The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1897-06-18
ROBBERS THWARTED.
They Planned to Wreck o Train
. Near Salem, Mo. .,.-..
CAUGHT BY A PALS CONFESSION.

The Sheriff and Posse Came Upon
tho Men as They Lay in Wait For
the Coming of tho Train-Deolare
They Intended Only to Rob.
st. Louis, June 1S-E. P. Garner. car
accountant of the Wabash railway,
with offices In East st. Louis, brought
to this city yesterday details of the
attempt to wreck and rob Baltimore
& Ohio Southwestern passenger train
on a culvert between Odin and Salem,
Ills, about IS miles east of st. Louis.
There were three men involved In the
attempted wrecking and two of them
were caught, one Of them being fatal
ly shot. The would-be robbers are
residents of Salem and were known
about the village as hard characters.
Abe Tweed. the robber who was shot,
was out on parole from Chester, Ills.
Thomas Schumacher, the other man
captured, Is an ex-convict from the
Indiana penitentiary on his own con-
feSsiOn.
These two men. the one who escaped
and d fourth banded together not long
ago to do general business in the
criminal line. After they had planned
to hold up the New York express on
the Baltimore & Ohio Southwestern
the men had a difference, and the plans
were broken up in a row. One of them
told Sheriff Barnes, upon the sheriff's
promise to protect him and not di-
vulge his name of the plan to wreck
and loot the train, but he said he did
not know the date and place selected.
He promised to find out and report
these particulars, and he kept his
word Returning to his former pals.
he said he was sorry he had left them,
and begged to be let in on the fat thing
they were about to pull off. The rogues
relented, took back the deserter, and
then proceeded to lay bare the plot.
Being posted by his convert, Sheriff
Barneson Wednesday night collected
a posse of six men and started from
Salem along the track. When they
came near Schennafelt culvert the
three robbers could be seen, and al"
most In the interior Of The trestle was
O. high pile of ties thrown across the
express trains track. Sheriff Barnes
and his posse got within 30 yards of the
wreckers before they were discovered.
When they say they were caught the
wreckers ran down the side of the en-
banltment The express train was due
In about 20 minutes. Sending back two
Of his men to flag it, the sheriff, Mr..
Garner and others went after the rob-
bers.
Halt" cried Sheriff Barnes, and one
OF the robbers, who turned out to be
Schumacher, surrendered. The other
two continued to run, and Garner fired.
A man who proved to be Tweed fell,
and Garner sent two more bullets after
his fleeing partner. Neither shot took
effect. and the man escaped.
The prisoners were taken to the Sa-
lem Jail and locked up. Tweed can
not live. The robbers admitted that
they intended to rob the train, but de-
MED that they wished to derail the
engine or touch any of the money in
the express car They said they had
designs only on the occupants of the
six or seven sleeping cars, and placed
the ties on the tracks only to forCa
the engine to come to stop. Then
they were to board the slcepers, lock
the conductors and pOrters in the
toilet rooms. and hold up the passen-
gers.
1t is saiu shat the train carried more
than 100000 in the express car The
trainmen are confident that if the on
gine had run into the pile of ties It.
with several cars, undoubtedly would
have been derailed and thrown down
the embankment, cntailing great loss
Of life.