Hot Springs weekly star. (Hot Springs, S.D.) 1892-1917, 1895-01-25
BOB AN IOWA TRAIN
DARING ACT OF TWO BANDITS
NEAR OTTUMWA.
Bind the Clerks and Take All of Value
in Sight, Probably More than
$s,OOO-Robbers Thought to Be Los
cal -Desperadocs.
Rob The Express Car.

NOO Az AIApAS0S "a .
Probably the most daring train robbery
ever committed in Iowa was pcrpetratcd
early Saturday evening, almost under
ties. 1t was one of the most consummate
in holiness and successful in execution
in the annals of train robbery. No. 4
mail express train on the Chicago, Bur-
l:ngton and Quincy Road was the train
selected. and the Adams Express Cons
pany is the loser of a good sum of money,
the exact amount of which cannot be
definitely ascertained. 1t is Thought,
however, to be more than $4,000.
No. 4 is the Burlington through train
from Denver to Chicago. Its express
business is largely local, but many times
it carries large sums of money. If this
train was rich in big amounts no one
knew it, but the daring highwaymen evil
IDENTIFY suspected so, and almost in broad
daylight relieved the messenger of all
the packages in the safe that looked like
money.
Chilicothe, the place where the rob-
bers boarded the train, is n little village
eight miles west of Ottumwa. When the
train arrived there two men jumped ON
the front platform of the express car,
md We're the same men, it is believed.
whom the agent says lie saw at that place
early in the afternoon. The train leaves
Chillicothc Mt 6:30, and arrives ut OF.
tumw;t just twenty minutes later, a por-
ton of this time being consumed by stop.
ping ut the Milwaukee junction. The rob.
bers evidently knew the custom of the
train, as the consummation of their plan
evidences.
When the train left Chillicothe Messen.
ger John s. Page was sitting near the
safe, and his assistant was chatting care
lessly with B~aggageman Ed Wright. Sud-
denly the front door of the express carl
which is usually locked, was thrown open
and two masked men, euch with Two res
~volvcrs. called on the men to throw up
their hands. While one man covered the
trainmen the other quickly bound and
gagged them and threw them in one cor
ner. Then they coolly ritled the safe.
placed the contents i'll n big sack md
waited ten minutes for. the train to wills.
tie for the stop at the junction.
Jump OFF with the Booty.
While waiting Postal Clerk John I'm,
plrcys came in from the mail car and
was treated like the rest of his fellows.
When the train slacsened it's speed Mt
the junction the robbers jumped off with
their booty, crossing the Des MOines
River on the ice to the island. which has.
been the rendezvous of highwaymen and
tough characters from time immemorial.
The mail clerk released the express mes
senger from his thongs, and when the
train pulled into the station at Ottumwa
he had Embossed all his comrades, and the
word was given quickly to the sheriff and
police.
Sheriff Stodgbil, Chief of Police VAN
icrveer and one posse started out on an
engine for Chillicothe. Detective Jim
Harrison. who shot the bandit at Batavia
two weeks ego. headed another posse to.
trail the robbers if possible to their hiding
place. The robbers wore no hats, but
hoods with masks seemingly attached
Both had brown overcoats and one wore.
gray jeans trousers, while the other had
encased his legs in overalls.
1t is the belief of the railroad men that
they belong to q gang of moonshiners.
counterfeitcrs and desperadoes generally
who inhabit some of the abandoned mines.
in the eastern edge of Monroe County,
and that they We're met on the other side
of the river by their pals who had horses
in waiting and they easily escaped.