The Thibodaux sentinel. (Thibodaux, La.) 1905-1912, 1912-03-23
TWO TRAIN ROBBERS
. slain BY MESSENGER &
DAVID A. TRoUsDALE is HERO or
SOUTHERN PACIFIC TRAIN
hOLDuP NEAR SANpERSoN.
BRAINS ONE AND SHOOTS OTHER
He Catches Bandit of His Guard In
Express Car and Uses Maliet-
Gets Robbers Gun and
Kills the Other. /

san Antnt0, Tex.-After having
knocked out the brains Of onS train
robbsr With an ios mallet. nA4ititAE.
Trousdals, an sxpies :1a1ae1 11il =,
ed the mans accompffce With the dead
mans gun, and in this manner pre-
vented the looting Of the Southern
Pacific express car and the ,holdup
Of all the passengers on the train.
The attempted holdup occurred be-
tween Dryden and Sanderson. In
West Texas, shortly after midnight
Wednesday, and the two dead rob-
bers, both of whom were Americans.
were taken to Sanderson In the ex-
press car they attempted to rob.
Robbers Board Engine.
The two train robbers boarded tho
engine at Dryden. and when about
two miles out forced the engineer to
stop the train. They then uncoupled
the baggage and express car and haul
cd It to a distance OF nearly two
miles. One Of the robbers then en-
tered the express car and covered Ex-
press Messenger Trousdale with hts
revolver, while the other kept the en-
gineer and fireman covered. While
Trousdale was turning the combina-
ton of the safe he caught the robbef
who had him covered off his guard
and Drained him with an Ice mallet.
The blow killed him almost instantly
Picking up the dead mans rifle ho
awaited developments. The robber
who had the engineer covered be-
came uneasy over the long delay OF
his partner in returning and left the
investigate.
Takes OF Top Of Head.
When the robber thrust his head
through the door Trousdale fired. tho
bullet taking off the top Of the rob
ber's head and killing him instantly.
Both OF the dead men were Ameri-
cans. TrQVsdale u . San Antonio
man and unmarried.
Shortly after the train had left Dry
den Wednesday morning the two
masked men appeared In the engine
cab and covered the engineer and fire
man with revo1vers. The engineer,
was ordered to run the train over .
bridge which was being approached
and then to stop. When the train
stopped without signal. Conductor H.
Erkel of San Antonio sent r. B. Rob
inson, the porter, up to the engine to.
find out what was wrong. Robinson
was covered by the bandits and held
with the engineer and fireman. Find
ing that the porter did not return, Err
kel made his way to the front Of the
train and was Immediately taken into
custody with the other three. In the
meantime one Of the robbers had un-
coupled the engine and express and
baggage cars from the rest of the
train, and at the point Of his weapon
had driven the baggage man and ex-
press messenger up with the others.
Train 10 Divided. NM
Engineer Grosh was compelled to
run the engine around a curve away
from the rest of the train. While
one robber held the train crew, the
other ordered Express Messenger.
Trousdale back to the express car to
open the safe and deliver Ill valu-,
ables. ....s
When Trousdale. in attempting to
Jolly the bandit, told him he was not
getting t!sbting wages and offered to
assist him In seAfching the express
car, the bandit said: "You boys are
going to have to help us carry this
stuff across the river" meaning the
Rio Grande. Trousdale thereupon In
dicated small package with his foot.
telling the bandit 1t was worth more
than all the Stuff he had. Off his
guard for an instant. the robber sto0p-
ed to pick up this package, and quick
as q flash Trousdale felled him.
At Sanderson $41 in cash was found
on the body Of one Of the bandits,
also three gold rings. This robber
wore a gold ring with the initial b
on his left hand. Both men were arm
ed with Mauser rifles. The spot
where the robbery occurred is noun
kaiuous and unsettled, and about