Custer weekly chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, S.D.) 1890-1931, 1891-11-21
MIL LWAUKEE TRAIN HELD UP
Masked Highwaymen Do a First
Glass Job Last Night
They Wreck tho Express Car with Dyns'
mite ana Secure Geod Paw for Their
Iabors- Robbers In Ala
bamA Come 20 Grief

the prairie rear Western Union juno
tion at about o'clock this morning a
band of masked men sprang out of the
pushes and reinforced two of their col
leagues who had secreted themselves
on the train several miles below.
With revolvers the two men COM
the engineer and fireman to
check the speed Of the train In order to
permit the rest Of the band 10 get
a board. When the gang had posses
sion of the engine the work OF rob
bing the train began. The express car
was the first TO be attacked. IL in re-
ported that the express messenger
made desperate resistance. The ex.
press car contained large amount OF
money and all this, IL 10 claimed, was
taken
Western Union Junction In q small
village at the junction of the main line
Of the ST. Paul and n spur Of the same
road which runs to Racine IL In q
lonely place at night, and must have
been especially so last night for snow
storm had been raging in the southern
tier OF counties OF the state ever since
midnight At 2:2s a special train
filled with officers left the Sc. Paul
depot here for the scene OF the rob-
berry.
Still later adyices from Western
Union Junction are to the effect that
when the train was stopped the rob.
bers Immediately threw u dynamite
bomb at the door. wrecking the whole
end of the car. They then removed
hs safes from the car aud opened
them They secured $1,000 In local
money which was In packages outside
the safes. The safes themselves were
sealed and the messengers do not
know the exact amount in them Lo-
cal employees Of the American Express
company admit that the amount lost
is very large. indeed Passengers were
not molested. The train was No. ,.
and left Chicago at IL o'clock. IL con-
sisted OF three coaches, two sleepers,
one parlor, one baggage. one mail and
one express car. 10 arrived at Wes.
tern Union junction at l2:46, where
two passengers got off.
IL IL now known that the sums re-
ceived by the robbers was not large, as
the larger portion Of it was in the form
of drafts, payment on which will DE
stopped The robbery occurred about
clock this morning Last evening
Ave or six men left Racine on freigh,
train, which they left at Western Union
station, remaining there until the ex.
press from Chicago came in sight
They boarded the train, and unknown
to any one, made their way
to the tender and lay in wait for a
favorable moment IL soon came.
About a mile north of the station the
fireman began shoveling coal into the
tirebox when he was startled by noise,
and on turning about TO ascertain the
cause found himself covered by a rifle
in the hands of q masked man. An.
other cleaning barrel was pointed al
the head of the engineer. The fireman
was compelled to go forward and extin'
guish the headlight on the locomotive.
This accomplished, both he and the
engineer were marched ahead OF the
robbers, who followed In single file tc
the express car. One of the robbers
raped on the door at the side and or
dered Messenger Murphy to open it.
This the latter refused TO do Then a
bomb was thrown through tho window
and the demand was renewed. Still
the plucky messenger refused to opeI
the door. Another bomb was thrown,
this time square At tue door
A terrible exp. .osion followed
the force of which blew a large hoe
in the door. One OF the robbers sprane
into the aperature and covered the
messenger and h s assistant with re
volvers Both men had been thrown
down by the terrible conclusion. The
explosion had thrown the inside OF tho
car into the greatest confusion
The safes which the robbers were BEN
on securing were buried beneath the
boxes and packages Fireman Averil
was compelled at the point Of q revol
ger to get into the car and uncover the
safes Two of the three safes on the
train were thrown ont of the door anC
dragged of . short distance, wher
after a delay of about half an hour
the train was permitted TO proceed or
It's way, arriving in this city at 2:2t
this morning.
When the train stopped and tn,
bomb exploded this of course attracted
the attention of the fiagman, who wai
looking forward. and seeing tn,
men about the express car he immedi
ately started for Western Union June
tion, where he told his story, anc
dispatches were sent to the author
ities of Racine, Chicago and Mil
waukee and TO the railroad ans
express company's headquarters IL
those cities. Promps action was takeI
and as fast as special trains could b,
made ready detectives were sent to tn,
~l.l -
twenty-five detectives working on tn,
case, belonging to the city forces
and the compaDy's specials The seen,
In the passenger car Will,
the robbery was being perpetratet
was ludicrous in the extreme. Tn,
curtains were Immediately down ant
the inmates began sccrcting their val
uables. hiding them in their stocking
and abous the car. The express car OF
reaching Milwaukee was unloade,
and taken 10 the shops for repairs
Among the goods taken out, bail o
cloaks were fairly blown into ribbons
having the appearance OF being pu
through . threshing machine. Mes
senger Murphy's clothii z was strippe,
into threads. and 10 is n miracle hov
he escaped with his life. Severa
holes In his hat and coat xleev,
were probably made BY stones Ii
the dynamite bombs, as there are
large number of these sticking In tn,
sides OF the car where they have pcne
trated half way through the heav,
boards ut the side of the car The re
port that the train robbed wa
the one that carries the larg
est amount Of money for tn,
express company Is denied by Agen
Dodsworth. who declares the money j
not entrusted to the night train. Mr.
Dodsworth will not give out the amour
Of money secured by the robbers, bu
says IL is very small This he ha'
asccrtained by checking mp the messen
gers report IL is ascertained from
railroad men that the safes OF TIL
Adams Express company were in th
baggage car en- route for Milwaukee
whore they are turned over to the com
panys messengers
A Later Report.
4