New-York tribune., 1901-08-14
TIE MAN BEHIND TIE GUN.

Another train was held up yesterday in the
vast and vivid West. and considerable amount
of valuable loot collected from passengers
and express cars and carried off into the ada
cent wilderness. The robbers performed their
job with neatness. but not with remarkable dis
patch. They appear TO have been a singularly
impudent set of knaves. for they acted as if
time was OF no Importance compelled the postal
clerk to undergo the ignominy of carrying
through the train the bag in which the pas
sengers found it convenient to deposit their
offerings. and then. by way of adding insult to
injury, sat down for an hour or so to rest and
jeer at their victims. At last accounts hue
and cry had been started. several ambitious
bloodhOunds had been put on the trail and It
was thought that the chances of capture were
fairly good.
Such performances as this. and they are by
no means rare inevitably suggest interesting
reflections. In commenting on a similar affair
the other day we said it was strange that rail
road companies operating in regions affected by
bandits did not arm their train hands. and so
encourage them TO return unwelcome atten-
tions. 1t is queer. too. that engineers and fire.
men, at least. do not provide themselves with
revOlvers and occasionally take a shot at
marauders. But more extraordinary still is the
fact that the passengers aboard a train which
has been held up some of whom may safely be
supposed 10 carry weapons of precision, are
seldom IL ever known TO use them. To avoid
the risk of a retOrt the subject of physical
and moral courage, we hasten TO say that we
are not considering what might be expected in
the effete and lethargic East but are applying
our remarks TO those parts OF the country in
which train rObberies occur. and which curl
ously enough, are likewise understood to be
almost superhuOusly stocked with citizens
whose pistol practice begins as soon as they
are weaned. The West is commonly reputed to
be full Of bad men, TO whom the canker of a
long peace is intolerable, and whose chief
delight IL is TO get into fight at desperate
odds. DO these men never travel by railroad?
How does II happen that they are never found
singly or in a cheerful group of two or three
on a train which has been halted for purposes
OF plunder? 1t is a generally accepted rule of
prudence for an individual who perceives that
his adversary has 'got the drop on him to
hold up his hands and defer reprsals until n
more convenient season. But a train robber
cannot possibly get the drop on n whole carful
of people. Yet IL is extremely seldom that any
body disputes the propriety of his proceedings.
II would seem as If bad man" under such
circumstances would be right in his element
and almost ready 10 weep for joy over his luck.
Think what a mark a robber, or several rob
bers. must make, standing up at the end of a
ear and announcing an intention TO begin bust
ness. And how admirably adapted for defence
is a passenger coach. Why, the South African
kop1es are hardly more secure. And what a
rest for his shooting piece the back of a seat
would be- in case the bad man" should unex-
pectedly find himself trife nervous.
The fact that the man behind the gun is never