Democratic Sentinel, Volume 14, Number 4, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 14 February 1890 — NOT A BAIT FOR ROBBERS. [ARTICLE]

NOT A BAIT FOR ROBBERS.

An Old Kailroad Man Tell; Why Pay Trains Are Never “Held Up.” “Wby is it that the train robbers never plunder a pay train?” “Because they know their reward would be too insignificant.” This is the way an ex-railroad man put it the other night. “Less money,” he added, “is carried on a pay train than on any other kind of train. Some folks imagine that the pay of the employes of the two great systems terminating here, aggregating hundreds of thousands monthly, is piled away in the cars, and is hauled over the road.” “Isn’t that the case?” “Great , no. The trains would be robbed before they got well out of Savannah. Besides,“who would be able to keep up with a car-load of money? It is largely silver, and the 10c pieces and the nickels and the coppers would ran away with things." “How is the business conducted, then?” “Easily enough. In fact there is but one way to properly carry it on. That way is to draw on the banks at each city for enough to pay off until the next city is reached. For instance, in leaving Savannah over either the Savannah, Florida and Western Railroad or ths Central Railroad just enough money is taken to pay off employes, including agents, track hands, operators, and others at each of the stations. This amount is not very large. The largest amounts are paid out in the cities; for instance, in Macon the engineers, firemen, conductors, and yard h mds, and others of the Savannah and Western Railroad, are paid off; in Columbus the Savannah and Western force is paid off; in Augusta the employes of the South Carolina Division of the Central are paid off; the same is true with the Savannah, Florida and Western Railway. By this means the largest sums paid out amount to l.ttle more than a transfer of money procured from the banks, through the paymaster of the railroad, to the employes. The sums paid out on the line between the headquarters of ea.h division are small compared to the amounts paid out in the cities. None of the engineers or firemen or conductors or brakemen are paid off at points along the line. They are the employes that get the largest pay.” The railroad man related an incident which took place several yerrs ago, which he said put matter; in a bad light and made the pay train tempting to train robbers. A newspaper reporter on one of the dailies in a Western town wiote a lohg article, stating how much money it required to pay off the employes of the road, and concluding by saying it was singular that ihe robbers seldom held pay trains up. The figures the newspaper man gave were correct, and the article attracted widespread attention. Several officials of the road went to the General Manager about the matter, and began to sugge-it a remedy for what they considered a very bad practice. The General Manager explained to them that the amount of money carried on pay trains was small compared to what is carried on a regular muil and express train, but the matter was not settled until the newspaper man published an interview with the General Manager, giving the facts and stating the manner in which business was conducted on pay trains. The railroader s dd, however, that the danger of pay-train robbery is very slight. The robbers have posted themselves about these matters. —Savannah News.