RAID ON A RUBBIAN MAIL TRAIN.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXXIII, Issue 10848, 15 December 1906, Page 5 (Supplement)

RAID ON A RUBBIAN MAIL TRAIN.

AN EXTRAORDINARY SCENE

REVOLUTIONIST DARING

The Russian mail-train robber is nothing if not thorough m his unlawful methods, judging from the following description by a passenger of the seizure at Ufa, on 16th October, of a train with a quarter of a million roubles of Government money : — "Suddenly we heard a loud noise m a second-class carriage which was occupied by six Government messengers, armed with revolvers, and eight soldiers, armed with rifles", who were guarding a number of iron-bound boxes. A few seconds later came the sound of revolvers, shots, and we saw strange men boarding the train. A soldier turned his bayonet upon the first assailant, who, however, stepped aside, seized the barrel, and, forcing the bayonet upwards, shot the soldier dead. Two other soldiers were wounded, and then a party of men, several of whom wore masks, sprang on to the train and swiftly disarmed the remaiii'lar of the escort and those passengers who were carrying revolvers. They bound the Government messengers and took possession of their keys and the iron-bound money boxes. The passengers were astonished at the rapidity of their movements and their obedience to their leader, who gave his orders through a speaking trumpet. The boxes were emptied by the side of the railway track, the money bags then being tied to the saddlles of horses which the robbers had ready near by. One Government messenger pleaded that his own 400 roubles were among the money m the strong box which he was protecting ,and asked for it. to be returned. The leader told him to leave his name and the money would be sent on to him at Ufa.

"While the unloading of the boxes was proceeding some of the passengers crept along the corridors and cried to the engine driver to steam ahead. The reply to this came from a voice out of the darkness. Speaking through a trumpet it ordered all the passengers to keep inside the train. A volley was then fired on the locomotive and the first carriage and a bomb wag exploded on the tender. The train remained still, and the passengers kept their seats during the half-hour taken by the robbers m completing the transference of the gold from the boxes. Yvhen this was done the leader's voice was heard calling for a return of the casualties to the Government escort. The reply was that one had been killed and three wounded. He responded that he was very sorry. Bandages and surgical dressings were thereupon placed aboard the train alongside the wounded men, and the assailants, who numbered about thirty, rode off with the captured gold into the night. The sum taken was i4l,i.vU roubles."