TRAIN ROBBERY.

Waipukurau Press, Issue 280, 9 July 1908, Page 2

TRAIN ROBBERY.

— BANDITS IN TREASURE VAN. In true Western stvle bullion to the amount £16.000 was stolen a few weeks ago from the New York-St. Louis express outside Pittsburg. The gold was being taken form the Sub-Treasury, New York, to the banks of St. Louis, and though all the arrangements were made with the utmost secrecy, a daring gang of bandits got wind of the matter and succeeded in ,£ holding up ” those in charge of the treasure, gagging the baggageman and expressman (official of the carrying company in charge of the gold), stopping the train, and making off in the darkness with their booty. The robbery was evidently planned with astonishing skill, and the express company and Sub-Trea-sury officials are dazed by its success, and unable to offer any save vague theories as to the authors of it.

No sooner was the train a few miles outside Pittsburg than two men wearing masks sprang from behind a pile of luggage with the cry “ Hands up I” and pressed revolvers to the temples of the astounded officials in charge of the car. The robbers forced one of the officials to open the bullion coffer, and then bound him and his companion hand and foot and pulled the emergency cord. When the train slowed down they jumped on to the metals, each carrying two sacks of gold, and made through a dense clump of trees until they reached a highway, where a carriage was awaiting them. They were heard driving away some minutes later, when the guard, after a long search for the cause of the emergency signal, discovered the speechless expressman and his comrade and released them. The train then moved on to Walker’s Mills, a few miles away, whence telegraphic alarms •were sent in all directions and posses of armed men started in organised pursuit of the bandits. The exact amount of the bullion stolen is still a mystery, neither the Treasury officials nor the express company being willing to furnish explicit information. The bandits, according to the expressman, were both finely dressed and appeared to be men of education .

STRUCK AN ICEBEEG.

SHIPWRECKED IN MIDATLANTIC. Three men were landed at South Shields who had formed part of the crew of the steamer Norwood, a vessel of over 2000 tons register, and carrying twentyfour hands, which struck an iceburg on April 2G and sank in the Atlantic while on a voyage from Glasgow to Cape Breton. The men relate that the Norwood’s starboard bow was knocked in and the rivets in the watertight bulkhead were started. The crew were soon in a desperate plight, as the vessel quickly began to fill with water. An attempt was made to run her to Miquelon and beach her there, but this had to be given up and the men took io the boat. Two hours afterwards, at midnight, the Norwood’s lights disappeared, and it was evident that she had foundered. Snow fell heavily, and there being a strong sea running the men suffered great hardships in the open boats, but at daybreak they were sighted by a cod-fishing schooner, the Howard Young, and rescued. The fishing boat eventually landed them at Grand Bank, Newfoundland. The Norwood was owned by Messrs Doughty of West Hartlepool.