Fort Worth gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1891-1898, 1894-04-11
ROUNDPONDHOLDUP
Good Work Of Brave Jake
Harmon.
THE MESSENGERS STORY.
How the Robbers Blew Open
the Express Car.
Thought They would Hold Up the
Rock Island, nnd Hold It W
RIsht-Identity Of the
Dead Bandit.

q o1,, Rock Island passenger which
". II, y Monday night mile south
OF IL IN. nd. Oklahoma Territory.
at as " Wcs lock. pulled into the
Union d, ,e ~ this city only 40 min
utes late ,-terday morning. II had |
every indication Of being through a
fierce battle and bullet holes could be
found in several of the coaches. The
door TO the express car was badly
wrecked. which the robbers blew open
with dynamite, and the express car
with bullets The brief dispatch In The
Gazette yesterday from Wichita, Kan,
gave an imperfect account OF the at
tempted hold-up. The dispatch was
handled by the Associated Press and
the Inaccuracies were but the result of
the late hour at which II was sent out
and shows how quickly. from the most
remote parts OF the country. lmpor-
tant news is given by this great news
agency. From the messenger who was
I'm the express car at the time of the
hold-up. The Gazette gathered the story
OF the desperate battle. j. A. Cross
white. the messenger came in with the
train His run is from Kansas City to
this place, and he is one OF the Oldest
and most reliable employees in the
service OF the Pacific He said: I'VE
had got about a mile south Of Round
Pond when we heard the report Of a
Nsrbt huI f.Iu l,1
track, and Immediately the train began
to come to stop. was in the express
car with Jake Harmon, the Pacific ex-
press guard, who killed one OF the rob
bers, wounded one and captured an
other When the torpedo was heard,
/ said TO Jake, Look out; they have
got us Something told me that we
We're about to be held up. A moment
later we could hear the engineer call
Ing to as not to shoot, We also dis
tinctly heard him telling the robbers
that the express car was guarded
and that the guard and messenger
would kill him II they attempted to
| open the door, extlnguished the
| lights in the car and secured my shot
gun, and Harmon grabbed his rife.
| All this time the robbers were shooting
along the train and calling TO us to
open the door. Finally through the
window 1 saw one OF them strike a
match and / knew what that meant,
They were about to blow us up with
! dynamite. In another instant there was
terrific report and the door was
blown into klndling wood. l was
| knocked down by the concussion. and
think Harmon was also, but as 1t was
dark in the car l could not see him.
When saw him again he was crouch
ed down with his winchester ready to
fire. / spoke to him and said he ought
to go through the end door and pos
sibly he could get in behind them
He left me and Just then l saw four OF
the robbers They had the engineer
and fireman covered and were fore
ing them to jump into the express car.
one OF the robbers said. The Rock
Island thinks it's d. smart and
claims II has never been held up.
Wen hold it up and do 1t right Two
of the men began firing into the car
where I was and told me to throw
|
Ger and fireman in advance, and even
n had dared to. 1 would not have
been able to shoot for fear OF killing
the wrong men. Twice they fired at
me and were not over ten feet away
and how l escaped being hit, is nys-
terry to me. There were four robbers
I'm sight when this was done. The en-
gineer had just climbed into the car
when I heard shooting from the rear
of the train and l knew Harmon was
at them. The man killed was standing
at the door Of my car and the second
or third shot from Harmon caught
him.
He threw up his hand TO one side and
said, Boys, I'm hit and then stag
gered on about thirty feet and fell
! The other robbers turned their atten'
ton to Harmon and the duel was on In
earnest. The shots were SO fast that
: no one could tell how many We're hreu
The fireman who had not ye'
got into the car when Har
I mon opened on tho robbers, has
! tlly climbed In and had a verS
narrow escape. as the bullets were ny
Z ing around him thick and fast. TIL
e robbers Instantly scattered. and a.
! they ran away 1 heard one OF theh
: cry out. and think he was hit too Pas
y sengers on the train said they heara IN
4 same cry. and / believe Harmon Ger
tninly got him. The robbers could no
be easily followed. but Harmon looi
after one and captured him he as
got two horses, which evidently os
longed to the robbers and when WEI WI,
found near the scene. The dead panu
was small man with dark hair an
moustache. and apparently 80 years
saf.urea his belt, which con