The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-12-17

Watts, special agent of the Mobile
 and Montgomery Division were two greatly puzzled and greatly worried
 men. The perpetrator of these rob- berries seemed to understand his busi-
 ness. He did not attempt to molest passenger trains. That would have mixed him with the United States mail l and Uncle Sam is much of a bull dog | in tenacity when any of his goods and l chattels are tempered with. Then
 again, in interfering with passenger
 trains there was always a chance of l getting close to something belonging | to the Southern Express company, and
 as had been proven in the Rube Bur-
 rows case few years before. the off, 1 ficials of the company are about as | unreasonable from a criminals point
 of view as the secret service men Of | the government.
 | After many months of hard work | it developed positively that the per | son who was playing havoc with Louis- vile and Nashville freight trains was
 the identical copper-colored negro who
 had murdered the two Florida sheriffs | in October, 1892.
 Fight With Train Crew.
 | It was d hot afternoon in August, l 1904, that a Louisville and Nashville | freight train was coming through the swamps of Baldwin County. Ed Mar kell, the conductor in charge of the train. was sitting at desk back In his | caboose checking up way bills.
 | Cap" said a brakeman who just then came through the roof of the caboose, somebody is inside of the fourth car behind the engine"
 Getting out on top of the cars the conductor and brakeman hurried to- wards the front of the train. As luck 1 would have 1t the engineer was begin
 ming to slow up just before the two
 men reached the car, the sliding door of which was partly open. Going down | the ladder at the side of the car the two men dropped to the ground and ran | to the car before the train had come | to full stop. Not a moment too soon was 1t that they rushed the sliding
 door back in position. quickly snapping | a hasp through the lock. As the door | slid to the loud report of a gun sound ed. and the brakesman's cap was rest l ing on some bushes just off the right
 of way with a great. ugly looking hole through the top of 1t. But the door was shut by this time and the second
 ball buried itself harmlessly in the 1 thick wood of the door. l Its all right now. boys" cried the | conductor. as the other members of the l train crew ran up. Locked in that
 car is negro thief. and there he stays until we unload him on an officer at | Flomaton. - If that program had been 1 carried out the remainder of this story | would never have been written. But l unfortunately 1t was never carried out
 Hardly had the train gotten under l good headway again when there was | an explosion in the car in which the
 thief was locked. then another, and then
 a ffsilade of shot. From the front and
 rear of the train members of the crew ran over the tops of the cars. The | first man to reach this car was just ! starting down the ladder The door
 slid open and brown, evil-looking face ] peered out. saw the man on the lad
 der. fired one shot at him and jumping | from the door of the car dashed into l the swamp.
 l By this time the entire train crew
 had reached the car With shattered | knee the brakeman. who had managed to cling to the ladder. was helped to
 the top. When the train was stopped tho trainmen found that the desperate negro had deliberately poured shot af- | ter shot into the fastenings of the heavy l
 door until hasps, lock and all were l
 took a final shot at the only man In | sight. gave a flying leap and was gone |
 lost in the dense swamp. |
 Some hours after this a negro stole l cautiously out of the dense thicket lin- | ing a river swamp. After assuring him | self that there was no human about he | scrambled down the bank where a small l dugout. almost concealed from view by | the bushes was tied. T'ntieing the craft | he swung 1t out into the stream So ]