The Kalispell bee. [volume] (Kalispell, Mont.) 1900-192?, 1903-02-13
Masked Men Stop the Burlington
Flyer Near Butte.
NOVICES AT THE BUSINESS
And Besides Reckless S.. The,
Failed to Obtain the Treas III ne,
Wanted From the Express q
Drove Into Butte in a Buggy Al,
They Were Frightened OFF.

Butte, Feb. 12,-Desperately reck-
less, yet cowardly when it came to
the critical moment, were the two
men who held up the Burlington
train known as No. g. about six and
half milesC from Butte On the
Northern Pacific tracks, at 1925 yes
terday morning. Moreover, the rob-
bers were novices, as is indicated by
their methods of working And that
the desperadoes were reckless, cow
ardly and novices is due to the fact
that one man narrowly escaped be-
ing shot down in cold blood that an
other was slightly wounded, that the
robbers damaged the express car
without injuring the big safe there
in contained and that they got off
with nothing more than $400 in cur.
rency The holding up of the train
was daring piece of work. we'll
planned but poorly carried out With
in half an hour after the holdup, w.
F. Gilbert, assistant general super
intendent of the Burlington system,
had offered a reward of $4,000 for
the arrest and conviction Of the train
robbers, or $1,000 for the arrest and
conviction Of any one of them.
One of the robbers was tall and the
other short. The latter is described
as looking like a negro His mask
was blown from the lower part of
his face at one time, and it is said
dark chin and neck were exposed.
Both robbers wore caps.
Division Superintendent Daniel
Boyle, alone and armed with Saw
age rifle, pursued the robbers. Boyle
fred several shots, but the men be-
ing out of range, the shots had no eff
feet, other than to cause them to
quicken the speed of their horses.
The police had been notified to
guard all roads to the city and word
was sent to Conley and McTague at
the Deer Lodge penitentiary to send
bloodhounds. Three dogs in charge
of deputy warden arrived on No. 2.
about 4:30 o'clock. They were given
the scent at the place where the rob-
bers got into their buggy, but could
not follow it.
Train No. 6 is SCHEDULED to leave
utes late yesterday morning. 1t was
drawn by two engines and consisted
of nine cars. including a mail car, an
express car, two day coaches, one
smoker, standard sleeper, a tour
ist sleeper a diner and the private
car of Division Superintendent Dan
iel Boyle.
When the train was about midway
between bridges 80 and SO, the atten
tion of Engineer Macarthur was at
tracted to tagging signals ahead and
he slowed down. The signals were
regularly given, indicating that some
one familiar with railroading was
tagging the train. Macarthur slowed
down, and in another instant short
thickset man wearing a black mask
made like hangman's cap. with
holes cut for the eyes, jumped into
the cab and ordered the brakes down
Macarthur did not comply promptly
enough to suit the masked desperate
and the result was that he fired a
shot at the engineer. The bullet
penetrated the sleeve of Macarthur
and imbedded itself in the woodwork
of the cab. In the meantime, tai
man, masked in manner similar tC
the short robber had mounted the
cab of the other engine and covering
Engineer Glow and Fireman Sevalls
with a rifle, commanded that steam
be shut off. The robbers then ordered
the engineer and fireman together
and Fireman Jondrown was ordered
to uncouple the first day coach from
the baggage car. After the cars had
been uncoupled, Macarthur was forced
to pull up the grade about 500 feet
with the mail and express and bag
gage cars. The robbers then punched
the engineers, firemen and mai
clerks. and while one stood guard
over them. the other prepared fol
the blowing up Of the big safe in the
express car. AS one of the side
doors was opened, the express mes
senger threw a package containing
$40O on top of a small shelf, and then
jumped from the other door. Shots
were fired by the robbers. During
the firing Mail Clerk Bell was struck
on the hip, suffering a slight flesh
wound. Then came the desperate
part Of the work.
While the short robber guarded the
prisoners, the tall robber attacked
the express car, the property of the
Hannibal & st. Joe Railroad com
pany, and after exploding two sticks
of dynamite succeeded in wreckinf