Los Angeles herald., 1910-04-18
POSSES TRAILING
MAIL LROBBERDUO;
BATTLE EXPECTED
Men Who Held Up Train at Sprig
Believed to. Be Hiding
Near Martinez
TWO SUSPECTS ARE SOUGHT
Four of the Stolen Pouches are
Recovered Crime Planned
with Care
TAssociated Pressl


II ENICIA, Cal, Aphl 17.-Four of
IL the nine pouches of registered mail
II taken by the two masked men
who held up the China-Japan mail at
Sprig, two miles east of here, at 1880
this morning have been recovered, but
the robbers rifled the others and now
are hiding with their loot in the hills
and canyons between Martinez and
Oakland
Sheriffs' posses from two counties
and numbers of volunteers on horses
and In automobiles are engaged in tine
man hunt.
The robbers are well armed, and a
battle with them is anticipated at
any time.
| The passengers on the train were not
disturbed. and several of them did not
learn of the holdup until this morning
After getting the mail sacks, the rob-
bers cut the engine loose from the train
and sent it wild, throttle open, down
the main track to the east.
| In the direct path of this wild engine
was a section of passenger train No o.
westbound, heavily loaded with pas
sengers. But for the presence of mind
OF a telegraph operator at Suisun
serious collision would have taken
place The engine was thrown into a
switch IN the nick of time.
The robbery is the first that has oc-
CURED in California for years. 1t was
plotted and executed in daring
| spectacular fashion.
ROBBERS ARE BOLD
After the fast mail had arrived at
Benicia, two men who had left Oakland
on another train two hours earlier ana
had left their train on the Port Costa
ferryboat, climbed unobserved on the
rear end of No. los locomotive.
The C,l.na-Japan mail had gone less
than five miles from the Benicia land
ing when the stowawags crawled over
the oil tank in the tender, presented
| revolyers at the heads of the engineer
and ficeman and ordered them TO stol
the train and get off the engine.
I'VE are not going to hurt you,
said one OF the robbers. "All we want
is the treasure box; take us TO the
| express car"
When informed by the crew tha'
the train carried no express matter
and had no express car, the robbers
| eyidentally seemed to feel they had
miscalculatd.
"Then take us to the mail car" they
ordered.
Arriving there, they threatened to
blow it up with dynamite If the door
was not opened Under this threat Her.
bert j. Black. in charge OF the car
and his assistant, Thomas w. Clancy
appeared at the door. The robbers COM
neiled the engineer and fireman tc
! enter the car, with orders to throw
out the registered mail packages.
WILD ENGINE MENACEs TRAIN
Black started to toss out newspaper
sacks, but the robbers showed thelI
l hn
tecting the ruse at once. They threat
ened to kill the clerk unless he gave
them the mail at once. Black COM
piled. -, .,
The engine crew was then forced tC
carry the nine sacks to the engine.
The engine and the mail car were
| then uncoupled from the coaches nlleo
with sleeping passengers and run ul
down the track tN miles. Here tn'
mail sacks were thrown out upon t .ll'
ground the engine was uncoupleu, tn'
| throttle pushed wide open and 1t be
gan it's wild journey toward the othel
| cars filed with passengers, at Tolehas
| four miles eat.
| AS the engine passed the station a
| Suisun the operator on duty there no
ticed it was running wild, with no on
in the cab. He Immediately reported
this fact to the dispatcher's OFFICE a
|
| call up Tolenas and order them u
derail the oncoming engine.
Train No. 5, westbound, had just ar
rived at Tolenas, under orders to NEE
| the China mail there. The switch wal
| thrown and the runaway engine, whicl
| by this time was pretty we'll relieved
| of steam, ran on a siding and smasheC
| into a string of boxcars.
The operator at Suisum had aVerte'
| i Iro
ROBBERS MAKE ESCAPE
In the meantime the robbers wer'
making their escape through the SUI
sun sloughs. The flash of the robber!
had gone up and down the line an(
| posses were forming.
Just before fleeing with the sack
| of mail the robbers fired four shots
with the purpose of frightening off an!
| immediate pursuit.
| Even this did not awaken the pas
| sengers The porterS heard the shot
and locked all the doors to the sleeping
| cars.
The China mail lay engineless TO
| some time while an engine was beint
secured from Sacramento. 1t then wal
hurried into Sacramento, arriving at
| a. m.
A fairly good description of the ban
| dts was furnished by a man on thI
Port Costa ferryboat, who had OBJ
served them as they hung about wait
ing for the train they intended to rob
One was much taller than the other
a dark man, with a gold tooth. Th'
other man was small and heavy. Boil
wore dark clothing. One of the mel
left his coat on the engine. The mel
had the appearance of being railroad
mechanics, and from the familiarit!
| which they showed with the engin'
there is no doubt in the minds of thu
officials that the men are former rail
road employees.
HEAD TOWARD SAN FRANCISCO
The trail of the men has been fol
lowed to the rough hill country be
tween Martinez and Oakland, and it Is
believed they are headed toward SaI
Francisco and that they have a goot
chance to escape.
Near where the bandits left the en-
| I.7nnffnuad an paCa Txvol