Buchanan County bulletin. [volume] (Independence, Iowa) 1869-1891, 1874-02-06
ANOTHER DARING TRAIN ROB-
Berry.


! p1oyes. ana Hob the
Passengers.
| One of the boldest acts of crime
on record, and very similar in its
main features to the robbery Of the
train on the c., II. I. & p. r. r., in
our State sometime past, was com.
mittcd at Gadshill, a station on the
Iron Mountain railroad, 1870 miles
south of St. Louis, on last Saturday
in broad daylight. The following
| is a detailed account of the affair
furnished reporter of the St. Louis
Globe, by Mr.. Afford, the conduc-
tor Of the train. Commencing at
his start from St. Louis, Mr.. Afford
said:
"Well, run out train No. Z, the
Little Rock express, and started
from Plum street at $50 Saturday
morning. We got behind, and when
We reached Gadshill, 100 miles from
St. Louis, we were an hour late.
Gadshill is regular stopping-plac
though there is no station there
only q platform. 1t is a small place
of no account, and there are only q
few houses. There used to be q
mill there"
<,wsct v,,sl1 9S3
"Grist mill? No. They'll never
have grist mill there in the world;
saw mill. The country around
there is heavily timbered, and it is
just the place for saw mil, ora
robbery"
"Of what was your train compos-
ed?"
"Four cars; a mail, baggage and
express car all in one, two coaches
and q sleeper. l reckon we had
twenty-five passengers in all, five of
them ladies. We were due at Gads-
hill at six minutes past four, but We
| didn't get there till quarter offive.
| AS we approached the town, the en-
gineer noticed red flag and whist
led down. l was on the step of the
car, and saw the flag and jumped of
before the train had fully stopped,
for thought the track was torn up
or there was some other difficulty,
because a red flag means danger.
As struck the platform l noticed
the train running on the side track.
The northern switch had been open
ed and so had the southern, and
when we got on the side track we
were stuck, for had we started for
ward or back we would have run
off the track. Just as l jumped of
a man grabbed me by the collar
and
TANNED PISTOL IN MY FACE.
He was huge six-footer, and his
face was covered with a mask made
of white cloth, with holes cut for his
ewes and mouth. Here I'll show
you," and taking the Globes hand.
kerchief, Afford put it over his face
tucking the lower corner in his vest
pocket.
allow many men were there in the
party?"
s'Therc we're only five and the
funniest thing was they had captur.
ed the town first, and pulled every
man, woman and child out of the
houses. They had built big bon
fire near the platform, and there
were the inhabitants crowding
around it trying to keep warm.
The robbers stood over them on
guard, all armed with from two to
three navy revolvers, and three OF
them had double-barreled shot-guns.
When the fellow grabbed me l did
not know what to make Of it,"
"Weren't you frightened?"
"Well, l reckon was somewhat
frightened, but he put me right at
my ease-he comforted me.
"What did he say?"
ssTAND STILL or I'LL BLOW TIE
TOP OF YOUR HEAD OFF,
l stood still. saw two Of the gang
jump on the engine, and they made
the engineer and fireman get down.
They were brought to where |
stood, and tho robber covered us
with pistol. He spoke to those
who looked ont at the windows, and
told them if a shot was fired he
would shoot the conductor. One OF
them stood on the opposite side of
the train, and as the passengers put
their heads out, he told them to take
those heads back again or they'd
loose 'em. He had q double bar
relied shot gun, and 1 don't think he
was fooling any. Two of them
went into the baggage car and
hauled out the baggage-man and q
brakeman. These they put under
the same guard that had me. There
was another brakeman, but he got
into tho sleeping car and stayed
there. Then they went into the
mail department and demanded the
registered packages of the mail
agent. They rummaged through
the letters and picked out those
that had been registered, and
brought the agent out to the plat
form and handed him over to the
guard. The express messenger
was tho next man, and as they went
into his room he covered one Of
them with pistol, but another drew
drew bead on him with gun, and
requested him to lay that pistol
down gently. He did SO. Then
they demanded his keys, opened the
safe, and took out the money pack
ages. They took out one packet
marked SWATCH" but when they
opened it and found it to be silver
watch they dropped it. They put
the other packages into bags and
then went through the baggage
boxes. They opened my satchel
and took out my pistol, After that
exploit they went through the train.
They wern't careful Of the passen-
gers. They punched them in the
ribs with pistols, and pointed their
shooting irons into their faces. Not
a man escaped them. Every one
was robbed, though they only took
'one gold watch. Several had fine