TRAIN ROBBERIES.

Taihape Daily Times, Volume XI, Issue 3518, 3 July 1920, Page 5

TRAIN ROBBERIES.

LONE BANDITS DEATH

FOUGHT A HUNDRED POLICEMEN. , SNIPING BATTLE IN CHICAGO. SAN FRANCISCO, May 22. Some idea of the reign of terror that exists in modern America is afforded in the latest chapter in the doings of youth desperadoes with which the United States unluckily nowadays f abounds, for one of the most daring train robberies in the Middle West in recent years ended in the death of a “lone” bandit, who on the previous night looted the Illinois Central New Orleans Limited, and in the recovery of currency estimated to total nearly £25,000. One man shot by the bandit was lying dead in the morgue, and another victim was at the point of death through serious wounds. The bandit was identified as Horace Walton, aged 32, of St. Joseph’s, Missouri. He' fell with four bullets in his body, after barricading himself in his apartment and fighting a battle with more than ITTO placemen. Walton, who was one of the worst desperadoes in America, records now show, boarded the train a- few miles from Kankaee, and at Decatur a pouch containing registered mail wus taken on the train. As the flyer pulled up of Kankaee, late at night, Walton stepped into the' mail car and announced he was the postal inspector He drew, a gun arid commanded ‘Hands up." Four of the clerks were ordered to,lie on the floor, and the fifth was forced to bind hands. Walton then tied the fifth man’s hands, and set about a leisurely sorting of the mail pouches. With the clerk’s key he picked out and rifled the hags which contained shipments of money, remarking that “It’s easy when you have inside information.” A travelling bag, appropriated from one of the clerk’s, furnished a receptacle for the money. Walton kept up a running fire of banter with the clerks until thfe train reached South Chicago, shortly before 1 a.m. There he leaped out.

Fifteen minutes later Patrolmen Wjlliam A. Roberts and John Kendricks met Walton. Roberts stepped forward ro question the man. Walton fired through hi s coat*, and Roberts fell, shot in the head and side. A few hours later he died. Walton leaped into the area way of an apartment building, while Kendricks opened fire. After an exchange of shots the policeman dashed forward and Walton dropped the bag and fled to an apartment house half a block away. '‘You’ll have to kill me. Anybody who tries to get in here gets croaked/ 7 Walton shouted when the police tried to enter.

Police rifle squads surrounded the building, and for more than an hour poured hundreds of bullets into Waltonis apartment. He returned the fire steadily, using two guns, then suddenly stopped. Detective-Chief Mooney found Walton on the floor dead, with four bullets in his body.

During the fusilade other occupants of the building were awakened, but did not dare leave their rounds for fear of being struck by a bullet. Many lay on the floor during the “battle/’ Walton had lived in the fatal apartment for seven weeks, according to neighbours. A full set of burglar’s tools was found in his rooms. He was highly educated, aud until a month previously had been a railway mail clerk. His methods were exactly similar to those employed when the California Limited was robbed near Richmond, San Francisco, and 200.000 dollars was stolen. At Omahu and Kansas City overland trains were robbed nnder exactly similar circumstances, and Walton is blamed for the crimes.