| BANDITS HOLD UP PASSENGER TRAIN |
| This time it occurred at Tipton, West of
Rawlins. |
| Four Men Blew Open the Express Safe on the West
Bound Passenger About 8:30 Wednesday Night. |
| x |
| The second section of Union Pacific train No. 3,
westbound, was held up, the safe in the express car
blown open and the contents taken about two and a
half miles west of Tipton at 8:30 Wednesday night.
Four men did the job quietly, and no one was hurt. |
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| The amount secured by the robbers is known only
to the officials of the Pacific Express company, and
naturally they decline to make a statement. The
robbers secured a package containing $54 and a lot
of jewelry from the local safe, but the amount they
got out of the through safe, which was blown open
with dynamite, will remain a secret. |
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| The stuff they took made a considerable showing
in a gunny sack and the man who picked it up as they
started off lifted it like the sack contained
considerable weight. |
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| No. 3 was run in two sections Wednesday night,
and was about on time. The second section about
fifteen minutes behind the first. It consisted of
one mail car, two baggage and express cars and two
passenger coaches, which were filled principally
with laborers for the grading camps west. |
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| Engineer Henry Wallenstine, of Rawlins, with
engine 818 was pulling the train. Harry Weaver was
his fireman. Conductor Kerrigan, of Cheyenne, was in
charge of the train. |
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| ONE MAN ON THE ENGINE |
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| A representative of the REPUBLICAN interviewed
Engineer Wallenstine yesterday, and from him the
following story of the hold-up was obtained: |
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“We stopped a moment at Tipton, which is 55
miles west of Rawlins, for orders, and it was 8:10
when we left. We had gone about a mile when I heard
someone speak to me. I thought it was Harry Weaver,
my fireman, and turned my head. A man with a red
bandana handkerchief over his face was leaning
against the gate which keeps the coal from falling
down on the deck of the engine. He had a gun in each
hand. One was pointed at my head; the other at the
fireman. He repeated the command to slow up. He then
stepped over behind me and told me to move up a
little so he could sit down. He took a seat placing
one gun behind my ear and with the other he kept the
fireman covered. I slowed the train down and the
hold-up told me to let it go a little faster, and
then stop when we came up to a small camp fire that
was burning beside the track. We soon rounded a
curve and I saw the camp fire a short distance
ahead. The man who held the gun at my ear said:
“That is the fire; now stop.’ He said to me that he
did not want to hurt anyone, and we would be all
right if we did as we were told.
“He asked me particularly whether or not there were
any guards on the train. I told him I did not know
of there being any. He said: ’You would know if
there are, and you will be a dead man if there are.’ |
| x |
| “As soon as we came up to the fire the hold-up
told the fireman and I to climb down from the
engine. I saw two men standing beside the track and
Conductor Kerrigan told me afterwards that there was
another on the other side. |
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| “The hold-up who was on the engine, and who
proved to be the leader of the gang, told me to go
back and get the conductor. |
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| “I started back toward the coaches and saw the
conductor step off with his lantern in his hand. I
called to him, and told him he was wanted up front.
Just then one of the hold-ups stepped up and told
the conductor to put his lantern down. A passenger
then jumped off the front coach and one of the
robbers was just about to shoot him, when Conductor
Kerrigan said to him: ’My God, don’t shoot that man
he is an innocent passenger and doesn’t know even
what is going on.’ |
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| “The robber then compelled the man to get back
into the coach. Another man kept sticking his head
out of the window, when one of the robbers gave him
a punch in the breast with the barrel of his gun and
told him to keep his head in. By that time the
passengers began to realize that something was up
and none of them showed themselves any more. |
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| The robbers then commanded Conductor Kerrigan to
cut off the passenger coaches, and another one went
forward with me to the engine so that I could give
him the slack so he could get the coupling undone. |
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| "The conductor was then brought forward and told
to have Express Messenger Woodcock and Mail Clerk
Praut come out. They did so and were marched forward
to the engine with the conductor. We were all told
to get on board the engine, and the robbers threw on
three sacks, which I presume contained dynamite. Two
of the robbers climbed up on the tender while one
man remained down on the deck with the train crew. I
did not see the other man. I was then told to pull
up about a mile. The man who remained down on the
deck of the engine asked Conductor Kerrigan what
time it was. Kerrigan pulled out his watch, and the
robber remarked that he had a pretty nice looking
timepiece, Kerrigan said: 'I suppose you will want
that pretty soon.' The robber replied: 'No, we don't
want anything from laboring men or the passengers.
We only want what the company has got, they have
plenty.' |
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| "I noticed that the man on the tender kept a
sharp lookout as we went along, and finally the man
down on the deck asked them, 'Ain't we to the place
yet,' showing that they had a particular spot
selected where they wanted to stop. I presume they
had their horses tied there, although I did not see
anything of any horses. |
| x |
| "When we got to the right place one of the
hold-ups told me to stop, and we all climbed down.
We walked back along the north side of the train
until we came to the rear baggage car when the
leader, the man who first came upon the engine,
asked Express Messenger Woodcock which car contained
the express company’s safe and if there were any
guards in the car. Woodcock told him there were
none. The leader then turned to the man who was
standing behind Woodcock and said: “ ’Blow their
d------d heads off if there is anyone in that car.’ |
| x |
| “He then told Woodcock to give him a lift. He
threw his gun up into the car and climbed in. He
then told Woodcock to climb in and open up the
little safe which was used for the local business.
When Woodcock had done this the leader told him to
get out again. All the train crew were then marched
back about 150 feet in the rear of the train by one
of the hold-ups, remained guard over them. He had a
short, double barreled shot gun which he said was
loaded with buckshot sufficient to kill the whole
crowd, and he also displayed two six-shooters in his
belt. The other hold-ups remained at the express car
and did the work. They exploded three charges of
dynamite before they got into the through safe. |
| x |
| “The fellow who guarded us was quite talkative.
He said they did not want to kill anyone if they
could avoid it; in fact he said they had an
agreement that if anyone killed a man unnecessarily
he himself would be killed by his companions. He
further said that there was one man in the crowd who
would just as soon kill a man as not. When the
second charge of dynamite went off he remarked that
it was taking a good while to do the job. ’but Perry
understood his business, he said and then he acted
like he had let a remark drop that he had not
intended to. |
| x |
| “He talked of the Wilcox hold up and said that
the engineer came near being killed because he acted
so peculiar and did not do what he was told to do.
The man said that he was once well to do and had a
family, but now it was impossible for him to quite
it. Conductor Kerrigan kept moving uneasily and the
robber said to him: “Your trying to get a look at
me; now stand up in line there and quit your
foolishness.’ Kerrigan assured him that he had no
such intention. |
| x |
| “We probably stood there twenty minutes or half
an hour, when one of the men up at the express car
called, “All right,” and our guard told us to walk
back along the train, he following along behind us.
One of the men then shouldered a sack which seemed
to be pretty heavy, and they disappeared in the
darkness going to the south side of the track. As
they walked away they said “Goodnight boys.’ We were
all very glad to see them go. |
| x |
| “We then looked over the train, and although the
main line express car, which contained the through
safe, was badly wrecked by the explosions, having
the front end blown out and the roof blown off, we
decided it would be safe to run it to Green River.
The safe was a total wreck. The back was twisted off
and all the drawers of the safe were missing. I do
not know whether the robbers carried them away or
not. |
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| MESSENGER WOODCOCK SAVED $600.00. |
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| “It was probably an hour and a half from the
time we were first stopped until we had coupled onto
the coaches and were ready to pull out again. Both
brakemen were missing during the time of the
hold-up. As soon as we stopped of course the rear
brakeman ran back to flag any trains that might be
following us. It seems that Brakeman Nash, the head
brakeman, was in the baggage car with Express
Messenger Woodcock. When I stopped at the fire, he
stuck his head out to see what was up. Nash said he
saw three men standing there with guns in their
hands and realized that it was a hold-up. He closed
the door and told Woodcock that they were going to
be held up. Woodcock, who had the local safe open,
grabbed two or three packages and ran forward with
them into the Oregon Short Line car and hid them
behind some baggage. It is said that there was about
$600 in these packages which the robbers did not
find. |
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| “Nash got off the car and ran off and hid in the
sage brush until the hold-ups got through with their
work. |
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| REPORT SENT FROM BITTER CREEK. |
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| “It was 11 o’clock before we got to Bitter
Creek, from which place Conductor Kerrigan sent his
first report of the hold-up. |
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| “We gave the best description of the men that we
could. The first was five feet ten inches in height,
smooth face, sandy complexion, gray eyes and talks
fast. This man was the leader who first came onto
the engine. |
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| “The second man was five feet, seven inches in
height, sandy complexion, heavy sonorous voice, wore
a canvas coat, corduroy pants, shoes badly worn. |
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| “The third man was five feet, nine inches in
height, dark complexion, dark flannel shirt and no
coat. |
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| “I did not see the fourth man, but Conductor
Kerrigan says he was standing on the south side of
the track when we stopped the last time, but he was
not able to give a description of him.” |
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| OFFICIALS ACT PROMPTLY
|
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| As soon as Conductor Kerrigan’s report was
received at Green River, General Manager Dickinson
and Superintendent Parks, who were at Allen
Junction, were notified. They at once began sending
telegrams to officers along the line. |
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| Sheriff Peter Swanson, of Sweetwater county,
Sheriff McDaniel, of this county, and United States
Marshal Hadsell, who arrived in Rawlins Wednesday
evening from Cheyenne, were notified and requested
to organize posses to go in pursuit of the bandits. |
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| Sheriff McDaniel and Marshal Hadsell got their
men and horses together as soon as possible, and at
4:40 they had their horses and outfit loaded at the
stock yards and were ready to start. The posses that
went here was composed of Sheriff McDaniel and
Deputy Sheriff Horton, Marshal Hadsell and Deputy
Marshal LaForce from Cheyenne, Chas. Osborne, James
J. Fenley and Geo. Lord. Unfortunately the engine
which took the special out broke down near Creston,
delaying them nearly two hours. |
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| Sheriff Swanson organized a posse of six or
seven men in Green River and Rock Springs. On
account of the delay to the train the Sweetwater
county posse got nearly two hours' start ahead of
the Carbon county posse, but were overtaken by them
before they had gone far. |
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| General Manager Dickenson telegraphed Agent Wood
to have circulars printed offering a reward of
$1,000 each for the four robbers dead or alive. |
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| The REPUBLICAN force was called at 2 a. m. to
get them out, and the circulars were sent to every
station agent and section foreman along the line on
the first passenger trains that went through. The
circulars were also mailed to officers in all the
adjoining states. |
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| OFFICERS ON THE TRAIL. |
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| Only one report has been received from the
officers’ posse since they left the railroad early
Thursday morning on the trail of the robbers. One of
Sheriff Swanson’s posse came into Bitter Creek early
yesterday morning and reported that the officers
were close upon the trail. The man was sent in to
report to the railroad officials. When he started
back late Thursday night all signs showed that the
four men were not far ahead. They had been seen by
several persons only a little while before and their
trail was fresh. |
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| The officers’ posse were confident that the
robbers would be overtaken. The Carbon county posse
had good horses and were well armed. It is believed
the Sweetwater county folks were equally well
mounted. |
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| Nothing has yet developed to give an intimation
of the amount the robbers secured. The railroad
officials give it out that the amount taken from the
local safe was $54 and some jewelry. |
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| A dispatch from St. Louis, the headquarters of
the Pacific Express company, says: |
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| “Mr. James Eggleston, president of the Pacific
Express company, is out of the city and could not be
seen in respect to the robbery of an express car of
that company on the Union Pacific in Wyoming
Wednesday night. Mr. Hartson, his secretary, stated
that the general superintendent had reported to
headquarters that the robbers obtained less than
$100. The safe was blown open, he said, and the car
badly damaged by the explosive used to effect an
entrance. Information as to the contents of the
safes was not given out at headquarters so it is not
known whether the robbers secured any valuable
packages or not.” |
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| From remarks dropped by members of the gang the
train crew were convinced that this hold-up was
planned to take place last Friday night, but that
night No. 3 was run in one section. It is stated
that strange men have been seen around Tipton and
Wamsutter for the past ten days. |
