Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1900-08-30
TRANSFORMATION OF A SCENE
OF HISTORIC ADVENTURE.
NOW REPLACED BY IRON
Stolen Gold Jostled by Trans From
the Rafters After Express Robbery
Of Half Century Ago-A Scene of
Many Sensational Happenings-The
Barras Tragedy.


the New York, New Haven and Hart
ford railroad, has been replaced by
stone and iron structure, over which
four tracks pass instead of two. When
the oldest conductor and engineers
look on the massive new bridge they
tell stories about the old bridge and its
vicinity that make the younger men
on the road open their eyes wide with
amazement. For many years the Cos
| Cob bridge was the first stopping place
for express trains out of New York,
the state legislature having passed a
law that every train must come to
stop before passing over drawbridge,
after the disaster in which train
| filled with physicians went through the
open draw of the Norwalk bridge. By
an ingeniously devise switch, which
was adopted a few years ago, the
tracks are now moved so that a train
would be run into sand bank if the
engineer failed to stop his train at the
danger signal of an open draw; con-
sequently the trains are not now re-
quired to stop, and much valuable
time is saved. The semaphore signals,
patent switches and stone and iron
bridges make few stops necessary now
adays, and the old railroad men say
| that they have none of the exciting
experiences of the earlier days of life
on the road
Twice the old wooden Cos Cob bridge
was burned and the passengers were
conveyed around to either end of the
bridge in carryall, wagon, carriage or
any other horse vehicle the railroad
company could hire or. borrow. The
distance was about two mics and the
| the delay to passengers was from an
| hour and half to two hours. Exor-
| bitant prices were paid for the convey
ances and the comfortable homes that
many persons living in the vicinity of
the bridge now enjoy were made posi-
bic by the money the company paid for
carrying passengers and freight around
the bridge.
One of the first train robberies, if not
the first, hereabouts was carried out at
this bridge. 1t was the sensation of
| the day, and the daring Adams Ex-
press robbery on the New Haven road
| is even today considered, among Off
GERS of the law, as having been one of
| the most cleverly planned and boldly
executed crimes in the criminal annals
of the state. When the road was built,
little more than half a century ago,
covered bridge of heavy frame, shin
gle rooted and shaped like a spireless
| church, spanned a creek about a mile
west of Cos Cob bridge. 1t was the
| loneliest spot on the entire line The
structure was painted white, and on a
| moonlight night it gl1stened like snow.
The train men were always glad when
| they had passed safely over the bridge.
Engineers told queer stories of COLLINS
that played at night about the white
bridge and swayed their spectral lam
| terms before the cab windows as the To-
comotives leaped into the trembling
and resOunding structure. 1t was just
the place for robbers to work.
a short time before the breaking out
of the civil war, as the 'owl" train for
Boston was being made up at Twenty
seventh street, in New York city,
group of men were watching the work
short distance away. After the ex-
press, baggage and passenger sleeping
cars had been hauled to Forty-second
street by horses, as was always done in
| those days, and the train was being
made up in that then far uptown
street, surrounded by whitewashed
cabins of squatters, the homes Of thugs
and goats, the Adams Express car was
boarded by two of the group Of men
who had watched the cars at Twenty
seventh street. No one has ever told
how they broke the lock and got into
the car unnoticed. They found rich
| treasure inside, consisting of United
States bonds, treasury notes and bags
upon bags of gold coin. Millions of
| dollars in securities and treasure were
in charge Of the express company in
that car. consigned to banks in eastern
cities, 1t was the intention of the rob-
| bers, as was afterward learned, to get
away with their booty at Harlem Riv-
er, but they could not work fast enough
to get away at that point.
They were ready when the white
bridge was reached, and here they be-
gan to unload the car of it's wealth of
gold and treasury notes. The bonds
were of no use to them. When the
train reached the Cos Cob bridge, they
! jumped out and gathered up the plum
der strewn along the track between the
| two points. The robberw discovered
bend the robbers. Some OF the gold
and bills were found the next morning
by track walkers. and bundles CT bank
notes and bags of gold were found Sc
creted in hollow trees.
A large amount was found secreted
IN the rafters of the white bridge, and
| it's discovery there was due to pecu-
liar circumstance. The creek under
the bridge was a popular place to catch
| crabs, and one day. while a schoolgirl
was fishing on a rock under the bridge.
waiting for a crab to nibble, a train
passed over the bridge, and at the next
instant a bag Of gold came tumbIing
down almost into her lap, frightening
the girl almost out Of her senses. It
had been dislodged by the jarring Of
the train. One Of the two men who
filled the car Of its contents was after
ward arrested, but he never "squaaied'
On his accomplices and did not tell how