Daily inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1881-1901, 1899-10-14
Last Night By Five Masked
Men In Illinois.
GOT A LARGE AMOUNT
OF Booty and Escaped But the Officers
Are In Hot PurSuit--T The Station
Agent Was Bound and Gagged and
the Signals Changed.

~ -
up train No. 9. of the Northwestern rail-
road, shortly before midnight, betWeen
Maple Park and De kalb and shot at
Dan White. the engineer, ran away with
the engine and blew open the express
car and safe. When the robbers had
ritled the car they disappeared. Train
No. 8 forms part of the fast transcontl-
mental mail which was recently establish
ed between New York and San Francisco.
; TIL run is made from Chicago to Council
! Bluffs on a schedule exceeding a mile a
! minute. 1t has been the general custom
. to carry only two cars, one containing
| express matter and the other mail. Train
| No. 9 left the Northwestern depot at III
O'Clock with Dan White as engineer. No
! stops were scheduled between De Kalb.
at which place the train was due shortly
after II o'clock.
At Maple Park. so miles from Chicago,
it was discovered that tower w at Ell
! burne was either ont of order Or was not
; giving the right signal. Dan White clos
ed the throttle quickly and brought the
train to a standstill. The train was mid
way between Elburne and Maple Park.
White had hardly brought his engine to
a stop when two masked men jumped
! onto the steps and pointed guns at him
and the fireman.
Throw UP your hands. they Shouteu.
The railroad men did so.
The two robbers detached the engine
| from the rest Of the train and White was
told to pull out. The robbers ordered
him to take his engine two miles up the
track. Then he attempted to make a
| fight and %recapture his engine. He
struggled manfully but finally one OF the
, robbers shot at him. but failed to hit him.
In the meantime four other men had
attacked the conductor and brakeman.
Numerous shots were fired to intimidate
them. The conductor was unable to
make any resistance as he was told he
would be killed. One of the brakemen
managed to escape in the darkness and
send the alarm to the train dispatcher in
Chicago.
The robbers, after overpowering the
conductor, ordered the express messen-
ger. Frank Hobson. to admit them to the
car.
You open up that car" one of the rob
bers shouted. ''or We'll blow it up"
Back from the car came a shout: "Yor
try to force it open and I'll shoot the frs,
man who shows his head"
A volley of shots was the reply ant
after several bullets had whistled pas
his head the express messenger opened
lllt Noi. liz ~ = ~ AAo i'StN'
and compelled him to give up the keys t.
the local safe. They then blew open tn
door of the safe With dynamite. the eX
plosion wrecking the car. The robber
grabbed all the one and express pack
ages they could and fled.
Although it is impossible to give wit
any great accuracy the amount. it is es
; timated by the officers of the America
Express mpa in Chicago that Their
was So, coo in the safes. This amour
) was stated early today by General Man
; ager Annisdel of the American EXPIRES
TO ave been in the ear in cas-
! alone. The amount of jewelry, etc, Nj
Annisdel said. he could not guess at.
J The news of the holdup was received i
Chicago before II o'clock. Word wa
sent at once to the superintendent al
a special train was ordered made VI
Messengers We're dispatched for Dete,
tive Reilly. chief of the special police {
the Northwestern system. When tt
train dispatcher was notified he gave o.
ders to freight No. lis. east bound,
stop at Geneva and return at once to tt
scene of the hold-up.
The trainmen of No. 11S had notice
: No. 8 standing on the track with a d.
tached engine as they went BY but ha
thought nothing in particular of it. Wht
!, the freight crew reached tower w thu
y found the operator bound, gagged AZ
tied TO "a chair. When released he gar
= the first real information to the officiaI
He said at 1880 o'clock four men HI
4 come into the tower and asked him Il
number of the next train going Yves
Z They wanted to know if it was not No.
but the operator says he told them it w
No. rs. The OTHERS then old the ope
4 ator he was a fool. that they knew bette
= To show the operator the had laid the
Z plans thoroughly and knew tn
x We're talking about they pointed guns
v his head and old him if he made
= move they would kill him. They tied hi
q up with ropes. stuffed a towel in !
4 mouth and told him if he was a good fl
They then sem signals which caused n
? to slow up.
y The train dispatcher made repeated
. forts to reach the Maple Park operat
Z when no report was made to him for
4 minutes after the passing of No. 9.
4 was thought at the Northwestern off
that No. 8 had been wrecked and Orde
were sent up and down the line to wat
Y out and report any wreck that had {
' tcurred.
. The detective headquarters in Chica
& were notified at midnight. Detectil
We're sent to outlying stations of
Northwestern in the hope of getting so
- trace of the robbers. Lieutenant Ira
said there was little doubt tina the +,
bers We're Chicago crooks as all the
time train robbers have been captul