Clarke courier. [volume] (Berryville, Va.) 1869-1997, 1900-10-24
CREASED THE TRACK
THEN THEY LOOTED THE FREIGHT
CARS WITH EASE.
A Train Robbing scheme That In
Said TO Have Originated In France
and 90 Have Created Much Mysssrx
Until IL Was Laid Bare.


Until IL Was Laid Bare.
The scheme OF greasing railroad
tracks 10 slow up train is due 20 an
old FrenchwOman, who saw with re
running down Il can't board those
fast through freight trains" he
complained, IN excuse; and his confed-
crates. who were his sons. backed him
up in IT.
Then grease the track" retorted the
indomltable old lady, land don't
stand there ha-ha-ing like 50 many
Stiles Try II, and you Will End out
who is silly, you or your old motherr'
The boys called IL 'grandma's idea"
but they tried it. For months after
the date Of this conversation the freight
department officials OF the Paris, Lyons
and Midi Railway company continued
TO be mystiied over the unaccountable
loss OF valuable merchandise from the
fast freight train that had been their
pride and boast The packages simply
disappeared
Detectives pursued clews IN vain.
The traps laid for the robbers caught
nobody, and the robberies grew more
and more audacious. They sealed the
cars on their departure. The cars AZ
rived at their destination with the
seals intact. The cars were specially
watched from the moment OF their
loading and sealing until the moment
OF departure at every station trusted
employees examined them and stood
by them until the train started Of
again They discovered nothing. The
chef de train-an honest man-ofered
10 resign. The story got into the
papers. and a wonder mongering phi
losOpher OF the type Of NJ. Flammarion
wrote articles about II. bringing In a
fourth dimension Of space. cracks IN
the universe" and the innate perver-
sity OF inanimate objects.
One day a trackwalker happened TO
observe along the line between Savfz-
ny and Juvisy-sur-Orges q scattered
row OF white sugar coated cough drops,
extending from the middle OF the
track 70 where they lost themselves in
a mass OF shrubbery at the side. Fol-
lowing them rs Hop o. Ny Thumb fol
lowed the white pebbles. he found
them leading to the roadway, across II,
out Evidently some one had carried
bag OF cough drops over that route.
q bag with a hole IL II, through which
the cough drops fell and scattered
The indication was precious. because
there was precisely a bag Of sugar
coated cough drops among the mer-
chRndise that disappeared the night
before from the fast through freight
train Reporting the incident, a care
full search was made OF everything IN
the vicinity, and. much to the aston
ishment OF the detectives. the tracks
we're found to be thickly smeared with
lard. Smeared with Lard! Lard
Why. Of course, II flashed on them I'm
mediately that some one must have
put that lard there. Why? That was
the mystery, and they pondered over
II three days. Then one OF the detect
ives had great thought, LET us
lie IN watch around that neighborhood
and perhaps something will turn up"
That night as the detectives Of the
Paris, Lyons and Midi Railway com
pany were lying hidden by the track
they perceived dark shadows moving
toward them. Three men, q boy and
two women came up and began mys-
ferrous operations. They carried buck.
cts and worked kneeling down along
the track. They were greasing the
rails again. The detectives allowed
them to work on IN peace till all was
finished. They remained in hiding
while the mysterious track greasers
Gil but one man, hurried down the line
In the direction OF Paris. They wait
ed. The moments seemed long. At
last, however. the rumbling Of an ap-
preaching train was heard. II was
the fast through freight
The freight train was coming down
upon them at the rate Of 80 miles an
hour. When IL struck the grease they
could see II slide along for quite a
distance, then slow up 10 q remarkable
degree. 1t almost stopped Away
ahead the locomotive pulled and la
bored. Did the engineer and fireman
feel the Stacking up? 1t seems not
The train labored on awhile yet till
the putting locomotive had dragged II
clear OF the last CREASED rails and then
resumed its former speed. But the
detectives, always watching. saw the
whole trick and admired its ingenuity.
A freight car door was open. and some
one inside was throwing out all kinds
OF packages, while the family picked
them up along the track From the
top Of the freight car, just beside the
door, there hung and swung a kind OF
rope ladder. They saw the man inside
the car, when he had finished throwing
packages, come out and support him
self on the ladder. They saw him slide
shut the freight car door, seal II again,
climb the ladder, unfasten II, throw 1t
of and then jump off himself just as
the train was getting up its speed
again The trick was discovered
There Was nothing left but to arrest
the robbers. Caught with their booty
in their hands, they made a full con-
fession. '.It was grandma's idea," the
ungrateful young men clamored. Al
the same they could not prove II. Ant
grandma, when they came down upo
the house. was found In bed, as inno-
cent as any little child. why, what
naughty boys" she said. ito try
drag their poor old grandmother into
their troubles" The family got var1-