The record-union., 1896-09-07


him and found him shortly afterwards
beside the track. nearly opposite the
saloon mile and half beyond Wash
ington. They covered him with their
guns, and he commenced to shake and
asked, What's the racket now?" They
told him that he would not be harmed,
but they wanted information. He told
them that he was the Swede who was
Bercey's partner, and that his name
was John Lundi When he became more
calm he told the same story of the hold
up that Bercey had told, even to part of
the language used by the robbers. He
was brought to the County Jail, where
he was seen by a Record Union" re-
porter, and gave the following account
Of his experience after he left the train:
After we agreed to jump" said he, Il
ran down into the brush and tules
about fifty feet from the track and hid
myself. When the train had gone and
all was quiet, tried to find my partner
but could hear nothing of him. l went
and got my blankets and went along
the track a little ways and went to sleep
with my head against a telegraph pole.
When sunrise came l thought l would
leave the track and strike across the
country to a road. / went on till 1
found myself surrounded by swamp
and could not get across, so I went
back, but could not get around the
water till got back to the track, where
the officers found me-
How did you feel when you were try
ing to uncouple the train?" was asked.
We'll, l felt pretty rocky" was the
response. THE big man told me, Set
the brake / had never set a brake in
about it, but I tried Set the brake,
said he again, but L could not do it.
expected to be shot"
Yes, so did t. said Bercey, who was
in the Sheriff's office when Lundi was
brought in and had nodded to him Il
expected that the conductor would
shoot me for fooling with the brake, If
the other man did not but I couldn't
help it," and he laughed
They they began recalling the Incl
dents of the trip, and said that when
the train commenced to move they were
both on the left hand side of the plat
form, while the robbers were on the
right and they jumped off. They are
both detained for the present as wit
nesses.
ANOTHER CAPTURE.
Shortly after midnight, while Sheriff
Johnson, Deputy Sheriff Kelly Con-
stable Frommelt and officer King were
searching together they heard a series
of low whistles and heard the noise
made by man in moYing. He evidently
heard them too, and as F'rommelt and
King came upon him he squatted down
and they covered him with their guns
he tremblingly surrendered and they
searched him, but found no arms. He
claimed to be tramp who had just
happened to be there by accident at that
particular time, but he could not ex-
plain how it was that he had no blankets
or how he came to be giving signals
by Whistling when he had no compan-
ions. He gave his name as Frank Egan
and is said to be a trackman. officer
Ahern is confident that he is one of the
robbers, and says he has seen him
around the depot for four or five days
and can identify him by his voice.
CLAFFEY KNEW HIM.
Yesterday evening, after the autopsy
was completed, the morgue was again
thrown open and persons were allowed
Identification. It was noticed that one
young man eyed him very closely and
went around in the line several times
to get a better look at him. When in
terrogated, he gave his name as Ben
Claffey and said he was working at
Flint's ranch. He admitted having
known the dead man and said he
worked at Flint's last summer picking
hops. He had also known him before
that, having met him at different times,
once in Newman, Stanislaus County.
He asked for drink of water at a sa-
loon where Claffey was bartender, and
said he had been travelling and was
hungry and Claffey gave him beer. This
was several months ago. He first saw
him at Phoenix, Ariz., and afterwards
met him in New Mexico. They had been
brakebeam tourists together.
Officers Douglas and Higgins had seen
the dead man frequently along the river
front for the past two months and at
times in Versiko's saloon on Front
street. He drank beer occasionally, but
never got drunk and did not associate
with the hobos. The officers describe
him as a good-natured fellow, a good
talker and using good language. He
and Claffey, they said, used to rush the
growler'' together. The dead man used
to take trips at intervals to Stockton to
see some person there.
FOUND THE DYNAMITE
Deputy Sheriff Alter made an impor-
tant find yesterday morning that shows
the robbers had gone about their work
deliberately and prepared to blow up
the safe and even the car, if necessary,
and that they knew how to prepare the
explosives in order to do so.
At the third trestle this side of Davis
ville about fifteen feet from this side,
he found a sack that had evidently been
thrown there under the impression that
it would fall in the water. There was
no water there, and 1t had fallen into a
bunch Of tules. 1t contained twenty
six sticks of giant powder most of 1t
tied up in bundles Of four, with a
twelve-inch fuse tied down the sides
and properly capped, ready for busi-
ness. 1t is not hard to conjecture what
they were to be used for or that they
would have rendered it very uncom-
Portable for the express messenger had
the robbers succeeded in cutting loose
the express car and he had refused to
open it. The sack was evidently thrown
away by one of the robbers in his flight,
and was found about one mile this side
of the scene of the robbery.
officers Talbot and others Of the