The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1894-09-18

I tcuQ0E Iul1 OF coal WAS 6uDt4CE "a HIS
good men, man who had put SIX DuIlets
into many telegraph poles while rid
ing past them as fast as pony could
take him.
Inside the express car, behind an inno-
cent pile of trunks, egg cases and bum
dies of merchandise, which were IN
reality barricades of cotton, were seven
men with loaded Winchesters and a
couple of big Colts, s'mighty handy in
tight place. as Kinney put it.
The spot Well Selected
The cunning of the hoId-up craftsman
was shown in the selection Of the spot
for "turning the little trick As the rob
berry was professionally designated. For
ten miles there is no night telegraph sta
ton until La Plata is reached and there
is stop there. Once in a while the
train takes water at Gorin, but there is
nothing there except the tank.
n OF within the memory of the Oldest
man on the road has halt been made at
Barring. But at HurdIand, which is just
ten miles west of the last named station.
is switch into which the train runs
every morning and waits for the east
1 bound express to pass. Both are due
there at the same second and Invariably
they are on time.
But if the west bound should not put
in appearance the east bound would
have to camp there until it came along
for there is no means of finding out what
the trouble ia without running back to
La Plata.
Thought They Had tt In q Pocket.
The men who planned the robbery
figured that they had the train and its
treasures in a pocket and would have All
the time necessary not only to rifle the
express cars but to relieve the passen-
gers Of their valuables. 1t is also evil
dent that they made careful study OF
the topography of the country.
For nearly a thousand feet before the
spot at which the red lantern was swung
across the rails the road winds in a
verse curve through a cut with en-
bankments from ten to forty feet high.
In the Midst OF Thick woods.
Then comes little I'LL followed by
stretch of track almost on level with the
surrounding country. On either side Of
the right of way are dense clumps of oak
and hickory, not to mention an under
growth almost as bad as that Of .he
northern Michigan pine woods.
But the timber, though apparently
thick and impenetrable is only SO for d
quarter Of mile from the track. Beyond
that the country stretches, piracti-
caIly clear and easily traversed almost
to the Iowa line. 1t was in the middle
of the timber, the horses were hidden,
good strong iimbed animals and it WAS
the calculation that after the nights
business had been accomplished two
hours hard riding would put every man
safe from pursuit, and that too, soon aft
er day dawned
There were no telegraph lines up in
the country where the gang had been
hiding aud it was thought that the news
of the hOId-up would not penetrate to
that region uutil the participants in ts4s
affair had time to cover up their tracks.
The Raid Known of Three Weeks.
1t is nearly three weeks since the San
ia Fe and the Wells Fargo officials re-
ceived the tip that the raid was contem-
plated. Since then the express car. wheth-
er inhabited by Detective Kinney's men
or not has been a regular arsenal. Every
night at least half a dozen secret service
men have climb bed aboard At different
points along the line east of Fort Madi-
son and scattered themselves in the day,
reclining in chair aud smoking coaches.
Soon after that point was reached they
would have worked forward into the
smoker, not a man exchanging a word
with the other, all total strangers as far
as outward appearances went and before
Gorin was passed, half OF them had dis
appeared into the express car. This was
merely precautionary.
Detective Kinney's spy gave him "a
hours notice Of the two premeditated
raids spoiled by rain, and the full force
was on hand. But the railroad and express
people were taking no chances. When
the danger point had been passed the
men would drop off at different stations
working back along the road in the day
time and repeating the operation the
next night.
A Regular Armory.
No man ever climbed the train from
the same town twice, however. The
nights the robbers failed to keep their
appointments the whole party alighted
at Hurdland, took their armory from the
express car and returned to Fort AIadi-
con, Gales burg, Chillic0the and StreatOr.
Train No. of the Atchison, Topeka s.
Santa Fe railroad is what is known as
the Colorado and Utah limited 1t
leaves the Polk street station in Chicago
daily at p. m and is due to arrive in
Kansas City at 9 o'clock the next morn
ing.
The Santa Fe railroad runs almost due
southwest between Chicago and Kansas
City and crosses the Miss issippi river at
Fort Madison entering the state Of Mis-
souri, 250 miles distant from Chicago; the
road runs for some miles through a rough
country the many small streams which
have their headwaters in southeastern
Iowa breaking it up in hills and valleys
some sections being densely wooded
An Ideal Rendezvous for Bandits.
The brakes of the Mississippi river are
only few miles to the east. This sec
ton during the civil war was over run
with bushwhackers. who frequently
carried terror into the little towns ia Van
iowa, by their frequent raids across the
border.
It is a fitting place for bandits to do
their work. as hiding places are easy Of
access. The inhabitants of this section.
however, are a sturdy, honest agricultural |
class, who have no sympathy with crime
or criminals
W. C. Black, resident here was one
of the first to the scene Of combat and /