Daily Los Angeles herald., 1883-11-28
THE RECENT TRAIN ROBBERY.


The Capture. as Seen by Wells,
Fargo Fargo g g Co.'S Messsrser-T
Killing OF Engineer Webb The
Robbers Dissatisfied with the
Amount of Plunder.
BY the kindness of Mr.. T. Hodgkins,
Wells, Fargo & Co.'S messenger in
charge Of the express car that was
robbed by cow boys near Gage station,
New Mexico, last Saturday, we are per-
mitted to make the following extract
from his report to Mr.. L. F. Rowell.
Assistant Superintendent of Wells,
Fargo & Co. 5 express:
We had left Gage on time e-4:l0 p. M.
had closed up my run, and, in com.
pany with W. NJ. White, baggage man,
was sitting in the rear door, talking,
when | felt the car tremble slightly,
and knew the air brakes were being
applied | at once jumped inside,
caught hold Of the guard, and looked
out and saw the engine Lad just left the
track. The jar was so great as to
almost throw me out of the car. AS
looked ahead saw a man jump up, with
rife 10 his hand, and fire towards the
engine. He had handkerchief tied
over his face, and | realized that we
were
ATTACKED By TRAIN ROBBERS.
called out to White: Train robbers
CLOSE the door J" which we did. /
then took the shotgun and laid down on
the floor. There was no express matter
or baggage to speak Of, aud we could
not barricade the doors, so kept out OF
sight. Pretty soon the conductor, u.
Vail came up to the car and said:
"They say you must core out. |
asked how many men there were. He
said: "Four or five out here" wanted
to know what the chances were, and be
replied: Every gloomy" I then said I
thought it was
CASE OF COME OUT,
And he answered that it looked like it.
l knew we could not look for help from
any train till nearly ~ o'clock. We
were badly ditched. and from the firing
/ did not know how many might have
been killed, and knew that had there
been any guns among the passengers
they would have been used at once.
There were only FIVE cartridges in the
car that l could get at and my
revolver was in my satchel, in the DEM
ing run. 1t was hopeless case, and l
said we would come out, which we did.
Two of the robbers then got into the
car and called for me
TO OPEN THE BOX.
did so, and they went through the
contents. | told them the currency
packages were railroad remittances,
several of which they left unopened. l
secured the way bills, all the mail and
other remnants OF the run in the safes
as soon as the robbers left The leader
of the robbers was
NOT SATISFIED WITH THE RESULT,
And was 10th to leave, but finally order
ed us into the car again, and told US not
to show ourselves for five minutes and
left at P. NJ, at which time it was
quite dark. As soon as the time was
up an examination was made.
THE BODY OF THE ENGINEER
Was found lying in the track. the
head towards Deming, and one hand on
his breast. From this ii would seem
that the robbers, after killing him, had
placed the body in that position. The
fireman saw the break first, and called
to Webb (the engineer) that there was
hole in the track. Webb reversed the
engine, and was killed either while his
hand was on the lever or when he was
Jumping from the engine. The fireman
jumped and ran, and was fired at several
times. He fell and then the firing
ceased, the robbers probably thinking
he had been killed,
THE DITcHNo
Was down in a cut, and when Tie train
stopped the mail car was leaning over so
far that the side of it was against the
bank.
THE MAIL AGENT WAS FIRED AT
Twice while looking out of the door, the
robbers mistaking the mail for the ex-
press car, and came near being struck
both times. The robbers said while in
my car: at is the other car we want;
this is not the express car" The mail
was not disturbed in the least. other re-
ports to the contrary being untrue.
As stated in my first report, the men
comprising the attacking party were all
Americans, I think, and the leader was
well educated, pleasant spoken and good
looking, Mr.. Brooks, railroad agent,
obtained as good description of the
party as could be given by Mr.. Swan,
White and myself. The party was
heavily armed with rifles, revolvers and
knives, and all had large supplies of
ammunition. They took the gun and
also some cartridges from my car, and
threw them on the plains, not far from
the train.