Sharp County record., 1877-10-12
A Passengers Account OF the Union
Pacific Robbery.

Il
men and two or three ladies, who were
passengers on the Union Pacific train
which was seized and plundered by ban
ditti at Big Spring at a late hour Of
Tuesday night. The Hon. Guthrie
Smith, advocate; Mr.. Mitchell ThOm-
son, merchant, and Mr.. James How
den, accountant, of Edinburgh, Scot
land, were returning from sightseeing
soiourn in the mountains of Colorado.
A reporter for the Times called upon
these strangers at the Grand Pacific,
last night, and found them disposed to
talk of their adventure, Mir. Smith re-
lated the particulars of the episode sub
stantially as follows:
"To begin with, the train consisted
of express and baggage cars, first and
second-class coaches, two Pullman
sleepers, and the directors car of the
Central Pacitc-the last being occupied
by Mr.. Sanford and his family, of San
Francisco. The night was beautiful.
BY 10 o'clock every body had turned
into bed. The berths in our car were
all occupied. In fact, all the cars were
pretty well filled. There were a few
ladies and some children in our coach
which, by the way, was the last car but
one. It was, | think, about half-past II
o'clock-perhaps a little later-when
the train halted at Big Spring. | had
been asleep, but the profound stiffness
of the halt awoke me, and something
prompted me to raise the window. just
then the conductor passed alongside the
train, escorted by two men-each Of
whom carried, or flourished, rather, q
large revolver. As | thrust my head out
| heard the conductor say: Upon my
honor as a gentleman, protest that |
do not know the combination of that
safe / knew what that meant. | took
in the situation at a glance, and | took
in my head, also, for fear might lose it.
In moment every body under
stood that the train was in the hands Of
robbers. The men in our car hurriedly
dressed themselves and collected at the
front end of the coach. The door was
locked, and remained fastened until the
robbers had fled. The doors of the
sleeper ahead of US were also locked.
The conductor of our car told us we
could do nothing but patiently await the
movements of the thieves. Our colOred
porter, as the train pulled up to the sta
ton, had gone out to mail some letters,
and had run plump into the gang.
They thrust revolyers into his face and
made him hand over the SO his vest
pocket contained. That was despicable
robbery, wasn't it? No gentlemanly
thief would rob a negro of Sc. In our
country a robber would never stoop to
do an act like that. The women be-
haved right bravely, and the men were
carried away with excitement. We
found we had three pistols in our car,
and there were two or three En-
glishmen who, smarting under
the humiliation of being beset
by highwaymen, wanted to 90 out and
attack the men. But nobody ventured
out. A little Girl, awakened by the
commotion, on being told by her moth
er that robbers had possession of the
train and were taking all the money,
turned over ana said: well, I've got
no money, have I, mammal?
"After the robbers had left the passen-
gers swarmed through the cars, and all
related their experiences. The engi-
neer and conductor were looking pale,
and trembled with excitement. The
robbers had fred two shots at the eng
neer. One of the bullets struck an oil
can and passed through it. They un-
doubtedly intended to kill two or three
persons, in order that they might the
more easily rob the passengers. A man
stood on the front platform of one OF
the coaches as the train came to halt.
Three men with revolvers, rushed up,
saying, Get down! Get down. and
bangl bang went one of the pistols,
before the man fully comprehended the
situation. Both bullets inflicted a slight
wound in one finger. He fell back into
the car in great disorder Another
passenger who had rushed to the door
to see what the shooting was about,
when confronted by the robbers, retreat.
ed down the passage-way and was fired
at by one of the thieves. The passenger
dropped into seat just in time not to
have been hit.
Give of the gang entered the pas
senger coach-one from each end-at
about the same time, and three in a
bunch moment later. The leader OF
the three iiourished a revolver, and
shouted: Hands up or heads OFF, Ey-
ry man and woman instantly obeyed.
And old man said I'm a feeble old
man, and my hands are weak; come to
me quick, or / fear shall have to let
them drop. The leader was followed
by a man with a pistol in one hand and
a sack in the other, and behind him, or
rather beside him, was another robber,
who rihed peoples pockets, and who
also handled cooked revolver rather
careessly. 1t was claimed, after we
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