The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1897-05-07
very STUPID RAID.
Highwaymen Escape Because
Erie Detectives Fail to
Get Regular Police
Aid,

| Police Justice Nevin in the First Grim
! inal Court this morning, held four men to
await examination on the charge of loot
| ing freight cars belonging to the Erie
Railroad The prisoners are:-
! Fred Kline, of Chicago; John Beck, of
Reading, Pa; Thomas Norke. of Middle
bcro, Mass, and Charles Gallager of
Philadelphia.
| They are members of an organized gang
of tramps and highwaymen, and were
| only captured after desperate fight, in
which a dozen railroad men were pitted
against an equal numbe. of the gang
| For several weeks, the Erie Railroad
| Company has been losing hundreds of
| dollars worth of merchandise from west
cover the thieves proved fruitless until
| last night, when they were discovered by
mere accident. The west bound freight
trains are compelled to stop just beyond
| the western end of the tunnel to prevent
| junction.
with canned meats and provisions,
| bound for the west, was stopped for a
| few minutes near the entrance to the
tunnel. AS it was pulling away, James
Doyle, track-walker, noticed that the
seals on several of the cars had been
broken. At almost the same instant he
| saw number of men making toward the
tunnel with their arms loaded with bun
| dies. He followed them to a hut in a
ciump of bushes within 200 feet of the
mouth of the tunnel, where they Joined
about a dozen more men who We're seated
| around wood fire at the entrance to
| the shanty, which was built of railroad
| ties. One of the men discovered DOYLE
and recognizing him by his lantern as a
railroad man. leyeled a revolver at his
mead and ordered him to leave if he
| Doyle left willingly, as he had all the
| evidence he wanted that the gang he had
stumbled upon was the one Shat had been
| committing a r xzybi h a
/ so puzzled the railroad detectives He
| went to the nearest telegraph station and
communicated with the Detective Bureau
at the Pavonia ferry, telling them of his
| discovery. An engine and caboose were
| Immediately placed at the disposal of
Chief Detective Frank Connell, who pro-
ceeded to organize a raiding party con-
| sisting of Detectives John Flynn and
/ VIM. Mooney and number of trainmen
| who were at liberty. Headed by Connell.
| the party entered the caboose and were
1 deposited at the west end of the tunnel
| Connell distributed his men so that they
/ ne gave the order to close in on the
| tramps. The detectives were fully armed
with revolvers, but the trainmen's only
weapons were stout clubs The raiders
were within 80 feet of the hut when a
| lookout, who was stationed at the en-
trance, gave the alarm and the tramps
| came ming out. Most of them were
| armed and threatened the trainmen with
| ugly looking revolvers. 1t was not with
| out a desperate fight, however, that any
| Of them managed to escape. The detec-
| tfveS were the only ones who were even
| ly matched with the tramps and they
| succeeded in capturing five of them. One
scoundrel escaped by jumping from the
train on it's return trip The other pris-
onerS Will be held until the amount of
the thefts can be ascertained and to give
the detectives an opportunity to produce
evidence in the shape of stolen goods
which We're found in the hut after the