The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1904-09-04
PATROL FOR BANDIT BELT.
MOUNTED RANGERS TO SUPPRESS
WYOMING TRAIN ROBBERS.

MOUNTED RANGERS TO SUPPRESS
WYOMING TRAIN ROBBERS.
by Special Car TO the Scene or Ever
Hoid.Up-Their Equipments and In
Extent Of Territory TO BE Covered
, To clean up the worst bandit belt in tn
J country rs the task to which the Unioi
Pacific Railroad has set itself The fla
has gone forth from headquarters that thu
organized bands OF train robbers tha
have operated In the bad lands OF Wyoming
are TO be exterminated.
To secure this result Tim Kelihers com.
pany Of mounted rangers. says the Denver
Post, has been formed to patrol the tracks
OF that railroad In the outlaw storm centre
between Medicine Bow and Green River
Armed guards ride every passenger train
A special car and engine Lie In the railroad
yards at Cheyenne ready at a moments
notice to transport fast horses and hardy
riders to the scene OF action. The industry
OF train robbing Is to 30 suppressed at all
costs.
The suggestion that armed guards ride
on every passenger train was made first
by W. l.. Park, superintendent Of the Wyom-
ing division OF the line, after the Wilcox
and Upton hold-ups OF 1890 and 1900. This
plan was shortly afterward put into force
by W. T. Canada OF Omaha. chief Of the
secret service OF the Union Pacific system.
The result has amply justified the precau-
ton. From that day to this there has not
been hold-up in the protected territory.
| But the Union Pacific proposed to make
assurance doubly sure. To that end Tim
| Keliher's ranger company has been formed
to patrol the bandit belt, which stretches
from east OF Rawlins to Green River, through
rough, sparsely settled country favorable
to the operations OF train robbers. This
company is composed Of picked men. Every
one Of them Is a dead shot, a good rough
rider and Is nervy as they make them
1t costs the Union Pacific about 81 900 a
month to maintain its ranger service, but
the bad lands Of Wyoming without fear
Of bandits. For on every passenger train
and somewhere along the line between
Cheyenne and Green River Is the rangers
car loaded with fast horses and determined
officers, ready to take up the trail as soon
as electricity has flashed the message Of
| the hold-up.
The extension OF the. long distance tele-
phone to the ranch lands, following as it
did the settlement OF the COW country,
was the first shock to the fourshing in
dustry Of train robbing. Since the where
abouts Of the escaping desperadoes could
be telephoned from point to point in ad-
vance Of their arrival, it became necessary
to abandon the more settled portions OF
the country for their fields Of operation.
There were established what became
across Texas to Arizona along the Southern
Pacific line. Another zigzagged through
the Colorado mountains to the country
about the we'll known Robbers Roost.
belted Wyoming in the rough COW country,
where lie Jackson's Hole and the notorious
Hole-in-the-Wall Here. among the Tetons.
as the Big Horn mountains are called, far
from, civilization and the long arm Of the
law, lurked strange population composed
Of cattle rustlers, highwaymen and fugitives
from justice. The Hole-in-the- Wall espe-
cially was a natural fertilization and, what
was OF more avail to the desperadoes who
infested 1t, every settler was at outs with
No Sheriff's posse could invade it's sacred
| precincts and hale forth q criminal. The
news OF the pursuit would be whispered
long before the daring Sheriff had reached
the spot his quarry had hunted cover
Il the officials got back to civilization alive
The Hole-.in-the- Wall is a valley situated
| 0h o VI dIicil % tbtc IoWu6T TlVeT, IN Cne
(, western part Of Natrona county. 1t lies
among the foothills southeast OF the south
ern extremites Of the Big Horn Mountains.
, One hundred miles to the southeast is the
nearest railroad point, Casper, which Is
Valley Railroad. The nearest point OF
contact on the north to the Hole-in-the- Wall
is Cody the terminus Of the Burlington
branch that runs from Toluca This Ia
200 miles away across the mountains. Two
hundred D1ilaq dine antlth fror,, he
devious is Rawlins, the nearest point on the
Union Pacific. Rimmed about with noun
tains, infested with cutthroats and far be-
yond the edge Of civilization, the Hole
SCUM and aotsam Of the western drift. Vic
The headquarters OF the rangers are at
Cheyenne, where the specially equipped
car is kept when not on the road. This
is nothing more than freight car fitted
up for the accommodation Of the patrol |
guard. One end of it serves to accommo- |
date the horses, while tho other Ia fitted |
up for the men, In Il are a number Of |
portable cots which fold up into a pack |
age that can almost no put In. your pocket. |
trail, but are used 20 sleep on while tho |
special Is carrying them to the point OF |
action. score OF blankets. some COW.
mems saddles, pack saddle and a pan
ia stove and a small larGrr complete |
The equipment OF the car. In this minis
ture pantry are always kept coffeo, bacon.
-four. salt and tire inevitable canned goods
While OH the trail the rangers sometimes |
kill a COW 20 fill out their harder.
4 gangplank for loading the horses Ia
always carried along. The horses have
become 80 acoustomed to this that they
run up 1t al naturally "a those in the fro
department fall into harness.
The chief knows where each of his men
is, and within thirty minutes Of the time
OF receiving a wire tho rangers special
is hurTying through tho night at fifty miles
an hour with q clear right Of way over
every train on tho track In case the news
of an attack reaches Cheyenne at mid
night. the rangers reach the scene before
daybreak. ready to take up the trail as soon |
as II is light enough.
The patrolled district lies between Medi.
cine Bow. 100 miles " est Of Cheyenne and
Green River. Wyo. 1t covers about one
hundred miles OF broken aud rugged
country. very sparsely settled and little
known. The line passes through the bad
country about Red Desert, Fort Steele,
Point OF Rocks end Wamsutter. On a clear
day the mountains surrounding the Hole
In the Wall are to be seen In the distance.
All but the absolutely necessary equip
ment Is discarded when the men take UP