St. Landry democrat., 1886-11-20
THE EXPRESS ROBBERY.
Detective Efforts Gradually Throw
ing Light On the Mystery.
A Wabash Engineers Evidence which.
Taken Alone, Gives the Case u Bad Look
for Messenger FOtheringham
Present state of the Case.


other than that given by Messenger Foth-
eringham himself, is contained III state
ment made to the grand jury by Engineer
| Heffernan OF tn" Wabash road, VINO runs
| from ST. Louis 20 MuJcr.y where he has a
! family.
Mr.. Heffernan stated that on the night of
the robbery he was oiiiDg his engine at
Union depot when the Frisco train pulled
across his track and stopped so that
| tOtherlngham' express car was only
! sixty feet away from him. The
| electric light shone full on the scene and
he could see the messenger working with
his helper, stout Irish porter. Heffer
mans attention was, however. incidentally
directed to the actions Of a young man
about five feet ten, rather stout, with
reddish face and apparently about thirty
years old. This party walked down the
platform till he came to the electric light.
when he stopped. He was carrying a
valise, which he put down on the platform.
He walked around in d nervous
way, clasping and unclasping lis hands
as if exceedingly anxious. The en-
gineer' attention was directed to him not
only because his actions We're very pecu-
liar. but also because he was SO far away
from and ahead of the passenger coaches
Heffernan noticed that the man in his
nervous meanderings up and down the
platform never lost sight Of the yalise He
wore dark suit, sack coat and no over
coat, a low, dark-brown derby hat was
we'll pulled down over his forehead. AL
these details were noted as he passed back
and forth under the light.
Now comes the sensational part of Hef
fernan's tale: Il was Just about to start
baI i,, 1n
when | saw that the Frisco engine was
just across my path, as both tracks cross
there at an angle of about forty degrees
There was nothing for me to do but
wait until the Frisco had pulled
out. I then had plenty of
time to take in my surroundings. Among
other things | noticed Fotheringham'
helper leave the car and go back to the
express office. Still the messengers door.
remained open. l made Last inspection
of my engine with a torch, and while do
ing so the young man left his vahse and
the electric light, and walking up to me
turning his face away asked:
''What train is this"
''sThis is the Wabash replied
"'Which is the Frisco express carr" he.
again asked quickly.
4" There it is, over there and I pointed
toward the car As | did so | fared nv
torch up toward his face to get a sight of :
his features, but he turned away before
could get the light on him and returned to
his valise. AS he reached it the Frisco.
rang her starting bell. The stranger
looked quickly around him and, grabbing
his grip as the train began to move, walked
quickly toward the head of the Frisco train
He passed the baggage car. and, on reach
ing the open door of the express car, threw
his vaGse in. stretched up one hand and
arm to somebody in the car and then dis
appeared as if pulled in. In fact, don't
see how he could have got into the car as
saw him do it unless somebody had caught
him by the hand and helped him in. AS
soon as my track was clear l pulled out
and thought no more of it till the robbery
came to light"
Hefernan was closely questioned as tG
the distinctness with which he saw the
man, and asserted that he saw him per
fectly, as he was only twenty feet from
him and in the full glare of the electric
light He was asked as to whether any
note was presented by the stranger
when he reached the express car.
10 this Heffernan replied en-
phatically: HE couldn't possibly
have done it. He didn't wait at the door
of the car second and didn't say anything
to anybody. He just threw in his valise.
and went in himself as fast as he could
The train was moving and he couldn't have
waited until note was read, anyway"
The opinion Heffernan formed of the
man was that he wasn't railroad man
and was more like gambler
Thomas Dwyer is the Adams Express
n m no Sc bal -b.,1 br
neer Heffernan working with Fothering-
ham, as stated above The helpers duty is
to assist in transferring the express mat
ter from the Office to the car. He is sup
posed to stay with the car, and the mes
senger arranging the packages until the
train pulls out. The custom of messen-
gers is to close the door as soon as the ex-
press matter is received. Dryer appeared
before the grand jury after the engineer
and oorroborated his story about the car
door being open He said he left Fother-
ngham alone few minutes before the
rain left.
FoTHERINGHAM's TALKS IN JAIL.
Jail life does not appear to worry Elk
press Messenger David S. Fotheringham
n the least. He takes very kindly to his
new quarters and seems to care very little
about being deprived of his liberty. He
;allss in a manner that rather impresses
me that he is innocent, notwithstanding
he circumstantial evidence against him,
Ind he does not appear to have the least
loubt about coming out of the matter all
light. He says: Il know am innocent,
ind that they can never find any thing
against me, so why should | worry. A
short stay in jail is not going to hurt ME
NV | can stand it,
THE PRESENT STATE OF THE CASE.
The real facts of the robbery are as much,
in darkness now as on the day
when Fotheringham first made his state
nent to reporter. The theory of the rob
very which was hit upon by the mass of
,eople who studied the case was that the