The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1901-04-27
BOUND TO CAR FLOOR
ROBBERS HELD up SOUTHERN EN-
PRESS MESSENGER.
GOT $500 AS THEIR PRIZE.
LOOTED WAY SAFE ON CENTRAL
TRAIN NEAR MACON.

Letter in Macon DepOt-As He Took
1t Was Covered with Revolver.
BIindfOlded and Tied TO Car Floor.
The Way safe Opened and $500
in Greenbacks Taken-Messenger
Threatened with Death III He Did
Not Open Large Safe Did Not
Know the Combination and Ex-
pected to BE ShOt-Struck over the
Head With Gun-Train stopped
at Gordon where the Messenger
Was Released and Reported what
Had Happened 40 Mail Clerk Ware.
Robbers Left 81 900 in silver Be
ing shipped 10 savannah.
The express car of the Central passen-
ger train. due in Savannah at O'Clock
yesterday morning. was robbed of about
500 in greenbacks, between Macon and
Gordon. Express Messenger j. n. White
was blindfolded and tied to the floor of the
car, where he found by Mail Clerk
G. H. Ware when the train stopped at
Gordon, twenty miles this side of Macon
for water
The robbery was one of the boidest ever
committed in the South, according to the
story told by White. The robbers, how
ever, were probably not professionals,
OF they would not have left 81 600 in silver,
and they would probably have cracked the
big safe, which the messenger could not
have opened If he wished. 1t is forty
minutes run from Macon to Gordon, and
the robbers could have blown the safe
open in less than half that time.
Ianta at 1890 O'clock and left for Savan
nah thirty minutes later. There are two
flag stations, Griswold and Lewiston, be-
tween Macon and Gordon, but the train
did not stop at either. The robbers had
to get off either at Macon or Gordon, un-
less they dropped off with the train going
at full speed The train slows up at the
M and A. junction, and if the robbers
had completed their work in fifteen min
utes they could have jumped off at that
place without much danger.
White said that he was at work in the
express car when the train pulled slowly
out of the Union depot in Macon, few
minutes before l o'clock. He heard
knock on the door, opening on platform
next 20 the engine. and asked what was
wanted. Not suspecting that any one
would be bold enough to attempt a rob-
berry in the very heart of the city. Some
one on the platform said he had letter
for the messenger, and that it was very
important White opened the door wide
enough TO look out and saw
two men standing on the plat
form before him. If he had
Guessed their purpose he would have
warned the engineer. The men were not
disguised did not appear to be of the
desperate type, and there was nothing
about their appearance to arouse the sus-
PIGEONS of the messenger
White reached out and took the letter
addressed to the express messenger of
train No. l." When he lifted his eyes
from the envelope he was looking
straight into the muzzles of four shining
revolvers. The men had their feet jammed
in the door, and even if White had cared
10 take the chance in the face of the ugly
looking weapons he could not have slam
med the door. The men warned nim not to
make an outcry and forced him back into
the car. They followed quickly and clos
ed the door behind them. White was
seized and blind-folded with two hand
kerchiefs. His hands were bound
and the cords frightened until they had
cut into the flesh. He was then bound to
the floor and the robbers got down to
business. To show him that they were in
earnest one of them struck him over the
head with a gun. lie was unable to see
which one committed the assault The
blow was not love tap, and White ar
rived in Savannah with the cut on his
head.
Ordered to Open the Safe.
When the robbers had taken the bank
notes from the small safe. which was
opened with key carried by the messen-
ger, they demanded that White open the
large safe, in which the large packages
of money are carried They had taken
desperate chances already and proposed
10 get all that there was in it, White
told the robbers, truthfully, that he did
not know the combination, and that 20
save his life he could not open the big
safe. The robbers told White
that they did not believe a
word he said. The rougher of the two
men, whether 1t was the short or tan
one is not known, cursed and threatened
for the purpose Of soaring from the mes
senger the information he did not have
The leader said he would count three
and not with long intervals. either and
when the last number was called, if
White did not tell the combination. he
would be riddled with bullets A cold
chill ran down Whites back. He plead
ed that he did not know how to open
the safe, and the robber began the pre-
sumably fatal count
lone" he started and Whites heart
thumped against his side. Two" came
from the robber and the messenger bracea
his feet against the side of the car. HIS
hands were tied and he could not place
them over his face. but he turned his
head from where the sound came fully
expecting that the third count would be
drowned by the report OF a pistol, and
that his brains would be blown against
the safe. the combination Of which he
would have given anything to know A
thousand thoughts rushed through his
mind and II seemed as though year had
already passed. He almost began 20 wish
that the robber would can the fatal
three" and put an end to the suspense
The robbers must have realized that
White was telling the truth and that they
would have nothing 10 gain by killing him
What followed the express messenger does
not know aud he could not ten when ana
where the men left the car He NAV
have tainted after 1.-TWO" had been called
Tor he heard nothing.
Discovery of the Robbery.
II IL the custom for tho mail clerk and
she messenger 40 get coffee al Gordon
when the train stopped there. Mail CLERK
We're stepped across the platform and
knocked On the door Of the fNprs.a .sr