The herald., 1896-12-24

Express Messenger Frier, though fur
ther information IS momentarily eX-
pected from Independence when Mar
shall Keshlar and his men shall have re-
turned from the vicinity of Glendale.
At 2:3O this morning the express car
was brought back to Independence and
Express Messenger Frier told the story
of the robbery.
About five minutes after his car was
detached from the train he said he
heard a rap at the side door,
and, thinking it was a brakeman, he
opened it. A man with shotgun COM
PEELED him to rereat into the car. while
two others followed with revolvers and
ordererd him to thow up his hands. The
men then pulled him from the car and
asked him if he had any money. He was
too excited to answer. They then picked
Kim up and threw him bodily back into
the car and one of the men, who wore a
mask, as did the others, climbed in. The
man got into the car and proceeded
to the large safe and threw down kit
of tools in front of it. The other two
held guns at Friers head. while the third
one proceeded coolly to break open the
safe.
Frier told the man who was a work on
the large safe that it was useless for
him to blow it open, as there was no
money in it. One of the other men, who
stood at the door covering Frier all the
time with a revolver. then said: well,
damn you, give us the keys to the small
safe"
Frier refused to do this and the two
men who had remained on the outside
jumped into the car. They leaped on
Frier. pinned him to the floor and took
the keys of the small safe away from
him. He was then chucked up into
corner with two shotguns held at his
;-l
man then took the keys, opened the
small safe and took from it a number of
packages of money, and after the rob-
bers had secured the contents of the
small safe they again attempted to open
the large one. A small hole about one
eighth of an inch was made in the large
safe and two sticks of dynamite put in.
Frier again told the men they We're
wasting their time, as there was not
penny in the large safe. At this they de-
sisted from their attempt to open it and
prepared to leave.
Before they went away one of the men
walked over to Frier and taking s.
bill from his pocket, said: Here, help
yourself to a Christmas present. We
made good haul"
1t is now known that a large amount
was secured. They then started to leave
the car, but in doing so turned to Frier,
who by this time was greatly excited,
and told him that they had used him fair
and that he ought to give them some
thing out of his salary. F'rier said he
did not have any money on his person,
bet they did not believe him and made a
search of his clothing. Two of the men
then jumped from the car, and the thi>d
one pushed Frier through the open
door down to the side of the track. They
then compelled him to climb up on the
front end of the car and set the brake.
After the brake had been set the robbers
drove Frier back into his car and closed
the door, telling him at the same time to
remain there on peril of his life. AS soon
as the express messenger had been driv-
en- into the car. the robbers boarded the
engine and went at high rate of speed
about two miles. where 1t was aban-
doned. 1t is impossible to estimate the
amount of money taken from the small
safe, as the express messenger refused
to state. He admitted, however, that
there was a great deal of money, which
was being shipped for Christmas. 1t is
fair to estimate it at several thousand
dollars