The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1897-08-27
RAILWAY ROBBERY.
Not So Many Trains Held Up as
There Used to Be.
Extra Precautions Are Taken bS Ex-
press Companies and Laws Are
Icing ..aae G..IIci. Lave
Their Effect.

In the year 1898 there were 30 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 ls5 trains held up OF
wrecked for the purpose of robbery.
The number of persons killed ia the
perpetratIon of this triin-Nvrecking or
holdIng-up crime Was 73, the number
wounded IS. 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 lighting train wreckers and train
robbers. There were several instances
in 1896 of deliberate plans having been
made by railroad officials ia trap train
robbers and kill them, and the plans
Were successfully carried out, Il fact
which proved decidedly disoouragine
to the train-robbing profession. The
mortality in 1896 was four among pas
sengers and - among trainmen.
So frequ-- so desperate have been
many of these efforts ut train-roDbing
that the idea has become more or less
in the United States is about as danger
Gus as is travelled by private convey yancc
in the brigand districts of Italy and
Sicily, and it cannot be denied that
there is considerable justification for
the prevalence of this idea IL Is not
many months since three or four beard
ess boys were sent to the peniteL tiury
from Rome, y. 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 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 il finds voice in ihe elab-
orate arrangements for defense made
10y the several express companies of the
country in their ears devoted to the
transportation of valuables.
The interiors of some of the express
cars have the appearance of yeritable
arsenals- In fact, some of the ears are
called arsenal cars. They have e bull
let-proof room located in their center.
They are built of steel 1Iz inch in
thickness. The doors leading into
either end of these compartments are
punctured with peepholes, through
which a 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. vt each
end at the side of this arrangement a
port-huie is provided so that a rifle may
be used to sweep the side Of the train.
front or rear. or to shoot from II side
hole in any direction from this boInt
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-wrec king and
train-robbing. These precautions have
been thought necessary by the astute
managers of the express companies.
Meantime the United Gtates govern
ment that is engaged in transporting
valuables in mail cars has taken nc
such precautions to protect the prop
erty intrusted to its care. To be sure.
the recently constructed mail ears have
no door at each end accessible to the
train-robber, but they have doors or
the sides, to which an expert rcbhcI
can find access and where the railway
mail clerk could answer aud does an
Swcr frequently summons To open.
Millions and millions of dollars are
every week sent through the UuitsG
States mail in these unprotected malt
ears. If the train is held up. ii tie rob
Der succeeds in finding his entrance tC
the railway ear and the Valuab!cs fToi.
he United States mail bags are Iihcd.
the owners have no recourse. The gov
eTnment refuses to be responsible. II
is probable that to this lack of respon-
sibility the governments laXity il
taking necessary precautions a"ainsi
train-robbing may be attributed. TIL,
express companies recognize their re
sponsibility and prepare themselves ac-
cordingly. The government seeTS sat.
isfied to trust to luck and. un fortunate
iy. in many instances the patrons ais
of the United States mail seryic" trust
to luck. The fact that the warm and
fatal reception given robbers last year
reduced the number of train-robhcries
and train-wrecEiHg. il would seem.
ought to be accented as a reason why
the government should take radical
precautions as have the express COM
ranies. \ knowledge that mail cars,
like express cars, were little else than
moving arSenals. together with such
drastic measures as have been lust
adopted in New York state. would go
long way toward making train-Tob-
bing in America an almost unheard-of
crime Cincinnati Times-Star.
Food Laws I'm France
France knows how to protect the
rights of her people Anybody who