The Cape Girardeau Democrat. (Cape Girardeau, Mo.) 1876-1909, 1894-10-27

4 Wsrt-noun6 zhroush Tr1in On a
xexas . Eaeiae Held Up ~ Eour FL
pert Hobbsrs-lThey secure Twenty Thou-
sand Dollars ana Make Good rhslr Re-
c1pes Leaving . like Amounf IN . Conn
bL~naflon-Locke6 safe.
FoRf WORTH. Tex, Oct 1a-The
west-bound Texas a Pacific through
train for California. leaving here 81
pos a m was robbed about II o'clock
today seventy miles west Of here.
near Gordon The robbers secured
about $4,000 from the Pacific Express
Co. and but for their inability to open
the safe Of the Texas & Pacific Coal
Co. containing $4,000 in gold. would
have made q better haul. -Four men
did the work. They came upon q section
gang about noon, covered them with
Wincheste-s and forced them to
spread the rails and nag 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 ware Of their presence. Messen-
ger MarBhaIl was ordered to open the
safe containing the money Of tho
Texas & Pacific Coal Co. Telling them
he could not do this, they seized . pick
and ruined the combination, remark
ing: "Tf we can't get that money
those miners at Thurber shan't"
The robbers fed southwark and no
trace of them has yet been secured.
Rewards aggregating $1,000 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 q 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-
gine 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 force 1t,
but all they could do was to batter the
safe badly. The money which was in
Che through safe belonging TO the
Texas & Pacific Coal Co. was going to
Thurber to pay of the large number Of
men employed in the mines there. One
package which Is known to have been
taken contained $1,000.
The only time the robbers used their
revolvers was when Baggageman Al
meras became too inquisitive. He
peered out Of his car door to see what
the trouble WA 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 q
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 asst 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 v II Is supposed the rob-
bers had ~confederates in hiding near
by with horses to aid the gang in es-
Gaping, because there was no sign of
horses near the railroad.
When the robbers disappeared the
train wal 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
o posse armed for business was
found waiting under q full head of
steam, and 1t was hurried 70 the scene
of the daring hold-up. Marshall, the
express messenger, refused to say any
thing about the robbery, except to ex-
uraee his thanks that the men had uof