St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1892-09-22
Train Wreckers Cause a Hor-
ribie Accident on the
Santa Fe.
Four Trainmen Killed and
Thirty-Five Passengers
Wounded.
A Million Dollars the Prize
Which Tempted the
Wreckers.
So Deep Was the Treasure
Buried That 1t Could Not
Be Reached.

TOPEKA, Kan, Sept. 21.-A million
dollars in currency! That was the prize
for which Kansas train robbers strove
today. An appalling loss of human life
was the price they were willing to pay
for it.
Passenger Train No. s on the Atchi-
son, Topeka & Santa Fe railway. east
bound, was wrecked early this morning
three miles west of Usage City by tram
robbers, who hoped by that means to
piunder the express car of a million
dollars which was being transported
from the City of Mexico to Boston. A
wrecked train, four men killed, and
thlrty-five men, women and children
injured. are the only results OF the at
tempted robbery. for the robbers Sc
cured not penny of the treasure, to Sc
cure which they imperilled so many
lives.
The wreck and attempted robbery
had been carefully and deliberately
planned. To avoid the possibility of
leaving clue behind them, the robbers
stole the tools with which they did
Their Dreadful Work
instead of purchasing them. They
stole crow-bar, wrench and sledge
hammer from the tool house at Bar
clay, three miles west Of the scene of
the wreck, and with them removed a
tish-plate which joined two rails to-
gether, which would necessarily de-
rail the train.
The robbers had evidently selected
with care the spot at which to wreck the
train. They selected the top of grade,
up which the train would be obliged to
ascend, thus lessening the speed and at
the same time lessening the chances of
so badly wrecking the train as to
bury beneath the debris the
treasure they were seeking. Their pre-
cautions were unavailing, and the very
thing they sought to evade thwarted
their efforts. When the train passed
over the weakened track the entire
train was wrecked with the exception
of the rear car, and most of the cars
were piled, one on top of the other,
above the express:ear, burying it and its
treasure so deep as to require several
hours digging to reach it.
The engine, when it passed over the
lOosened rail, left the track. swayed to
and fro for a second of>time and then
toppled over with
A Dreadful Crash.
The engineer and fireman had no
warning Of their dreadful fate and no
chance for their lives. They must have
been killed outright when the engine
was wrecked. The express messenger
and express giiardsmen were equally
unprepared, and they were killed in
their car. There were some $50 pas
sengers on the train. but not one was
killed. How they escaped seemed
miraculous.
The cars were piled one on another,
and composed mass of timber and
twisted iron in which it seemed impOs-
sible for any being to have escaped
completed. however, all the victims
were found to be alive. Several were
badly injured, and few may die. The
million dollars belonged to the Mexican
Central Railway company, and was be-
ing forwarded to that company's head
quarters at Boston. 1t was rescued
from the wreck, and turned over to the
WellS-FargO company here to be for
warned to it's destination.
The Santa Fe has offered $1,000 re-
ward for the train wreckerS, and sew
eral posses are searching the country in
the vicinity Of the wreck. Advices
from Usage City and Barclay state that
intedse excitement and Indignation pre-
walls among the people there, who de-
clare boldly that the wreckers shall be
lynched when caught.
Killed and Injured.
Those kille6were:
EDWARD1MAHER, engineer.
EpANK PAyTEP oypraSS rnaccopoor
JOIN BIooMENTHAL. express guards
man, Mexico.
JAMES CHADDICKs, fireman, Topeka.
The wounded were:
Mary Lyman, Bloomington, ILL.,. badly
bruised and injured about head and face;
William Door and child. Chillicothe, Mo-,
badly bruised and scratched; Mrs. NJ. Jones
and two children, Wichita. slightly bruised;
Thomas Nelson, Topeka, bruised about head
and face; NJ. A. Roberts, Emporia, back IN
jured; Mrs. w. II. Miller. Macon. NO.,
injured in sprne and side; j. +. Waddell.
Bayonne; Kan, injured in left hip;
sc: Kelly. Kansas City, postal clerk, inter
Elliott. Ill, badly bruised: ". A. Carey, Bur
ingame, Kan. head cut; Ollie Young, Pop
lar Bluff, Mo-, head badly cuts A. c. Roarke,
Newton. Kan, head cut; ]. E. johnson. Min
Clure, Richmond. Mo, knee fractured and
head badly cut; w. D. Miner, Ness City,
knee hurt; II. S. Foster, Lawrence, Kan,
postal CLERK i ibadly bruised d. r b Donohue
c. r. Kinnee express messenger, Kansas
City, slightly bruised; j. B. Oberlin, postal
clerk, Kansas City, slightly bruised in back.
A Passengers Story.
All the stories told by the passengers
agree that there is little doubt that the
accident was the result of deliberate
plan to wreck the train for the purpose
of securing the treasure in the express
car. Maj. W. q. Llewellyn. the Santa
Fe live stock agent at Las Cruces, N.
NJ. who was on the train. says:
II was awake when the wreck oc-
cured. We were going probably thirty
and all of the cars left the track except
ours and the one back of us. 1t was the
worst wreck / ever saw. The front
coaches were all piled in heap, and
were reduced to kindlIng wood. There
were twelve cars in the train. think
there must have been about 225 people
on board, many of them women accom-
panied by children. don't see how so
many escaped. They all acted admir-
ably and worked with vim to help the
unfortunateS.
''Itis singular that the train did not
catch fire, for it was piled up on top of
the engine. The night was dark, and
we tore rails off the fence 10 use them
for torches. 1t was hard work getting
some of the people out. One aged lady
it took a long while to eXtricate her.
After we had rescued her she went back
otter her pocketbook.
Il took especial pains to find out the