Democratic Sentinel, Volume 7, Number 1, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 2 February 1883 — A BRAVE MAN. [ARTICLE]

A BRAVE MAN.

The, Heroic defense of Boss in the Express-Car at Montel l'>, Jf:V. Surrounded -by CoofiDnt Rqbbe *, He Braves J-eath in Three Terri:J;rl>le Forms. . . fOeden [Ufe h T leg oqa-1 Tne attempt to rob the Central Pacific train atMonteffo, Nev., at 1 o’clock yester day morning,- was one of the holdout vent ores ever made, and was not & failure be cause the plans of the robbers miscarried On the eontraryHheir arrangements for car rylngout their bold scheme were complete The great mistake which they made was in tackling a train which carried one of the bravest men in the world. With a le<s brave and determined man to deal with the attempt would have proved successful, for the attack was vigorous and perßisreat, and continued almost without intermission for three hours, until the baffled villains withdrew from the scene, leaving the heroic Ross wounded but victorious. To him alone is due the credit of having saved the ex-press-car ant( the entire tram. Mr. i oss has been in the employ of Wells, Fargo A Co. over sixteen years, and this is the third unsucces-ful attempt whic*i has been made to rob the treasure under his charge Eleven years ago, while holding his shotgun on the treasure coach of the Montana line, he was held up by a band of road agents, but killed several and got away from'fee rest of tho crowd. This last attempt has seldom been equaled anywhere for fee bravery and persistence of the robbers and the Stubbornness of the defense. Mr. Ross stated that the point selected bv the robbers for their operations was one of the loneliest places on the line of the desert, region in Nevada, in a sagebrush desert, the center of a section sixty miles ip length, whei e there is no night telegraph station. “The San Francisco and Ogden express trains pass at 1:35 o’clock am., at Tecoma, ten miles east of Montello. We left To&no, west of Mo niello, on time, our train being in charge of .Conductor Cassia I checked the waybills received at that station, ;aid down and went to sleep. The next thing which I was aware of was a rap at the ear door, as if an agent had called, and, supposing . fee trainwas at Tecoma, I got up and looked out, when a man pointed a gun at me and said: “ ‘Hop out, we are going through you’ “I jumped back and pulled the door to and' hooked it. They went over to the opposite side and said: “ ‘Open up the doors and jump out We are going to rob the train. ’ “I repned: ‘Just wait till I get my hoots on. ’ “ ‘Never mind your -boots. Hop right out here, and we will get through wife you, and then you can get your boots on ’ “Again the men outside said: ‘Open up, or we will burn you out and murder you’ “I then got in position and shot through the side or the car. Nothing was done for a few minutes, until one of tho robbers asked: “‘Ain’t you going to open up the door and cpme out?’ I “I told.them I was not coming out. Another demand was made for me to ‘hop out. 1 -I made no reply to feat They then . stationed one man at each comer of fee car between me and the baggage-car, and five shots were fired simultaneously from different quarters, all ranging toward the center of my car. Those were the shots that struck me—one on a huger, one on the hip, and one just below the breast, near the watch-pocket They then got up on the end of the car to uncouple the train, whereupon I fired two shots through the end of fee car. At this .time they heard No. 2, the westHbound ex_-press-train, coming. They backed our train up and went on the side-track, and sent two men down the road to meet No. 2. When it came up I heard Conductor Clement ask Casein: ‘ What are you doing here? . T want to speak to you’ The robbers aimed their guns at Clement’s head and told him to pud out, and he did.-'’ The nearest telegraph station was thirty miles. The robbers then compelled the brakeman to uncouple the express, move it forward, and. forced fee engineer to run ahead, and back down to wreck the express car, which was attempted three times without success, the holes in the doors being guarded by the stubborn messenger. Several attempts to burn tbe car were unsuccessful owing to the scarcity of wood, and, after renewed attempts to kill him through tbe doors, they mounted their horses and rode away.