The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1893-10-12

nand that has saluted the ears OF traveller.
In all ages. Highway robbery has lont
been a recognized avocation and has beer
pursued by outlaws in periods of plenty a!
we'll as in times of distress, albeit there ha!
always been plenty of want in the worlc
and enough of injustice to drive darina
men to desperate courses
1t Is possible that the prevailing finan.
cial s~trtngency is partially responsible for
the epidemic Of train robbery, but / seri-
ously doubt that any really we'll meaning
man has taken to robbing railway trains
in lieu of more worthy occupation. One
who has studied the characters Of contem-
poraneous outlaws observes that the APP
pretended highwayman almost invariably
exhibits a sudden solicitude for his dear
family and tells pitiful tales of want and
suffering. On investigating his antece-
dents it is generally found that the man is
innately dishonest, and that he is either a
professional criminal or has abandoned an
honest occupation with the idea of sud-
denly enriohtng himself at the expense of
his fellows.
No theory could be more fallacious than
that on which the train robber operates.
Piracy on land is perilous business, and
those who follow it are almost inevitably
brought up with a round turn at the end
Of the hangman's rope or ANONYMOUSLY
deposited in a felon's cell. Before me lies
a suggestive list of gentlemen footpads of
the last century, ~forerunners of our mod
ern train robbers. There is a moral in
every line:
Jack Sheppard, immortalized for his rob-
berries and burglaries and escapes from New
4 gate prison; executed at Tyburn, 1724.
Claude Duval, executed 1870.
Dick Turpin, executed at York, 1739.
Galloping Dick Orchard Ferguson), exc
outed 1900.
Captain Grant, Irish highwayman, executed
1916.
Z Jonathan Wild, executed l725.
The list might be indefinitely prolonged,
but | fear the lesson will be lost on those
for whom it is intended.
In this country we are more tender in our
treatment Of outlaws, but it will be OBJ
served that retribution of some sort surely
and swiftly follows the highwayman. That
such r%etribution is not q sufficient deterrent
is shown by the alarming increase Of train
robberies in 1S93-an increase that has even
aroused the federal congress and seems
likely to provoke national legislation on the
subject.
The first train holdup of which we have
any record, according to the st. Louis
Giobe- democrat, a Journal which has paid
a good deal of attention to the subject, was
at Centralia, Mo-, Sept. "a, 1864, when Bill
Anderson's band of guerrillas held up a
train and killed 80 Union soldiers. The
James and Younger brothers were said to
be members of this gang. This was an in
cident of the war, but it furnished a prece-
dent for the first real train robbery, which
was perpetrated in September, 1866, at
Brownsville, Ind, by the brothers Frank,
Jesse, Sim and Jack Reno and their broth
er-in-law Anderson. They held up the
train, cut off the express car, overpowered
the messenger and secured $4,000 without
firing a shot.
This crime created q great sensation. Ex-
press companies were alarmed, travellers
were dismayed, and the spirit of emulation
was aroused in the minds of the sundry ad-
v~enturous youths. A short time later d
pair of 19-year-old Indiana boys uncoupled
the express car from an east bound train
and forced the engineer to run down the
track. Then they overpowered the mes
enger and robbed him of 5000. The boys
We're given up to justice by their fathers
and We're sent to prison for long terms.
About a year after their first exploit An
derson and the Reno brothers held up a
train at Seymour, Ind, and secured $50. 600.