The Mitchell capital. (Mitchell, Dakota [S.D.]) 1879-1918, 1894-10-19
SECURED BIG BOOTY.
The Quantico (Va) Train Robbers
Said to Have Made Way With
100000.
SEVEN MEN IN THE GANG
Doors Of the Express Car Blown Open
With Dynamite and the Safes
Rifed.

New YORK, Oct. 15.-The train which
was held up on the Richmond, Freder-
icksburg and Potomac railroad reached
the Pennsylvania depot at Jersey City
at sos a. NJ, bringing with it badly
shattered express car. The Adams Ex-
press company's messengers left the
train and proceeded at once to the head
quarters i'll New York city. They re-
ported that all of their safes had been
ri1ed by the robbers. 1t is supposed
that the bandits obtained between $780,
900 and 100000. When the express
car, which is one belonging to the At
lantic coast division, was sidetracked,
passengers, passersby and trainmen
gathered around to examine spectacle
unique in the history of railroading in
this section. 1t was found that the
heavy oak doors had been splintered by
the sticks of dynamite forced into the
Car by the robbers. In addition to this
the marks of revolver bullets were
plainly visible. Every pane Of glass in
the windows Of the car had been shat
tered by
The Force of the Explosion
and fragments Of glass were still scat
tered over the floor of the car. The Of
ficials of the Adams Express company,
in charge Of the car at the depot,
claimed that only the pouches and safes
had been ransacked. The other pack
ages in tho scar remained intact. Train
men were, as usual, reticent about dis
cussing the affair, but Colonel J. M.
Shackleford, newspaper man who
happened to be on board the train at
the time, discussed the incident freely
and gave graphic account of the man
ner in which the robbers secured their
plunder and made their escape. He
.old the following story:
''When about eight or 10 miles the
other side of Quantico station the train
came to sudden standstill. Quantico
station is located on the Potomac river
on the Virginia side. When the train
stopped, the conductor was told:
"Throw up your hands or I'll blow
your brains out From the manner in
which they arranged the signals for
stopping the train as well as the man.
ner III Which they made their escape it
was evident that several of the gang
We're
Experienced Railroad Men.
That they We're desperate men was
even more evident, and the conductor
and fireman lost no time in obeying
their instructions. There were six or
seven masked men, and could plainly
distinguish them all in the clear moon
light of the evening, in fact so near did
they come to me that in spite of their
masks 1 am almost sure that I could
recognize some of them if could see
them again from certain little peculiar
tiles OF dress or speech. When the
alarmed passengers crowded out of the
cars to see what was the matter the
robbers fired a perfect fusilade of shots
to intimidate them as well as to frighten
the railroad men.
"The robbers rifed the express car
without loss of time. They put their
sticks Of dynamite under the door of
the express car and blew it open.
1.-The most novel thing in the entire
proceeding was the way in which the
robbers made their escape. They cut
the engine loose,
Piled Their Plunder Into the Cab.
and then the whole crowd piled in on
top of it. They turned on steam and
started for Quantico station as fast as
the engine could carry them. Of course
that left US stalled in the middle of the
road. The conductor and engineer pur-
sued the engine on foot as fast as they
could run for six or seven miles. When
they reached Quantico station they
found that the desperadoes had turned
the engine loose, that it was running
wild, and that through the cleverness Of
the operator it had been sidetracked and
ditched just in time to prevent COLI
sion with southbound train.
Everything seemed to come their
way. At any rate they had the thing
well planned and well executed. don't
know just how much they got away
with. but some of the trainmen thought
it must amount to at least $3.50, 900 or
possibly 100000. The express messen-
gers did the best they could to prevent
the robbers from getting into their car,
but the dynamite and the revolvers of
the gang were enough to make any man