St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1910-10-01
TRAIN ROBBED
BY TWO MEN
Five Mail Clerks Held Up
While Work is Done.
Robbers Entered Mail Car
From the Smoker.
Valuable Packages Were
Missed i'm the Hurry.
Said to Have Been Seen i'm
Cosmopolitan Hotel.
Thought to Have Engaged
In Other RObberieS.

Two masked white men held up
five mail clerks on the outgoing
Southern Pacific and Texas Express
from New Orleans last night, near
Avondale, at 1925 o'clock, and Sc
cured four sacks of registered mail,
the total value of which is believed
to be small. They left the car and
1t is believed escaped in launch on
the river. Posses searched the
woods nearby and another posse
composed of members of the New
Orleans police, force, under Assistant
Chief of Detectives Mouney. secured
a boat at Gretna and went up the
river after the robbers. One of the
men was about six feet tall, and the
other about five feet tall, answering
the description of two men who tried
to rob the L., R. and N. train near
Bayou Sara, above Baton Rouge,
several weeks ago.
After the train, which leaves here
at p. M, crosses the ferry at
Avondale, 1t is broken up, the first
section being pulled about 800 yards
down the track toward Avondale
Junction, while the engine went
down the incline to get the passenger
coaches. 1t was during the confu-
sion incident to this that the robbery
was committed, the bandits going
from the smoking car into the mail
car. They covered the five mail
clerks, while the smaller one kept
his pistol on them the other secured
four sacks of registered mail, which
were placed in one sack He then
jumped from the car and his COM
panion followed, both being quickly
lost to sight in the darkness. The
entire affair took but few moments
AS soon as the robbery was dis
covered the Southern Pacific officials
notified the deputy sheriff at Wagga-
man, the nearest village at Avondale,
and a message was also sent to the
sheriff of Jefferson parish. Posses
were at once organized and began
securing the country arounH.
The mail clerks were James A.
st. Germaine, in charge; Fletcher
Massey, James A. MacNeal. Carl M.
Kramel and Read, substitute.
The bandits are believed to have
escaped in a boat, probably a gaso-
line launch. They were traced to the
river, and no horse tracks could be
found anywhere in the vicinity.
Avondale, where the robbery oc-
CURED, is on the Burbank planta-
tion, and there are no whites at the
station. White men everywhere in
the vicinity who cannot account for
themselves are being held up as sus-
pc is. Three suspects were arrested
at Wagerman, near Avondale, short
ly after midnight.
The mail secured by the robbers
was local registered mail, and is sup
posed to have been that bound for
Texas.
Ferry landings, railroad tracks
and everywhere are being guarded,
and all who pass must account for
themselves.
The two men rode over to Avon
dale on the train and got off the
rear end of the smoking car on the
woods side, after it had stopped at
the incline. They. walked immedi-
ately to the smoking car and held it
up.
A passenger on the smoking car
saw the men at the cosmopolitan
Hotel yesterday, according to infor-
nation received by the police early
this morning.
A steam launch was seen going up
the river toward Avondale about 8
o'clock last night. This bears out
the theory that the robbers escaped
by the river, and indicates that
third man was implicated in it.
Following the holdup the police
gave out the story of an attempted
robbery Of the L., R. and N. train
at Bayou Sara, above Baton Rouge,
September 8. The story had pre-
viously been kept quiet while an eff
fort was being made to find the
robbers.
Three men made the attempt. Two
of them correspond to the, scrip
tions given of the Avondale holdups
One of the Bayou Sara robbers car
ried a tan grip, and one of the pair
in last nights affair carried a grip
of similar description.