Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1913-02-18
aaistsllansuus 8saains.
HEYDAY OF TRAIN ROBBERS
Incidents Of Old Times in the Young
Southwest.

incidents or Olo llmeS IN tno r0uHS
Southwest.
Train robbing was the topic OF dis
cussion. There were three men sitting
about table on a dining car that reel
ed off the miles across the desert coun-
try Of western Texas. One Of the
group, a large, clear-eyed man, was
the superintendent of a well-known
division Of the Southern Pacific rail-
road. For some time he had sat silent
listening to the discussion Of recent
hold-up Of a Louisville and Nashville
train, near New Orleans. With some
of that good -natured tolerance with
which a westerner feels for the down
easterner' he allowed his section OF
the states to be handled pretty rough
ly. Finally, however, he broke into
the conversation:
"I see that train robbing is fast get
ting to be on a par with football and
other popular sports back in the east.
There was no denial, and he proceed
ed:
way as the bandits that used to op-
crate out here did. It looks as II the
robbers back on the other side Of the
Mississippi get the rough end OF the
deal almost every time. See where
an engineer put one Of them out OF
business with an engine torch a few
days ago. Mighty few Of them ever
get away with the plunder. The
trouble is, the would-be bandits are a
bunch of 'mollycoddles.' Their nerves
and their methods are soft and anna
teurish. Baby carriage robbing would
be more in their line. I would invite
one Of those eastern men who goes In
to make a success of that sort Of busi-
ness to look up carefully the methods
of the gang that 1t took US twenty five
years to break up along the South
ern Pacific lines. They were men OF
steel, and paused at absolutely moth
ing. When they went after mail car,
an express car, or after the passengers
they got what they went for. Rarely
was one Of them ever injured, and al
most as rarely were they ever caught
for years after crime.
Hatchery for Robbers. ..
Down here at a point between El
Paso and Tucson at town called
Benson, and at another called Cochise,
were favorite places for robberies to be
Matched. Those were tough Joints
along in the late SOS and early 's0's.
They were excellent places from which
to operate, for this reason. To the
north of them, and nearby, were the
White Mountains, while to the south,
within a days ride, was Mexico. A
man who knows anything about the
White Mountains knows that there are
places up in there that a couple Of
men can hold out against regiment
for a month, provided food and am
munition are plentiful. One place In
particular was popular with the ban
ditto after pulling of job. The place
is called Russells Park, and Is there
today Just as II has always stood-a
secure retreat for evil-doers, who wish
to escape capture. Like the famous
Devils Hole and other places Of ref
uge for bandits, it consists Of a large
valley or depression, way up in the top
of the mountains. There Is plenty
Of grass for the horses and also lots of
good water. The surface Of the ground
Is covered with great, huge boulders
that have paused on their route from
the highest points along the peaks to
the lowest in the valley. These boul-
ders form excellent cover and 1t is
not hard matter to get lost among
them. The park Is several thousand
acres in extent. But here is the i'm
portant point-there is but single en-
trance to the great park. One can gain
access to Russelrs park in one way
only and that Is through a narrow,
tortuous passage, flanked on either side
by high, sheer precipices. Why, after
officers Of the law had made several
efforts to get at bandits known to be
hiding in the park they gave it up for
all time-the place simply cannot be
taken as long as single man remains
on guard at that narrow door. How
many officers were winged or killed
outright before learning their lesson 1t
is hard to estimate, but lots Of them.
An Instance.
I'm the early days CT the Southern
Pacific out here, Benson and Cochise
were nothing more than adobe set
Elements, with a saloon or two amid
dozen houses. They were the rem
devious of the toughest gang Of rob-
bers that ever tagged a train. The
James boys and their kind were kid
glove robbers compared to the crowd
that made railroading a precarious
thing out here twenty-five years ago.
There was a regular system about 1t,
too. For instance, say two men de-
cided to hold up a trim on a certain
night Previous to that date they went
to a large town and laid in a store of
ammunition and food to last a couple
of weeks. These they packed off to
Russelrs Park and cached there. Then
they rode over to point along the
line, somewhere between Benson and
Cochise and awaited their train. The
robbery itself became almost stereo-
typed in form-the engineer was COW
cred by one robber and made to un-
couple the mail and express cars and
haul them down the road a piece. Then
the fireman and the engineer, along
with the mail clerk and express mes
senger, were lined up and kept COW
cred by one bandit, while the other
one blew open the safe and rifled the
mail pouches. Resist? Why, should
say not. 1t was instant death to even
move slowly when you had your orders
from one Of those cold-blooded ras-
calls No. When the train crew knew
what was up they fell into line
quick enough, and asked no questions.
Sometimes after the robbery the engi-
neer was made to uncouple his en-