Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1893-09-28
TRAIN ROBBERS FOlLED.
They"HoId Up'a Dummy" Train Loaded
with Oficers. Two Killed and Three
al

ST. JOSEPH, Mo. Sept. % The Kansas,
st 10. and Council Bluffs railroad people
foied an attempt Sunday night to rob one
of its passenger trains. and killed two ot
tho bandits and captured three others. at
Francis. mile and a half from this city.
The dead are Fred Koher aud Hugo Engel
The captured are FredorickS. Hurst and
Carver. Train No. 3 was the intended vie
tim. It left Kansas city at 9:O5 last night
and arrived here at 1890 this morning. The
officials had been notified by one of the gang
who turned informer. that the robbery of
the road had been planned. When the train
arrived here dummy train was made up
and ~ police officers under command of the
chief of police were put aboard In order
to thoroughly deceive the robbers. the train
was made All exact duplicate Of the train
No. 3, and consisted of an engine and tend
er an express and baggage car and the usu
al coach and Pullmans.
When the dummy reached a point two
miles north of St Joseph the engineers at
tcntion was arrested by lighted lantern
moving to and fro between the rails. He
obeved the signal, and six masked men sur
rounded the engine. One of the six mOudt
ed the engine and. presenting one revolver
at the engineer and another at the fireman,
held them in snhiection while the other FIVE
haatened to rob the express car. They or
dered the messenger to open the door, which
he did forthwith Three of the bandits Ell
tered the car. leaving two without to keep
guard The policemen were distributed in
the various cars, the majority Of them he
ing concealed in the express car. When the
three bandits entered the door the police
ordered them to surrender.
prise, hut they opened fire at once upon the
police. The latter returned the fire. and "A
general fuSilado followed. About - shots
were fired on both sides. When the smoke
cleared away, the ltele,s bodies Of Kohler
| and Engel were found lying ON the floor of
the car. Both had been shot through the
head. Frcdericks, the third robber engaged
in the fight in the car. was unniurcd and
placed under arrest. None of the officers
were injured. While the fight was going on
in the car, those of the police not engaged
in it put the two robbers under arrest who
had been left outside to keep watch.
The bandit, Henry Gleitz. who guarded
the engineer and fireman quickly realized
the situation when he heard the battle going
on in the expires, car and promptly made
his escape. y detail of officers were put on
his track and quickly took up the pursuit
and he was captured at St Joseph yesterday
morning. remarkable feature Of the
fight in the express car was the escape of all
the officers from injury The three robbers
in the car were each armed with brace of
revolvcrs and used them freely but still
they did no harm. kohler's body was
pierced by 43 bullets, Yet while he lay ON
the ground he managed to fire four shots
before he died Engel was struck 10y II
bullets, Yet lived short time The coaches
were riddlcd with bullets and all the win
dows We're shot out Kohler married an e,-
| timable young woman three weeks ago.
! The bodies of kohlcr and Fngc we've
| brought here ON the dummy train, which
| returned to the city soon after the encounter
| The prisoners. Fredcricks Hurst and Gar, er
We're brought here ON the same train with
| their dead comrades and were locked up at
| the police station. All the robbers lived
| here.