The following story shews the extent to which wholesale plunder may
be carried on in the United States of America: About eleven o’clock
on the night of Wednesday 19th September, 1877, an express train on
the Union Pacific Railway was approaching the little station of Big
Springs in Wyoming Territory. There wanted fully a quarter of an hour
to the time when it was due, and the station-master William Barnard
and his assistant had not yet commenced to prepare for its arrival;
the former was still in his office, the latter engaged somewhere about
the premises. All was as silent as a station generally is during the
intervals between trains; when the stillness was suddenly broken
in a manner no less unexpected than unpleasant. The door of the
office was burst open, and four men entering, seized the astonished
station-master, and told him that if he attempted the slightest
resistance or refused to obey their orders, his life should instantly
be forfeited. He had no choice but to submit; for he perceived clearly
by the words and actions of the intruders that they were members of a
large party of robbers, and that the station was completely in their
power. They all wore crape masks to conceal their features, but spoke
in their natural tones; and as the band consisted of thirteen men fully
armed, nothing but compliance with their demands was possible on the
part of the station officials. The place was solitary, the hour late;
and the robbers lost no time in carrying out their evidently carefully
prepared plans. The telegraph apparatus was their first object, and
this they compelled the station-master to destroy. Barnard endeavoured
to mislead them by only removing a portion of it, but it was of no
avail; one of the men angrily desired him to mind what he was about or
he would have a bullet through his head, and then ordered him to take
out certain parts of the instrument and give them to him; shewing by
his knowledge of the terms employed that he must have been a telegraph
operator himself. In the meantime the rest of the band had not been
idle. They compelled the porter to put out his ordinary signals for the
now rapidly advancing train; and they maintained the strictest watch
to see that nothing was done that might in the faintest degree create
alarm or suspicion.
All fell out exactly as they had anticipated: the train came gradually
to a stand in obedience to the signal, and ran blindly into the trap
prepared for it. The unconscious passengers, most of whom were asleep,
were quite at the mercy of the robbers, who lost not a moment in
diligently setting to work to make the most of the golden opportunity
before them. The train in the meantime had drawn up at the platform; it
was a long one, consisting of a saloon and two Pullman’s sleeping-cars,
besides ordinary carriages and luggage-vans; and there were a good
many passengers, nearly all of them sleeping soundly. A portion of the
gang at once made prisoners of the engineer and stoker; while four of
them compelled Barnard the station-master to go as he usually did to
the mail-van and knock at the door for admittance. George Miller,
the post-office agent in charge of the mails and specie, immediately
opened the door, when several of the robbers jumped in, one of them
holding a revolver to his head, while the others rapidly cleared the
drawers and boxes of all the money they contained; thus securing a very
large sum—about forty or fifty thousand dollars. They did not trouble
themselves to examine the letters; and a combination-safe containing a
very large sum in gold and notes was also left untouched; for it was
beyond their power to break it open, and neither Miller the agent nor
Patterson the conductor of the train knew the combined intricacies;
this the robbers obliged them to swear on their word of honour.
The gang then directed their attention to the passengers, most of
whom were now awake, and beginning to be aware of the unpleasant
circumstances in which they were placed. Some were inclined to resist
the highwaymen; but the more prudent among them counselled submission,
as very few of them had available firearms, and they were ignorant of
the strength of the band, and feared more serious consequences if they
were driven to resort to extremes. Of the likelihood of this they had
an early intimation; for a passenger who chanced to be standing on
the outside platform of one of the carriages as the train entered the
station, had a couple of pistol-shots fired at him, luckily without
doing him any injury. He retreated into the carriage, and was directly
followed by the robbers, who entered the car at both ends, and desired
the passengers to hold up their hands; a command they all instantly
obeyed. They were then rifled one after the other; their pockets
being thoroughly searched, watches, purses, and all loose money being
taken away. This was done in all the open carriages; but the doors of
the two Pullman sleeping-cars being locked, they did not obtain an
entrance into either; and the inmates probably thinking discretion
the better part of valour, remained ensconced within their shelter.
Whether it would long have served as such cannot now be determined;
possibly the robbers might have forced the doors had time been allowed
them; but fortunately for the travellers the whistle of an approaching
goods-train scared the gang, who made a precipitate retreat from the
scene of their depredations, carrying their booty along with them.
Relieved of their unwelcome presence, the passengers issued forth from
the cars and began to relate their various experiences. Luckily no one
was seriously wounded. The postal agent had been violently knocked
against the carriage-door at the first rush of the thieves, and was
considerably bruised, and another man had his forehead grazed by a
pistol bullet; but beyond those comparatively trifling injuries they
all escaped with the fright and the loss of every article of value on
which the robbers had time to lay their hands. Most of the passengers
in the open cars were cleared of whatever money they had about them,
and several of them lost gold and silver watches; but even in the
excitement of the moment a few of them had sufficient presence of mind
to enable them hastily to secrete purses and pocket-books, either
by slipping them under the cushions or dropping them on the floor.
A Jew named Harris was robbed of four hundred and fifty dollars and
his watch; but while raising his hands in obedience to the command
of ‘Hands up!’ he skilfully contrived to drop a roll of notes on the
seat beside him, which was overlooked by the robbers as they examined
his pockets. A miner who wore a belt containing eleven thousand
dollars in gold, was quick enough to fasten it round the waist of his
little child, who was not molested by the thieves, and this large sum
fortunately escaped their clutches. They managed, however, in the short
space of time at their disposal to make some very pretty pickings
out of the train; their gains being computed at fully fifty thousand
dollars, besides watches and other articles of value.
The scheme had evidently been a most carefully organised one, and was
carried out in every detail with perfect coolness and regularity, not
a moment being wasted, and the members of the gang having clearly been
previously instructed as to the duty each man was to perform. It is
supposed they had fastened their horses somewhere at the back of the
station, as on quitting the train they immediately disappeared without
leaving any traces behind them.
An alarm was at once given, and several parties started in pursuit;
but their search was entirely unsuccessful so far as regarded hearing
any tidings of the robbers. The following day a band of searchers
found among the mountains ten or twelve miles from the station of
Big Springs, a rifle, a pistol, and an empty money-box; proving
indisputably that the highwaymen had passed that way. It was well known
that some very notorious Missouri bandits were at large among the Black
Hills, and it is believed that they were the perpetrators of the attack
on the train. A large reward was offered for their apprehension; but so
far as we know, they have hitherto managed to elude all pursuit, and
it is doubtful whether they may ever be brought to justice. With such
possible contingencies, travelling by the Union Pacific, or any other
railway in the Far West, is not a pleasant idea to contemplate.