Democratic Sentinel, Volume 18, Number 46, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 30 November 1894 — TRAIN ROBBERS. A Poor Opinion of Horse Sense. Stealing Electricity. A Saw Tooth in His Throat. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

TRAIN ROBBERS.

A Poor Opinion of Horse Sense.

Stealing Electricity.

A Saw Tooth in His Throat.

The Government Will Soon Rid the Land of These Pasta. What Depew Bay« About It—Why Traia Bobbins la Quite Different from What It Waa In Old . Boad Agent'Daya.

tcopraiGtrr, 1894-1

LL sorts of problems come up for solution by railway officials. Some of them are kept on the unsolved list a long while. Train robberies are among the latter. Holding

up an express has actually become aa organized industry, and he who can point a way out of the difficulty thus presented will he a public benefactor in the loftiest signification of the term. It is an error to imagine that dime novel tactics are in vogue among these century end knights of the road. However exciting the actual process of spoliation may seem, the enterprise itself is always planned and executed in the coolest and most business like manner. The recent half dozen robberies in different parts of the country were in course of preparation at least six weeks before the consummation. Nor do the robbers organize themselves into a brigand band after the fashion of the interesting gentry intowhose hands Oil Blas was so hapless as to fall. On the contrary train robbers scatter in all directions after the accomplishment of a successful hold-up, and as the ter-ror-stricken inhabitants of the regions in which they operate dare not acknowledge any acquaintance with them ■detection has in every case proven very difficult. Not infrequently the robbers have put up good-sized sums on the principle of throwing a spear to catch a herring, and when it is remembered that treasure laden trains are continually flying up and down and across the wilds of our continent, the magnitude of the field of operations becomes manifest.

Now, how is this new danger to be dealt with? That is what puzzles many of the officials. It has 'been suggested that the government man the well stored trains with troops, ready to shoot down'anyone who presents himself suspiciously in the vicinity of the tracks. But this expedient has its drawback. If the train men are enough, armed and equipped as they usually are, who can be sure that troops will be? Moreover even the United States affords no guarantee against the adoption of a stratagem whereby the mere brute force of guns and brawn can be outwitted. Another suggestion is to equip the treasure cars with electrical devices similar to those now in general use among banks, whereby safes and vaults are rendered practically impregnable. The records of the patent office are filled with evidences of efforts to solve the problem, but the inventions so protected are not as yet in general use. Again it is suggested that there is no adequate settling of responsibility for train robberies. There is no practicable method now of holding anyone responsible except in cases bf government funds. In the olden times, when stages out west were the tnarked prizes of picturesque highwayinen, the companies exhausted all their bfflcial ingenuity in efforts to outwit toad agents, but to no purpose. Finally, the plan of discharging the stage driver was hit upon. No matter who was to blame for the holding up of a stage the driver of the vehicle was invariably provided with a successor in cases of robbery. From the adoption of that method, verv few highway spoliations were recorded. In the same way, it is pointed out that government treasure is very rarely the spoil of the train robber. Yet the government of the United States is perpetually sending heavy shipments of gold across the continent. A really historic shipment was that of twenty million dollars in gold which the treasury department sent clear across the country from San Francisco to New York. The bullion traversed the wildest regions and of course the usual precautions against spoliation were adopted. The money came unmolested to its destination. Of course, armed men, with orders to shoot, were continually on the cars. The' safes were of the strongest and most dangerous kind—to train robbers. And above all, the officials of the secret service were held personally responsible for the safe arrival of that train.

But the great objection to precautions of this kind, with reference to the railroads themselves, is the opposition of certain members of congress. ■lt is asserted that since the government must do so much for the railroads it ought to assume control over them altogether. And there are certain magnates among the railroad men themselves who do not particularly relish the idea of government protection for their treasure. Wherever such protection is afforded, it is immediately followed by legislation on the part of congress which, according to railroad men, is prejudicial to railroad interests. It follows, therefore, that government protection has not met with the favor one might have expected. “Train robbers!” exclaimed Chauncey M. Depew, when the subject was brought to the attention of that genial and brilliantly resourceful railroader, “oh, they trouble us very little. lam speaking, you must understand, from the point of View of the New York Central railroad. That corporation, as all the world knows, has the most superb railroad equipment ever devised by the ingenuity of man. Its cars are marvels of mechanical genius and its operations are so well contrived with a view to the safety of its passengers and freight that risk and danger are practically eliminated from its vocabulary Nevertheless eternal vigilance is the price of this condition as of liberty, and we are always ready to welcome any good idea in this train robbing natter. I think the capacity of the inen who run the trains has much to do with it. The engineers, conductors and brakemen on the New York Central railroad are among the most intelligent people in this country. No train robbers living could get the best of them. At the same time it is necessary to cooperate with their intelligence, so to speak, by adopting all reasonable precautions, and that we do. It is in the west, where wild districts have to be traversed, that the dangerous robber is encountered.” “How is it to be dealt with?” “By making train robbery as dangerous as leaping from a precipice. Armed men, should be on every train that runs through a threatening region, and the first intimation of dan-

ger should be the signal for a deadly volley. Public sentiment is always back of anyone who defends property, and a few hot arguments from a Winchester will send train robbers where they ean do very little further mischief. Another desirable thing is the adoption of campaign methods by the government similar to those now employed in ferreting out counterfeiters. We have in this country the best detective skill in the world. The records of the police departments show this. Before very long the train robbing gen- , try could be run to ths^e^rth. precisely i as the moonshiners and shovers of the j queer are so cleverly hunted down, i Train robbing is practically a new : phenomenon, for although we have had ; robbers of this class among us since i trains first began to travel, they have i notoperated so daringly and sj’stematii cally as at present. But a determined I effort, accompanied by thorough study of so perfect a system as that of the New York Central railroad, will soon rid us of the evil.” ‘•What of mechanical contrivances and the various patent devices for outwitting the robbers?” “They are very well in their way, but no mechanical contrivance can ever be an effective substitute for human ingenuity. The time will soon come when these robberies will be things of the past, always assuming that the public mind is properly aroused to a perception of the evil. There is no telling where this matter may stop, if not adequately dealt with now and nipped in the bud, as it were.” And the great Depew turned to his pilefl up desk and went cheerily about his business. It is notewar thy in this connection, that the pay trains of the great railroads, which at times are heavily freighted with money and go from station to station at stated and well known intervals, are rarely attacked. There have been some exciting episodes, however, when the cars have been attacked, but not often have the would-be robbers made away with the precious freight they were after. The Pennsylvania railroad has taken the most elaborate precautions against any attempt at a hold up, and he must be a bold robber indeed who would make an attempt of the sort. Not long ago one robber was killed in the Keystone state and several others were ■sent to prison for long terms.

The difficulty with the roads in tne far west is that they arc as a rule too poor, or affect to be, to deal with the matter at all adequately. Many of them are in receivers’ hands and in some cases they cannot command the best railroad talent, and, therefore, the very men who could devise a plan of campaign a gainst robbery are in the service of eastern roads. Moreover, the stockholders and even the directors, in some cases, are eastern men, not on the spot, and therefore not able to deal with the matter from personal knowledge. It is important to note, however, that the United States government is planning what promises to be a most effective crusade against train robbing. Chief Ilazen, of the secret service, hat set about gathering, through his subordinates, a full set of reports upon the whereabouts and haunts of al! train robbers, or those suspected o 1 being implicated in these expeditions. A very careful watch will be maintained upon movements of a suspicioui ‘character and, by a thorough systematizing of the campaign, holding up a train will become even more risky than counterfeiting, smuggling or moonshining.

The mental peculiarities of the horse, writes Professor Shaler in Scribner, are much less characteristic than its physical. It is, indeed, the common opinion, among those who do not know the animal well, that it is endowed w’ith much sagacity, but no experienced and careful observer is likely to maintain thie opinion. All such students find the intelligence of the horse to be very limited. Although some part of this mental defect in the horse, causing its actions to be w'idely con. trusted with those of the dog, may be due to a lack of deliberate training and to breeding with reference to intellectual accomplishment, we see by comparing the creature with the elephant, which practically hasnevei been bred in captivity, that the equine mind is, from the point o/ view of rationality, very feeble.

At a recent meeting,of the Board of Electrical Control in New York, a new device for evading the law as tc overhead wires was reported by the Secretory. It appears that during the last few weeks wires have been strung across Broadway and some other down town streets without permission of the Board, and it was only with difficulty that they were discovered. The offenders had secured fine wires, in some cases covered with green silk, so that they were almost invisible against the sky. Six specimens were shown tc the Board. Although the owners oi the wires could not be found in all cases, some of the wires were traced to offices. Commissioner Storm was empowered to consult the DistrictAttorney as to the means of punishing the offenders.—[Atlanta Constitution.

In a Texas sawmill recently one of she inserted tooth saws began shedding Its teeth. The saw was not stopped to nvestigate matters, but the men simply Stood upon one side and let it shed, i’resently one of them was knocked iown, with a severe cut in the neck, de went to a drug store and had the wound dressed and kept on with his work. A week or so after he had some iifficulty in swallowing, and a doctor >o whom he 1 applied said he thought there was some hard substance in his aeck Upon looking further and lancing he discovered one of the saw teeth, it was about the size of a silver dollar md weighed as much, buta little thing ike that does not matter in Texas. Mexican Humming Birds' 'Egg*. Immediately after being hatched it is possible to place four living Mexican humming birds in an ordinary thimble. At maturity a dozen of them may be put in a teacup. The eggs are about twice the size of pinheads. Queer Transfer Companies. Transfer companies in England are ready to pay for all the baggage they smash. A double diamond heart set with pearls, with one pearl drooping from it, makes a most dainty brooch.