Fayetteville observer. [volume] (Fayetteville, Tenn.) 1850-1966, 1877-02-01
The Express Robbery


in the Garrison House Office
wondering what might be turned
up to a good account in the
way Of an item to interest the
readers Of his paper. Finally
he ran across an old express.
man, an attache Of the United
States Express Company.
He invited the reporter tc
take cigar, and then said:
"Walk up to my room, and
while we smoke l will give you
an item, that, perhaps, may in
terest the readers of the Bazoo."
The reporter followed, and
found the room brilliantly light
ed, a fire burning in the stove,
and everything exceedingly in
viting and cozy.
"Take this chair" said the
expressman, "while / Will lie on
this lounge" he continued.
He first commenced telling
something about the daring ex-
PLOTS of the Youngers and
Jameses, and asked the ques-
ton to himself: eff we get all
of these fellows, l wonder if a
new band will spring into exis-
tence that will give us more
trouble?"
And then after crossing his
legs and getting in more easy
position, for he is a nervous
man, he said:
''In 1S49, / believe it was, the
United States Express Compa-
ny was organized, and in 1853
we were young and poor. At
that time bankers were in the
habit of shipping gold boxes
by our company.
"The boxes used for this pur-
pose were all Of a uniform size,
and made of pine-inch and
half clear lumber. The whole
box was dovetailed together,
except the cover, and this, after
the gold was put in, was fas-
tened down by eight large
screws sunk into the wood. The
holes on the top Of the screws
were filled with molten sealing
wax, and seal stamped on.
There were besides this, six holes,
one-fourth of an inch in diane
ter, through the cover. These
were also filled with selling wax,
and stamped. Thus it was a
matter of utter impossibility to
remove the cover without evil
dences Of it.
at was i'll this year, 1853,
that our Company was the vic
tim of the great robbery of
$4,000 in gold coin, that filled
us with dismay and the coun-
try with astonishment. In those
days railroading had not arrived
at the perfection of the present,
and especially in the West, and
the means for the detection of
crime were not as effective.
But to the robbery:
"It was, as | have said, in the
year 1853. Our agent at Du-
buque received from a barker
there a large amount Of gold
coin for the United States sub
treasury in New York. The
coin was packed in boxes as a
bove described, each box con-
tanning $4,000. The boxes
were all carefully sealed, and
every formality required by our
company strictly complied with.
At that time the line from Du-
buque toNew York was divi-
ded into runs, with relays or
messengers. Thus, one messen-
ger staged it from Dubuque to
the nearest railway terminal
point; at that place he trans
ferred his charCe to another
messenger who ran into Chica-
go, where he was relieved by
one who ran to Detroit; anoth-
er run was from Detroit to Buff
falo, and the last run from Buff
falo to New York. OF course
this shipment referred to bad to
pass through great many hands
before it was safely deposited
at its destination. AT last the
boxes arrived at the subtreasu-
ry. The exact number was de-
livered in good order, every
box exactly alike, every box
bore the exact stamps, and eve-
cry box weighed exactly the
same. So far, all right.
"But a terrible denouement
was in store for us, for when
these boxes were opened by the
proper person, one of them, in
stead of containing $4,000 in
gold coin, was filed with lead.
You can imagine the conster-
nation Of the officers of our
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