Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 35, Number 104, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 4 September 1903 — THUGS SLAY AND ROB. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

THUGS SLAY AND ROB.

MASKED ROBBERS KILL CHICAGO STREET CAR MEN. Shot Down in Cold Blood and $2,000 in Cash Taken—Criminals Show an Intimate Knowledge of Theip Surrounding*. £,' • Masked hold-up men stormed the office of the Chicago City Railway Company at Sixty-first and State streets ea'My Sunday morning, shot two men to death, seriously wounded a third and a fourth a slight wound. Having thus rendered harmless the office employes, the robbers snatched up $2,000 in greenbacks, which were lying on the counter, and decamped. About $1,500 in silver inclqged in small bags was left by the thieves, who did their work calmly, carefully and with' a show of absolutely correct knowledge of the situation. The deadly fusillade and the quick purloining of the cash occupied altogether about three minutes |ime. The thieves, said to have"been three in number, ran from the office on completing their work and leaped out of an open window into a vacant lot just south of the building. They scrambled through tall weeds and, protected by darkness, arc supposed to have worked their . way south. It was just 3 o’clock when flhe first incident of the tragedy took place. In the office where the'receipts of the State street, 61st street, 63d street and other lines of the Chicago City Railway Company are turned in by conductors and fieoounted for. Frank Stewart, Henry Biehl and William B. J'Jdmond were at work. In an outer room John B. .TohnfOn, an “extra” motormau, lay asleep on a bench, awaiting an early run. At other points scattered about the big barn forty men were at work or'asleep. The big structure was in semi-darkness, with the exception of the little office, where brilliant illumination was necessary to count the money and make up the books. Suddenly there was a slight crash, occasioned by a breaking window pane. Through the aperture and beneath a heavy wire grating that served as a protection to the windo wthe stumpy black muzzle of a Colt magazine revolver was thrust. A mere moment had elapsed—period barely sufficient for the startled occupants of the office to realize what was happening—and the room was being swept by a hail of bullets. The hand that operated the trigger and the eye that guided the fusillade were invisible in the outer darkness, while those within the ottice loomed up conspicuous targets in the bright light. , At, tile Jirst-. tihot-Sitewaxt—fell with n fatal bullet plowing through his abdomen. Biehl, who was standing beside him, dropped to the floor behind a table and crept to a wardrobe that afforded a lading place. Edmond was at work within the cashier's cage and had scarcely time to look up when the shower of bullets was directed toward him. One pierced his thigh and he fell iu agony. Abandoning their ambuscade at the window, the robbers rushed into the bam and on to the entrance to the room where their victims lay. —’ There they encountered Johnson, who had been startled from his sleep by the fusillade anil, rubbing his eyes, -was running out in alarm. Without a word, a shot was directed at him and he fell dead. Within the blood-stained shambles where the robbers had directed their volley Edmond had crawled across the floor of his cage to sound the burglar alarm. He reached the mechanism too' late. A blow from a sledge hammer, directed by one of the robber* in an effort to force an entrance to the room, had severed tihe operating wires. The wounded man then reaclftd for his revolver to protect the bundles of paper money lying on the desk above his head. As he looked up at the gaite he saw one of the robbers confronting him and covering him with a big revolver. “Drop that,”- commanded the fellow and Edmond obeyed. The fellow then ordered the survivors to get out. Ed-, lnoml'was the only one to make response. He declared weakly that he was unable to move. After making him turn over, with his face to the floor, the hold-up men swept up the money from the desk and departed, making their exit through a room at the south end of the office, from which a window opened on to a vacant lot to the nontli of the building. All the paper money was taken and divided, the members of the band filling their pockets with the plunder. A large bag of coin lying close nt hand was spurned liy the fellows.

Lou Dillon, haring trotted a mile in two minutes, has deposed Kin* Cresceus, and now wears the crown.