The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1893-12-15

I
| tor larger amounts which are being
| snpped some distance. The messen-
! ger mas the combination TO the snail
! or SAFE ara when they ordered him
( - open X ne did SO. All tLrv rot
: 1ri.i this safe was So, however. and
( thrn they ordered him to open the
! larfrr safe. This he declared he co,ild
M do. hrsaGse he did not know the
tJitolnaGCn, ana this was the truth.
! although he had hard time convinc.
ll(g the robbers of the fact 1t seems
that only the station agents at the
larger places have the combination Of
the large safes, into which they put
the packages conflded to them for ship
ment ana also the ones from the
smal!er safes. The messenger does
not Know how to open these large
safes, and when this particular one
told the robbers so they tried to fright
On him by placing under the safe
package which they declared contained
dynamite 1t was only q bluff, how
ever, and when they found the mes
senger was really in earnest they left
the baggage car and formed n line on
the outside of the train. They then
marched along the outside of the train
Ill single file, the engineer leading the
column; then came the fireman, the
four robbers In a row, then the ex-
press messenger and, last of all, the
conductor.
AS they passed along the robbers
flred perfect shower of bullets
through the top part of the cars. This
was to impress us, and while l felt
that they did not intend to hit us, /
dld not take up any more room above
the top of the seat than Ii was abso-
lutely necessary for me to occupy, on
account of the danger from glancing
bullet. When the procession reached
the rear of the train its members
boarded the Pullman car and started
to go through the train from the rear.
When the colored porter first heard of
the presence of the robbers. however.
he bolted the door, and when the rob-
bers commanded him to open 1t he
fired Il shot at them with 32-calibre
revolver. He injured no one although
he narrowly escaped hitting the fire
man, and the robbers answered with
such fusillade that he soon crouched
down on his hands and knees and
loosened the bolt. When the robbers
did enter they kicked him all around
the rear of the car.
The procession entered the car in
the same formation as it marched
down on the outside of the train. The
leader of the gang did all the work,
the other robbers keeping watch for
surprise, while he collected the goods
and chattels of the passengers.
Il was the third person they ap-
preached, and l sat in my seat irving
to appear unconcerncd, but In reality
inwardly wondering where l was at
when the leader and his file came up
and the former said:
Shell out young man.
DO you want it ALP 1 asked, try
ing to appear to take the thing as q
matter of form.
Come, hurry up, hurry up he an
sWered, and by way of emphasis he
put the muzzle of his Winchester rifle |
under my nose. i never thought one |
of those things looked so fierce before.
The muzzle of that gun seemed to in
crease in size every moment | looked
at 1t, and without spending any more
time in joking with the leader l nut
my hand down in my pocket and pulled
out the wad of small bills which / had
extracted from my roll. This 1 handed
to him, and he counted it and found
there was only $14.
is that all you've got? he asked
In disappointed tone of voice.
Il put my hand down in my trousers
pocket and pulled out 75 cents in
change and some poker chips. He
laughed when he saw the chips. and
then he started to feel of my pockets,
asking me again If that was all the
money l had. / assured him that II
was, and after he satisfied himself
that l was telling the truth, he re-
fused to take the silver saying:
"'Well, hang on to that. Buy n
drink with it
"As he started to walk off ne said:
Don't you carry Il watch?
L did carry one | replied, but that
was before the Butte races. You
should have tackled me before those
came off,
with that he walked off. The poker
chips and the story of the Butte races
were strong points of circumstantial
evidence in his eyes. and he left me
satisfied that he had all that was
worth taking from me-
The robbers appeared to be good
natured enough, but they were not out
for trifling. Just in front of me sat a
young telegraph operator and his best
girl. Naturally he wanted to appear
a hero in the eyes of the young lady,
and when the robbers came to him
ne was leaning with his elbow on the
sill of the car window near him. ap-
unconcerned about their pres
ence.
"'Come, shell out said the leader
81 haven't anything for YOU the
young man drawled, slowly shaking
his head to emphasize his remarks.
'The leader said nothing, but quick
y bringing his Winchester rifle into
position he placed the barrel diagonal
y under the nose of the young man
md pulled the trigger. The ball lust
SKINNED by the young mans face and
crashed through the window near him.
oh, Charley, if you have anything
give it to him. oh, do! dor screamed
the young lady, but Charley didn't
need any urging after that shot, and
ne soon tished out roll of greenbacks
from his pocket.
see that you have something for
me, after all, the robber said az he
passed on.
"Some of the incidents were humor-