The herald., 1893-12-27
POTTS RELATES THE STORY
The Messengers Side Of the
Train Robbery.
How the Bandits Secured the Booty
at Roscoe.
Pullman Conductor Hampton Gives "a
Graphic Account of the Affair.
The Mail Agents
story.


the bandits down. and are working Wig
orousy to that end. More than one
clue has been obtained that may finally
lead to an arrest.
THE MAIL AGENTS STORY.
The San Francisco Chronicle of Mon
robbery as given by people ON the train
when they arrived in San Francisco:
This is the story related by Fred E.
Potts, messenger for Wells, Fargo u
II Co.:
81 was asleep when the explosion took
\ place. The force was 30 great that 1t
seemed to lift me bodily from whore l
was lying. Immediately after the ex-
plosion two men climbed into the car
and made me throw up my hands.
Then they ordered me to get out OF the
! car, which did. One OF the men had
Winchester strapped to his back. One
man had red bandana handkerchief
tied about his face aud the other wore
white flannel mask. They were both
about feet inches in height. One
would weigh about 175 pounds and his
companion, l think, was about ten or
fifteen pounds lighter. 1t was dark,
and could not distinguish their feat
ures closely. / noticed that one OF the
robbers wore black slouch hat and the
other light Fedora.
''After got out of the car the rob-
bers ordered the engineer to ditch the
train. We pleaded with them not to
do this, and finally they decided not to
} ditch the cars. When they got ready
to 20 they ordered the fireman, engi-
neer and myself to walk ahead on the
y, al
We walked along for quarter OF a
mile. Then we came back to the car.
/ am not at liberty to say what the loss
was, and have been advised not to re-
late at present what took place with
reference to the robbers after they en-
tered the car. l cannot reveal what
was done to the safe. The loss was q
very small one."
THE PULLMAN CONDUCTORS DESCRIPTION.
4 The most graphic description OF the
k'robbery was given by t. A Hanson,
the Pullman car conductor. Mr. Hsmp-
4 son relates what he saw and heard him
self, and the facts learned from con-
versing with trainmen and passengers.
His account is as follows:
"We were about IL miles out of Los
| Angeles, q little way this side of Bur-
bank, when felt the brakes put on by
j the engineer, and the train stopped with
three or four jumps. 1t must have
stopped within 80 feet after the brakes
were put on. Then the firing began.
The robbers must have climbed over q
4 fruit car which was between the baggage
car and the tender. They got on the
tender and fred Into the cab. At first
&. the engineer thought he had run over q
! torpedo on the track, but after they had
fired five or six shots they hallooed to
4 the engineer to stop.
81 heard about 20 shots in all. There
WAS q constable or some sort OF an officer
from San Bernardino on board the train.
! He got off and walked toward the rob-
n bers, saying: Gentlemen, gentlemen,
what is the meaning OF all this?'
lone of the robbers shouted: Get
back there, you - ---- -
1.-THE constable declared that he was
an officer, and the robber shouted You
- get back now, will you.' and fred a
shot. The constable hastened back to
/ the coach.
lone shot was fred through the mail
car and the mail agents were warned to
keep inside. Another shot struck one
OF the passenger coaches.
"Two shots were fred on one side of
from the other side. The two robbers,
who took an active part in the proceed
inge, after the train had bean stopped,
kept the engineer and fireman with
them. When they got ready to attack
1 this express car they placed dynamite
bomb against the door and told the
engineer to light the fuse. He did 80
4 and the two trainmen and the robber
ran back to await the explosion. The
Light went out and the bomb did not
burst.
'sThe robbers sent the engineer back
second time to light the fuse. No bet
ter success attended this effort. Then
they said to Stewart, that is the engi-
l ueer: You 60 back there and light that
z fuse and you stay there till it flzzles.
When it tzzles you rum
''Stewart did as he was told, and when
the fuse began to fizzle he ran back to
where the robbers stood.
"When the explosion took place it
1 caused panic among the passengers.
" The train was stopped about 45 minutes.
III Then we were delayed an additional
Y hour at the next station.
II do not know how many men were
engaged in the robbery. Some claim to
have seen three men, and others
say there we're only two. 1t is
thought that two OF the men
were passengers who got on the
train at Los Angeles and were last seen
in the passenger coach as we neared
Burbank. There is theory that they
left the coach at Burbank, got upon the
baggage car and then crawled over the
\ fruit car, which was ahead. to the ten
der. IT this is correct, there must have
been third man. for when the train
stopped there was little bonfire on the
track ahead--a signal, | suppose, to
show the robbers on the train that they
had reached the place to commit the
robbery. There. may have been other
robbers about, but it was too dark to get
at the situation clearly.
Somebody in the forward coach had
stuck his head out of window Just be-
"A fore the bomb exploded. A bullet
struck the frame near his head, ard he
did not need the profane injunction
which followed to keep his head in.
II noticed today that there were bul.
let marks on the boiler head of the
engine, so that the engineer must have
y narrowly escaped the bullets.''
AS SEEN FROM THE MAIL CAR.
There were three men in the mail
car-Harry Watkins, William Weller
and Frank Lorey.