The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1919-07-10

get the booze:
Regular wild west scenes were en-
acted at point few miles beyond
Ebenezer on the Atlantic Coast Line
railroad yesterday morning, when a
party of white men, about seven in
number, pulled the emergency brake
cord on train 35, and after bringing
the fast passenger train to a stand
still, dumped several heavy suitcases
through the Pullman car windows,
and then, with drawn pistol, dared
anyone in the crowd to touch the
booty. The conductor on the train
was Captain Leslie McLaurin and
though unarmed he stood his ground,
with the final result that all of the
suitcases and one or two other pack
ages which had been removed from
the car were thrown back into the
baggage car and taken on as far as
Cope. S. G. Here the suitcases were
placed in care of the agent to await
the return trip of Capt. McLaurin,
but last night when he stopped there
to take on the baggage it was found
that it had been seized by the author
tiles of that town and they would not
release it.
Of course the baggage contained
whiskey. It is stated that there must
have been at least one hundred
quarts of it.
How much more was on the train
will never be known. It is not
thought that more than one suit case
was taken from the train at Ebenezer
and spirited away by the men who
made themselves very scarce after
the men had displayed such deter
mined spirit.
The story of the affair as gathered
from passengers was about as fol-
lows: y
When train 35 had passed Ebene-
zer there were three pulls on the bell
cord. Conductor McLaurin decided
at once that some one was merely
tampering with the cord, and pulled
the engineer ahead. This perform
ance was repeated at least three
times. Finally, the brakes were ap-
piled by the pulling of the emergen-
cy cord. Captain McLaurin imme-
diately started back through the
train and when he reached the Pull
man car saw man passing suitcases
es out of the window to other men
standing on the ground. All of the
men were white. It was then about
6 o'clock in the morning and he OBJ
tanned a full view Of the men who
were in the party. but was unable
to identify any of them, all evident
~ being strangers. One of the men
was a big husky fellow and seemed
to be the leader. When Captain Nc
Laurin demonstrated with him for
stopping the train and for making a
travelling barroom, the man became
angry. Mr.. McLaurin told him that
he would have to put the suitcases
back on the train at once, and the re-
ply of the bootlegger was that he
dared anyone to touch them. With
this remark the man pulled his pis-
tol and kept it in his hand. BY this
time number of passengers had
alighted from the train and had
gathered around. The other men,
bers of the liquor bunch scented trou-
BILE and mixed in with the crowd and
Captain McLaurin saw no more OF
them. The big fellow, however, was
loath to give up his liquor, especial
ly when he apparently enjoyed the
advantage of having an arsenal IN
his hand with which to carry out
his point and threatened trouble
again when Captain McLaurin signed
the train back and Baggage Master
Jackson started to heave the suitcas-
es into the car. He leveled his pis-
tol but evidently thought better OF
turning loose on the trainmen, and
started to walk away to the edge OF
a corn field, where he witnessed the
loading of the stuff.
In the meantime Captain G. NJ.
Gregg, who happened to be on the
train and had been awakened by a
messenger from Captain McLaurln,
reached the baggage car and stood
in the doorway with a pistol in his
hand guarding the baggage master
as he picked up the suitcases and
placed them in the car. The boot
logger after this made no move and
disappeared into the corn field.