River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1890-08-21
BOLD BANDITS.
They Hold Up a Missouri Pacific Train
on the Scene of One of the Exploits OF
the james and Younger Bands - The
Express Car PIundered of About 500
000--Psssengers UDmolested.


Express Car Piundered of About 500
oo0-Passengers UDmoiested.
KANSAS CITY, Mo-, Aug. lS.-The Pa
ciiic Express Company lost $50, 900 by a
train robbery on the Missouri Pacific
railway early Sunday morning. 1t was
the Kansas City limited express No. 8
that fell into the hands of the bandits.
The train was crowded with passengers
and the safe of the express company
was stuffed with money consigned chief
ly to Western banks.
The train left Upton, Mo-, at about
a. m. Two mysterious figures were
seen lurking around the forward end OF
the train, but no particular attention
was paid to them. Just after leaving
Upton, the fireman turned toward the
tender and looked into the muzzles OF
revolvers in the hands of two
masked men who were lying on
their faces on top of the coal.
They were doubtless the two mysterious
men who we're noticed at Upton. One
of the bandits covered the fireman with
his revolver, while the other took care
of the engineer. "Now you run this
train to Otterville water tank, ordered
the leader, ''and stop there. If you at
tempt to stop at any other place or give
signal of alarm you'll be dead men,"
The Otterville water tank stands in
Roberts cut" just east of Otterville.
1t was there that the noted outlaws,
the flames bows" committed one OF the
most daring robberies and the Younger
brothers perpetrated one of their
boldest crimes. Robbers cut" is
at the bottom of steep grade and when
the train approached il the engineer
had great difficulty in bringing the en-
CINE to a stand-still. His attempts we're
redoubled when the leader of the two
robbers pressed the muzzle of the re-
volver against his temple. just as the
place was reached the train stopped.
The engineer was commanded to go
to the express car and tell the messen-
ger to open the door. When he reached
the express car he found that the two
robbers had five confederates stationed
at convenient places about the car,
all heavily armed, their faces
being concealed behind masks. He
walked to the door of the ex-
press car and called to the ex-
press messenger Sam Avery, TO open
the door. Avery, suspecting no danger,
pushed back the door. AS he did so
the leader of the robbers and one CON
federate pushed their revolvers in and
ordered the messenger to hold up his
hands. The command was promptly
obeyed and three of the robbers jumped
into the car. phey proceeded inn
mediately to the safe, which was
locked. Avery was commanded to open
it and at the point of a revolver did so.
One of the robbers unfolded gunny
sack and into it we're placed the entire
contents of the safe. The robbers then
made a cursory examination of the car
to see il they had overlooked any thing,
and finding nothing more of value
backed out with their revolvers pointed
at the messenger
In the meantime the conductor,
alarmed at the unusual stopping of the
train, went forward to see what was the
trouble. He got only as far as the rear
end of the train when he was halted by
one of the robbers, who told him to go
back and collect tickets. Wen take
care of this end of the train, p"
the robber added. The conductor
hurried back to the first passenger
coach and excitedly informed the passen-
gers of what was going on and advised
them to hide their valuables. Money,
watches, jewelry and other valuables
were showed into boot-tops and the
cracks of the cushioned seats. The con-
ductor had just warned the passengers
in the second car when the train
again started on it's journey. The rob-
bers had finished their work and es-
capped.
The engineer pulled the train into
Otterville, half-mile distant, where a
part of the crew was left TO arouse the
sheriff and organize a posse to pursue
the robbers At Sedalia, seven miles
from the scene of the robbery, the news
was autographed back to headquar-
tiers at ST Louis, and all the
available detective force of the
road was sent to Robbers cut "
The thieves had left their tracks in
the mud, and these were followed for
some distance east, whore they turned
south at right angles with the track.
They were followed a short distance
thence and finally lost The sheriff's
posse and the detectives are securing
the country for the robbers, and consid-
ering the short start of the latter, there
is chance for the capture of some of
them.
The exact amount of money and valu-
ables stolen can not be learned. The
agent of the express company will say
absolutely nothing about the oc-
currence, except 10 give the
story of the robbery. From Avery
and other sources it was learned
that the cash in the safe aggregated
about S75, 600, mostly in paper money,
and that the other valuable property
amounted to about SIS, 600. Avery is an
old and trusted messenger and took his
regular run hack TO st. Louis.