The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-01-06
PASSENGERS ROBBED
PICKPoCKETs WENT THROUGH L.. & N. TRAIN.
Travellers Came to Montgomery from Birmingham Minus Money and Watches-Omcials are Trac-
 ing the Criminals.

Pickpockets got in their work on
 Louisville and Nashville train No. 1. coming out of Birmingham yesterday
 morning. A number of passengers
 were robbed and the crooks managed
 to leave the train in the Birmingham
 railroad yards before anything was
 known of the robbery.
 Ugly looking revolvers, black masks. long boots and blood thirsty, copvic-
 ing words in connection with train
 robberies are relics of remote past. Such element gentlemen as Claude
 Duval, Dick Turpin and more modern
 ly speaking Jesse James, Reuben Bur-
 rows and others. may have used these
 old-fashioned efforts. It remained for
 a number of smooth side pocket" men
 as ever stopped on the outside of g.
 penitentiary, to show up the crude
 methods of these ancient robbers.
 Train No. reached Montgomery at
 Il o'clock yesterday morning. There
 were lot of passengers on 1t. Sew
 eral of these passengers wore tired. disRusted faces. Many of them were
 minus small bundles of money which
 had fondly reposed in their clothes as they left the Birmingham station yes- terday morning. The small bundles of
 money with a number of watches left
 the train in company with the "side- pocket" artists and police departments
 of Birmingham, Montgomery and on down the Louisville and Nashville line are anxiously looking up the family trees of these men who thoughtlessly
 forgot to leave their names and ad- dresses.
 0. R. Bennett. who is with the con | struction force of the Converse Bridge | At0el1ayz-, kh~ A.aA t.o Alabama river just abobve Montgom- 1 cry. was a passenger on the Louisville | and Nashville train yesterday morn- I ing, having boarded the train at Bir- | mingham. He was first attracted to ! the men by seeing the eager, furtive | manner with which they watched ev- cry person that bought a ticket at the Birmingham ticket office. When the | train arrived at Birmingham these men. four of them. got through the | entrance gates with the throng of pas | sengers rushing for the train. wheth- | CT they got in their light fingered work as the throng was struggling through the gates or whether they did
 the biggest part of the job as the pas sengers were packed in the aisles of
 the first-class Coach trying to get | seats. Is not known. The only thing that is known is that 1t was done and
 done with neatness and dispatch. There was absolutely no confusion | The men were evidently old hands at l their calling. and they quietly dropped off the train before 1t had gotten out l of the Birmingham yards.
 None of the victims realized that he
 had been robbed. The passengers were | In ignorance of that important if startling fact until MT, Bennett l showed them" Going ovsr to an old l gentleman sitting near him he asked him if he had not lost some money | Hastily the old man made a frantic dive into his pockets. With perplexi- | ty. annoyance and anger stamped on
 his face the old man brought his
 hands out of his pockets with the | forcible, but laconic expression, By
 gosh, I've been robbed" Then up and down the car it was found Chat there
 was scarcely a person who had not
 been held up for money and valuables. The Louisville and Nashville off, cials in Montgomery were notified of the bold robbery immediately as were | also the BirminghahA railroad people Railroad detectives in Montgomery and Birmingham were started at once
 on the case. and 1t promises to be- | come warm for the pickpockets.
 Mir. Bennett said that he would rec | ognize any of the men the moment he ] laid eyes on them, and at the union station last night he. with several Louisville and Nashville and city ofi- cers, watched and went through each Louisville and Nashville train reach
 ing Montgomery from the north. At the South and North yards every freight train was examined, while the
 same thing is being done at Mobile.
 New Orleans and all local stations be-
 tween Birmingham and Montgomery
 and Montgomery and New Orleans. So
 far no trace Of the men has been
 found.