Rensselaer Journal, Volume 12, Number 21, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 30 October 1902 — SINGLE-HANDED TIN HOLD-UP [ARTICLE]

SINGLE-HANDED TIN HOLD-UP

Lone" Bandit Kills Engineman and Cows Railway Employes. COVERS CLOTHES WITH BURLAP Completely Disguised, the Robber Uses Dynamite on Express Safe, Then Compels Fireman to Carry Him Two Miles on Locomotive. Helena, Mont., dispatch: A lone bandit held np the eastbound limited train No. 2 on the Northern Pacific road near Drummond, Mont., killed the engineer, robbed. the mail, dynamited the safe in the express car and got away into the mountains on horseback with an eight-hour start over his pursuers. The amount of his plunder is not known, but is thought to be large. It was shortly after midnight when the robbery was committed. The train, which is usually known as the North Coast Limited Mail, passed through Missoula at 10:20 o’clock, and nothing suspicious was noticed about it It made other stops, and it is not known here where the robber got on board. Opens the Throttle. When a point three miles east of Bear Mouth and two miles west of Drummond was reached the engineer, Daniel O’Neill, received a signal to stop. He obeyed at once, and had almost brought the train to a standstill when he happened to glance back at the tender. He saw a man creeping toward him over the coal and at once understood what, was to happen. “Stop the train at once,” said the man with an oath. For answer O’Neill pulled open the throttle and tried to give the train full speed ahead. Then the robber fired at him. O’Neill fell to the floor and died a few minutes later, leaving the robber in full control of the situation. The latter drove the other men in the crew to the rear of the train, and by frequent shots in their direction held them and the passengers at a distance. There was a panic among the passengers, but the robber paid no more attention to them. . Uses Dynamite. First he plundered the mail car, i&Wng al.l the registered letters. Then he turned fils attention to the combination express and baggage car. The dynamite charge which he put under the safe was heavy enough to completely wreck the car. When he had gathered his booty together he made the fireman carry him on the engine four miles east, to a place two miles east of Drummond. “I've got a horse in the timber, there,” he said to the fireman, “and I’ve got a good get-away. Nobody will ever catch ud with me.” As he was getting off the engine he shouted back to the fireman: “If anybody asks who I am, just tell them that I’m the fellow who held up the Southern Pacific train near Portland about a year ago.” The robber wore a black mask, which was found on a mountain trail two miles away by the first posse in pursuit He had his clothes covered with burlap, so that no description of them could be given by his victims.