The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-02-23

| from Arkansas City. Kan. to Purcell, /.
| T.. for several years. lie has been "held
| up by Grain robbers in three out OF the
I five raids made by these gentry in the
/ Ponca and Otoe reservations since the
road has been running through them. His
| acquaintance with train robbers aud their
m2nners has bred within him a contempt
for them and their courage.
Mr.. Macs engine stood groaning and
| splitting and purring in the depot at Ar
| kansas City one evening last week while
| passengers from the train We're az sup
/ per. Mr.. Mac climbed cut OF the engine
cab with long-spouted oil can in his
| hand
THE most exciting experience of my
/ life said he. was when / first looked
into the muzzle of a Winchester / have
done it several times since. but the first
sensation has never been repeated. The
| bore of that rife looked as big as the in
| terror of plug hat. I have been held
! up three times by train robbers, and TIA
l kind of used to them now. They're not
what they're cracked up TO be-that is, in
/ the way OF TERRIERS. In my business re-
/ lauons with them | have found them Just
I as scared and excited as the men they
were holding up. and they had the trig-
/ ger ends OF the guns, too. The average
l train robber, judging from my experience,
| IS yellow RE isn't always the big bold
/ oNdAStIlNS desperate traulllon mas made
] him-1ust common, crapshOoung. whis-
/ of the game
I've got a picture in my box in the
/ cab OF the last gang that held up my
train. I'll get it," Mac climbed into his
/ engine and from the box under hts seat
Drought forth a photograph of six men in
\ a row. There he said. lis a puzzle;
/ pick out the train robbers" From Macs
opinion previously expressed it was not
/ The first time / was held I'M was in
! May, 1891, at Wharton, just south of the
| present town of Perry, in the Cherokee
/ there was nothing at Wharton except the
/ depot, water tank and coal chute. The
! train stopped at the water tank about II
! O'Clock that night. ! got out of the cab
| to oil the engine. l had a torch, and was
leaning into the engine when ! heard a
noise behind me. / turned and looked
| square into a rifle barrel 1t wasn't nice,
/ and il looked Ike Il tunnel. ] thought
/ OF all kinds of things. ! followed along
at the other end Then | noticed that he
was trembling, and l plucked up cour-
age; Throw up your hands he said in
\ shaky voice. Up they went. Put out
| that torch he commanded. lowered
/ the torch and blew it out. Meantime the
/ spout of the oil can held up by me was
directly over the mans head and | no
/ ticed the oil was dripping down his back.
/ 1t tickled me nearly to death.
! Two other masked men had climbed
into the engine and caught the fireman.
! They made him take the coal pick and
then marched us back to the smoking
car. our hands We're up, II was dark.
and we stumbled along over the rough
! ground to be poked up by the barrels of
| the Winchesters. They made up cut Off
| the baggage and express cars On the
! station platform other masked men had
the conductor, brakeman, postal clerks,
| station agent, and passenger or two
! lined up with their hands in the air Not
| a shot was fred and the whole affair was
! as quietly conducted as a funeral. When
the cars had been cut or my friend
| marched the fireman and me back to the
| engine, and, sticking his Winchester
| against my cheek, said: Now pull out O.
here damn quick ! threw the throttle
open in a hurry and we started out on
the jump We hadn't gone a hundred
yards when we stopped so quick that the
train robber was thrown up against me
| and everyone went in a heap. 'Whatn
hell dye stop ferr said the robber, stick
ing his Winchester up against my face.
4 didn't stop, says !, The express mes
we had forgotten to disconnect the bell
rope. and when it went rafting through
the express car the messenger thought
the train had broken in two and set the
:" pull her out of here said the train
robber jabbing me in the back of the neck
with his gun. I can't do anything says
/, until the pumps equalize the air | set
the pumps to going and pointed TO the
throttle which was wide open. Then
argued with the fellow and he kept urging
me to start her up. He was as ratified as
a country boy proposing 10 his girl. Pretty
[
move off, and the fellow saw l had been
I telling the truth. We ran down to the
coal chute and he told me to stop her.
| Then we all climbed out of the engine once
more and went back to the express car,
the robbers holding the fireman and me in
front of them for protection. They made
| me tell the messenger to open the car
door which he did. Then they went I'm and
got 81 100 out of the way safe. The through
safe couldn't be opened by the messen-
Got any chewin tobacco? said one OF
| the robbers TO me. | pulled out my plug.
and he took a chew and put it I'm his pock-
| ct. Then he offered me 10 cents for it. but
! made him present OF IT.. Good night,
| says he Keep your hands up And then
| all filed out of the car and walked down
| the track and into a little creek bottom,
where they had their horses, and rode off.
| 1t IS believed that ii was the Dalton gang.
l didn't see their faces, but they Impress
/ ed me as being in need of a bath and some
! thing to eat more than anything else
Mr.. Mac continued oiling his engine, and
chuckled to himself. For year after
| that we used to look for a hold up every
| night, and especially on the anniversary
| of the first May 25 But nothing happened
| and we forgot about it,
Ion the night of June 1. 1892. at 10 o'clock
we had just pulled into Red Rock, in the
OtOe reservation. There was no one on
dark. l leaned out of the cab to get the
| conductors high sign and pull right out.
| when two men rose UP alongside the en-
/ CINE and climbed aboard. I recognized my
my hands like a little man. Pull uD to
| the stock yards, says the gentleman who
was waiting on me. pulled her wide open
and the conductor, who was on the de-
pot platform, nearly got left
"At the stock yards we stopped. II
wasn't very dark, and / saw a bunch of
horses hitched to the stock yards fence.
! The fellows in the engine told the fireman
and me to climb down, and made the fire.
man take his coal pick. They lined every
body up alongside the track, and told the
messenger to open the car door For an
swer the messenger fired at them through
the door The robbers fired back, and one
of them shot down alongside the train to
keep inquisitive passengers inside. About
100 shots we're fired.
Il had got tired holding my hands up,
and asked the gentleman who was cover
ing me to let me put them down. All
| right says he, I guess you fellows can't
do any harm After a while the car door
was broken in, and the robbers marched
me into the car ahead of them. 1 called
| to the messenger not to shoot. The lights
| were all out and he couldn't see me. Some
one lit my torch and the robbers-there
| were six of them-ransacked the car. One
of them wanted to shoot the messenger
! hpca1Ige he had made much frnIlb1Q for