The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1874-02-05
GADSHILL'S MASKERS.
The Robbery on the Iron Noun
tain Railroad.
THE CONDUCTORS ACCOUNT
How the Robbers Went Through tho
Train and the Passengers.

A reporter OF the st. Louis Globe tnterviewed
the conductor Of the train OF the Iron Mountain
Railroad which was robbed on Saturday last at q
station called Gadshil and obtained the following
Information -
.sTell me all about this thing Mr.. Afford" said
the reporter. commence at your start from st.
Louis and relate the circumstances IN detail"
swell, ran out train NO. 7, the Little Rock ex-
utes Of ten saturday morning. we got behind,
and when we reached Gadshill l2o miles from st.
Louis we were an hour late. Gadshill Is regular
stopping place, though there Is no Stati0n there
only platform. 1t is a small place. or no account
and there are only q few h0ases. There USED to
be mill there"
"Gristmil No. THEY'LL never have grstmili
there IN the world sawml. The country around
there Is heavily timbsred, and 1t Is just the place
for a sawmill ora robbery"
"Of what was your train composed ~
.'Four cars; "a mail, baggage and express car,
all in one. two coaches and q sleeper. reckon we
ladies'. We were due at Gadshill at six minutes
past our, but we didn't get there until quarter
@ AS se We wSea down. inc on
the step OF the car and sa the flag, and Jumped Oh
before the train had fully stopped, Ior thought the
track was torn up there was some other DIM
struck usi the platform noticed the train running
been opened and so had the southern, and when
we got on the side track we were stuck, for had
the track Just as jumped or man grabbed me
by the collar and damned a pistol IN my lace. he
was huge six-ooter anu ms iace was covered
for his eyes and mouth. Here, III show YOU"
and taking the reporters handkerchief Afford pus
1t over his face, tuckng the lower corners IN hs
vest. ~
"How many men were there in the party ?"
"rDere were only five, and the funniest thing
was they had captured the town first and pulled
every man, woman and child out oil the houses.
They mad built big bonfire near the platform,
and there were the inhabitants crowded around IL
trying to keep warm. The robbers STOOD over
them, on guard, all armed with from two to three
barreed shotguns When the fellow grabbed me
didn't know what to make OF it."
"Weren't you frightened 2"
Gwen. reckon was somewhat frightened; but
he put me right at my ease-he comforted me-"
'What did he sayY"
head off, | stood still. j 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 the rObber covered US with .
pistol. He spoke TO those who looked out at the
them stood on the opposite side OIL the tram, ana
as the passengers put their heads out he told them
to take those heads back again or they'd lose EN-
He had double-barreled shotgun, and
don't think he was looling any; Two Of them
the Ten' b tusS : ss and brakeman These
they put under the same guard that had me-
There was another brakeman, put nc get INTO
into the mail apartment and demanded the regis
terered PACKAGES OF the mail agent. they rum
mayed through the letters and picked out th0se'
that had been registered, and brought the agent
out on to the platform and handed him over to the
guard The express messenger was the next man,
and as they went into his room he covered one OF
them with pistol, but another drew bead on
him with gun and instructed MN to t lay tast
handed his Keys, opened the safe and took out
the money packages. They took out one packet
found 1t to be silver watch they dropped It.
They put the other packages into bags and
opened my satchel and took out my pistol. Alter
that exploit thew went through the train. They
weren't careful with passengers Ihey punched
them in the ribs with pistols and pointed their
shOotlng-irons into their faces. Not nan es-
capped them. Every one was robbed, though they
only took one gold watch. several had nne
watches but the thieves passed them over. There
were three ladies in the ladies' coach and two In
the sleeper one OF the latter, Mrs. Scott, oil Penn
syvania, bound rom st. LOUIS to Hot Springs with
her son, was robbed or $500, leaving her only ten
cents. one other lady was relieved OF three pocket
hand kerchieis but that was all Sue ina mag
ni1cent gold watch and heavy cnain, put they
didn't take it, They didn't seem to care ior
watches. The one they took belonged 10 man
who wouldn't give his name"
''DO you know the names OF those who were
robbed and the amounts takenr
"rhey got sloSo IN money packages from the ex-
preCs car, Adams eXpresS 81 So from SllaS Ierry;
slSa Is from G. d. Henry; $50 $so rS M e. L. Dar
from o. s. Newell, sleeping car conductors $i5 IN
money, ring valued at $50 and pin valued xs
500. from W. A. McLanan; 81 from James John
son. porter OF the sleeping car; $40 from the train
boy and $50 from me. They took my watch, but
the baggage man said, FOr Gods sake, dol't taxe
his watcn, it was a present to him. and the Cap.
tain ordered them to give it back. Tney seemed
to be under the control OF the captain, and gave
the watch back to me-"
'Did they get anything from any OF the citizens
OF Gadshlls'
did not hear OF any other. We had member OF
the Legislature on our train, whose son Was walt
ing Tor him at Gadsh. He was under guard when
we got there, and don't know whether he or ls
father was robbed or not"
''Did they touch any baggagef"
"NO, they did not stop Tor tnat. Mr.. Morley, our
chief engineer was on the train, and he expOstu-
lated witt them, but they told him to sit down and
shut his head ana mind his business"
"That was his business, wasn't itl"
81 think so, and so did he but they didn't seem
to agree with MIN; He asked them to restore the
under his nose and ordered him to keep quiet.
When tney took the money from the express car
book lie gave 1t up and the robber wrote IN 1t.
Robbed at Gadshi' Said he, 4 think have had
agent has been robbed five times ana he thinks
TINS fellow had something to do with 1t.
shouldn't wonder Il he mad y | think they were al!
had got ABOUT through 1 asked them II I
might go. They said yes, and sent man to
shut the northern switch and went myself to smut
the southern. they had bent the ROD SO that had
to get board and stralghten 1t. This took me
some time, and IN the meanwhile they made on.
They went in westerly direction to where their
horses stood, and made OF as last as they could.
Before they went they shook hands with the engi-
neer, and told him always to STOP when he sees
red flag. He told them he always did. The engi-
neer Is named William Wetton and the freman's
| name Is CampDell-l uOn'J KNOW Ills uTSJ udHles
one thing | forgot. Before their departure they
wrote out a telegram Tor the st. Louis Despatch
and gave 1t to a passenger TO send through. They
SAID that paper has misrepresented them on one
occasion, and they wanted to put 1t In possession
OF all the telegraphed the despatch TO the
railroad Office in st. LOUIS and an operator TOOK It
oil the wire and sent 1t TO the Republican ana
Times as q speclalh 49,
''How long mad they been waiting there for your
''AbOut two hours. 1t took them forty minutes
to go through us, and in that time they made about
$780, besides the money packages ana tue $Soo
they took from the Gadshill man."
ii nave heard that Vaudeville had $4,000 on the
train, and that the robbers got IL; do you know
anything about that ~
'.No; never heard that before. he might have
had 1t in his trunk, but don't think he did"
..lIaye YOU any clew to the identity OF the rob-
pers-any theory OF who they areT
IL think they are the same gang that roDDed the
Hot Springs stage about two weeks ago, and the
Iowa Train some time past. They took dinner at
Moark on Tuesday, and at Hot Springs ON Friday.
That is the only trace OF them we have now"
..When did you come back ~
al went on TO Piedmont and telegraphed from
hon w tn