EXPRESS TRAIN ROBBED

Hokitika Guardian, 15 August 1924, Page 4

EXPRESS TRAIN ROBBED

GAS BOMBS USED.

NEW YORK, June 11. The most celebrated exploits of higii-

waymcii in old stage-coach days were excelled to-ilav hy tiie achievements ol ti daring band of motor-ear bandits, who .‘it; miles ciltside Chicago held up 11 mail express guarded hy 70 armed men. They escaped without trace, carrying with them cash and securities which bankers conservatively estimate at

£-!%>,IKK). Host Office officials, however, declare that this estimate is exaggerated, and express the opinion that the value of the-stolen mail will eventually he found not to exeeetl £‘_’l),()l)0. Tlui bandits 'ninnoeuvml witli’ the precision ami discipline of regular soldiers and operated with chlorine gas and pistols. They were under the Icad-ei-ship of a big man in a grey suit, who like his followers, wore a gas mask. The Chicago. Milwaukee and St. l’aul mail express, consisting yl eight coaches. under the protection of 70 guards, left Chicago in the early hours.

It was running at ti') miles an hour when the driver and stoker were startled to lint] two masked strangers covering; them with pistols. The robbers had evidently crawled over the coal from their hiding-place between the tender anil the first rnach. "NOW JERK IT:” One of them addressed the driver thus: "Half a mih* down the track you'll so > a red light Hashed on the west Mile. You’ll stop the train. If you don’t you’re done." Obeying the prod of a iiistol in the small of the hoc!;, the driver slowly applied the brakes. As the tiain thundered 011 with gradually slackening speed, a je:l light Hared nut just where a popular motoring road cuts through the permanent way, "Now jerk it!” yelled the bandit into the driver’s ear. The train tame to a standstill. From four motor-cars on the ' • wav, two 011 c'arli )i,h* ol the train, sprang out more than a thiz'on mask-

ed mi'll. The clerks anti guards in the leading coach, conscious that something was amiss, extinguished all the lights and locked tin* (loot's Through the windows tire hand t- ; hurled gas bombs. The guards, thus reduced to impotence, surrendered. I he masked robbers, lined them up- in ’!.■* roadway beside the driver, stoker. n*d conductor. Two other coaefii's were similarly bombed ami their occupants |etl to captivity. The leader of the bandits then commanded Hie chief clerk lo don a gas imr-k and accompany him to tin* second coach. , . "I want Hu* Federal reserve smnmciits to Milwaukee. Minneapolis. St Haul. Helena. Rutte. Seattle, and Spokane." lie announced, adding: "I uKo want for my own special purposes a tack’ vou’vo got consigned to "Houmlm>. Montana.” dynamite. The bandits collet-tod 15 pouches ol roistered mail, im hiding ike mystery pouch marked "Round-up,” am! lorccd the dorks l:> carry them to the wailitig-nmtor-cars. . When the loading* was completed tin highwaymen tlisapp •aretl. He-itic the train the guards and ch rks fault! end discarded gas masks, a bottle ol nitro-glyteiine, and a quantity of d.v-

na'.nit”. . . .. These and a (left) pool of klcoil It'll bv one of the robbers who had been shot in hy a cmnri.de who mistook him for a member of the train - ~,-ew were the sol, ,-lnes bequeathed bv the bnidits. .

Within an hour the oursuit "•>- •'* i ll by bv AT) armed men mobilised hy the authorities, hut so far their effort* have hoen futile. It is obvious that lie loliherv one of the most sensoliotial in the histoiv of American railways was planned and executed with superb gencrnlshio. .... - oil bv an exact inside knowledge ol all 1 novations of the Chicago mail express. , Chief Postal Inspector (junior 51at,.,1 to-day: "That the most sinister feat’lre ol the outrage is that the bandits knew exact I v what to take ant. what to leave. They carried awav vniv the most valuable packages. I nlc-s the source of their information can fie traoi',l it is t" he feared that we sllan siilfor more train robberies."