The San Francisco call., 1909-07-25


valuahles, and each OF them maintains standing
army Tor defense against bandit and defaulter.
The annals of crime directed against the express
companies are filled with thrilling incidents. The
daring of outlaws, the bravery OF messengers, the
skill and persistence of agents of justice go make
a story more stirring than that of any other phase
Of the war waged by the desperate upon property
Although armored cars burglar proof safes and pow
erful private detective forces have bar to
activities Of robbers of the James type, such men
have by no means disappeared The chances against
them greater, but they have still to be reckoned
with. And the situation has been complicated fur
ther by the clever inside manipulation, the package
snatcher the thief who relies upon cunning and wit
rather than upon mask and revolvers
In the management of involved transportation
enterprise each separate joint in the machinery offers
some weakness however slight. The companies have
learned costly lessons in the guarding of their eabo
rate systems, but have they reached the point
where they say that every vile and every danger
has been foreseen and warded off
Express companies do not advertise their losses
and more frequently than not nowadays the thefts
are unaccompanied by ostentaton. When bundle
OF bills quickly hcked from sight they do not rush
TO the police with their complaint They have more
effective method than that. In their employ the
best criminal trac5ers they find train, con-
stutng secret service as formidable and expert
that OF sovereign government Frequently they
aided by the detective forces of railroads. such
as that of the Southern Pacific Except in cases
they expect little OF the regular police, and the first
part played by the authorities in their affairs is to
take charge OF the captured fugitive.
When seen recently William A Pinkerton said
that the situation to express companies is made
satisfactory only at the expense of constant vigil
snce The result obtained by treless persistence
and watching
Mr.. Pinkerton's View of It
The greatest help have at present lies in the
reputation have built up and maintaining
among the criminal class" he said "The Adams ex-
press company has always taken the position that
the criminal and not the money is the thing land.
Consequently we have never had to compromise.
When after thief he knows that we want
him and he not dicker for immunity We get
what he has stolen, of course, if we can. But is
much better to make example of him than to
recover every cent he has taken"
In this Mr. Pinkerton struck the keynote of the
attitude of the companies toward the class that
preys upon them. They have been forced into un-
relentng tactics the price of reasonable safety,
and when robber makes of them his victim he
count upon having his trail a pursuer that
will until he has paid the penalty.
For the last quarter of century" said Mr.. Pin
kerton, "the yeggs and holdup have been chiefly
western product from the cattle country Cow
boys with criminal instincts passed naturally through
the development of camp thieves, horse rusters
stage and, finally train robbers Their followers and
disciples drawn from among mechanics who
out during the great railroad development and
who were familiar with the of dynamite and
ntroglycerine The original train robbing band was
usually from five to eight strong. 1t dwinded to
from three FIVE, and of late years number of rob-
berries have been handled by but man.
Recently have had to contend also with the
dishonest employe, who maps out smooth plan for
inside theft and his tracks sllfully This is
different game and calls for another kind of detec-
tive ability"
typical instance of the real train hodup con-
Quoted in traditional melodramatc style took place
in Montana recently A Northern Pacific passenger
train stopped near Bear Mouth by two masked
They entered the tender at a water tank and
crawled forward over the coal to the cab Revolvers
the nape OF his neck induced the engine driver to
set his brakes and the bandits turned their attention
to the express car The messenger locked his doors,
suspecting the cause of the sudden halt, and the
robbers forced the engine driver to light the fuse
to a stick of dynamite that made entrance for
them
Having bound and gagged the messenger they
tried 10 open the safe, and after setting off five
charges OF dynamite without result they placed an
enormous charge that blew the side out Of the car
and hurled the safe 40 feet They obtained about
S650OO and made off. One of those to head posse
in pursuit was Kid Curry, himself notorious train
robDer Ii believed that the two men were
members OF his former band
A little than year ago the Oriental limited,
of the Great Northern, held up by four robbers
near Rondo Mont Their tactics were similar to
those adopted the former occasion. boarding the
tender and beginning operations with the engine
driver Rewards OF $4,000 were offered Tor their
capture but they escaped
The most desperate and dangerous OF the express
car bandits have been those whose method has been
TO wreck trains in conducting robberes. Dynamite
or obstructons the track have been their tools,
and loss of life frequently has resulted from their
crimes which have been the object OF severe legisa-
ton In contrast with such reckless these is