The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1895-12-30
ORE TRAINS ROBBED
Important Discovery and Arrest Of
Three Much Wanted Men.
STEALING FROM THE B., A. & p.
Operations on a Wholesale Scale
Brought to q Sudden Halt by
the Officers and Superin-
tendent Chapman.
STEALING FROM THE B., APP.

made by the ponce yesterday morning
an arrest as the outcome of a case
which the police and Superintendent
Chapman of the B.. A. & p. railroad
have been working up with great care
for months.
Since early last summer there had
been noticed a great discrepancy In
the weights of the trains of ore which
haul the product Of the Anaconda
mines to the smelters In Anaconda. The
ore is placed in the cars at the mines.
and on starting on the trip to Anacon-
da. is weighed by an automatic scale.
On reaching the smelters In Anaconda
the ore cars are weighed on another
automatic scale. Day after day there
would be found to be a marked differ
ence in the weights. Some times the
weights would correspond, but at other
times the weights at Anaconda would
be several tons lighter. This caused
great anxiety to the officials Of the B..
A. & p. railroad as well as to the ON
Gals of the Anaconda Mining company.
At first the discrepancy was attrtbu-
ted to errors in weighing and two or
three weighmasters were discharged
for supposed incompetency. That did
not make any difference, however. The
scales were examined and found at both
noticed, too. that the ore trains which
left Butte in the day time were usual
ly of full weight on arriving at the
smelters, and the night trains were In
most cases the ones in which the
weights did not correspond. This led
to the belief that there was wholesale
ore robbery going on, but the way In
which 1t was being done baffied the
railroad men. Last July Superintend-
ent Chapman called the attention of
Chief of Police Tebo to the matter and
enlisted his assistance. Mr.. Tebo put
City Detective Dave MeikleJohn on the
case. Mr.. Meiklejohn tried In many
ways to get at the secret of the ore
stealing, but the robbers seemed very
shy, and when he was on the train
there were no suspicious actions by
any one.
During last August Mr.. Meiklejohn
put his two sons to work to see IL they
could find the secret of the affair. They
are both in their teens and smart boys
and the thieves would not be likely to
suspect them. The boys worked the
thing up well. They got on the ore
trains that left the hill and rode down
to Rocker, just as boys frequently do
and as hoboes do when they want q
free ride to Anaconda The boys found
that at certain places on the hill road
ore was frequently thrown off by two
men who got on the train at the start
like ordinary hoboes. There would
usually be two on the train, but not
always the same two. They had ap-
parently particular spots picked out
where they would throw off ore. After
the boys had watched this thing long
enough to find out that II was a regu-
lar custom, they laid off at one of the
places where the ore was thrown Off
Two men came up with a wagon,
placed the ore in sacks, placed the
sacks in the wagon and drove off. One
night the boys. after the ore had been
thrown off and before the thieves came
around after IL, tried to steal some of
the ore themselves and cache IL so as to
have evidence against the men when
they should be arrested. The boys were
carrying some of the ore when the
thieves came up. kicked them and
cuffed their ears roundly and drove
them off.
The lads reported all these things to
Mr.. Meiklejohn and he prepared to lay
for them and arrest them. He waited
several nights in vain and II now
seemed that the thieves had become
alarmed. either on account of the boys
or something else, and no more ore
was thrown off the cars on the hill line.
For a time at least operations had
been abandoned. Weights Of the cars
no longer puzzled the weighmasters,
and for several weeks everything
seemed to be going all right. About a
month ago. however. the police were
again notified that ore was being
stolen. Chief Tebo. Detective Meikle-
john and Police Court Clerk Henry
wey went at the thing then in good
their hard labor reached a successful
! elimination yesterday morning.
Owing to the other duties, they were
not able to devote their entire time to
ferreting the crime, and could only oc-
casionally devote a few hours to the
work. They soon ascertained that ore
was no longer being thrown off the
cars at the old stations on the hill and
Rocker. The plan had been abandoned
for another. They discovered, howev-
er, that the ore was now thrown out by
the wholesale from the cars at the
switch in Rocker. The ore cars often
lay there several hours during the
night before they are hauled to Ana
conda- The thieves have plenty Of time
to help themselves, and they did IL with
great regularity.
Last Christmas eve was the first
night that the thieves were caught in
the actual work of stealing the ore
While Santa Claus was busy filing
stockings in Butte. Dave Meikeljohn
and Henry Wey lay in the snow out al
| Rocker watching the thieves fill big
sacks with copper glance. The two de-
tectlVeS reached the scene DeIOre tnt
| thieves. and hid on the platforms OF
| two of the ore cars. Pretty soon two
men were seen approaching. They
| started for the car on which Meikeljohn
| was lying. Dave had just time enough
| to get of the platform and down un-
| der the car in time to save discovery
| He could have pulled the leg OF one OF
! the robbers as he climbed over him In
to the car. but he did not do IL. Dave
and Wey remained in obscurity while
the two robbers worked Hike beaver:
throwing the copper glance of the car
into the snow beside the track The
thieves were good judges of ore and
were very particular what they took
They only threw on good sized chunk.
of what looked like the best. and die
not bother the fine stun.
After the train had gone. a sleigh
drove up. drawn by two horses. Thu
ore was loaded into sacks and placed
/ in the sleigh. The two detectives wers
T.a.