The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1894-10-14

New York. oct. 1S.-The train which was
held up last night on the Richmond.
Fredericksburg and Potomac railroad
reached the Pennsylvania station at Jer-
sey city at sos o'clock this morning, bring
ing with it the badly shattered express
car. The Adams Express Companys
messengers left the train and proceeded
at once to the headquarters in New York
city. They reported that all of their
safes had been rifled by the robbers. It
is supposed that the bandits obtained be-
tween S150000 and $500, 900. When the ex-
press car, which is one belonging to the
Atlanta division, was side-traCked the
passengers, passersby and train men
gathered around to examine a spectacle
unique in the history of railroading in
this section. 1t was found that the heavy
oak doors had been splntered by the
sticks of dynamite thrown into the car
by the robbers. In addition to this
marks of revolver bullets were plainly
visible. Every pane of glass in the win
dows of the car had been shattered by the
force of the explosion, 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 sta
tion claimed that only the pouches and
safes had been ransaclxed, the other pack
ages in the car remaining intact. MANY
of the passengers who witnessed the hold
up left the train at Washington and Phil
adelphia, and but few of them completed
the journey to New York city. The train
men were, as usual, reticent about dis
cussing the affair. But Col. ]. Shackel-
ford, a newspaper man who happened to
be on board the train at the time, dis
cussed the incident freely and gave an
account of the manner in which the rob-
bers secured their plunder and made their
81 ~
editor of the Newark Journal. He is now
connected with the Enterprise of
Thomasville, Ga. He told the following
story: About seven or eight miles the
other side of Quantico station the train
came to a sudden standstill. Quantico is
located on the Potomac river on the Vir-
ginia side When the train stopped Con-
ductor NJ. A. Birdsong was thus addressed
by one of the masked robbers, evidently
the captain of the gang: Throw up your
hands, or we'll blow your brains out
From the manner in which they
arranged their signals for stopping the
train, as well as the manner in which
they afterward made their escape, it
was evident that several Of the gang
were experienced railroad men. That
they were desperate men was even more
evident, and the conductor and fireman
lost no time in obeying their instructions,
and wisely,I guess. There were at least
six or seven masked men, and l could
| plinly distinguish them all in the clear
moonlight of the early evening; in fact,
| so near did they come to me that in spite
! of their masks l am almost sure that /
| could recognize some of them if / could
| see them again, from certain little pc
| culiarittes of dress or speech. When the
/ alarmed passengers crowded out of the
cars to see what was the matter the rob-
| bers fired a perfect fusillade of shots to
| intimidate them. as well 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 and blew II
! open.
1.-The manner in which those men got
| on the train was a mystery at first, but
we afterward discovered that in all prob
ability they boarded the car at White
| Brook station, a few miles outside OF
! Quantico. 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 boarding
| the tender and cab. Then without any
| ceremony they held up the engineer and
| fireman. The engineer is named Frank
! Gallagher. He is an old employe on the
| road, and as brave as could be, railroad
men tell me, but two or three of the viii
| lains attended to the engineer while two
| or three more of them attended to the ex-
| press messengers, and another one OF
| two kept guard on the passengers and
train.
Some of the desperadoes even went
| so far as to converse in a clever daring
| fashion with the passengers and train
men. This made us all more indignant
| but we could do nothing to help ourselves
| All of the passengers were cool and col
| lected after the first flush of excitement
was over.
The robbers cut the engine loose, piled
| the plunder in the cab, and the Who'll,
! crowd piled in on the top of it. They ther
! turned on steam and started for Guam
| tico as fast as steam could carry them
| The conductor pursued the engine on foot
/ rs fast as he could run for six or sever
| miles When he reached Quantico station
| he found that the desperadoes had turned
/ the engine loose and that by the clever.
| ness of the operator It had been side
! tracked and ditched just in time to pre-
! vent q collision with a south bound train
The Adams Express Company is not in
| formed as to the amount of money Sc
! cured by the robbers. Detectives have
! been sent from New York, Philadelphis
! and Washington to gather clues Expires,
/ Messenger Crutchfeld accompanied tn,
/ New York detectives. President Weir Of
| the Adams Express is believed to hav,
/ gone south with the detectives to hell
! them in their work
Baltimore, Nd, oct. 13.-The police ant
! detective force have been on the alert al
/ day for clues to the Aqua creek trair
robbery, but up to midnight their efforts
! have been unavailing. The railroad sta
/ tions. roads and other entrances leadinf
! into the city have been carefully watched
/ but not suspicious character have tn,
| law officers found.
An examination of the manifests Of tn,
express company shows there was at Ieas
! $4,000 in the express car at the time o.
/ the hold-up.
AIKEN TO APPEAL.