Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1893-11-04

express companies have also reached this
conclusion.
When the first Pacific railroad was COM
pleted armed troops We're carried on every
train until it became certain that Indians
would not modest this latest invader of their
ancient domain. The express companies
which endanger the safety of passenger
train by shipping treasure which is insult
ficiently guarded invite these train rob
berries. They should be compelled to guard
their treasure by men who not only carry
arms, but know how and are willing to
use them effectively when necessary. One
or two messengers, even II armed and dis
posed to fight are no match for such q
large band of robbers as that which held
up the Lake Shore train short time since
in Indiana. For the better safety of pas
sengers the express cars which carry treas
ure ought not to be part of passenger
train. The lives of passengers are put 70
needless hazard by the combination of
passenger coaches and treasure-beaTing en-
press cars insufficiently protected and in
viting attack and robbery at every stage
of their journey.
Trucking n Gang.
The railroad and express companies have
a regularly organized force of officers and
during the August rush of business by the
robbers In the west the greater portion
of this force in the east was hurried to-
ward the setting sun as fast as possible
Within the last month the train robbng
business has taken a slump and these Of
ficers have been returning to their regu-
lar assignments in twos and threes Meet
ing an old acquaintance of this force who
was lounging about the 9th street depot
a reporter of The Evening Star asked him
for particulars of his trip and also his ideas
on the epidemic of train robberies that re-
Gently swept over the west. He said:
You know that l served as a special Of
ficer for several years in the west, and
went through many tough experiences
That was about ten years ago, when the
Iap1 iShi
people, who are accustomed to remarkable
occurrences, by their daring raids on pas
senger trains and overland. mail and ex-
press coaches. From this experience 1t
may be gathered that i know what l am
talking about.
when the first hold up occurred re-
Gently in the vicinity of Kansas City l re-
ceived this dispatch from the chief officer
OF the western division, located in Chicago
Come on at once, and pick I'D all our
men in sight on your way out. Big hold
up in Kansas, and l believe the gang will
work east. -
The chief was right in his surmise. as
later developments demonstrated Five min
utes after receiving that dispatch l was on
a train bound for Chicago and on the way
out collected twelve of our men, Before
We could form any plans as to locating
tnat particular group of train robbers he
big hold up occurred down in Texas That
robbery demonstrated that a master mind
was engineering the raids on the express
companies treasure box, as it threw the
chief and all of us completely off our reck-
oning. OF course We Immediately started
for the scene of the latest robbery, and, as
we thought, found plenty of indica tons to
show that the gang was still in that coun-
try. We scattered in twos and tours and
worked for week without discovering
anything OF substantial nature The
leader or the gang performed his work
very similar to an expert chess PLAYER for
while we were hunting him and his gang
down In Texas he was going east, sub
stantiating my chiefs first idea, and at
tnat hour was no doubt laying his plans
for the big robbery in Indiana Three laws
later upon reporting at the telegraph office
in Waco l received the following telegram
My nrst Judgment correct. Come at
big haul
Latter Day HiGhwaymen.
Two days later l reached that scene and