The Ketchum keystone. [volume] (Ketchum, Idaho) 1885-1899, 1897-07-24
RAILWAY ROBBERY.
Not 80 Many Trains Held Up -
There Used to Be.
Extra Precautions Are Taken ~ IL
press CoADanlee aAA LAWo Are
BEING MAA0 Which Have
Their EJECT.


In the year 1898 there were 33 rail-
road trains held up in this country by
imitators of the James and Younger
gangs. The next year the number was
"a. 1t was ~ in 1895, and last year
dropped to %. In the last seven years
there have been 1873 trains held up or
wrecked for the purpose of robbery.
The number of persons killed in the
perpetration of this train-wrecking or
holding-up crime was 70, the number
wounded So. The smallness of the rec
ord for 1896 may be partially accounted
for by the fact that passengers and
crews have recently fallen into the way
of fighting train wreckers and train
robbers. There were several instances
in 1896 Of deliberate plans having been
made by railroad officials TO trap train
robbers and kill them, and the. plans
were successfully carried out, fact.
which proved decidedly discouraging
to the train-robbing profession. The
mortality in 1896 was four among pas
sengers and 80 among trainmen.
Sofreque. AID dsodesperate have been
many of these efforts at train-robbing
that the idea has become more or less
popular in Europe that railway travel
in the United States is about as danger
Gus as is travelled by private conveyance
in the brigand districts of Italy and
Sicily, and it cannot be denied that
there is considerable justification for
the prevalence of this idea. 1t is not
many months since three or four beard
less boys were sent to the penitentiary
from Rome, N. Y, for the crime of
train wrecking. But terms in the pen
itentiary are not regarded as an ade-
quate punishment for this monstrous
crime, and 50 the penal code Of the EN-
pire state has recently been revised,
placing train wrecking among the cap
ital crimes. Hereafter any man in New
York state found guilty of train wreck
ing will suffer the same punishment as
does any man found guilty of murder
in the first degree. ..-
An idea of the magnitude Of the dan
ger to railroad travel in the United
States is prevalent on this side Of the
Atlantic, and it finds voice in the eiab-
crate arrangements for defense made
by the several express companies of the
country in their cars devoted to the
transportation of valuables.
The interiors of some of the express
cars have the appearance of veritable
arsenals. In fact, some Of the cars are
called arsenal cars. They have bull
let-proof room located in their center.
They are built of steel ~ inch in
thickness. The doors leading into
either end of these compartments are
punctured with peepholes, through
which gun can be ranged and fired.
On either side is a steel projection
foot wide extending from the level OF
the window sill to the roof. At each
port-hole is provided so that rifle may
be used to sweep the side of the train,
front or rear, or to shoot from side
hole in any direction from this bomb
proof. These are only some OF the
many features of the ideal arsenal car
that has come into use on account of
the frequency of train-wrecking and
train-robbing. These precautions have
been thought necessary by the astute
managers of the express companies.
Meantime the United States govern
ment that is engaged in transporting
valuables in mail cars has taken no
such precautions to protect the prop
erty intrusted to it's care. To be sure,
the recently constructed mail cars have
no door ut each end accessible to the
train-robber, but they have doors on
the sides, to which an expert robber
can find access and where the railway
mail clerk could answer ard does an
swer frequently summons to open.
Millions and millions of dollars are
every week sent through the United
States mail in these unprotected mail
cars. If the train is held up, if the rob-
Der succeeds in finding his entrance to
the railway car and the yaluables from
the United States mail bags are rified,
the owners have no recourse. The gov
ernment refuses to be responsible. 1t
is probable that to this lack OF respon-
sibility the governments laxity in
taking necessary precautions against
train-robbing may be attributed. The
express companies recognize their re-
sponsibility and prepare themselves ac-
cordingly. The government seems sat
isfied to trust to luck and, unfortunate
ly,, in many instances the patrons also
of the United States mail service trust
to luck. The fact that the warm and
fatal reception given robbers last year
reduced the number of train-robberies
and train-wrecking, it would seem,
ought to be accepted as reason why
the government should take as radical
precautions as have the express COM
panies. A knowledge that mail cars,
like express cars, were little else than
moving arsenals, together with such
drastic measures as have been just
adopted in New York state, would go
a long way toward making train-rob-
bine in America an almost unheard-of
crime.-Cincinnati Times-Star.
4
A Balloon Voyage to the North Pels.
A silk balloon inclosed in net and
CARRYING a car equipped with all OF the
necessities of life as well as the material
to generate new gas is tt be used for q
| voyage to the north pole. Every con-
tingency has been provided for, and
the three scientists who make the voy-
age are confident of success. 1t Is
thought that the time occupied for the