The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1894-09-18
LAST EDITION
TRAIN HELD UP.
Robbers Met a Hail of Bull
lets and Two Killed.
Inv The Associnted press.

GoRIN, Mo-, Sept. 1S.-The Colorado and
Utah express on the Santa Fe was held up
by robbers at 1880 a. m. day. Owing to
the fact that the railroad and express Of
ficials had spy on the trail of the baadits
when they stopped the train, they
met hail of buckshot and bullets
and 1t is said that at least two lie dead in
the woods, while as many Others rode for
their rendezvous, 21 miles away. filled with
leaden pellets. They were novices In the
art of train robbery, and brutal ones at
that, for they shot dad " Pr%cott, the
engineer, before they even gave him q
chance to hold up his hands. His wound,
1t is believed, will not prove fatal
The raid was planned three weeks ago,
but was not put into execution till this
morning. When the train left Chicago at
O'Clock last evening, railroad and ex-
climbed on at every station. Chief De-
tective j. j. Kenney OF the Santa Fe, with
q. Z. Montgomery, his right hand
man, boarded it at Joliet. At
Streator they were joined by two
more men, who have been patrolling the
line for 20 days. j. A. Matthews, who
has been acting the spy for the last two
weeks and getting the news of the rob-
bers' plans,put in an appearance at Gales
burg. He brought news that the would
be robbers met early In the day and that
they had decided to leave their hiding
place near Memphis at $3.50 O'Clock
last night and make their third
attempt TO get rich at the expense of the
express company. They expected To
make a haul of at least 500, 900, the Mon
day run being always much heavier tnan
any other day OF the week. When the
train reached Fort Madison, Iowa, shortly
after midnight Division Superintendent
Stockton Of the Wells Fargo Express
Company got into the treasure car. He
carried a sawed of Winchester witha a his
tory. 1t belonged TO Bill Dalton and it
was to be poetic justice to turn 1t loose
upon followers in the footsteps OF the
Kansas desperate. With him were four
men. Their arms were in the cars and had
been for several days. Then a council Of
war was held. 1t was first proposed to
ambuscade the force behind a barricade
of trunks and boxes in the express car
and allow the robbers to enter. The mes
senger was to throw up his hands
Then he was to fall on the floor
and the sawed-off Winchesters would
commence to bark. Two men were to be
stationed on the engine to protect the
trainmen and another was to guard the
rear. The scheme was finally aban-
doned. The plan adopted was this: De-
tectives Kenny and Montgomery boarded
the engine, superintendent Stockton and
two Of his good shots tarried in
the express car, but it was in the
forward end of the smoking
car that the forces were massed.
A partition and door incloses half dozen
seats and shuts off the rest of the car.
There the men, a dozen of them, were
planted. Each had one Of the ed-offs,
every cartridge loaded especially for the
occasion with buckshot. There was only one
passenger in that compartment and he
was requested by the brakeman to take .
seat in the chair car, as they were "going
to sweep at 2 o'clock"
When Sheriff Matthews OF Scotland,
climbed on board all details OF the sur
prise party were arranged. There was one
man, however, who had been looked out
for and protected. He was the spy. Ac-
cording to the report brought in by Mat
thews, the spy would endeavor to be the
one to flag the train. III so, one torpedo
was to precede the swinging of the
lantern. In an other there would
be couple of tiny bombs. The order
was that il every one OF the guilty ones
got away there was to be no shooting TO
endanger the life OF the man who had, in
fact, taken his life In his hands in order to
Illustrate the attempt at robbery.
Pullman car conductors and porters
sought places OF safety and even the
trainmen did not expose themselves un-
necessarily.
The little compartment was filled with
armed men, the lights were out, the win
dows were up. In each seat there We're
two men sitting sideways, with tie muz-
zles of their guns protruding just triiie
over the sills. Behind them stood others
with Winchesters at half cock
resting on their arms. They
were waiting for the torpedo. Out
from between two high embankments
Just one mile from Gorin, sped the train.
Then came the crack OF the looked for
signal. A moment and a shrill, sharp
whistle gave token that the engineer had
heard, and almost before his hand left the
throttle, across the track not nifty yards
away swung a red light. grinding OF
wheels along the rail told oil had been
applied and within twenty seconds from
the explosion OF the torpedo, the train
was at q standstill.
Out from the deuse undergrowth north
of the track came four forms. The face
| of each was hidden by black mask. One
more agile than the rest rushed 10 the