Walker Lake bulletin. (Hawthorne, Nev.) 1883-1926, 1895-05-08
TRAIN ROBBING.
The Industry Going to Rack
and Ruin.
WHAT J. ]. VALENTINE HAS TO SAY.
More Robberies and Less Return Than
Almost any other Line Of Bust
nsss-A Science.
WHAT j. j. VALENTINE HAS TO SAY.

the express carried InereOn ndS III
creased terribly in 1894, according to
]. j. Valentine, the President Of Wells,
Fargo & Co.
There Is no express manager IN the
country that knows more about the
ways of the train robber and his de-
velopment than Mr.. Valentine. He
has been compelled through force of
circumstances to watch the work Of
the train-robber and his improved
methods of handling train until he
knows as much about it as the incarcer-
ated Chris Evans.
Wells, Fargo & Co.'s lines run
through the most exposed part Of the
West and through the mining districts.
This company handles all of the out
put 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.. Valen-
tine, "has been the worst one in the
history of railroading for train robber-
les. l have not the exact figures with
me, but I know that our company
suffered greater number Of losses in
that way than for any other year.
Bandits are beginning to discover
how easy it is to rob a train, and
more of these attempts are made each
year. The robbers are also beginning
to learn how to use explosives. and the
best methods of holding up train and
robbing the express.
"It is very much like bank robbery.
As soon as crooks begin breaking
into banks ON wholesale scale bankers
and safe men begin to work on i'm
proved methods of baking them. The
result has been good. There will never
be another big bank robbery like that
of the Manhattan Bank that the Hopes
cracked.
"It simply means that railroad and
express companies have got to take
steps to prevent the thefts and over
come the robbers. "The first train
robbery of which we have any knowl-
edge occurred ON the Central Pacific
railroad in 1870, near Verdi, the little
station near the Nevada State line.
"Since that primary robbery attacks
upon trains have increased, so that in
the last five years there have been III
robberies on our lines alone.
"At first the idea seemed to be that
of the old road agenJ--merely to rob
the passengers. The express was be-
lieved to be too we'll protected. But
this did not pay for the work and dan
ger, and now it is only the novice
highwayman that robs the passengers.
''This is really very much easier
than one would think. Few passen-
gers 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 a little
detour around small hill and surprise
the gang. They did it, and when the
gang saw them coming they started to
run. 1t was nearly dark, and they did
not see a barbed- fence that was
directly in their path. They ran into
the fence and got doubled up and all
were captured. 1t only requires
little nerve to stand these men off.
"Train agents don't work the way
they used to. They are learning the
more effective ways of handling
train.
I'm 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 always satisfactory to
the robbers.
Now they work upon the messenger
through the engineer and fireman and
then work upon the safe with dynamite.
"There is strong bond of friend
ship between train men, and when the
robbers have the engineer and fireman
in their control the messenger is much
more likely to yield to threats against
them than against himself. The rob-
bers sometimes mean what they say,
for ] believe that a fireman and
brakeman have been killed in these
fights.
"They are learning the use of dy-
amite on safes and upon car doors, and
that makes the new robber much more
dangerous than the old one. That was
shown in the case Of the Wilcox rob-
bers. They placed dynamite on the
safe and then, in order to give it addi-
tional downward force. placed bags OF
Mexican silver dollars ON top Of it.
When the explosion occurred the 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 little bundle sent me
for curiosities.
"Chris Evans was the first to use
dynamite to any great extent. 1t was
not the amount Of money that Evans