Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1890-08-06
NOT a BAIT FOR ROBBERS.
a Railroad Man Tells Why Pa
Trains are Never r"HeId Up."

Why is 1t that train robbers never
9lunder pay traint'
because they know their reward
Would be too Insignificant
That is the way an ex-railroad man
put it the other night.
less money" LIS added, sis carried
on pay train than any other kind of
train- Some folks imagine that the
pay OF the employees of the two great
systems terminating here, aggregariny
hundreds of thousands monthly. is
piled away In the cars and is hauled
over the road
Isn't that the case?'
Great ScottI no. Trains would be
robbed before they got well out of Sa-
yannah. Besides, who would be able to
Keep up with a car load OF money? IL Is
largely silver, and the ten-cent pieces
and the nickels and the coppers would
run away with things
How is the business conducted,
thenl'
Easily enough. In fact, there Is but
one way 10 properly carry 1t ON. That
way Is TO draw on the banks at each
city for enough to paw OFF with until
the next city Is reached. For instance.
in leaving Savannah over either the Sa-
vannah, Florida and Western Railroad
or the Central Railroad just enough
moi ey Is taken to pay off employees. In
Guiding agents, track hands, operators
and others at each OF the stations. This
amount is not very large. The largest
amounts are paid out in the cities. For
Instance. in Macon the engineers, fire.
men, conductors and yard hands and
others Of the Savannah and Western
Railroad are paid of; IN Augusta the
employees of the South Carolina division
of the Central are paid on; the same is
true with the Savannah, Florida and
Western Railway. BY this means the
largest sums paid out amount to little
more than a transfer of money pro-
cured from the hanks through the pay
master of the railTC ads TO the employees.
The sums paid out on tue line between
the headquarters of each division are
small compared TO the amounts paId
out ia the cities. None of the engi-
necIs or fTemen or conductors OF brake
men are paid of at points along the
line They are the employees that
get the largest pay
The railroad man related an incident
which took place several years ago,
which he said put matters in a bad
To train robbers.
a newspaper reporter on one OF the
dsilies of "A Western town wrote a long
article stating how much money it re-
quired TO pay off the employees of the
road, and concluded by saying it was
singular that the robbers seldom held
up pay trains.
The figures the newspaper man gave
We're correct. and the article attracted
widespread attention. Several officials
of the road went to the general mana
ger about the matter and began to sug-
gest remedy for what they considered
a very bad practice.
The general manager explained 10
them that the amount of money carried
on pay trains WAS small compared to
what IS carried on a regular mail and
express train, but the matter was not
settled until the newspaper man pub
liShed an interview with the general
manager. giving the facts and stating
the manner in which business was con-
Quoted ON pay trains. The railroad
said, however, that the danger of pay
train robbery Is very slight The rob
bers have posted themselves about these
matters.