The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-02-28
BULLION BY EXPRESS.
RESPONSIBILITY OF AGENTS WHO
GUARD THE CARGOEs.
Rarely Has Bar of silver been
LOst-FabuIOus Fortune In Metal
Disappeared In London.

EN- wager a silver brick against
trade dollar that you never heard Of a
man who was able to steal bar of bullion
and get away with it without capture"
said Jake Conyers, a messenger of the
American Express Company running be
tween Chicago and Omaha, to a Record
e9rresDondent who CHANGED to be in the
company Of several old-time express mes
sengers the other day.
Jake has seen thirty-three years Of ser
vice with the great forwarding concerns
and is one Of the veteran bullion carriers
Of the United States He has carried gold
and silver bricks sufficient to pave Dear
born street from the river to Polk street
depot land yet" he said. Il never let
one slip out Of my hands.
THE nearest approach to anything of
the kind" continued the veteran, was
one night when, near Marshalltown,
thought heard a peculiar noise overhead.
The train was rushing along at a terri
fic speed but above the racket made by
the wheels there came occasional sounds
that convinced me that some one was slid
ing along the roof of the car. Looking up
I discovered. pressed against the glass of
one of the deck windows human race
with ewes trained on three bars of silver
ranged along the forward end of the car.
Bullion is not placed in one position IN
car. We scatter it here and there, so that
the weight will not rest on one side of the
car or over one truck. 1t so happened
that the fellows could see the three bars
I'm the corner and it afterward developed
that he was figuring on getting possession
of one or more of them At present mar
ket price a silver pig is worth about $500.
''When the train stopped l called
brakeman and we went after the fellow
overhead. We induced him to climb down
and the brakeman caught him by the boot
Suddenly without giving us an mixing
of his intention, he jerked his foot out of
the boot and, leaping from the opposite
side of the car, he ran like whitehead.
In the boot, however. had been secreted
an object wrapped in channels skin. It
was pulled out when the foot was, so hur-
riedly extricated. 1t was pair Of bits
and a small saw. The man had evidently
provided himself with brace and with
the tools had intended to cut hole in the
end of the car near the silver bullion. He
could have easily lowered himself on the
forward platform and made the opening
between the regular stops of the train.
lie evidently figured that the bricks could
be raked out and then probably thrown
from the train near a stopping place, from
which the thief could go back and pick
them up or secrete them until opportunity
TO dispose of them offered itself"
While present shipments of silver bullion
are small. as compared with other days
the old-timers tell of heavy cargoes of the
white metal handled by them. While
bar is rarely missed, the value of the
freight requires care and attention only
second in Importance to the handling OF
coin and currency-a messenger carefully
Nwrrfsa rt,arn 10
taken into the car People who stand
around are naturally curious and ask
questions at the rate of a hundred in
second: others want to feel 1t and rub
their fingers over the surfaces, while there
are still others who would be willing TO
give up a dollar for the poor privilege of
Juggling an eighty-pound pig about the
platform. Many messengers refuse to ad-
init that the white stuff Is 999-fne silver
and really make a great many people be-
lieve that it is lead or Babbitt metal
Gold bullion is never exposed to view,
even at transfer points. The bars Of va
rious weights are sewed up in canvas or
chamois skin and are slowed away in the
stationary safe In the car, which can be
opened only at certain points. There is
never more than five or six bars of gold
in a shipment, but few of these are re-
utlired to represent a value of $lO0,000.
Some of them weigh 10 pounds, others $50,
while they run down to small bricks
weighing only twenty-five pounds. At
transfer stations they are placed in steel
chests and trucked from one train to an
other, heavily guarded.
Il used to think il a grand thing to be
put in charge of a cargo of bullion" said
Charley Pierson, another messenger on
the Chicago and Northwestern between
living at Amboy, Ill. I'd wander down
to the Illinois Central depot, look into
the cars under packages in which ia
catch a glimpse of what / had been told
was pure silver. Then I'd look up at the
messenger in his overalls and gingham
blouse and say: MY, what It must be
TO be a messenger and have all that stuff
in charge! Guess I'll be a messenger
and here 1 am in jumpers myself.
But there was one time when wished
I'D chosen another business. One night
when / had a big load OF both gold and
silver bullion there came a sharp short
blast from the engineer, and / knew there
was some sort of trouble. Soon there
came hammering at the door, and
recognized the voice of the conductor
Look out for your valuables,' he yell
ed. We're going to be held upr
And right then was filed with a SEN
Eation that comes only to an expressman
away out on a lonesome prairie, where a
messenger is supposed TO stand between
precious freight Of an express company.
Word came to us that the water tank
at Vail, Iowa, had been set on fire and
that a gang of outlaws had stolen the
hand-car and were making their way to
meet us and rob the express car. began
20 think that l was about to realize some
of my boyish dreams. l barricaded the
doors and threw up breastworks of all the
heavy freight in sight and waited. But /
didn't lose brick that night The North
western people got out a switch engine
and gave the hand-car gang a chase for
their lives. The whole outfit was captured
and the scare came to an end"
Shortly after the first Inauguration of
president Cleveland" put Ia William ID.
Heath, who was then, as now, a messen-
ger on the Illinois Central, between Chi
cago and Cairo. II had an enormous run
of silver bullion out OF Chicago. In those
days the minis were all taking silver and
had 100 bars consigned to the mint at
New Orleans. Near Golden there was a
wreck and II was necessary TO make a
transfer from our train around to another.
81 devoved upon crew of section men
who had been drafted into the work 10
carry my 100 pigs around TO the car on the
other train. The men asked any number
of questions about the stuff and set up a