ATTACK ON A TRAIN BY BRIGANDS.

Lake County Press, Volume IX, Issue 469, 6 May 1880, Page 3

ATTACK ON A TRAIN BY BRIGANDS.

The ' Standard's' correspondent in Madrid says: More precise information about the attack on the Andalusia mail train by brigands shows that eighteen armed men, during Saturday night, entered and robbed the country "seat of the widow of Marshal Prim, near the railway. Afterwards they went to the house of a man whose duty it was to guard a gate on the line, and by menaces obliged him to make danger signals ho as to detain the express which approached shortly after midnight from Andalusia and was nearing the junction of Alcazar. The brigands took up two rails, which caused the engine to stop with a shock that awakened the passengers, broke the glass of the windows, and threw the parcels about the carriages. Amidst the darkness and pouring rain the people heard the brigands cry »• Halt," and they fired before they attempted to rifle the car, which contained £1,600 the money of the company. In the train, fortunately, were a lieutenant and five gendarmes, who fired as tbey left their carriages, and a desperate fight ensued. One gendarme acd one passenger were wounded. Marshal Serrano and his aide-de-camp gallantly joined the guards in fighting the brigands, who finally fled, having secured no booty, and deceived by the presence of mind of the Marshal and officers of the gendarmes, who, in the obscurity, gave loud orders as if they commanded a strong force. The train contained two hundred and fifty passengers, whose alarm was terrible, and several hours passed before a relief train with gendarmes and the authorities could arrive from Alcazar. The troops have gone in pursuit of the brigands, who, the Madrid papers say, belong to a gang of desperadoes infesting the mountains of the Province of Toledo. Communication has been re-established, and the line is now patrolled. The trains passed on safely on the night following the outrage. In the same district similar attacks happened in 1874 and 1876.