronted by a man in a
mask, a pistol placed to his head and
he was marched off under guard.
The engineer, fireman, mail agent,
express messenger and other train
men were then seized by five mask
ed, heavily armed men and also
placed under guard. The robbers
then went through the entire train,
took from the passengers about two
thousand dollars, a large amount of
jewelry, from Adams express mes
senger over a thousand dollars and
rifed the mail. The robbers then
left in a southerly direction,and af
ter the release of the train men the
train started southwark, The rob-
bers left q note on board the train,
Of which the following is a copy,
the original being now in the pos
session of Conductor Afford: a,
"The most daring robbery on
record. The south bound tram on
the Iron Mountain Railroad was
robbed here this evening by five
heavily armed men and robbed of
- dollars. The robbers arrived
at the station a few minutes before
the arrival of the train and arrested
the agent and put him under guard
and then threw the train on the
switch. The robbers were all large
men, none of them being under six
feet tall. They were allmasked and
started in q southeriy direction. AZ
ter they had robbed the train all
mounted on fine blooded horses.p
The robbers offered no violence
to any one on the train and did no
harm to the train men. mis- 81
Further particulars of the. train
robbery at Gad's Hill last evening
are to the effect that the robbers real
purpose in stopping the train was
ta rob Mr.. Staunchfeld, Secretary
of the Clearwater Lumber Company,
who they expected would be on the
train with $4,000, but he was not
aboard. After the robbers had seiz-.
ed Conductor Afford and the other
train men and placed them under
guard, one of the gang passed along
the line of the train fourishing pis-
tolls and commanded the passengers
to keep quiet or they would kill the
conductor and engineer. Part Of
the band then robbed the express
and mail, taking only money. and af-
terwards plunaering the passengers.
There were only twelve male pas
sengers, five ladies and several chill
dren on the train. The total amount
of money obtained, including $I,0S0|
from the express, was $2,344 They
took only gold watches from passen-
gers and returned those Of General
Morely, who was Oh the train.
and Conductor Afford, because they
had their names engraved on them
The robbers also took $500 from the
citizens of Gads Hill. The thieves
are unknown, bat it t'fis thought q
clue to them has been found. They
were traced to Black River, six miles
west Of Gads Hill, hnt the trail wns
lost there. The sheriff ofiWayne
county is endeavoring to organize a !
posse at Piedmont to scour the |
country for the robbers, and it is
understood That the postoiiice de-
partment and Adams express com
pany will take active and vigorous
measures to capture them. III