The Iowa plain dealer. [volume] (New Oregon, Howard County, Iowa) 1867-1895, 1891-11-19
A BRACE or BOLD THIEVES.

a BRACE OF BOLD thieves.
They Hold Cp" Train Near Milwaukes
Dynamite Used to Force an Entrance
Into the Express Car. from Which They
Steal . Zig sum.
MILWAUKEE, Nov. 1.-Two men
composed ''gang" of robbers which
attacked the st. Paul train at Western
Union junction. Wis, early Tuesday
morning. There was no attempt at in
reference with the people on the train.
The attack was directed on the express
car, which was robbed of a portion of
its valuable freight. The express
messengers were overpowered and
from IS, 600 to $40, 900 taken away. The
money belonged to the American Ex-
press Company.
At the Points of winchesters.
After robbing the car the engineer,
fireman and express messengers were
marched to the highway. abou. mile
distant, at the point Of Win
chesters carried by the gentle
manly road agents. Then they
were told to 60 back to the train
and their captors disappeared in the
direction of Racine. Several search
parties are hunting. but SO far with
out results Western Union junction
is about SO miles north of Chicago, and
the express, which left that city at IL
p. m, made the run in little over two
hours. The robbers boarded the
express and unknown to anyone
made their way to the tender and
lay in wait for the favorable mo-
ment. About a nile north of the sta
ton the fireman, Edward Averill be-
gan shoveling coal into the firebox,
when he was startled by noise,
| and, on turning about to ascer-
tain the cause. found himself COW
cred by rifle in the hands of masked
man. Another cleaning barrel was
| pointed at the head of Engineer Nc
Kay. One of the robbers cried:
| Don't move an inch till we tell you
or we will blow the top of your d ID
heads off,
Engineer Mckay wac directed to run
the train to point within about mile
from Western Union junction.
Here the engineer was commanded to
stop. Both men were ordered to step
down out of the cab and get in line
ahead of the robbers. They were
marched to the express car under
cover.
Used Dynamite.
One OF the robbers raped on the
door at the side and ordered Messcn-
| ger Murphy to open it. This the lat
Ter refused to do. Then bomb was
| thrown through the window and the
/ demand was renewed. Still the
plucky messenger refused to open the
door. Another bomb was thrown, this
time squarely at the door. A terrible
explosion followed, the force of which
can be imagined when it is known
that the heavy timber sill of the
car was broken in two. A large hole
was made in the door, and before
the echoes of the explosion had
died away, and amid the smoke and
dust, one OF the robbers sprang into
the aperture and covered the messen-
ger and his assistant with revolvers.
Both men had been thrown down by
the terrible concussion. Even then
it was some time before Murphy would
consent to surrender the keys to the
safes.
The explosion had thrown the inside
of the car into the greatest confusion.
The safes which the robbers were
bent on securing were buried be.
meath the boxes and packages.
Fireman Averill was compelled at the
point of revolver to get into the
car and uncover the safes while the
robbers, with the exception of the one
who stood guard over him, took care oi
Engineer Mckay and stood ready to
receive any of the passengers OF
trainmen that might attempt tc
come to the rescue of the express
car. Two of the three safes on the
train were thrown out of the door and
dragged off a short distance, when
after delay Of about half an hour, tn,
train was permitted to proceed on it,
way, arriving in this city at 2:2O q. m
After tho Thieves.
Dispatches were sent to The authori
ties of Racine, Chicago and Milwaukee
and to the railroad and express com
panies' headquarters in those cities
Prompt action was taken, and as fasl
as special trains could be made ready
detectives were sent to the scene of til.
robbery.
Frightened Passengers.
The scene in the passenger car:
while the robbery was being perpe
trated was ludicrous in the extreme
The curtains were Immediately pallet
down and the inmates began secretinl
their money and valuabies, hiding
them in their stockings and about tn,
car. None of the passengers was mo
Tested.
Couldn't Open Two Safes.
The money chests taken By the rob
bers were three in number. One wa:
Messenger Murphy's local chest and thu
others were com bination safes contain
ing bank remittances for Milwaukee
and Minneapolis, Murphy had tn,
key for his own safe and was forced
to give it to the robbers, but tn,
keys to the combination safes are KEEP
at the terminals and the messengers
do not know the combinations of til,
locks This fact defeated the rob
bers, who had to content themselve!
with the contents of the local safe
which, it is thought, did no
amount to more than $4,000 a
the outside. 1t is estimated that tn,
combination safes contained upward o
$4,000. The crew of later trail
found the combination safes unbrokel
near the scene of the robbery ant
and placed them on the fast mail train
which brought them to this city.
RECIPROCITY FAVORED.