Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1904-09-15
IOWA TRAIN ROBBERS LEAVE
FEW TRACES BEHIND THEM,
HUNT FOR PEDDLERs
Posses scour Woods In Search of the
Three Men Who Were in Vicinity of
Let's Before Robbery-TraiI Of Ban.
dts Vanishes at Columbus Junction.

Muscatine, Sept 14.-The detectives
are securing the country today in
search of three peddlers of tinware,
who were seen in the vicinity of Let's
on the day before the Rock Island
hold-up. One of the men tallies ex-
actly with the description Engineer
Dunham gave of the man who poked
pistol under his nose and commanded
him to cut the engine loose.
Search for Stranger.
Aside from the above, the nearest
approach to a clue to the men who
committed the daring hold-up of train
No. II here Monday night, was secur-
ed by the officers here last evening,
when they received a telephone mes
sage to the effect that tall man had
been seen stealthily entering barn
on the Illinois bottoms, across the
river from this CITY,
| AS the Iowa officers have no author
ity to make arrests in Illinois. they
| telephoned the constable of the town
ship on the other side of the river to
do SO. No report has been made by
the illinois officer.
Engineer Saw Money.
Engineer Durham, who was at the
throttle of No. II until superseded by
the train robbers, has made state
ment that he saw money taken from
the shattered safe. He states, how
ever, that the amount secured by the
robbers fell far short of what they had
expected
1t is common report in Muscatine
| hot IN {hn hohi+ of 10
ing large sums of money, sometimes, 1t
is said. even as high as from 100000 to
/ $4,000.
Trail Vanishes.
The five bandits who held up and
robbed Rock Island passenger train
No. II few minutes after midnight
Tuesday morning have been traced tc
\ within quarter of mile of Colum-
bus Junction and there all clues van
ish.
Between 2 and 3 o'clock yesterday
morning T. j. Waltman, who resides
a quarter of a mile from Columbus
Junction, was aroused by his dogs
barking. He Immediately arose anG
investigated. By the time he arrived
at his barn the dogs were returning
" from over the hill near his residence
where they had pursued something o.
somebody. AS soon as the animals
saw their master they again ran W
over the hill. Mr.. Waltman found
nothing missing at his barn and re
tired.
In the morning, he came to Colum
bus Junction and learned of the rob-
berry.
Hide in River Bottoms.
Further investigation disclosed tn,
fact that two boarus had been wrench
, ed from the Columbus Junction fai
grounds fence. 1t is said that thes'
boards had not been torn off as lat
as Monday evening. From thes
things, the officers deduce that tn
robbers left the engine on which the,
rode away from the scene of tn
wreck near the Rock Island bridg
across the Iowa river at Columbu
Junction. They reversed the engin
e and sent it back the way they ha
come. Meanwhile, the robbers cross
! ed the bridge, went through the fai
d grounds to avoid the town. skirted MI
$ Waltmans property and are now i
s the Iowa river bottoms.
Posses Work of No Avail.
One hundred men searched all fore
noon with two bloodhounds for tn
=, bandits. They succeeded in tracin
them no further than Mr.. Waltman
place.
Another clue to the identity of th
men was revealed yesterday when
became known that five men who ha
been encamped on the river bank OF
. posite Muscatine for several day
were missing.