Shoshone journal. [volume] (Shoshone, Idaho) 1884-1931, 1896-10-16
in Purauit


small station on the Union Pacific rail
road in Weber canyon, eight miles east
Of Ogden, was the scene at an early hour
yesterday morning, OF one Of the most
daring robberies ever perpetrated in
the west.
It appears that the holdup was the
work of ore man, single handed and
alone, who by a clever coup cajoled the
passengers and trainmen into the belief
that he had ample assistance in the raid
that he was making. His method of
operation was as follows: He first made
his appearance by climbing over the
tender into the cab of the engine and
peremptorily demanding the fireman
and engineer to throw up their hands,
SAYING that he was about to rob the
train The robber was disguised in such
a way as to prevent any possibility of
Identification, having his head enclosed
in sack with eye holes cut. The men
Immediately complied with the request
of the robber and were forced to disguise
themselves as he directed, furnishin g
them with -four sacks to pull over their
heads. Over this mask they were re
qured to pull down their hats in a man
ner that would indicate to the passen-
gers and others that they, too, were rob-
bers.
At this point he compelled the now
captive engineer and fireman to I'M
co-,Ia tLa +r.;, Iao,-;,,or Tho avDrese and
mail car attached to the engine. After
this was done he personally mounted
the engine, leaving the engineer and
fireman upon the ground, pulled open
the throttle and ran part of the train
half mile down the canyon where he
stopped and began his efforts to blow
open the safe.
The express messenger and mail clerk
in the meantime, remained in their re-
spective cars.
| The robber commanded the express
messenger to maintain absolute silence,
an injunction which he unwillingly, ut
implicitly obeyed. After this he spent
an industrious but fruitless thirty min
utes to bore into and blow open the safe
with dynamite. During the operations
of the robber the express messenger
sat quietly on box near by. After
failing to reach the inside of the safe,
and seeing that success in that direction
was impossible, he abandoned his work
and turned his attention to the mail car,
where he commanded the clerk to
throw out the registered packages and
four mail bags were accordingly thrown
out Taking out his knife, he immedi
ately proceeded to cut open the bags
and rifle them of such matter as suited
his fancy. He secured a number of reg
istered packages, but as to the exact
number and how much money they con-
tanned. there is no means of knowing at
this time At this point the robber FIN
ished his business and turned his atten-
ton towards making his escape. The
direction which he took from this point
is not known
Turning attention to the rear portion
of the train it was found that the en-
gineer, during the time Of the operations
OF the robber in the express and mail
cars. had made his way to Uintah sta
ton. where he sent outthe report of the
robbery During this time also. the
fireman had remained with the detached
cars at the rear, until tramp came up
the road from the direction of the en-
engine and reported that the robber had
fled The fireman then went forward
and brought back the front part of the
train, attached to 1t the part which had
been left behind and run the train into
Uintah station, where he picked up the
regular engineer. The train reached
Salt Lake Tuesday morning two hours
and forty minutes late.
The amount secured is unknown, but
probably large. The robber Overlooked
$4,000 in currency, consigned to Salt
Lake banks.
It is believed the robber mad eonfed
crates, but had passed them before halt
ing the train, and was forced to do the
job himself.
Posses are securing the country IN
every direction and guarding every
mountain pass through which the rob-
beers are likely to pass, and officers ex-
press every confidence that they will
soon be apprehended.
A section of the Nafri tribe of AT
ghans has attacked the Sanari station on