The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1881-10-01


searching examination is had Coles friends
claim that he was the victim of a Conspiracy,
and allege the fact that those who wce instru.
mental in his taklng.of were his litter enc
mics The end Is not yet.
Another Darn. Train Robbev.
About 10 o'clock on Friday nigh Of last
week, on the Iron Mountain railrod IN the
woods midway between the towns of Hope
and Emmett some fifteen miles moth or Lit
tie Rock, Arkansas, occurred anothc' Of those
bold train robberies which of late VARS have
become so frequent in the southwest. The
robbery was the work of five youn; despera-
does the Oldest apparently not over b, two OF
them taking charge of the engine, vhlle the
other three went through the train robbing
the passengers and the express car. Conduc-
tor Whitcside, who had charge of the train,
gave a reporter the following account of the
affair:
When was pulling out of Hopetwo men
got on rs the train started. Aiterwarl another
ran out of a saloon and got on the tam, join
ing the other two On gong through the
tram found the three in one Of The extra
coaches, there being several extras in The train.
There were no other passengers in tie car, ex-
cept lady and gentleman. | walled up to
the men, and asked tor their ticketsI One of
them inquired: What is the fare to En-
merrcttY pronouncing the name of tip station
incorrectly, 1t being Emmett. I told Inn, and
he paid the passage for the three. lie asked
one Of his companions for pocketb4k, and
1t having nothing IN it the other handed him
another, from which he took money hd paid
the fare. This man, who was the leader, had
"a black mustache. | went back intd the Ia
dies car. The lady who was in there said
they got up and followed me, stopping at the
door and drinking from bottle. Tlen they
opened the door and went out, and came into
the car where was. They walked up behind
me. The one with the mustache cried out i;
Il want your change | thought they were
halt drunk, and turned around to make them
be quiet, when | saw their revOlveE. The
leader then said, looking at me: I'VE mean
business; we don't want to hurt anyone; we
only want your change l turned to walk
away, when he brought the revolver down on
me, saying: ave want your money first
ran my hand into my pocket and handed HIM
about $l5 III silver Give me your green
backs, quick he continued. i have none, l
told him, and that saved them, for he did not
search me. Go along, now and he stepped
behind me, the other two getting ahead. They
proceeded to rob the passengers, calling for
change, and occasionally giving back $3 or
81 to victims. They gave back $50 to one man
from whom they took $500. They did not rob
more than ten or fifteen passengers One man
blutfed them off with so cents When ! went
into one car where | knew John Pollock who
has charge of the ice.Cars, and who generally
carried several hundred dollars, was asleep l
called out to him, giving him an opportunity
to save something, saying: Get out your
money, John He handed the robber s45 or
$50, throwing n roll of $500 under the seat
| They then pushed me along into the Pullman
sleeper, and banged the door Open hlking
very loud. Conductor Carr came running up
to us and said: "Shut up that racket or you
will wake my passengers The leader drew
his gun on the conductor and compelled HIM
to shell out $40, which he said was all lie had.
They did not rob the sleeping car PASSENGERS,
and did not even wake them up, as they were
IN great hurry. l noticed in the sleeper they
all wore SLOUGH hats pulled well down. Leav-
ing the sleeper they marched me back through
the entire train to the express car. This Car is
combined express and baggage car, and the
door is not kept locked. The service is done
by the Iron Mountain company on this train,
the Southern Express company only running
a messenger on Nos. 1 and ,. The leader said,
If any one makes move you'll getit,' crowd
ing me along with his revolver. | said:
Throw up your hands, Ben; If you shoot, I'm
a goner.' was compelled to do this, tor there
was one revolver in my face and the muzzles
of two others against my head. They made
Sain unlock the safe, and took the packages
themselves tearing open the envelopes. The
messengers purse, containing $40, they also
appropriated. After going through the safe
one said: Now show us good place to get
OFF, and they got oil right where they robbed
the tram, about four miles north of Hope. and
the same distance south of Emmett. When
they had climbed upon the embankment the
leader yelled out: Now CO. and be damned
quickr George Stanton, the engineer, who
had been standing out on the ground watch
ing the robbery, started to get back on the en-.
gine, and not moving fast enough to suit the
Idesperadoes they fired volley at HIM, or the
engine. | was in the baggage car, and fired
tour or five times out of the door TO make the
passengers get their heads away from the win
+dews, for did not know but they might fire
into the cars as we went past them. My bag.
gageman, Ford, told them he had no money.
They did not even search him. One passen-
ger, negro, said, to the demand for change,
Use paid once, boss thiRking the robber was
the conductor. They went on right past him.
The report that they had coniederates on the
train | believe ia n mistake The robbery took