Democratic Northwest. [volume] (Napoleon, Ohio) 1869-1894, 1893-09-14
GANG Or BANDITS.
Hold Up an Express Train on
the Lake Shore Road.
The Engineer Resisted and Was
Shot Down.

and After n Hand-to-Hand Battle With
the PIucky Messenger the Robbers Blow
Open the Safe and Secure a Large
Amount of Money.
CHICAGO, Sept. 12.-About 20 masked
men held up a Lake Shore train 12C
miles from Chicago near midnight
Monday night, and after wounding
the engineer, blew open the safe in the
expresscar and stole its contents. The
train reached Kendallville, a small
station in Indiana, little short of -four
hours late. 1t went past the town and
had hardly gone a mile through a
stretch of timberland, when the en-.
gineer slowed up near curve AS the
engine ratified round the turn the en-.
gineer saw a red light ahead, when
the train came to stop
ADozen Men sprang Into the Cab
and leveled rifles at the heads of the en-
gineers and f1remen. The two railroad
men stood stupified as the rifle cleaned
in the Pickering light and the robbers
said: "Throw up your handsp The
fireman was peaceful enough and lifted
his arms at once. The engineer did not
do so at once and was riddled with bull
lets.
AS the train came to pause there
was terrible explosion. The robbers
had put dynamite under the train, and
as the stiffness of the lonely place was
broken the expresscar cracked and split
and showed huge cash in its side.
The conductor and brakeman hurried
to the platforms only to be
Covered by Winchesters
in the hands of men who said they
would shoot to kill if a move was made.
The railroad men became motionless
and dumb.
A guard was put at the end of each
car and the expresscar was attacked
The messenger, behind barricaded
door, refused to obey the command of
the robbers to open the express car en-
trance. Shot after shot was fred at the
car, but the robbers soon saw they could
gain no entrance by intimidation. They
were prepared for this resistance. The
messenger,
Pouring Shot After Shot
at the robbers through the opening, was
soon disarmed and with blow in the
head leveled 20 the floor senseless.
Half dozen of the 20 men then loot
ed the express car. Dynamite was
again used in opening the safe and the
thieves used their own time in taxing
everything they thought worth carry
ing away. The guards at the doors of
the passenger coaches were called off,
and the band of robbers disappeared in
the wooded stretch of land that skirts
the railroad.
AS fast as legs could carry them,
messengers ran to Kendallville to
Spread the Alarm.
The sheriff of the county, aroused
from bed, called on all near him for
help, and soon posse of residents of
Kehdallville were speeding along the
highway to the scene of the holdup.
Guessing that the robbers had come
from Chicago the sheriff routed out a
telegraph operator and telegraphed to
the Chicago police the story of the rob
berry.
The train held up was the New York
express on the Lake Shore road. 1t
was made up of 10 coaches, two express
cars and one bagggecar. The dynamite
having wrecked only one expresscar,
the robbers contented themselves with
looting this alone, and made no effort
to force an entrance to the second. The
Chicago city officers were given orders
to go to South Chicago and await there
until daybreak. The sheriff of the
county, in which the tIain was held up,
telegraphed Sheriff Gilbert of Cook
county to be on the lookout for the rob
bers, as they were coming this way.
A Score or More.
A tramp who was stealing ride on
the expresscar of the train, said there
must have been 20 or 25 men in the
gang. 1t is said that none of the pas
sengers were robbed. The expresscar
robbed was one used by the United
States company, and is supposed to
have contained large sum of money.
The safe of the United States express
contained $3.50, 900, being shipped east
by Chicago bank. 1t is not known
how much of the coin the robbers car
ried away.
Engineer Knapp made plucky
fight when the robbers climbed into the
cab. He struck one with the coalpick
and knocked him senseless. Another
opened fire and shot the engineer in
the chest, seriously wounding him.
The fireman saw a chance to make his
escape and, Jumping through the cab
window, ran for his life.
May Reach 100000.
1t is reported that the loss by the rob-
berry amounts to nearly 100000, in
cluding a shipment of $250,O00 from a
Chicago to New York bank. The
crime is thought to have been the work
of gang Of tramps.