The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-05-19
TRAIN RoBBING INDUSTRY.
1T Is GOING TO RUIN AND BARELY
PAYS EXPENSES.
So J. }. Valentine says-MOre RObber-
les and Less Return Than Almost
Any Other Live Business.

Any other Live business.
From che Pittsburg Dispatch.
The robbery Of railroad trains and the
express carried thereon has Increased ter
ribly in 1894. according 10 J. J. Valentine
the president of the Wells. Fargo & Co.
There IS no express manager in the
| country that knows more about the ways
Of the train robber and his development
Z than Mr. Valentine. he has been compelled
! through force Of circumstances to watch
the work Of the train-robber and his i'm
I proved methods of handling a train until
! he knows as much about il as the incar-
/ cerated Chris Evans.
! Wells, Fargo & Co.'S lines run through
the most exposed part Of the west and
| through the mining districts. This COM
/ pany handles all Of the output of the
mines, bullion and coin from all sections
OF the country. and they are consequently
/ much exposed to the attacks Of road
agents.
THE year 1884," said Mr.. Valentine. "has
been the worst one in the history of rail-
reading for train robberies. have not the
! exact figures with me, but know that our
company suffered a greater number of
losses in that way than for any other year.
Bandits are beginning to discover how
| easy il is to rob train. and more of these
attempts are made each year. The rob-
bers are also beginning to learn how to use
| explosives, and the best methods of hold
ing up a train and robbing the express.
1T is very much like bank robbery. As
soon as crooks begin breaking into banks
on a Wholesale scale bankers and safe
men begin to work on improved methods
] of baking them. The result has been good
/ he hic~b a pIr rob
| berry like that of the Manhattan Bank that
| the Hopes cracked.
1t simply means that railroads and
express companies have got to take steps
/ robbers.
The first train robbery of which we
| nave any knowledge occurred on the Cen
| trail Pacific railroad in 1870, near Verdi
/ the little station near the Nevada state
/ line.
Since the primary robbery attacks
| upon trains have increased so that in the
| last five years there have been Ill rob-
Derles on our lines alone.
| At first the idea seemed to be that of
the old road agent-merely't rob the pas
| sengers. The express was belived TO be
/ TOO well protected. But this did not pay
| Tor the work and danger, and now it is
only the novice highwayman that robs
| the passengers.
This is really very much easier than
| one would think. Few passengers are
/ ever armed and If they are they are so
surprised that they forget how to use
| them.
"A gang held train up out by St Louis
| somewhere, and there happened to be
| doctor on board who was going hunting.
The doctor suggested TO the conductor
/ that they take his guns, drop off the rear
| OF the train, make little detour around
/ a small hill and surprise the gang. They
dld II, and when the gang saw them
/ coming they started to run. 1t was nearly
| dark, and they did not see a barbed wire
| fence that was directely in their path.
/ They ran into the fence and got doubled
] nraNr no
! q1ires little nerve to stand these men
Train agents don't work the way they
| used to. They are learning the more ef-
| fecttVe ways of handling a train.
In the old days they were satisfied with
| trying TO get into the express car by terror
of firearms and forcing the messenger to
open the safe. That method was not al
| ways satisfactory to the robbers.
=, Now they work upon the messenger
| through the engineer and firemen and then
| work upon the safe with dynamite.
| There is strong bond of friendship
| between trainmen, and when the robbers
| have the engineer and firemen in their con-
| troll the messenger is much more likely to
yield to threats against thin than against
himself. The robbers sometimes mean
| what they say, for believe that a fireman
and brakeman have been killed in these
fights.
They are learning the use of dynamite
! on safes and upon car DOORS and that
| makes the new robber much more dan
gerous than the old one. That was shown
in the case of the Wilcox robbers. They
| placed dynamite on the safe and then in
order to give additional downward force
placed bags of Mexican silver dollars on
top OF it, When the explosion occurred
me walls and roof of the car were shot
| full of dollars. These dollars were bent
| and twisted out of shape by the force l
| have just had a little bundle sent me for
| CurioSitieS.
Chris Evans was the first to use dyna-
mite 10 any great extent. 1t was not the
amount OF money that Evans and his gang
got that injured US, but 1t was the develop
| ment OF dynamite as power of attack.
AS matter of fact, Evans got very
| ilttle money from US. He actually secured
less than 5000 in all of his raids, and
| much OF that we recovered. Some of the
booty was in Mexican silver and Evans
| buried II in his yard. 1t was afterwards
dug up and recovered by the detectives, so
| for their small results
AS general rule the booty in thes1 rob
| DeTleS IS not as large as generally sup
| posed Inc WILCOX robbery, which is the
latest on our lines, did not net $4,000 nor
| any such sum to the men.
| The confusion of figures generally arises
| from the amount OF money that the mon
| handled or that they might have secured
| ROBBERS will rarely touch silver. They
| want gold or greenbaclSs, for silver is too
| 1t was so much iron. Take the Wilcox
| robDerS. They used silver merely as a
weight to give additional downward force
TO dynamite. They blew up thousand or
| two dollars worth of silver in that way
and would not even carry it off
Train robbery is a science these DAYS
| The hlghwaymen now watch for big shin
| ments OF money that they can handle
That is why these big shipments are made
| as secretly as possible, without allowing
information to get on the outside at ali.
| Inc men no longer take any chances.
The year 1894 was a hard one for thefts
of all kinds. l have just been sent ia
| bic showing the amounts lost by robberies
| embeZzlements and thefts of all kinds
either bank, express or corporation 1t
shows that the total amount lost during
lSy4 was twenty-four millions OF. dollars.
| other year for the last quarter of a CEN
| fury except 1884. New York state lost over
nine millions of dollars, the largest
amount of any state. Florida the smallest
| amount only &. 500, and California S622 100
| That proves my statement that 1894 was
the worst year we'ever experienced for los