The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1893-12-14
HELD UP In HIS CAR.
A STORY or THE kENpALLvlLLg ROB
/, Berry FROM THE INSIDE.

The Robbers Seemed to Ne Pretty Good
Fellows Mt Heart-How They Got Into
the Burglar fsSsr' SAFE. SSsf
Express Messenger M. M. weist, who
MAS blown up by the train robbers near
kendallvipe. lnd:, bad bust returned from
fHp' over. the Lake Shore road. and very
readily told of his thrilling experience In
the famous robbery. He has lived in Buff
falo about year and has been an express
messenger on the Lake Shore road for Is
years
We were rolling along at . good lively
rate My assistant, Is. b. Hamlin. and my
self were alone in the car II was about
1:30 in the morning The lights were turned
low, and most of the passengers back In the
coaches and sleepers were asleep. Just ~
we were approaching the switch ut Kess-
applied with great force. and the train came
to quick stop. opened the door Of the
car aud looked ahead. saw at once that
the red switch light was turned on us,
which caused the engineer to stop 20 sud-
denly. Before had time to look second
time or shout to the engineer crack"
bang" sounded q pistol shot by the en-
gine, and knew what was the matter
They're after us" said to Hamlin, and
closed the door and fastened 1t N quickly
as possible. Then went TO the local safe
and took out bag of currency and all the
valuables l could get hold Of and threw
them over among the boxes ami packages
IN the freight end Of the car. That was the
last knew for some time. When ! rccov-
cred consciousness. was lying on the floor
of the car and two Of the robbers wero In
side at work.
Immediately after stopping the train
fthe1 3G placed dynamite bomb oa the
outside sill Of the car door. and the explo-
sion. the great concussion, is what made
me unconscious. When ! came to. ss
said, two Of them were inside and had the
lamps lighted. The chimneys had been
broken by the shock, and as the car was
full OF smoke you can imagine that IL was
something like a nightmare to rouse up
from unconsciousness and see those two
masked robbersin there through that dim.
smoky light. The moment stirred, one of
them, the shorter one, covered me with .
winchester rifle. Hamlin was guarded in
the samew They had red handkerchiefs
tied over their faces up to their eyes and
tucked down around their neckr.
"We're here for business" said one OF
them as | staggered up to half standing
position. IL was the tall one-thc leader
who spoke.
II see you are" said i.
! "Where is The money!" he asked.
''in the large safe, most OF It," replied.
"What have is in the local safe"
well, want it." he said. threw the
door open and told him to help himself.
There is nothing in there to amount to
anything but Niger jewelry and valuable
papers" | said as opened the door.
swell, I'll see, and id quick too." he
replied, and began to pull the things out
of the safe
want to explain to you that there are
two safes in an express car. One Is the sta
tionary safe. which has all the greatest val
uables, and the local safe, in which we carry
things of less value and small amounts of
money. We always call all jewelry mig
ger" jewelry. The stationary safe we never
open. The dial is taken OF the lock at one
end of the route and not opened until IL
gets to the other end-that is, say, between
Chicago and New York or between San
Francisco and Chicago. -
But to get back TO the robber. He pulled
out two or three packages, and after break
ing them open and finding no money In
them seemed to fly into . most furious
threw 1t ON the floor. In some of the pack
ages there was some railroad money, but
he didn't know where to look for it and 30
didn't find it, Then he turned to me, and
with the most frightful oath that ever
heard asked me, Where is the money"
''In there" said. turning to the station
ary safe.
"Open it, he demanded.
uI emit - snid
"Then you open it," he said, turning to
Hamlin.
II can't" said Hamlin, and then l ex-
planned to him that the dial was OF and we
had no way Of opening it,
''Well, I'll open it d---d quick" he
growled and ordered some one outside the
car to get him pickax. At this point
asked him il ! might pick up the freight
bills that he had thrown about on tho Hoor,
and he gave me the privilege. gathered
them up. and we talked all the time. BY
that time lac had got sledge hammer and
told his partner to order us to the rear OF
the car and allow us to make barricade OF
the freight boxes. did not know what
this was for at first, but soon saw. II was
20 protect us from the explosion when he
blew open the safe We made little bar
ricade, aud the watcher got behind it with
us, keeping US covered with winchester
rifle all the time
y"Then the other man went TO work at
the safe. He struck IL twice with the
sledge and then. after STOPPING over and
fussing about minute, lighted q fuse and
sprang back near where we were Then
came discharge and Immediately he would
rush back again. He put four cartridges in
the safe before he blew IL open sufficiently
to suit him. know that he must have
been an expert safe blower because was
told that the safe was burglar proof, but he
opened It. While he was working at 1t
said to him; You're making pretty long
Job of this. II you don't get away pretty
socn, therell be posse down here from
Kendallville.'"
Never mind" he replied; "when the
posse comes well CO." and he said 1t just As
coolly as / do now.
After the safe was opened he took out the
bags of money, and turning to his COM
panion said, TON, come on" He got out
of the car first, and then Tom backed out,
keeping us covered with his winchester all