The herald., 1894-12-13
Both Men Taken Into Court,
! But Their Pleas Continued
Till Today.
THEIR COUNSEL RETIRES.
Johnson Tells In Detail How Both Ros-
coo Robberies We're Perpetrated.
Tho Money Se-
cured.

N and his accomplice. "KiG' Thomp-
IN. \were taken to Judge Smiths de-
Tartment OF the superior court yesterday
to plead. 1t had all been arranged fo
johnson to piead guilty. in accordance
with his confession published exclusive
ly in yesterdays HERALD, but on motor
Hof District Attorney Dillon the plea was
Continued until 10 o'clock this morning
Attorney Horace Appel, counsel fol
the trainw rockers, stated that he had
not seen Thompson, but his firm anG
DIR. Lane had watched his intereete
heretofore, and IS some things had
taken place within "A hours. he was nc
longer connected with the cese. He
said the action OF Johneon in coniessinp
his guilt WAS taken quite ON his own re-
epOnsibility.
There were eeve-al reasons proffered
privately as to why tho continuance was
asked. One WAS that Thompson had
not confessed and his statement Of guilt
was much desired since his com panion in
crime had gwen the whole thing away.
1t was believed that by this morning
Thompson woald follow Johnson's ex.
ample and they could then go into court
and plead guilty together.
Then, too, the HERALD's expose of. the
confession created quite stir among
the officers. end Mr.. Dillon WAS very
much disturbed over il. He was at a
loss to know how the secret leaked out
IA 1t upset his plans to a greater or less
extent.
I A reporter for the HERALD Yesterday
learned the full text of Johnson'a
startling confession, though the ver>
batim copy OF his statement will not be
made public until this morning. The
admission of guilt has not been fully
transcribed by the stenographet. The
following will, however, show how the
robberios were committed:
Johneon's confession, according to be.
lief. was devoted to both robberies.
The first robbery took place on Decem-
Der %. 1898. Thompson first met john
son at the latter's corral on Broadway
and franklin streets in October. He
went 10 the stable in quest of work, but
Johnaon, having nothing for him to do,
did not want MIN. Finally they ar.
ranged that Thompson shoud
work for Johnson for his board.
This naturally threw the men to.
gether great deal. One day,
Ia discussing their financial conditions,
Johnson said he had hard feeling to.
ward the railroads; that he had been
cheated by them, more or less, on sew
eral occasions.
Somehow the men got the idea OF
train robbery into their heads and they
talked OF the matter in an Indifferent
way On several occasions. Johnson, in
his confession, said he told Thompson
he did not want to rob any trains.
In0mnsnn w al
such literature pertaining to robberes,
and especially OF robberies daily chroni.
cled in the newspapers,
Finally things were hallway agreed
upon aHd Thompson proposed that they
go to the Arcade depot to zee if any
money was being carried by the ex-
press cars. They made three trpa to
,he depot, going in the evening. So
they concluded, after seeing that con-
giderabie money was PM in the car
every night, to rob the train. Johnson
TOOK couple OF horses cut 10 Roscoe in
the afternoon, and Thompson went out
TO the ecene in the train.
According to Johnson, Thompson |
made the bombs, a package Of which |
was tied to the saddle OF one OF the
horsee. Thompson stole the powder
from residents IL the Little Te;unga
canon, near Johnson's ranch.
When johnson reached the switch
near the Roscoe citation he tied his
horses $50 yards from the track, and
built fire 60 that Thompson would
know where to begin firing and to stop
the engineer. Thompson, when ths
train went along that night had crawled
over the tender into the cab. Hs rode
10 Burbank or the train, getting off
there and boarding the freight car that
was between the passenger coachea and
Tie engine. When Johnson heard
lhompson's shots ne ran down to where
The train was, as Thompson mad held Cd
the engineer quarter of mile sooner
than was agreed upon. johnson fred
Dis winchester many times as he ran 20
me train. Each CT the robbers covered
me fireman and engineer and made
hem get down from the cab. Thomp-
ION vent on one side Of the train aud
Iohnson on the other. Johnson tried
o compel the engineer to light one of
ne bDmbs, but no wac 80 frightened
hat johnson had to touch il off himself.
nom pson then told the messenger that
ne didn't open the door he would put
bomb in thu car and blow him 10 hell
Y nile Thompson was going through the
'nckages johnson was watching and
ring shots along the train 10 intimidSte
he passengers. Johnson was acting as
guard l1r his accompiice. :
Alter the robbery. very little money +
avlng been secured, the bandits took
oe engineer and fireman up the track, ,
nd then, warning the tranmen to cav
othing, under penalty of death, they
'alked over to where their horses were
nd Inmped on. They rode almost back
} Burbank, thence in circuitoua route {
lfough ields, and then back across the
royo Ssco and across the n ain bridge. I
bout tnis time it began raining. {
Ihe robbers tinGlly reached the city, +
ID alter seeing that everything was
ear rode into the corral They unsad- i
ed their horses and went about tLe v
lsness as usual. h
The frst robbery being failure, in c