The Ketchum keystone. [volume] (Ketchum, Idaho) 1885-1899, 1897-07-31
RAILWAY ROBBERY. !
Not So Many Trains Held Up as
There Used to Be.
Extra Precautions Are Taken by Ex-
DRess Companies aAd Laws Are
Being Made Which Have
Their Eject.

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 wa.
"a. 1t 'was 49 in 1895, and last year
dropped to %. In the last seven years
there have been 1873 trains held up OF
wrecked for the purpose of robbery
The number of persons killed in the
preparation of this train-wrecking OF
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.
Sofrequ .~.end 80 desperate 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 -sh;s rsonstrous
crime, and 80 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
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 elab-
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 ver:table
arsenals, In fact, some OF the cars arr
called arsenal cars. They have a bull
let-proof room located in their center.
They are built of steel 1H 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 steel projection a
foot wide extending from the level of
the window sill to the roof. At each
end at the side Of this arrangement
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
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
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
but they have doors OIL
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
,ars. II the train is held up. if the rob-
Der succeeds in finding his entrance to |
,he railway car and the valuables from |
he United States mail bags are rified, |
he owners have no recourse. The gov
refuses to be responsible. Ii |
8 probable that to this lack OF respon-
,ibility the governments laxity in |
aking necessary precautions against
may be attributed. The
express companies recognize their re-
and prepare themselves ac-
,ordingly. The government seems sat
SIZED to trust to luck and, unfortunate
v, in many instances the patrons also
# the United States mail service trust
% luck. The fact that the warm and
atal reception given robbers last year
educed the number Of train-robberies
md train-wrecking, it would seem.
ought to be accepted as reason why
he government should take as radical
precautions as have the express COM
,anies. A knowledge that mail cars,
ike express cars, were little else than
moving arsenals, together with such |
lrastic measures as have been just
.dopted in New York state, would go
long way toward making traiperob-.
,in1 in America an almost unbeard-o1
Times-StaE
The Shah's FanePal.
An account of the final ceremonies
,ver the remains of the late shah OF
PERSIA, who was assassinated more
han q year ago. has been received at
Ae state department from the United