Crawford avalanche. (Grayling, Mich.) 1879-19??, 1899-10-19
MAIL TRAIN HELD UP.,
RossERv ON THg NoRrHwEoT-
ERIN RAILROAD.
Three Masked Men Blow Open an *.
press rsfe with Dynamite Take tt
Contents, and Make Their kscaps-
Opssstor Bound and Gagged.

Three masked men held up the Chicago
and Northwestern fast mail train No. 8,
bound for the Pacific coast, at Meredith,
ILL.,, forty-seven miles from Chicago,
shortly after IL o'clock Friday night.
After they had blown the through safe
and wrecked the express car they UNI
coupled the engine from the mail train
and escaped on it to CORTLAND. Daniel
White, the engineer, was forced to carry
them to that point, where they deserted
the cab for the darkness Of the surround
ing fields.
Just about IL o'clock three men entered
signal office w Of the road, located mid
way between Elburn and Maple Park,
and asked the operator, Clifton James,,
at what time the mail train would be due.
James tried to avoid a direct reply, but
the lights from the windows Of the APP
preaching cars gave them the desired in
formation and they stopped only long
enough to bind the operator in his chair
with bucksdn thongs, set the signals to.
stop the oncoming train, and render use
less the telegraphic instruments in the
office.
The engineer Of the mail train brought
the cars to q stand in obedience to the
semaphore signals and at once was con-
'fronted by the robbers. They had ad-
justed handkerchiefs over the lower part
of their faces and each carried brace
of long barreled ominous-looking revolv-
ers. Engineer White made no attempt at
resistance, but his fireman, Joseph Jewel,
tried to escape from the cab. He was
stopped at the point Of pistol and he
and White were led back to the last OF
the four cars that made up the train. One
man was left to guard the train crew and
the other two attacked the express car
and forced Messenger r. A. Hopson to
admit them. First he was taken to the
rear car and then brought back to open
the local safe. He would not do this. The
robber retired from the car again while
the through safe was demolished with q
charge Of dynamite which blew q hole
through the bottom Of the car and tore
great gaps in the roof.
Just how much the safe may have con-
tanned is not known, but it is said that
currency and packages Of valuables were
hurled into the fields.
Two shots were fired during the raid,
one at James McGrath, a brakeman, who
swung his lantern at the head of the
leader Of the bandits, and a second at
Brakeman Palmer, who crawied beneath
the cars, and ran to flag an east-bound
fast freight which was almost due.
Palmer escaped injury and stopped the
freight train with his shirt for signal.
After the robbers had deserted the en-
CINE Of the mail train at CORTLAND En-
gineer White pushed on to Dekalb.
Brakeman Palmer had reached Elburn
meanwhile and sent word Of the robbery
to w. +. Morse, Galena division sup
erintendent at Oak Park.
The victims Of the robbery unite in de-
claring the bandits a determined group Of
men. They went about their. work
quietly and without sign of nervous
ness. One of them paused to borrow
chew Of tobacco from the assistant ex-
press messenger, Elmer e. Painter. The
night was exceedingly dark, and this
greatly aided the thugs in their escape.