Delaware gazette and state journal. (Wilmington, Del.) 1883-1902, 1894-10-18
RTRAIN ROBBERS
/ NEAR At HOME
New York Express on the r., F.
&P. Railroad Held Up
and Robbed.
MADE A BIG HAUL OF CASH
Probably 100000 Stolen From the
Adams Express COmpany'S Car.
THE ROBBERS USED DYNAMITE
And Forced the Messenger to
Open the Car Door.
MADE THEIR ESCAPE ON THE ENGINE

Details of the Daring Robbery of the New
York Express on the Richmond, Fred
erichsburg & Potomac Railroad-.-The
Train Held Up by Seven or Ei Int
Masked Men--Train Hands Intimidated
and About 100000 Stolen From the
Money Pouches in tho Express Car.
New YoRK, Oct. 13.--,fhe train which
was held up last night on the Richmond.
Fredericksburg &Potomac railroad reached
the Pennsylvania depot at Jersey City at
800 this morning, bringing with it a
badly-shattered express car. The Adams
Express Company's messengers left the
train and proceeded at once TO the head
quarters in New York city. They reported
that all of their safes had been rified by
dts obtained between sl50,000 and 500, 600
SHATTERED BY DYNAMITE.
When the express car, which is one
division was side-tracked. passengers,
passers-by and trainmen gathered around
and examined spectacle unique in the
history of railroaiing in this section. 1t
was found that the heavy oak doors had
been shattered by the sticks of dynamite
forced into the car by the robbers. In
addition to this the marks of revolver bull
tCbo htiG DliitllN NiSiDlE. l4NGIN UutlG Ol
glass i'll the windows of the car had been
shattered by the force of the explosion.
The officials of the Adams Express Co. in
( charge of the car Mt the depot claimed that
only the pouches and safes had been ram
sacked, the other packages in the car re-
manning intact.
Many of the passengers who witnessed
the hold-up left the train at Washington
B and Philadelphia, few of them COM
nlntnn the tn NaW NnrE nitp
Trainmen were, as usual reticent about
discussing the affair, but Colonel j. NJ.
Z Shackleford, a newspaper man who hap
pened to be ON the train at the time, dis
cuSsed the incident freely and gave a
4 graphic account of the manner in which
the robbers secured their plunder and
made their escape. Mr.. Shackleford was
formerly an editor of the Newark Journal.
He Is now connected with the Times
Enterprise of Townsville, Ga. He told
the following story
s-oRY OF a PASSENGER.
about seven or eight miles the other
I side of Quantico station the train came to
u sudden staudstill. Quantico station is
located ON the Potomac river on the Nir-
ginia side. When the train stopped the
conductor, NJ. A. Birdsong, was thus adj
dressed 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 ar
ranged the signals ior stopping the train, as
well as thelmaner i'll which they aiterward
made their escape, it was evident that
several of the gang were experienced rail
road men. That they were desperate men
was even more evident and the conductor
and the fireman lost no time III obeying
their Instructions, and wisely too. guess.
There were at least six or seven masked
men and could plainly distinguish them
all in the clear moonlight OF the early
evening. In fact, so near did they cone to
me that i'll spite of their masks. | am
almost sure that could recognize some of
them if could see them again, from GER
tain little pecuiarlties Of dress or speech
When the alarmed passengers crowded out
OF the cars to see what was the matter, the
robbers fired Il perfect fusilade of shots to
intimidate them as well as to frighten the
z train men. The robbers rfied the express
car without loss Of life. They put their
sticks of dynamite under the door Uf the
express car and blew topea.
"Ihe manner in which these men got
ON the train was mystery at first, but we
afterwards discovered that they in all
probability boarded the car 1T White
Brook station, a few miles the other side
OF Quantico. They evidently climbed
upon the platforms and while the train
was in motion worked their way along the
tops of the cars until.they succeeded in
boarding the tender and cab. Then with.
out any ceremony they held up the engi-
neer and fireman. The engineer is named
Frank Gallagher He is an old employe
on. the road and as brave as could be-
the railroad men tell me, but two or three
of the villains attended to the engineer.
while two or three more of them attended
to the express messengers and another one
! or two Kept guard on passengers and train
ONLY ONE PISTOL IN THE CROWD.
4 | remember it struck me us being a
humorous thing when we found ont after
al examination of all of our pockets that
We had only one pisto! in the entire crowd,
and that little bit of one, and it would
net work at all when the owner of it tried
to discharge it at the robbers as they dis
appeared in the darkness. But that was
not half so laughable as was the incident
of one woman who had little diamond
studded watch. She tried to get her hus-
band to swallow it in the excitement, but
he declined 10 attempt the preservation of
the watch in that fashion.
IA ESCAPED on THE ENGINE.
1.-THE most novel thing in the entire pro-
ceeding was the way in which the robbers
made their escape. They cut the engine
loose piled their plunder into the cab, and
titti viz hhbAC blonu piiCu bil bJlI
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 pursued the en-
gine on foot as fast as they could run for
six or seven miles. When they reached
Quantico station they found that the des-
peradoes had turned the engine loose, that
II was running wild, and that through the
cleverness of the operator it had been side
Cracked and ditched just in time to pre-
vent Il collision with a south-bound train"
N WE'RE MEN OF EXPERIENCE.
WAsRINGToN, Oct. l3.-Detals of last
y nights hold-up at Quantico of the north
bound express train on the Richmond,
fredericksburg & Potomac railroad add to
b its daring character and also tend to show
that several of the robber gang were men
OF experience in the railroad business.
Seven men composed the gang and their
demand for the way bill when the express
4 messenger declared that one safe was
empty, and remark they made to the
fireman cautoning him about discon-
Meeting the air-brake tubes when he un-
coubled the engine on their demand, show
II .rSf th.ar INad