The San Francisco call., 1897-12-26
Took Great Risk Of Long I'M
prisonn1ent for a Few
Small Coins.
TOOK THE CASHBOx, TOO
An Antiquated Tram Of the Sixth and
Sansone Streets Line Loses
Few NickeIs.

Two beardless and bold young men
robbed a car of the Sixth Market and
Sansome streets line early last night
and escaped with the cashboX, cash
and all. The amount of their plunder
was small and they did not obtain
much more than so cents for the risks
they took Of spending the greater part
of their future life in this world in the
States prison. Their plan was a bold
one, though it did not require much
skill, and it was successfully carried
out The cars of the line are ancient
one-horse affairs that rattle over the
loose and disjointed rails of the anti
quated track and they have few pat
rons The drivers of the horses sleep
half the time and when they are not
asleep they act as conductors as well
as cluckle to the broken-down nags,
they spend their lives behind, in an
effort to encourage some speed out of
them.
Early last night two young men with
their hats pulled down over their eyes
and their coat collars turned up
something after the sleuth disguise
worn by the average detective of the
present city force-boarded a down.
town car on Sixth street, near Folsom.
They walked to the front of the car
and sat with their backs toward the
driver. One of them reached up and
dropped two nickels in the slot of the
box in front of the car in payment for
their fare. Driver and Conductor Ep-
right, who was in charge of the car,
turned the two nickelS down into the
little locked receptacle in the bottom
of the box after seeing that the fare
~srr1z4
ing and clucking to his horse. The car
turned down Market street and went
to SansOme street without picking up
q passenger. Sansome street, through
the wholesale district, was as de-
serted as a graveyard after nightfall.
The car turned down into the dimly
lighted street, and by the time Cali
fornia street was reached Driver and
Conductor Upright was almost asleep
and the poor nag was plodding along
hauling the rickety old car after him
with his nose almost grazing the
cobbles.
The conductor was awakened from
his doze by a strange racket going on
in the car, and he regained his senses
in time to see his two passengers
crOwding out of the rear door and one
of them carrying the cashbox. Upright
tried to open the front door to run
after them and recover the property of
his employers, but the door was fast
ened. By the time he got the car
stopped the robbers had disappeared
down California street The driver
raised an alarm, but it was some min
utes before assistance arrived, and by
that time the thieves were well out of
the way.
Epright is an extra man on the line
He could not give a good description
of his passengers who robbed the car
They were, he said, both young men,
possibly between 20 and 25 years of age,
and both of them were beardless.
They both wore overcoats and had
their coat collars turned up and their
hats pulled down over their faces. The
conductor paid little attention to them
after they had deposited their fares in
the box.
The boxes of the cars of the line are
arranged to be transferred from one
end of the car to the other, so that they
can always be at the front end of the
car and under the eyes of the driver
It is an easy matter to lift them out
and the robbers had planned to prevent
interference from the driver by fasten-
ing the front door of the car on the in
side. The box had been emptied of it's
nickels about two hours before it was
stolen, so that there could not have
been more than half dollar in it, in
Guiding the two nickels the robbers put
into if for their fare