The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1897-07-08
FEW TRAINS HELD UP.
NOS So Many Railway RObberies
Formerly.

In the year 1893 there were 80 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 40 in 1895, and last wear
dropped to %. In the last seven years
there have been 1855 trains held up or
wrecked for the purpose of robbery.
The number of persons killed in the
preparation of this -wrecking or
holding-up crime was 73, 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 10 trap train
robbers and kill them, and the plans
were successfully carried out, a fact
which proved decidedly discouraging
to the train-robbing profession. The
mortality in 1896 was four among pas
sengers and 80 among trainmen.
Sofrequentands so desperate have been
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 We're 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 so the penal code of the EN-
pire state has recently been revised,
placing train wreclling 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 dam
ger to railroad travel in the United
States is prevalent on this side of the
Atlantic, and it finds voice in the elab-
crate arrangements for defense made
by the several express companies of the
country in their cars devoted to the
transportation of valuabes
The interiors of some of the express
cars have the appearance of veritable
arsenais. In fact. some of the ears are
called arsenal cars. They have a 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 a
foot wide extending from the level of
the window sill 10 the roof. At each
end at the side of this arrangement a
portfolio is provided so that a rifle may
be used 10 sweep the side of the train.
front or rear, or to shoot from a side
hole in any direction from this bomb
proof. These are only some of the
many features of the ideal arsenal car
than has come into use on account of
the frequency of train-wrecking and
u llCSt uNlOHS nave
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 its care. To be sure.
the recently constructed mail cars have
no door at 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 and does an
swer frequently a 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 valuables from
the United States mail bags are rifed.
the owners have no recourse. The gov
eminent refuses 10 be responsible 1t
is probable that to this lack of resDon-
sibiHty 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
istied 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 a reason why
the government should take as radica!
precautions as have the express com
panies. a knowledge that mail cars,
like express ears, were little else than
moving arsenals, together with such
drastic measures as have been just
adopted in New York state. would 90
a long way toward making train-rob-
bing in America an almost unheard-of
crime.-Cincinnati Times-Star.