Little Falls herald. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1889-1950, 1904-12-09
4 DARING ROBBERY
Hold-up at Northern Pa
cific Station Saturday
Night

urdsy evening about8 o'clock, and
the perpetrators are now believed to be
behi, Il prison bars. The robbery oc:
cureFat the Northern Pacific passen-
ger station.
Night Operator John, Fuller had
gone down in the basement to put
some coal in the furnace leaving the
cash drawer and the Office locked.
There were seven passengers in the
waiting room. The east door opened
and a man, part of whose face was
covered with a RED handkerchief, en-
terec and. drawn revolver in hand,
commanded the passengers to throw
up their hands They obeyed with
j., alacrity, and another robber, face also
covered, prled open one Of the Office
windows with an iron bar, got in the
Office, and tackled the cash drawer
with a steel instrument. probably a
jimmy, and had it open and was prob
ably taking out the loose change
when Operator Fuller appeared on the
scene Fuller saw man in the Office
and going up to the glass window,
saw weapon and a man holding it,
The operator bent below the wood
woSk, ran through the lAdy's room
and through a toilet room and
sprintad for Schrieber's saloon on the
corner, telephoning across the river
for the police. Officer Nelson must
have been crossing the bridge at this
time, on his way to the east side
but as no outcry was made only knew
of the matter when he got down town
and heard G. q. Browns police whis-
tle He hastened to the west side, and
found the robbers gone and a sadly
muddled and scared lot Of travellers.
The people in the waiting room
couldn't say in what direction the
mon went, and could hardly describe
them 1t was gathered, however, that
there were three, medium height,
rouuhly dressed, one, it was said,
with sbeepskin coat. Officers Valen-
tine and Nelson, Deputy Sheriff Fer
rel and one or two volunteers,
searched the vicinity and the officers
locked over all parts Of the city. The
night WAS dark, and it was easy to
get away. It was found, after Station
Agent Mann, VINO had been called
from home, arrived on the scene,
that only IS. 80 had been taken, the
thieves overlooking IS in dimes and
nicktls which were in the bottom of
the drawer. A lad named Bailey, en-
ployed at the Buckman. was in. the
basement with the operator. On COM
Jig up. he walked up to the ho!d-1p
man, saw the pistol and thought at
first it was a Joke, but the robber
with an oath told him to throw up
his hands, The boy retreated out of
the door, taking chances on being
shot, and ran like scared rabbit
The operator was not far behind, and
the youth: having good grounds to
think one of the bad men was behind
him, broke all records in the running
line. Car Repairer Reamer did a little
sprinting too, on his way to give the
alarm.
y It seems that shortly before 8
o'clock three men were in Schrieber q
saloon, and 1t is thought they had
some notion of....holding mp that place.
From there they must have gone to
the tracks. Shortly before the holdup
three men askedssCar RepairerReamer,
whose shop is across the track from
the station. whether they could go in
i to get warm. He declined to let them
in, and said be was going to lock up.
They went across the. track to the
depot, one of them picking up a.-bar
of iron on the way. They went d.
rectly to the waiting room. The
stories told by the travellers were
confusing and variable. An hour af-
ter the affair the teeth of one Of
them, trying to tell of the hold-up,
still chartered with fright. The crowd
was mostly unnerved.
4 All the localities around were noti-
fed by telegraph and telephone. Sun
day morning it was reported that
three men answering the description
had been arrested at Elk River. but
the men proved an alibi and were re-
leased. Monday word was brought to
Chief Of Police Tourtillotte that sus
picious characters had been seen in
Belle Prairie and that three men
we're hiding in swamp near the riv-
er, where hunters had run onto them.
From the beginning the chief sus.
pected a man known as Lemonade
Bill' to be mixed up in the affair.
This man who is named William Coe
or Jesse Neill, has been hanging
around this city for some time, and
was suspected of several petty crimes
He has been known in Belle Prairie
for twenty years, disappearing and re-
n