WAUPACA REPUBLICAN

September 2, 1895

 

STILL AT LARGE

 

Leader of the Gang That Held Up a Central Train

 

Stayed in the Car When the Dynamite Exploded

 

No Trace of the Train Robbers has yet been found.

Several Suspects Arrested

A Large Force Search the Swamp Sunday

 

            Lincoln Claflin, the general claim agent of the Wisconsin Central road, returned Monday from Waupaca where he has been since the train robbery last Thursday.  As soon as word of the robbery was received here Mr. Claflin went to the scene of the hold-up with several of the best detectives of the company and all progress on the case has been reported to him.  Mr. Claflin is in hopes that arrests of the bandits will follow within the next few days.  The detectives are at present on the track of four men who think may be the robbers.

            Mr. Claflin says that since the robbery there has not been an hour that something has not been reported which on its face looked as if it might be a valuable clue.  Each case has been carefully traced but so far there has been little progress in the case.

            A burglary has just been reported from Hancock, a small town southwest of Waupaca.  The burglars broke into the store of a merchant who deals in general merchandise, on Saturday night.  Though there was money and other valuables nothing was stolen but four new suits of clothing and four new outfits of underwear.  The robbers were seen the next morning making their way toward the Wisconsin river and detectives are now in pursuit of them.  The fact that nothing but clothing was stolen leads the officers to believe that they may be train robbers and that the object in stealing the clothing was to disguise themselves.  When last seen the robbers had clothing under their arms.

SCOURED THE COUNTRY.

            Mr. Claflin says that the country around Waupaca has been scoured for forty miles by farmers who are all very anxious to catch the bandits.  Every corner in the swamps and forests has been searched by the posse, the number of which are all armed and number fully 100.  Every stranger has been accosted and the entire county is nearly surrounded.  Every crossroad is being watched, and to prevent the bandits from escaping down the Wolf river in a boat the river is being patrolled on both sides.  A number of fishermen have gone down the river and have been mistaken for train robbers, but they have no difficulty in giving satisfactory explanations.

CAMP OF THE ROBBERS.

            The Pinkerton and railroad detectives have made several important discoveries. They have located the robbers’ camp just south of the railroad track where the robbery was attempted, and have also found, one-half mile from the scene, the bag in which the bandits carried the dynamite.  In the camp were found the files of the triweekly edition of The Detroit Free Press.  The files were complete from Aug. 13 to Aug. 25, and the papers bore the name of Shell Warner.  An attempt is being made to find out who Shell Warner is and where he received the paper.  It is now thought that one of the men came from Michi-gan and was interested in the train robbery which occurred about a month ago, of which a full account was given in the papers.  The belief that the leader of the bandits is a Michigan man is strengthened by the finding in the camp a bottle of medicine which has the label of a Mt. Pleasant, Mich., druggist on it.

THE LEADER AN OLD TIMER.

            Mr. Caflin has made a careful examination of the case and has arrived at the conclusion that the leader of the gang is an old time train robber and that the other three men were novices at the business.  From conversations had with Messenger Frederick Robinson he has learned that the leader of the bandits knew just how to go at the work.  Robinson at first refused to open the door of the express car and only did so under the threat that they would blow it open with dynamite.  When the door was finally opened, he says that the robber jumped into the car and the first question he asked was about his gun.  According to Mr. Cliflin the conversation was about as follows:

            “Where is your shot gun?”

            “I have none.”

            “You lie.  Where is your revolver then?”

            The revolver was produced and handed over to the bandit.  After he had pocketed it, he continued:

            “Give me the keys for this safe,” meaning the local safe.  The keys were handed him and when opened it and found no money he asked:

            “What safe is that?”

            “The through safe.  You can’t open that.”

            “I’ll bet you I can; get out of the way here.”

HOW HE WORKED AT THE SAFE.

            “Aren’t you going to give a man a show for his life?” asked the messenger when he saw the robber lead him off to the corner of the car to wait the explosion.

            “That charge will blow us to pieces.”

            “Well,” said the bandit, “I guess you need not stay here.  I think I’ll go out myself,” and he then led the messenger out of the car.  When the explosion occurred and the safe was found intact the leader said that there was no use wasting any further time and withdrew.

            The bandit then set to work.  He took out his dynamite and after the knob had been wrenched off he inserted a stick of the explosive in the safe.  From the way he went to work the messenger made up his mind that he knew what he was doing.  After the first charge had been fixed he took the messenger by one hand, and holding his lamp in the other, went to one end of the car while the explosion occurred.  As soon as the fuse began to burn he told the messenger to stand on his tiptoe, to avoid the shock.  The explosion blew out and shattered the lamp in the car, but with the assistance of his oil lamp the leader had no difficulty in inserting another charge.  In this way the leader worked until the twelfth charge was reached.  While the explosions took place he stood with the messenger in one corner of the car.  The twelfth charge was a stick and one-half.  When he was ready to discharge the dynamite the messenger became frightened, thinking that the entire safe and car would be wrecked.

            The messenger says that he had nothing to do but to watch the men and will know them again if he sees them twenty years from now.  While the leader was working he was perfectly cool and every move showed him to be an experienced safeblower.  He cut his hand in some way and all the tools were bloody.  When he observed that he was bleeding, he remarked:

            “That’s bad.  I would not have done that for a nickel.”

            He evidently thought that the wound would be means whereby he could be easily identified as one of the robbers if he was captured.  The messenger said that every time the dynamite was handed by the leader his companions looked frightened, and when the dynamite was discharged they ran out of the car and hid underneath it while the leader stood coolly in a corner and waited for the doors to fall on the floor.

            A tramp isn’t safe to show himself within twenty miles of Waupaca.  If he does he is likely to be made to give an account of himself.

            The box in which the dynamite was shipped was found on the farm near the scene of the attempted robbery.  The detectives are trying to locate one Finley, an ex-convict, who has been working at carpenter work near Sheridan, the past summer, and who married a young girl and left three weeks ago.  A gang of detectives representing the Pinkertons, the railroad, and the national express company, are on the ground looking after the robbers.  The two men arrested gave a good account of themselves and were discharged.

            W.C. Herman, of New London, deputy sheriff, brought in a fellow who was arrested at New London Saturday noon.  He came into Royalton on the Green Bay road about 10 o’clock, and sat down at a table in a saloon and called for two glasses of beer.  He had a large oil cloth satchel, and pulled a slouch hat rather down over his eyes.  Dr. Irvine and several men were standing on the steps, and commenced talking about the attempted robbery.  The fellow hurried away without saying anything.  At the next station, Northport, he stopped at a saloon, called for another beer, and asked if they had a paper with something about the train robbery.  Then he went on to New London.  D. Lytle, of Royalton, and constable Moody, of Northport, went on to New London, to notify Deputy Sheriff Herman and head off the tramp.  Mr. Herman arrested him at the Green Bay depot.  The fellow gave his name as Henry Martin, and said he was going to his home in Pennsylvania, but was going to get a gold watch he had left in a hay loft last spring.  There was nothing in the satchel, but it looked black inside.  He said it was his bread basket.  Although the fellow had a revolver and $16 in silver on his person, he could give no account of himself, where he got it, or where he had taken his meals.

            Sheriff Peterson had a force of 100 men Sunday searching the swamp on the edge of which the train was wrecked.  Farmers living near complained of having their cows milked, sheep killed, potatoes and garden truck stolen.  The search, however, proved fruitless, no one being found.  Places were discovered where fires had been made and cooking done, but it is thought it was the work of tramps.

            Sunday Deputy Sheriff Safford brought down Finley, alias Baker, whom the officers have been trying to locate, from Big Falls, and lodged him in jail.  He claims to be able to prove an alibi.  Upon examination the officers were satisfied he was not wanted, so they let him depart in peace, Monday.

            The officers arrested three men at Scandinavia, Monday afternoon, who gave their names as Dick Glenn, William Dalton and John Burke.  They appear to be all around crooks.  They had a lot of jewelry with them.  They were unable to give an account of or to tell where they were last Thursday evening.  Supt. Vickers of the National Express and Supt. Vallins of the Pinkerton Detective agency express the opinion that they may have had something to do with the holdup, and that the jewelry found with them may have come out of the jewelry trunk that was blown open in the car.  The man arrested at New London claims to have hid a gold watch in a barn at Weyauwega and he has been taken there to see if he can find it.  The officers have a bag marked “N.H.S.” that was found in the car.

            The three suspects arrested Monday were examined Tuesday before Justice Scott, and it was found the jewelry which they had on their persons belonged to H.N. Nash of Northport, being goods which the tramps or crooks burglarized from his store about a week ago Tuesday.  They will be examined on the charge of burglary on Friday.