The diamond drill. (Crystal Falls, Iron County, Mich.) 1887-1996, 1904-08-06
ILLINOIS CENTRAL
TRAIN IS HELD Up
Four Robbers Clean Up Neat
Sum on Diamond Special
From Chicago.
PASSENGERS THINK 1T A JOKE
Bandits DIspeI the Mistake When
They Make Demand for the Pos
session OF All Articles Of Value
One Official Contributes 500.

chicago special. -Four holdup men,
three or them wearing masks and
heavily armed, robbed the passengers
on the Diamond special of the Illinois
Central road. which left Chicago al
9:27 Monday night.
They held up all the passengers in
two Pullman sleepers and secured
booty estimated at $1,000. mostly In
money. One young man who resisted
was hit over the head with fire AK.
with which the car was supplied, ard
another who showed a disposition 10
object was tapped on the head with
a revolver.
One man who had already retired to
his berth was stirred TO animation by
shot fred under him.
Before making complete cleanup
OF the train the robbers became
alarmed, and as the train neared Mat
tiscn they pulled the emergency brake
rope and stopped the train. Then
they jumped from the train and
escaped in the darkness.
Details Carefully Planned.
The four men got on the train at
Harvey, Ill, and Immediately took UP
stations that evidently had been
agreed upon beforehand. One stood
in tho vestibule between the las. and
next 10 last cars. Another went 10
the rear platform Of the last car, which
was a Pullman well filled with pass
engers.
The first thing they did was TO pick
quarrel with the fiagman and be-
guile him to the rear end of the train.
Once there one of the men put a pis.
toll TO his head and held him there I'M
der threat OF death II he made q move
OF any kind.
The leader of the quartet was IN
masked. and was the only one OF the
four who did not seem nervous and
scare1 over his work. Under his lead
ership the conductor was captured
and was taken back to the rear plat
form with the fiagman.
Passengers Suspect a Joke.
BY this time the passengers were
beginning to notice that something un-
usual was going on, but the majority
OF them were under the impression
that 1t was a joke of some sort.
1t was not long, however. before
they realized that the situation was
serious. The men passengers were
ordered to hold up their hands and
march ahead into the smoking car,
where they could be searched with
less danger of resistance
Some OF the berths had been made
up and some we're not SO. The robbers
could not have a clear view OF the
whole car and this seemed to disturb
them.
There were several women in the
rear coach, and these were forced TO
contribute with the rest of the pass
engers.
Ordered to dig" Quickly.
Declarations that they had nothing
TO give up were met with orders to
dig" and to dig" quickly. They gen
orally produced something.
The nrst show of resistance was
made by young man who was on
the way to the st. Louis fair. He
made protest and refused to hold
up his hands. One of the robbers
reached for the fire ax and hit him a
severe blow with II, but did not do
him any serious injury.
A few steps further along passen-
ger had already gone to bed and did
not want TO be disturbed. One shot
was fred under his berth and he was
cut in an instant.
This was the only shot fred during
the time the robbers were on the
train.
Railway Official Loses sf0o.
Among the passengers on the train
was Il. ii. Gross. superintendent OF
telegraph OF the Illinois Central. He
lost 500 in money. and says man
near him was relieved OF 5000 he had
n bag tied around his neck.
According to the statement OF Mr..
Gross the men were evidently novices
In the business. and were almost as
badly scared as the passengers. The
leader was under 30 years OF age and
wore light suit OF clothes and had no
mask
The others were roughly dressed
and had red bandanna handkerchiefs
tied over their faces. All carried
heavy blue steel navy revolvers.
The bandits took everything they
believed might be OF value. including
railroad tickets, iewelry, paper OF all
sorts. but they We're especially keen
for money.
The whole thing was over In a
short time, as the robbers were In
great hurry and wanted to have the
n ar. l..ar NTH n nnlinLIat % ..l.nnil.l1