Evening Republican, Volume 16, Number 265, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 5 November 1912 — FORTUNE IN FREIGHT [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

FORTUNE IN FREIGHT

IMMENSE SUMS FREQUENTLY IN CHARGE OF TRAIN MEN. •a ■ With Unsurpated Loyalty, One of Almost Fabulous Value Has Been Carried From the Mines to the Smelter. When the railroad was first completed into Virgiaia City, Nev., there

were, dome" sensational shipments x>t ore* to San Francisco. At that time the bandit was strictly in evidence. They would risk their lives with as much unconcern

as some men would bet a dollar on the turn of a card. It was easier in those dayß 1b market the loot than it is now. There was no such system for protecting the shipper as prevails today. Battles with road agents were not infrequent. Many an engineer, scenting danger, has risked his life by deliberately throwing her wide open and taking the chances of being killed by singing bullets to save his train of preciouß ore from the hands of highwaymen. A number of years ago a couple of poverty stricken prospectors opened, near Hillsboro, N. M., a lead that looked for a time as if it was large enough to pay the national debt. They skimmed the cream in a few days and then sat up nights with it, until they could take it to the railroad. They were without funds, and though they dared not tell anybody of their good fortune, the news spread In a mysterious manner, probably because of their secretiveness. When they loaded their ore into a Santa Fe car, after having freighted it for miles from the mine, a crowd had gathered to see them. The car door was locked, and sealed. They had placed a value of $250,000 on the ore. In less thpn five minutes it seemed as if everybody knew about it. At that time such men as Black Bart were abroad in the land. Men like him had an unpleasant way of stopping trains, and enforcing their demands with rifles of uncommon bore. "When the conductor handed his orders to him, he remarked to the engineer: "We’ve got $250,000 in gold in that box car we just picked up.” “We’ve got WHAT in it?” . “You heard what I said.” “That’s more money than there is in the world, j Suppose," he added sententiously, “some guy who Jpoks through holes cut in a waves a shotgun at us aftlr we get out of the yard limits?” “That’s up to you, Jerry,” gravely answered the conductor. It was serious business —carrying ore so valuable that a handful of it was worth more than a S2OO bill. Then his jaws set, and he muttered: “They have never put one over on me yet —they’ll have a run for their money if they try it now.” During the entire trip, whenever the various engineers who pulled tjie car of precious freight observed anything unusual (or sighted men ahead, they crowded on steam and shot by them. They had a quarter of a million dollars in treasure, and intended to protect it with their lives, if necessary. When the train crew heard of it, they were plainly nervous. Word was flashed. down the line. The news reached the papers, and there were telegraphed daily stories df the train’s progress. It was the advance of an Aladdin with his lamp. Whenever the train neared a crowd assembled to meet it. The car was billed to a smelter in Denver and made a trip of nearly 800 miles without mishap. When all charges had been paid it netted the owners more than $400,000.