Hide Article Text (OCR)
THE THIEVES BAG NEAR LY $200,000. Mr. H. K. ‘Shackleford of Thom asville of the Train—His Ac count of the Hold up The bandits, ‘who held up a train the other night within twenty five miles of Washington city, were a bold set.And they made a big haul, the largest, perhaps, ever, mees by train robbers. The cash lost, it is said, tooks up fully $180, 000, and some ac counts put the loss higher than this. Mr. H. K. Shackleford ,of this place was on the train held up. He was on his wy to New York to take part in the hot campaign now going on in that state. Mr. Shackeford will keep the Turns: “ENTERPRISE posted about the progress” ‘ of the campaign in the Empire state,” ' The fact that the cor respondent of the Turs-ENTERPRISE was on the train may ‘account for the large amount of booty secured by the robbers, Mr. Shackeford ‘gave the following account of the robbery to the repre sentative of the associated press, upon his arrival in New York : “About seven or eight miles the other side of Quantico station, the train’ came ‘to a sudden standstill. Quantico is located on the Potomac river, on the Virginia side. When the train stopped, Conductor M. A. Birdsong was thus addressed by one of the masked robbers, evidently the captain of the gang: ‘**Throw up your hands, or we'll blow your brains out,’ “From the manner in which they arranged the ‘signal for stopping the train, as well: 28 the manner in which they afterwards made their escape, it was evident that several of the gang were experienced railroad men. That they were desperate men was even more evident, and the conductors and fireman lost the time in obeying their instructions, and wisely, too, I guess, “There were at least six or seven masked men, and I could plainly dis tinguish them all in the clear moon light of early evening. In fact so near did they come to me that in spite of their masks I am most ‘sure that I could recogr fina some of them if I could see them ‘again, from certain little peculiarities of dress or speech. ‘When the alarmed passengers crowded out of the cars to see what was the mater, the robbers fired a perfect fusilade of shots to intimidate them as well. AS to frighten the ‘rail road men. USED DYNAMITE ON THE CAR “The robbers ‘rifled the express car without any loss of time. They put their sticks “of dynamite under the door of the express car and blew it open. . “The manner in which these men got on the train was a mystery at first but we afterwards discovered that they in all probability boarded the car at White Brook station, a few mile @3 the other side of Quantico station. They evidently climbed up on the platform, and while the train was in motion worked their ‘way along the top of the cars until they succeeded in boarding the tender and cab. Then, without any ‘ceremony, they held up the en gineer and fireman, “The engineer is named Frank Gallagher. He was an old employe on the road and , as brave as could be, the railroad men tell me, but two or three of the villains attended to the engineer while two or three more of them attended to the express messen gers, and another one or two ‘kept guard on the’ ‘passengers and the train. TWITTED THE PASSENGERS. “Some of the desperadoes even ‘went so far as to converse in a clever, charg ing fashion with the passengers and train men. This made us all the more indignant, but we could do nothing to help ourselves. ‘All of the passengers were cool and, collected after the first flush of excitement was over. “The robbers ‘cut the engine looge, piled their plunders into’ the cab while the crowd piled in on top of it. They then turned oin steam and started for Quantico as fast as steam coul d carry them. The conductor pursued “the engine on foot as fast as he could run for six or seven miles. “When they reached Quantico sta tion it was, not that the desperadoes had turned the engine, loose and that by the cleverness of the operator it had been shes tracked and ditched just in time to ‘prevent a collision with the south bound train.”
Newspaper Details
Thomasville Times Enterprise
Thomasville, Georgia, US
Sat, Oct 20, 1894
Page 1
Full Page
Clipped by
Anonymous
USA 21 Jul 2026
Other Publications Near Thomasville, Georgia
Thomasville News
Thomasville Progress News
Thomasville Federal Mortality Census
Thomasville Weekly Times Enterprise
Thomasville Times Enterprise
