The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1893-09-24
ROBBIyG EXPRESS CARS.
i Has Developed IatO a Regular
Business.
oriainated With the First Train Rob
berry at Gad's Hill in lS76-The Dan
gers of Express Messengers,


From the ST. Lofts Republic.
Hold up your hands!"
This salutation is frequently met with in
the pages of the sensational novel and as
frequently in real life.
As one turns some shadowy corner,
masses some darksome alley, or turns
from an engine throttle, to view some
handkerchief-shaded face climbing down
oyer tender and hears the now-come
to-be ominous request, he usually COM
plies with it,
In view of the many train robberies
and express plundering expeditions it
would seem that the modern engineer
and express messenger meet most fire.
opently with it. When one reads the
chapters of railroad crime, wherein the
death of an express messenger is related
because of an Unwillingness to comply
with the demands of thieves who would
thunder his car, the term in question
seems to belong to the woes of express
messengers alone.
In reality, here is one class of service
that above all others is most hazardous
and thankless. The care of a great cor
poration's flying wealth makes of them
an mere machines or watchdOgs, standing
them in at certain points, delivering them
safely at others and leaving their labor
only to rest and return. The thought is
somewhat discOuraging.
Along with it all comes the fact, as
vouched for by many messengers and eX-
messengers, that the entire craft, If such
il may be called, is underpaid, One said
only few days since that $40 made a
good round salary for express messengers
generally and $50 was considered really
excellent.
Perhaps for the work it is necessary to
do so or $50 is sufficient, and flor the
educational requirements necessitated the
sums named are ample, but certainly for
the risk taken in these seeming times of
evil. the sum seems inadequate. In ordi-
nary business transactions of any kind
whatsoever, there is compensation for
time, usage and risk, while in this bust
ness transaction between the express
messenger and the express company, no
consideration is taken of the two latter
compliments and time only is paid for.
Ever since the James boys inaugurated
express robbing as mode of profitable
employment the life of the express mes
senger has been at stake. The work of
the Reno gang in Indiana, the Starr gang
in Indian Territory and Texas, the aston
ishing pursuit led by Evans and SOntag,
DOAl III AdlllOIHld anu OIilCI StdlNSs Hos
merely added to the general risk that has
constantly lowered over these men. The
danger can not be modified or explained
away to a minimum. When it is seen, as
has often been illustrated, that these des-
peradOeS traverse whole states and even
the entire union to execute their daring
work, it becomes apparent.
Evans and SOntag Travelled from Cali
fornia to Wisconsin to hold up the Amer
. of
expected moment and out of the way
place. II has since been learned that
they travelled elsewhere and farther to
accomplish their purpose. The James
gang did likewise and all the southwest
knew them from St. Louis to Browns
vile and from the mountains of Tennes-
see west to the coast 1t stands to rea-
son, then, that the messenger in Florida
on Oregon, in Maine or New Mexico, tend
ing the wealth of some one of these great
express corporations is as liable to re-
ceive visit from local desperadoes as
from outlaws who have travelled from afar
TO their shadOWy midnight work
Leaving his comfortable home of an
evening for the labor of aulong journey,
the express messenger enters the car over
which he has charge and travels forth
on his journey alone. There is usually
wealth about him, of the presence of
which he is not certain how many are
aware His doors are barred and bolted
His labor is one of silence and speculation.
Through the long hours of the night the
various stops are to be wondered at as
meaning something dangerous.
Finally in their, as in the lives of all
men, there comes the critical moment. A
train has been halted in the shadow of a
gloomy forest or the depth of solitary
canyon. A voice has sounded the demand
for an immediate opening and surrender;
a manly stand is taken. Then comes the
blowing open of door with dynamite, a
demand for KEYS. The final test is a
brutal blow or a deadly shot and another
hero, unsung, has died at his post.
1t is either this or the other-a surren-
der because life and the pursuit of happi-
ness perhaps not so much for ourself as
for others still more dear is held higher
than packages of gold or bundles of sill
Yer The aftermath IS usually less
thrilling and more painful. Usually it
means that the messenger dies hero or
fingers d suspect in the service or out of
it, The families of the dead, according to
some, are left to shift for themselves or
To suffer because of inability TO shift.
The living messenger has the inadequate
salary and the perhaps moderate Odium
Of having been a coward or untrustwor-
thy upon him, or has no work at all and
50 drifts out of the business entirely.
The memoirs of many of the superin-
tendents of the different express compa-
MES having branch offices here extend
over long years of service and experience
as messengers on the road. Superin-
tendent Calhoun of the Adams company,
Superintendent Fuller of the Pacific eX-
laess and Superintendent Agee of the
Southern Express Company, whose quar-
ters are at Memphis, but who were in the
city yesterday, kindly racked their mem
cries for "reminiscences of train robberies
and struggles wherein express messen-
gers had been killed or came forth glO-
rOus
According to Superintendent Agee the
nrst train robbery in America occurred
at gad's Hill, Mo, in 1876. At that point
and time an Adams express car, presided
over by one Messenger Wilson, was held
up on the Iron Mountain road by the
James boys and looted, The Adams com
lan} lost several hundred dollars, and
1ue United States mail car was robbed as
We'll As the most of the living world
KNOWS the story of the James band, the
sequel to this primordial incident may be
guessed
IL was not the only train, however, that
was held up by the James and Younger
Ilolners. All the after years of their out
ID" experiment were stained by deeds of
~u-eh express robbing was certainly the
t.-"esl. Their example also was copied
~ o-her ambitious intellects Of an ignor-
cut out blood bir.e fv-f ,7r-r,