Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1892-02-24
A SENSATION ON THE LINE.
Express Robbery, Pursuit and Capture
of the Bold Bandit.

! cial. 1t runs every day in the year be-
tween New York and Buffalo, and car
ries only goods and property shipped
| by that company. One car is known as
| the money car" ana in it is
sent the specie from the United States
treasury for Western banks as we'll as
the money in process Of exchange be-
| tween the banks Of New York and the
! West. The load OF wealth sent out from
| New York on this train is usually great
er on Saturday evening than on any 9TH
er day, and often amounts to more than
| a million dollars IN addition TO iewelrv
and other valuables. Daniel T. McIner-
ney, of this city, was in charge of the
money car" on the trip Saturday night,
| When the train was near Weedsport,
| the conductor, who was in the coach
with his two trainmen, thought he heard
| the air-WhiStle sound very family It
| was enough to arouse him to the belief
! that something was wrong IN the eN-
press car. Going out on the platform
of the coach he climbed into il, and
! looking through the hole which the bell
| cord comes through he saw the upper
part of a man whose face below
| the eyes was concealed by red flannel
mask The messenger he could not see
! He went back, set the air-brakes and
called his two train1nen. Nhe three
stood leaning out from the platform
| looking forward along the sides Of the
express car. Suddenly q mans form
appeared at the side door Of the express
car. Revolver bullets Whistled past
their ears and voice was heard COM
manding them to signal the engineer to
90 ahead or take the consequences.
The trainmen were unarmed. ~.
The conductor told one of his men to
Jump off, run back to Jordan and tele-
graph along the line to Rochester that
they had train rObber on board. This
was done, and the conductor signaled
the engineer to go ahead at full speed,
thinking that the robber would not dare
imp and would be captured at the next
stop. The train went to Fort
Byron. Here the brakes were
set again and the conductor and
trainmen went TO the express car. The
car showed signs of desperate strug-
gle. Money packages and iewelry were
lying scattered about. everything in
the car stained with blood and Mes
senger McInernev was lying bleeding
from several wounds and almost IN
conscious. The robher was nowhere
to be seen, and was supposed TO
have jumped and made good his
escape. MCInerney wanted to be
brought on to Rochester. A telegram
for an ambulance was sent on to ROches-
ter, and the train went on TO Lyons, the
next stop. The news had spread all
along the line by this time, and the sta
ton at Lyons was all alive. Among
others in the crowd was a well-dressed
young man wearing gold eyeglasses
and carrying a satchel slung over his
shoulder.
Now it happened that the trainmen
had noticed the young man at the sta
ton at Syracuse before the train started
out and they had not seen him since
and the question what he was doing at
Lyons at once suggested itself An at
tempt TO arrest him was made. but he
pulled two revOlvers, held the crowd
back and backed across the yard until
he reached q coal train the engine OF
which had steam up ready TO pull
out for the West. He pulled the pin
holding the tender to the first car,
climbed over the coal into the cab,
drove the engineer and firemen out
with his revolvers, pulled open the
throttle and started the engine. Con-
ductor Laass and one of the sWitchmen
procured shotgun, fred the engine
of the express and with the fireman
and engineer started in pursuit OF the
fugitive.
It will be remembered that the Cen
tral-Hudson is a tour-tracked road and
the engines, though they were going
West were not on the same track. The
express engine soon overlook the rob-
Der, who suddenly reversed his engine
and let his pursuers pass him, pour per-
feet Yolley of bullets into the cab as his
pursuers went by. Then the pursuers
stopped and the pursued went ahead.
Another artillery duel ensued, the shot
gun taking part this time. No one was
hurt in either battle. About seven
miles farther on the robber found his
steam going out of the engine. He
dropped Off at cross road and started
across the country, going south. He
managed to terrorize farmer into let
ting him have horse and rode on about
two miles further south. Here he pro-
cured a horse and compelled the owner,
farmer, to entrust him with 1t by FIR
| ing on him.
The party in the express engine had
returned to Lyons, where the sheriff Of
| Wayne County had organised a posse.
which under command of Deputy Sher-
if Collins started in pursuit. Mean
time the farmers along the robbers line
of retreat had also turned out fully
armed in pursuit. The runaway was
sighted about five miles south Of New
ark. The roads are very bad and he
had made very poor Roadway.
He abandoned his horse and ran
across lots to Benton's swamp. Butthe
swamp proved too full of water to be
penetrated, and the fugitive took up his
position behind a stone wall and faced
his pursuers. After some parley he sur
rendered to Deputy SherifCollins. He
was taken back to Lyons and lodged in
jail. He gave the name of William Cross,
said he was from New Mexico, and had
been boarding in Syracuse for some
time. He admitted he was the man
who attempted the train robbery to
Chief of Detectives Hayden, of this
| city, who had been wired for. He is
believed to be the much-wanted Oliver
Curtis Perry, who robbed Express
Messenger Moore near Utica last fall.
The story Of attempt at robbery as far
as it can be gathered is this: '"The eX-
press messenger, be it understood, will
not talk. Cross boarded the train when
it pulled out of Syracuse and climbed on
top of the express car. He was provided
with hooked rope. Fastening the hook
in the slight cornice of the roof on one