HELD UP BY TRAIN ROBBERS.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 2217, 1 August 1914, Page 6

HELD UP BY TRAIN ROBBERS.

NPtU 71? AT AIUITCD'O EVriTIM/ 1 NbilY MiALANUIIK a MllliNu

EXPERIENCE.

HOW A DESPERADO MET HIS

-DEATH.

Wo are fairly well-accustomed to hearing highly-coloured narratives of train "holds-up" in America, and with that well-ingrained scepticism regarding .all things American are apt to think that fiction .can at times be made stranger than the truth. Our outlook on such happenings has undergone- a change as the result of a chat with Mr. David Evans, the well-known sheep expert, who arrived back from America,, and is , at jyesent in Wellington; Mr. Evans, who has no gifts as a romancer, was actually concerned in a train "hold-up" in Oregon— on July 1 last, to be explicit—as he was journeying from Boise (the capital of, Idaho) to, join the steamer at Vancouver. The trouble occurred.when crossing the Stato of Oregon, between Le Grande and Pendleton, at about 1.20 a.m. Lot Mr. Evans tell his own story. The Hold-up. "It is customary for the train to pull up at the summit of a big hill climb after leaving La Grande, to test the air-brakes prior to the run down the hill. This .is done, somehow . by, ah electric spark sent through the train from the engine—if it sparks all is well.' Just as the brakesman was about' to give the signal for , all clear, three masked men stepped out of the night, each carrying; a couplo of eix-shoot-ers — the leader : a big , man, .|6ver six feet in height. ,; ", '..,■' . .

"Signal that things are right, but riot to go on!" said:the leader, jamming his 'shooter'-into tho brakesman's facb. "Now: get-into the train—and no .noise I" The three bandits climbed in, covering the man, who' was scared: out of his wits, and they proceeded to go through the train.

"They drove tlie officials and'nigger •attendants before them, with their guns, looking murder at them, and passed through the train to the luggage van, where they ordered tho.';. (or clerk);to open , the safe, but be hadn't the combination or something, and couldn't ,d° it, so the bandits prepafcdto blow it up—they had schemed out every detail .wonderfully—but on the- clerk .'swearing with ■■ a loaded .■ revolver at bis throat that there was nothing of value in the safe, the leader said V.ho Would take his word, restored ..tho dynamite plugs to his bosom.'; ' < ..:'.''■ ",■'•■•."■ , "Deadwood Dick" Incident. •■ ".Then two'of tlie three, men Trent: 'through : 'th'e' train,' in the accepted -manner. One carried a.bag.someSiing' pillow-case, with an open mouth, end the others kept the .paseongers; thinking.of homeland their loved ones .with -their- four 'barkers.' When they had gone;through thecarriage the first time'most, of the: occupants were asleep or dozing (it was after.l a.m.), but soon the..people grasped, the fact that the train' was being held up by bandits who never,hesitated to shoot when the necessity'arose. 1 , -was travelling witlr a Mr. WnV. Riddell, : Of vOregon, and he was hard:to waken; ■--.■•'.. -.- ■

. "By tho time the robbers came back we'.were all on the alert. I had put my money (about 30.. dollars .;.:in,' a • purse). under some papcr6,vqnd.Kad.borfowed' about fifteen cents, from my. friend to make a show. .Along came the man with the open bag! whilst the' big inan—ho looked a giant—kept tip a running firej.of gentle instructions to those who were''satisfied with -things on this side of.eternity. ' ;..>_.. ; ' .• "Shell Out—Quick!" "Keep quiet—shell out, 'quick!—wo don't : want watches! Quick, I say! Down (as a man attempted to rise) —" sit down I , And all along the men were emptying: their pockets into the bag.' I-emptied out my fifteen or twenty cents with a great rattle, and showed an empty pocket. '• ■ ,", ■ ' ■ .. . "Behind me sat two blind men. 'They're blind!'.said a passenger. • [ ' ' ■ " 'All right—they want it more than us; get on!' ; .". ■. '

" 'That hunk on your chain, mister f drop it in!' said the big man to a pa'ssengjjj;. with ;a little nugget hanging' as a pendant to his watch-chain.

" 'Please allow me to keep it—it is a. from my daughter.' .'.'.- " 'Right—got a gal of my. own. Push on I' ■' ' ■• ■•■■■•■■•,

"They were not very particular with us—anyone could see they were in a ■hurry. It was argued afterwards that they had planned to make their big haul in the Pullman .ca-rs (sleepers), which were well filled with;, wealthy, politicians who had; beon' i attending ,a -conference at Boise (pronounced Boy-see).

> Ths Tables Turned. . "They went through the first two cars-' fairly quickly, and then entered the third, whichwas well'filled with women. They did. not waste much time, there, and the big-.man was just passing out into the vestibule at the «nd of the car when a little man who'had been appar-, ently asleep fired three shots quick into the back of the bandit.- .The two first' shots got him in.the body,'too low to reach the heart; the third found the brain, but .before the last bullet, had found its ,billet the bandit had partly turned, and shot clean into the .little man. Thanks' to a pocket-book in his left-hand iiwide -pocket, . the bullet glanced, and^only.aflesh-woundresulted. "As soon as,the big man was shot, the other man retreated to the baggage van, alarmed his mate, who was guarding the train officials, and together they .vanished into the night. I believe they had a motor-car handy,'but it did not avail. them much, for they were both .captured a day or two later.. ...'" • A Murderous Record. "The little, man who had' settled/the whole business so coolly was discovered to be M'Duffy, the Deputy-Sheriff 'of Hepnner County, Oregon, and the dead bandit was a man named Whitney, who had a record of four • murders and numerous : holds-up all over the country. "Thero was a price of 1000 dollars for liini' dead ■ or : ' alive, which I suppose M'Duffy will get. M'Duffy is a grand little man, full of sand and no skite—a man of action, who on the arrival of the train at Pendleton was hailed as a hero. He '"s running for Sheriff at tho next election, and I guess ho will wipe any other candidate off the earth. Whitney's accomplices wore proved to be 'green-' horns,' but it was proved that the holdup had been planned weeks ahead. , because of the .politicians on tho train. The Better Part of Valour, "You .ask. why no one did anything after thev first passed through the car/ riage? Well—l don't know. I didn't feel disposed, to .tempt the forefinger of that big. fellow all the time. He was out to kill anyone that was troublesome/ and! wasn't going to be shot for being ailly. Why, .there were men in tho, trahi with loaded revolvers in their pockets, who never attempted to draw them.: It's all very well to have a gun, but the ordinary individual shrinks at taking,life—especially when it's at tho risk of his own. I never thought the bore of.a revolver wns so big as Whitupy's seemed to me!"