The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1897-06-17
ON ROBBERY BENT
A Plan to Wreck the B. G. O. N.
Y. Express
Is Frustrated by a Pal of the
COnspiratOrs.
HE TOLD THE SHERIFF
The Wreckers Had Piled the
Track High With Ties
When the Sheriff and Posse
Came Upon Them.
One RObber Was Killed and An
other Was Captured.

ST. Louis, Mo-, June he. P. Car
ner, car accountant of the Wabash,
with offices in East st. Louis. brought
here today details of an attempt to
wreck and rob a Baltimore & Ohio
passenger train between Odin and Sa-
lem, Ill, about 65 miles east of ST.
Louis
Mr.. Garner is a brother of A. G. Gar
ner, ex-city marshal of Salem, who was
Sheriff Barnes Lieutenant in thwart1ng
the wreckers' plans. Mr.. Garner said
there were three men involved in the
attempted wrecking and that two OF
them were caught, one being fatally
shot. The would-be robbers are resi-
dents of Salem and were known about
the village as hard characters. Abe
Tweed, the robber who was shot. was
out on parole from Chester, Ill. peni-
tentiary Thomas Schumacher, the
other man captured is an ex-cOnvict
from the Indiana penitentiary. One
of them told Sheriff Barnes, upon the
sheriff's promise to protect him and
not divulge his name, of the plan to
wreck and loot the train, but said he
he did not know the date and place
selected. He promised to find out and
report these particulars, and 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 into their fold the
deserter and then proceeded to lay
bare the plot.
The night New York express was the
train they thought would yield the best
harvest All day Wednesday the three
men hauled railroad ties to the treStle.
About 4 o'clock D. m. the man who
aT1ezlo = hcd on Ta1-a Gyyf
cused from the days work and report
ed the situation to Sheriff Barnes. The
sheriff collected posse of six men and
started from Salem along the track
About 1920, when they came near
Shennafelt culvert, the three robbers
could be seen and almost covering the
treStle was a high pile of ties thrown
on the track The WreckerS were gath
cred together on a side of the embank-
ment, in a convenient position to jump
aboard the cars as soon as the train
came to a standstilI.
Shern Barnes and his party got with
in thirty yards of the Wreckers before
they were discovered. When they saw
they were caught the wreckers ran
down the side of the embankment.
The express train was now due in
about twenty minutes. Sending back
two of his men to flag the train, the
sheriff. Mr.. Garner and two others went
after the fugitives.
Haiti called out Mr.. Barnes, and
one of the wreckers, who turned out to
be Schumacher, surrendered, while the
other two continued to run and Gar
ner fired. A man who proved to be
Tweed fell. and Garner sent two more
bullets after his fleeing partner. Neither
of the shots took effect and the man
escaped.
The prisoners were taken to the Sal
EN- jail and locked up. Tweed cannot
live. Both robbers admitted that they
intended to rob the train, but denied
that they wished to derail the engine or
to touch any Of the money in the ex-
press 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 force the engineer
to come to a stop. Then they were to
board the sleepers, lock the conductors
and porters in the toilet rooms and hold
up the passengers.
It is said that the train which left
st. Louis Wednesday evening carried
more than S1OO 600 in the evnreSs car