The Caldwell watchman. (Columbia, La.) 1885-1946, 1912-08-16

end the officials were not any too
| anxious to divide the honors In the
! case, as success made big thing for
all the company's employees who igur.
ed in the case. Thompson had several
interviews with Sanderson, and from
what he said had got him worked ur
to a high pitch over the robbery and
the gang were anxious TO spring the
trick.
listened to the tale, and was very
skeptical. l did not believe that any
ton-notch crooks would have gone into
such a scheme with Thompson without
first being assured that there was no
possible chance Of a throw-down.
I asked for sight of the crook, to
see if knew him. A meeting was ar.
ranged, at which | was present, and
when | got my peppers on the bold
sanderson my old heart gave
thump, for l recognized him at
glance as Bob Furey, a crook on both
sides of the ocean in some first-class
| jobs.
Thompson was to figure only as a
second fiddle in the transaction, and
was to get an even share in the swag
| with the others when the money was
divided. 1t was not necessary for him
| to have q knowledge of the details Of
| the plans which Furey had put up to
| work off the money bags. The gang
wanted a big Doodle, and so long as
we were on to their game suggested
that we should not give the gang the
tip until there was really bis load
Of dust on board the express Car, just
10 give the gang the laugh when they
got the throw-down for losing such
a dandy bundle.
The day was finally set for the rob-
berry. Thompson succeeded in getting
all the details, so that it made the
work dead easy on paper. The sig
nal to hold up the train, it was ar
ranged, would be given after leaving
Port Jervis on the Erie railroad, which
would be the signal for us to do our
little act and land the gang.
The train with the Red Star car was
booked to leave the Erie depot at 6
o'clock in the evening, and--in the
morning sent four men to Port Jervis
to take up position where the red
light was to be given at night. | got
telegram that they had landed all
right and in the evening, when The
train pulled out of the depot, was
aboard with six lusty fellows, who
would rather fight than eat.
I saw Thompson before the train
started but did not speak to him. lie
indicated by nod of the head that
their gang were on board the train in
the front cars, and everything looked
rosy. The train pulled out on time,
and we went humping along at live.
ly rate. as We were on the fast cx-
press. ! had given instructions tc my
men what to do when we got to the
holding-up place,
knew every foot Of the ground on
the Erie, and when we got within a
few miles of Port Jervis l began to
feel just little bit nervous. While
was running all the details Of the at.
tack over in my mind the train slow.
ly pulled up, but did not come to
full stop. l looked cut of the win
dow, but did not see anything. In a
moment We were pushing up the hill to
Port Jervis at full speed. When we
pulled up at the little depot l jumped
off the car. to take final look at
things, and as l passed the Red Star
car heard moan. listened and it
was repeated several times. could
not understand it, but felt that some.
thing had gone wrong.
l did not want to make c foolish
break Of any kind, so l first went to
the engineer and asked him what he
had stopped for before reaching Port
Jervis. He said that he saw a red
light swinging on the track, and
slowed up. The light had disappeared
before he got to it, and he could not
understand it. knew the meaning of
it, and saw the game in second. The
gang had fooled Thompson by giving
him wrong description Of what was
going to be done. This was verified
when reached the Red Star car. The
lock had been broken off, and inside
the car was Thompson, lying on his
back we'll done up.
He was partly conscious, and knew
enough to tell that the thieves had
| fooled him, and had dumped the safes
on the track about three miles east
of Port Jervis. They had jumped off
the train when it slowed. But If
Thompson had been fooled he had
fooled the gang also, for he had flung
the kit Of tools which was to be used
to open the safes off the car, and il