The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1894-10-17

RICHMOND. Va. Oct 12-The north
bound passenger train on the Richmond,
Fredericksburg & Potomac railroad, which
left here at 7 o'clock last night. was held
up near Quantico. The engineer. and fire.
man were forced from their engine and
the engine was cut loose and sent ahead.
The express car was then entered. the
messengers covered with pistols and the
safe robbed The runaway locomotive
was stopped at Quantico by obstrucung
the track.
1t is stated here tonight that there was
an unusually large amount of money on
the train. probably $5OOOO The robbers,
seven in number. were masked and forced
the messenger to open the safe. The rail-
| road company has Offered $1,000 reward
for the arrest OF any Of the robbers.
The express messenger, b. E. Crutch-
field and his helper, H. Murray, barred
the doors Of the express car, but these
were Blown open with dynamite. After
the robbery the thieves made off with
their booty in the direction Of the Poto-
mac river, where it is supposed they had
a boat in waiting to take them to the
Maryland side. None Of the robbers en-
tered the passenger coaches.
NEW YORK, Oct. 13.-The train which
was held up last night on the Richmond,
Fredericksburg & Potomac railroad
, reached the Pennsylvania depot at Jersey
City at sos o'clock this morning, bringing
with it badly shattered express car. The
Adams express company messengers left
the train and proceeded at once to the
headquarters in New York city. They re-
ported that all of the safes had been rihed
by the robbers. 1t is supposed that the
! bandits obtained between s15o,OOO and
100000
It was found thai the heavy oak doors
had been splintered by the sticks of dyna-
mite forced into the car By the robbers.
In addition to this the marks of revolver
bullets Wee plainly visible. Every pane
of glass in the windows Of the car had
been shattered by the force Of the eX-
plosion, and FRAGMENTS of glass were still
scattered over the floor Of the car. The
officials of the Adams express company
| in charge of the car at the depot, said that
only pouches and safes had been ran
sacked. The other packages in the car
remained intact.
Mr.. Shackelf1rd of the ThomasvlIIe 0Ia.)
Times Enterprise says: There were az
least six or seven masked men, and L
could plainly distinguish them all in tie
clear moonlight of the early evening. In
fact. so near did they come TO me that,
In spite of their masks, I am almost sure
| that 1 could recognize some of them IL
could see them again, from certain little
peculiarities Of dress or speech. When
the alarmed passengers crowded out of
the cars to see what was the matter the
! robbers fired q perfect fuslllade OF shots
TO intimidate them, as We'll as to frighten
the railroad men. The robbers rified the
express car without loss of time. They
put their sticks Of dynamite under the
door Of the express car ana blew 1t open.
The manner in which these men got on
the train was a mystery at first, but we
af.erward discovered that they all prOba-
bly, boarded the car at White Brook sta
tion. a few miles the other side of Guam
tico station They evidently climbed upon
the platforms and while the train was in
motion worked their way along the top
of the cars until they succeeded in board
ing the tender and cab. Then, without
any ceremony, they he'd up the engineer
and fireman. The engineer is named
Frank Gallagher. He was an Old emplOye
on the road. and as brave as could be, the
road men tell me, but two or three of the
villains attended to the engineer, while two
or three more Of them attended to the eX-
press messengers and another one or two
kept guard on the passengers and train
men. Some of the desperadoes even went
so far as to converse in a clever daring
fashion with passengers and trainmen.
1.-The most novel thing in the entire pro-
! ceeding was the way in which the rob-
bers made their escape They cut the
engine loose, piled their plunder into the
cab and then the whole crowd piled in
upon the top of it. They turned on
steam and started for Quantico as fast
as the engine could carry Them
President L. c. Weir of the Adams ex-
press company IS of the opinion that the
amount of money lost viii not exceed
$4,000 but says it may reach 100000.
The destruction of the way bills made it
difficult for him to ascertain the exact
amount. He said that the robbers had
taken all the money contained in the ex-
press car but had overlooked two pack
ages of bonds worth $165O0 and also
failed to secure a quantity of jewelry.