Morning journal and courier., 1890-08-18
aew 9artn 9aig geoniag gparnal and Gonrier
TRAIN ROBBERS AT WORK,

Ninety Thousand Dollars Secured
 From Missouri Pacific Train-The
 Hnsineer and Bremen Covered
 Wth Revolvers and Ordered to
 stop Tn Cut-The Robbery Com-
 mitted at n Spot Made Historic by
 the James Gang.
 KANSAS CITY, Mo, August 1.-The Pa
 oific express lost about 800, 900 by train
 robbery on the Missonri Pacific early this
 morning. It was the Kansas City limited
 express No. that fell into the hands of the bandits. The train was crowded
 with passengers and the safe of the ex- press company was stuffed with money
 consigned, much. of it, to western banks
 The train left Tipton, Mo-, at about 3 a.
 m. Two mysterious figures were seen by the engineer lurking around the forward eno or the train, but no particular atten-
 Ilon was psid to them. Just after leaving
 Upton the fireman turned toward the ten
 aer 10 nre up the engine and looked squarely
 into the muzzles of two revolvers in the
 nands of two masked men who were lying
 on their faces in the coal They were no
 oouDt the two mysterious strangers who
 were noticed at Tipton. They had evident
 ly boarded the forward platform of the
 blind" mail car at that place and were crawling over the tender toward the en- g1ne. One of the bandits covered the fire man With his revolver while the other took care or the engineer. They were told to hold up their hands, Their hands went up.
 NOW you run this train to Otterville water tank, " ordered the leader, land stop there. If you attempt to stop at any other place or give signal of alarm you'll be dead men,"
 The robbers placed their weapons close to the heads of their victims. The engineer and fremen were at the bandits mercy and could only obey. The Otterville water tank stands in Robbers Cut" just east of Ot- terville. It was there that the noted out laws, the James brothers, committed one of their most daring robberies, and the Young brothers perpetrated one of their boldest crimes Robbers Gut" is at the bottom of steep grade, and when the train ap- preached it the engineer had great difficult standstin. His attempts were redoubled when the leader of the two robbers pressed the muzzle of his revolver against the en- gineers temple, and just as the historic spot was reached the train stopped.
 "You come with me-" the leader ad- dressed Frank Droyer, ''and you tend to the fireman" he said to his companion.
 The engineer was commanded to go to | the express car and tell the messenger to | open the door. He did so, under the | threat of death if he should fail When | he reached the express car he found that 1 the two robbers had five confederates stationed at convenient places about the.l car, all heavily armed and their faces con- cealed behind masks. He walked to the l express car and, covered by the revolvers of | the robbers, called to the express messenger. 1 Sam Avery, to open the door. Avery | no danger and pushed back the | door. As he did so the leader of the rob | bers and one confederate pushed their re- volvers in and ordered the messenger to | hold up his hands. The order was prompt | ly obeyed and three of the robbers jumped | into the car. They proceeded to the safe which was locked. Avery was commanded | to open it and at the point of revolver did so. One of the robbers unfolded a gunny sack and into it were placed the entire contents of the safe The robbers then made 8 cursory examination of the car to see if they had overlooked anything and finding nothing more of value backed out of the car, their revolvers always pointed at the messenger. In the mean time the conductor, alarmed at the unusual stoppage of the train, went forward to see what was the trouble. He got only as far as the rear of the express car when he was halted by one of the robbers, who told him to go back and collect tickets.
 "We'H take care of this end of the train" the robber added
 The conductor hurried to the first pas enger coach acd excitedly informed the passengers of what was going on and ad- vised them to hide their valuables. Money. watches, jewelry and everything valuable was showed into boot tops, into the cracks 'f the cushioned seats and anywhere to get it out of sight. The conductor had just warned the passengers when the train started.
 The robbers had finished their work and escaped. The engineer pulled the train nto Otterville, a half mile distant, where part of the crew were left to arouse the sheriff and organize posse to pursue the 'obber. At Sedalla, seven miles from the scene of the robbery, the news was tele- ,raphed back to headquarters of the St. Louis and all the available detective orce of the road was sent to Robbers Cut The robbers had left their tracks in the mud. These were followed for some dis ance, when they diverged south at right .ngles with the track. Thence they were ollowed short distance and finally lost. The sheriffs posse and the detectives are the country for the robbers and considering the short start there is hope or the capture of some of them at least
 The exact amount of money and valu- Ibles stolen cannot be learned The agent of he express will say nothing of the occur ence except to give the story of the rob 'ery. The newspaper men got hold of Av- ny this afternoon for short time and from Jim and other sources it was learned that he money in the safe aggregated aboutS75,- 100, mostly in paper money and that the 'ther valuable property amounted to about 15,O00. Avery is an old and trusted mes enger and took his usual run to St Louis o-night. The engineer was interviewed. tells the story of the robbery as related bove. There is no suspicion as to who he robbers may be.