The Monticellonian., 1894-10-26
ROBBED THE EXPRESS.

l
 A west-Bound Through Train the
 Texas & Pacific Held Up by Four Ex- pert Robbers-They Secure Twenty Thou
 sand Dollars and Make Good Their Es-
 cape, Leaving a Like Amount in a Com bination-LockedS Safe.
 FoRT WORTH, Tex, Oct. 19.-The west-bound Texas & Pacific through train for California, leaving here at 9:05 a. m., was robbed about 12 o'clock to day, seventy miles west of here. near Gordon. The robbers secured | about SEQ, 900 from the Pacific Express Co, and but for their inability to open the safe of tie Texas & Pacific Coal Co.,, containing s20,000 in gold, would have made a better haul. Four men did the work. They came upon section gang about noon, covered them with Winchesters and forced them to spread the rails and flag the on- coming train. The engineer and fireman were then lined up with the section gang and guarded while two men entered the express car | and covered the messenger before he was aware of their presence. Messen- ger Marshall was ordered to open the safe containing the money of the Texas & Pacific Coal Co. Telling them he could not do this, they seized pick and ruined the combination, remark ing: If we can't get that money those - miners at Thurber shan't."
 The robbers fled southward and no trace of them has yet been secured. Rewards aggregating Sl ,ooo have been offered for their arrest. The money secured was taken from the way safe.
 The train crew first saw there was something wrong when they were four miles east of Gordon. The section gang was Tagging the train, and it was seen that d rail had been removed. After two of the robbers had covered the engineer and fireman with rifles and walked them in front of the en- zine two more of the gang made their appearance. The whole gang then forced the fireman and engineer to walk ahead of them to the express car and forced the messenger to open the door of the express car. After the door had been opened the engineer and fireman were taken back to their engine by two of the rob bers. The two who remained to loot the express car took every valuable package except those in the through safe The handle to the combination of the through safe was smashed by the robbers in their efforts to for c it, but all they could do was to batter the safe badly. The money which was in hn z, IaI Texas X Pacific Coal Co. was going to Thurber to pay off the large number of men employed in the mines there. One package which is known to have been taken contained Sl ,000.
 The only time the robbers used their revolvers was when Baggage man Al- meras became too inquisitive. He peered out of his car door to see what the trouble was and not being quick enough when one of the robbers told him to take his head in, he had q mar row escape from being struck with a bullet, which imbedded itself in the casing of the door.
 The crew say that the robbers did not occupy more than thirty minutes in the job, and acted as if professionals of long experience. The robbers kept an eye on the mail clerks. but did not bother the mail pouches or passen- gers. The work was done so quickly and quietly that the passengers were ignorant that anything of the kind was transpiring until the job was nearly over. 1t is supposed the rob bers had confederates in hiding near by with horses to aid the gang in es- caping, because there was no sign of horses near the railroad.
 When the robbers disappeared the train was run wide open to Gordon, from which point the railway, express. and county officers were notified by telegraph of the crime. Posses were formed at once to pursue the bandits. When the train arrived at Thurber an engine loaded with posse armed for business was found waiting under q full head of steam, and it was hurried to the scene of the daring hold-up. Marshall, the Cypress messenger, refused to say any thing about the robbery, except to eX press his thanks that the men had not killed him.