|
Every enemy of law
and order was quick to voice praise of the boldness and nerve of the
perpetrators of the robbery, and
Nevada
acquired the dubious credit of being one of the first States in the
Union that could produce a set of
outlaws daring
enough to stop and rob an express train. Immediately, large rewards
were offered by the authorities of Washoe County, by the State of
Nevada,
the Central Pacific Railroad, and by the Wells-Fargo
Express Company, for the apprehension of the robbers,
aggregating $30,000. It is needless to say that many men were working
on the case in a few hours.
The hold-up occurred
in this manner: Just as the train pulled out of the Verdi station it
was boarded by five masked men. Two of them climbed into the cab of
the engine and covered the engineer and the fireman with six-shooters.
The engine was surrendered at once. Another boarded the front platform
of the express car, while two others took possession of the rear
platform. After the train had proceeded about half a mile east of
Verdi, the men on the engine ordered the engineer to whistle "down
brakes." This was before the days of air-brakes and one short blast of
the whistle brought the brakemen to the platforms, where they began
the work of setting the brakes. This was also a signal to the three
men on the express car to cut the bell-rope and pull the coupling pin
at the rear of the car. As soon as this was done the engineer was
ordered to "give her steam," which he did at once, and when Conductor
Marshall went forward to ascertain what had caused the stoppage of the
train, he discovered he had lost his engine, mail car, and express
car.
The robbers then
sped down the grade with this part of the train, leaving the other
cars at a standstill. The engineer, realizing what was being done, at
first refused to pull out, but the muzzle of a pistol against his
temple caused him to obey orders. The fireman was nearly frightened
out of his senses and did not have to be told more than once to do
anything.
At a point four or
five miles west of Reno the engine came to a halt because of an
obstruction on the track, placed there by a confederate of the
robbers. They had figured that the engineer might run past the place
designated for the hold-up or might play them some trick by opening
the throttle and jumping from the engine.
After
the engine was stopped there was a knock at the door of the express car,
and Frank Minchell, the messenger, called out, "Who's there"? and the
reply was, "Marshall." The messenger then opened the door and, instead of
seeing Conductor Marshall as he expected, was confronted by the muzzle of
a double-barreled sawed-off shotgun. He was taken completely by surprise
and surrendered without any fight. After telling him to sit down in the
corner of the car and keep quiet, the robbers threw the Wells-Fargo sacks
of gold, containing $41,000, through the side door of the car into the
brush, thanked the messenger for giving them so little trouble, adding
that they were glad they did not have to kill him, shouldered their booty
and disappeared into the darkness. |
|