The evening times. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1895-1902, 1902-06-07

With the exception of the iron-bound
van, accompanied by two armed guards
beside the driver, which carries the
paper currency between the Bureau of
Engraving and Printing and the Treas
ury, all the public moneys required TO
be transported are carried by the Unit
ed States Express Company The re-
sponsibiIity and danger involved In this
contract may be readily understood, and,
indeed. are exempiifed by the instances
Of train robberies which one reads of
in the daily papers. The precautions
taken by the express company against
the constant danger Of robbery are kept
secret for apparent reasons. AS re-
marked to The Times special writer by
the Washington agent of the company,
whose Office is Located in the Treasury
building: When Tobberies are commit
ted as near Washington as Quantico
tthe leader in tEts s.ffair, by the by, has
recently been pardoneD 1t Is time to be
little cautious" In the agents Office
hangs a picture of a masked man hold
ing a revolver Ieveled at the spectator,
with the motto Hands upl" and a card
stuck In the frame tells that this cheer
fui work of art was presented, with
compliments, by Mr.. Pinkerton, Wash
ington's well-known Sherlock Holmes
1t hangs over against the agents desk
and perhaps exerted its influence III
rendering MIN mum as regards the
measures taken by the company to guard
against train robbery.
It may be doubted. however, judging
from nfR Cd ofh c--
sources. il there are really at present
adequate precautions against 4 bold,
well-planned, and deity executed rob-
berry. Sometimes the robbers make
their "hold-up" at bulge at others,
they are evidently informed Of the
often great amount of money which is
being conveyed to subtreasury or 9th
CT place where Government funds are
required There have been cases, Of the
latter kind where the wretches have
been successfully fooled by diyerting
their attention to blind" express cars.
in which they imagined they would ind /
the loot Once in these cars, they were |
deftIy separated from the rest CT the |
train. The robbery on the Great North |
ern Road, in a lonely part OF Montana, I
a few months ago, is still fresh il the |
minds of all. IN this case, there was /
a number OF passenger cars, in one Of /
which was the sheriff Of Livingston 1
county, in which the robbery occurred (
He tried to escape. but was promptly /
fred at. and ''perwailed on" as sam /
Weller says, ito stop. 4 lady pass
enEer raised a window and screamed /
and was shot in the shoulder. After
this the passengers simply kept still. /
while the robbers cooily looted the train
An express train has been nearly al
ways made up" in the following order,
namely, engine, tender, the express or
baggage cars, second-cIass coaches, first
class coaches, and, possibly, sleeping
cars This was and is to a large extent
the usual makeup of trains west of the
Mississippi and Ohio rivers-the most
fruitful field of operations for train
robbers. The general plan of attack is
.OT one or possibly two members Of the
band to board the blind baggage" OF
forward platform of the car next TO the
tender at some small station or other
stopping place; then at the oppoTtune
moment to climb over the tender and
,ause the engineer. at the muzzles of
heir guns, to stop the train at some
appointed place-usuaIly some long
restle or deep ravine. Then either the
engineer or fireman, OF possibly both
ire made to dismount from their cab and
20 back TO the express car and call upon
he messenger TO open the door II the
after does not comply promptly with
he request the door is forced by bat
eTing or by explosives. Where there
5 reason to think that, on account of the
unusual value of the consignment car
led, one or two armed guards are in
ide, the horrible e1pedient OF blowing
lP the car is resorted to. Generally .
peaking. the only anxiety that has been
displayed by the train robber IN this '
has been relative to the ,
mount Of plumber The good guessing I
hat has been done by the robbers in ;
his respect in the past is amply ex- {
mplified by the profit and loss ac- !
cunt" Of the express company. {
The work Of the train occupies usually {
'ut few minutes, and then. if explo- | 7