Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1904-08-03
Held Up
NEAR CHICAGO.
Passenger In Sleepers on Illinois
Central Flyers Are Victims
of Bandits.
THEIR VALUABLES TAKEN.
Four Heavily Armed Highwaymen Go
Through the Diamond Special" and
Get $1,000 in Plumber.
THEIR VALUABLES TAKEN.
SEVERELY INJURE TWO PERSONS.

Chicago, ILL.,, Aug. -Four highway
men, all heavily armed and two of them
wearing masks, held up the passengers
on the Illinois Centrals Chicago-St Louis
express train, known as the Diamond
Special" as it neared Matteson, H., last
night The robbers secured all the money
and valuables carried by the thirty pas
sengerS in the two Pullman sleeping cars,
stopped the train and escaped in the dark
ness.
Attack the Passengers
The forward sleeper was entered first
the occupants were aroused and, with
nothing on but their nightclothes, were
marched back to the Pullman car behind
Two Of the passengers who were slow in
responding TO the commands of the rob-
bers were hit on their heads with a
Ratchet and one was seriously injured
1t was impossible to obtain the names
Of the injured passengers.
All Their Clothes in Heap.
When the passengers in the two cars
mad been lined up in the rear Pullman.
two Of the robbers stood guard, one at
each end of the car, with drawn re-
volvers. The third, who is supposed to
have been the leader, ordered the passen-
gers, who had been compelled to bring
along their clothes from the first car, to
throw the garments on the floor of the
cars. The passengers in the rear car were
then commanded to return 10 their berths
and deposit their clothes in the same
heap, then the leader, with the utmost
c0olness,- began to search the clothing for
yalua bleS
Make Close Examination.
When he had finished this search. he
made a close examination of the mas
sengers for any money they might have
secreted. When the search had been
completed, all the booty was placed in a
Hour sack and the three robbers Joined
their companion. who had stood guard in
the vestibule of the train. Pulling the
bell rope, the signal to the engineer to
stop was given, and when the speed of
the train had slackened sufficiently, the
robbers, after having locked the doors
OF the car, jumped off and fed in the
darkness.
Crew Unaware of Robbery.
SO systematic was the work of the
robbers and with so little confusion.
that the train crew was unaware of what
was going on. 1t was not until the
engineer, in response to the signal.
brought the train to a stop, and, seeing
nothing of the remainder of the crew,
ascertain what was the matter that he
learned of the robbery.
NO attempt was made to rob the mail
or express cars
Secure More Than $1,000.
The robbers secured more than $1,000
in money and yaluables.
q. III. Groce. superintendent of tele-
graphs for the Illinois Central, who was
one of the robbed left the train at Kan
hn
railroad detective in Chicago. The latter
notified the central police and detectives
were sent out on a train to begin the
search for the robbers.
Bandits Fire Into Berth.
Supt. Groce's story, as told at Kanka-
kee, was as follows:
1.-THE men must have boarded the train
at Harvey, for we were but q few miles
out when they appeared at the door Of
the last Pullman and cursing the brake
man and porter, ordered them into the
smoking compartment. They went
through the car and ordered all the men
out. At first the men seemed to think
the affair a joke and did not hasten. One
of the bandits then fired into a berth
whose occupant was slower than the rest.
He came scrambling out in hurry and
the rest responded more readily to the Or
ders after that.
Strikes Youth with Hatchet.
'One other passenger boy about IS
years old, was but partly awake and
the shot startled him. He, too, was slow
and when a bandit told him to get into
the aisle the robber struck him with
Ratchet. He was cut severely.
''They drove all the men to the smok-
ing compartment aud there two of them
searched us while the others stood guard
at the doors. They took 500 from me
and $500 from a man near me. I guess
those were the largest individual amounts
they obtained.
Polite to Women.
'They searched the women, who were
yet awake, but did not bother those who
were in the berths where the curtains
were drawn. In the second Pullman
there were only five or six passengers,
and they had an experience like the rest
of us.a
The train which left Chicago at 9:27
o'clock carried many passengers for the
st. Louis fair, and all remained on the
t,.ain