The Hood River glacier. (Hood River, Or.) 1889-1933, 1913-08-21
LOCAL PEOPLE IN
TRAIN ROBBERY
Mr.. AND MRS. BONE ARE VICTIMS
SOO-SpOkane Train Robbed by Masked
Bandits in Sullivan'S Gulch as il
Left Portland Tuesday Night

Local people aboard the Spokane
train of the 0-W. r. & n. Co. which
was held up and robbed in Sullivan's
Gulch under the East Twelfth street
vladuct as It was leaving Portland
! Tuesday night were: Mrs. V. G..
Brock, Mr.. and Mrs. c. K. Bone. Rev.
W. b. Young and family and :. A.
/ Hudson and family, the latter Of Dee.
However, only MIR. and Mrs. Bone.
VINO were on the observation car, the
! passengers of which together with
those of the Pullman sleeper next to
1t, being the only ones molested hy the
robbers, suffered loss of money and
jewelry. &. W. Hill, travelling sales
man for the Burroughs Adding Machine
CO., and G. A. Killing, of the Marshall
wells Hardware Co., were on the train
en- route to this city, as was N. G..
Evans, president of the Hydro Electric
Co.. who now resides in Portland. Mr..
Hill was the first man relieved of his
valuables. He says:
The men were rank amteurs. and |
think that both of those entering the
observation car and relieving the pass
engers of their valuables were drunk.
81 was seated on the rear of the OBJ
servation ear with a young woman
friend, Miss Eleanor Mcleod. who was
en- route to Idaho. We heard the noise
OF shot ahead as the train came to a
stop, supposing it to be torpedo, and
then the two men. drawing their guns.
boarded the car and ordered everyone
TO enter the train.
Miss Mcleod, as we entered. man.
aged to slip handsome diamond ring
from her finger into her mouth, thereby
saving It, and most of the passengers
had sufficient warning to hide their
valuables.
The loot taken by the robbers, who
left the train after going through the
oservation car and the sleeper next to
it, was small. 1t took them 20 min
utes to complete their work.
Il was at the end of the train and
the first man relieved of his valuables.
''As the boyish-looking robber, who,
IN the excitement, had torn the blue
handkerchief masking from around his
head, passed me, the odor of liuuor
was noticeable. He was OF medium
height and had black stubbly mus
tache. His companion seemed to be
aabout % years old and was apparently
staggering from the effects of liquor.
The rear-end brakeman endeavored
to slip his watch from the breast
pocket of his coat as he entered the
observation car and the young robber
shot at him, the bullet entering the side
OF the car about foot from my head. I"
Mr.. King was on the train well
ahead and raising the window near
him tried, by shouting through an i'm
provised megaphone made from a news
paper to attract the attention of people
passing over the viaduct One of the
men threatening to shoot, made him
close the window. "Shut up" he
shouted. 'and get your head back in that
window. We are running this game.
Mr., Bone was robbed of only small
sum of money, five dollar gold piece
and ten cent silver coin However, the
robber snatched from Mrs Bone. her
chatelaine bag and necklace. The
women in the observation car exhib-
tied an admirable presence of mind.and
bravery. When the passengers were
ordered to move forward from the OBJ
servatiOn car into the sleeper next to
it, Mrs. Bone and other women urged
the men to 90 in front, leaving the
women between the robbers and the
other car, thinking that the yeggmen
would not shoot women. And on en-
tering the car, Mrs. Bone and others
went from berth to berth warning the
passengers who had already retired to
hide their valuables. The robbers
were slow in their work and many had
time to hide watches, purses mad jew
els. One man who had thousand dol
lars in currency on his person rushed
to the rear end of the sleeper and
slipped the money into the toilet room
there, thus saving it.
while the last man who entered the
cars seemed to be onto his job, says
Mr.. Bone, the gunman was evidently
an amateur and had taken too much
dutch courage" 1t was the opinion of
many that the gunman was drunk.
The leader of the robbers entering
the car berated the passengers for be-
ing "cheap stifFs," and declared that
they were holding out on him.
The men are thought to have boarded
the train at the East Portland station.
Climbing over the tender they ordered
the fireman and engineer to halt the
train which was running about ten
miles an hour. The fireman jumped
down and made a getaway, giving the
alarm.
As the two robbers who had entered
the cars left the train, it is thought
that one of them shot Joe Rarron, who
lies in a mortally wounded condition at
the st. Vincent's hospital, and who
declares that he was stealing a ride to
The Dalles. Officers think that Barron
is the yeggman who ran down the side
Of the train while it was stopped
shooting to frighten the passengers and
that he was shot by one of his compan-
ions who took him for an officer.
Thursday nights hoIdup is the first
one of an o W. r. e. N. train in nearly
five years. The last holdup took
place about five years ago near Clar-
ME, six miles out from Portland
1t was engineered by three men.
They unlocked the mail and express
cars and ran them about a mile and a
half down the track. They then dyna-
mited the express car and took its val
uables, consisting of a small amount
of money, some watches and a few
diamonds.
All the men involved in the holdup
were captured shortly afterward by
Sheriff Stevens Office, convicted after
pleading guilty, and sent to the peni-
tentiary. They were Peter Strof, alias
Dutch Pete," Bill Brooks, and Jack
Hayes. Brooks got four years, the
other two II year sentences.
Brooks died in the penitentiary,
while Strof and Hayes were later re-
leased and are now out on parole.
Strof was paroled to Sheriff Stevens in
person, and has to report to him.
Prior to this there were two other
huldups in or near Sullivan's gulch.
Governor Vests prison policy lost
an ardent supporter, said MIR. Hill
here yesterday morning. 81 now sin
cerely believe such Yeggmen should
paat with immediate drastic action