The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1894-09-19

CORN. No. Sept. 1S.-The Colorado
and Utah express on the Santa Fe was
held UP by robbers at $3.50 a. m, to-
dav.
AS the railroad and express officials
had spv on the train, the bandits.
when they stopped the train, met hail
of shots and bullets.
1T is said that at least two are dead
in the surrounding woods, while as
many others rode for the rendezvous,
twenty-one miles away, riddled with
e6Sllets.
They shot dad" Prescott, the en-
gineer. before they even gave him a
chance to hold up his hands. His
wound. ii is believed. will not prove ia
tai
When the train left Chicago at
O'Clock last evening, the railroad and
EXPRESS detectives, all walking arse
mails. climbed on at every station.
Among them were Chief Detective j. j.
Kinney, of the Santa F'e, and j. A.
Matthews. who has been acting spy
for two weeks and getting news of the
robbers plans. The latter brought the
news that robbers early in the day had
decided TO leave their hiding place near
Memphis at $50 o'clock last night,
and make their third attempt to get
rich al the expense of the express conn
lpany. They expected to make a haul
lof at least $4,000. At FNrt Madison,
Il Ia. Division Superintenr 1t Stockton.
$kof the Wells. Fargo expr css, went into
tie treasure car. He carried the
sawed-off Winchester that once be-
longed to Bill Dalton. With him were
four men. Detectives Kinney and
Montgomery boarded the engine.
two
good shots tarried in the express car.
In the forward end of the smoking car.
shut off by a partition from the rest
of the car. a. dozen men were placed
Each had a gun located especially fol
the event. with two oozen buckshot.
Travelling Arsenal.
At 2 o'clock. when Sheriff Sailing, OF
Scotland county, climbed on board, all
the details for the surprise party were
arranged. According to the report
brought by Matthews the spy, he would
endeavor to be the one who tagged the
train. If so. one torpedo would precede
the swinging of a lantern. Orders were
given that no matter if every one of
the robbers got away, there was to be
no shooting to endanger the life of the
spy, who had. in fact, taken his life il
his hands in order to Illustrate the at
tempted robbery. II a little compart-
ment filled with armed men the lights
were out and the windows DIP. In each
section were two men sitting sidew
with the muzzles of their guns pro-
truding lust a trif1e over the stills. Be.
side them stood others with Wincnes.
tiers at half cock resting across their
arms.
AS out from between two high en-
bankments lust one mile from CORN
sDed the train. there came the looked
for signal. and not fifty yards away
. was the swinging of the red light
Within twenty seconds the train was
at standstill. Out from the dense
underground north of the track came
four forms. the face Of each hidden by
a black mask. One rushed to the en-
CINE almost before his companions
could reach the express car. Within
ten feet of the tender he pointed tC
dad" Prescott. the white bearded en-.
gineer. and as he shouted Hold uI
your hands" he pulled the trigger and
Dad fell to the floor with a bullet in
/. his right breast. With one bound Kin.
new gained the top of the tender, and
N bringing his gun to his shoulder, sem
e shower of shot almost into the face
the masked man. How the fellow
managed to move six inches is mys
terry. but he did. and made for the
4 woods. The shot which laid out Engineer
Prescott was signal for a fusilade
also a signal for the hasty retreat Of
the robbers to the shelter of the tim.
Der. They fired two shots But
although the men were leaning from
the car windows and pulling the trig
gers as fast as possible, while Others
were after the robbers on foot, they
failed to hit man.
The place where the horses were tiec
was soon found. A cut hitching straI
showed that one man, ar least, hac
life enough to escape. The search FOL
the dead and wounded was postponed
a no 81 oY1.
or more who escaped was started with
In ten minutes 1t is not likely that tn,
passengers in the rear end of the smok
er. those who were doing in the chat
car and half a dozen wakeful ones il
the sleeper. will ever forget their ex
perience. With the first shot every
man near window opened it and looked
out; within a second he had draw
his head in and dropped on the floor
The cry Train robbers" went through
4 the train and women went down Oh
1heir knees and screamed.
Eleven nights ago, the bandits. short
1y after 10 o'clock, started to ride slow
ly across the country. 1t was cloudy
and they had not gone over third o
the distance when rain began to fall
Some were in favor of turning back a
once, declaring they were not going t.
run the chances of being tracked b,
a. mud trail. Their objections wer
overruled for the dime being. but b,
the time the csvalcade was within
seven miles Of the railroad track it wa
apparent to even the most foolhard,
that discretion was the better part 0
,valor. The command to retreat wa
xyen and the procession returned. TIL
&xt day two of Kinneys men followed
2 Tie trail for five miles From the in
fcations they say eight men were il
rNe party that night.
Last Saturday morning was the sec
md time the affair was billed to ccm
off. If it had not been for the rain th
attack would have been made, for il
addition to the regular prize carried il
the express car on the train was
big bundle Of money to be used by tn
Santa Fe in settling with some EN-
ployees for August. AT least, that i
the Information on which the robb1r
were acting. But the rain came dow
too early and with too much vigor
even to permit a start. Detective Kin
ney was a badly chagrined man whel
the train passed the point at which
according to programme, it should hav
been tagged. He was on the engin
clad in a suit of blue jumpers an,
y looked for all the world like an ap
prentice TO the art of firing an engine