The Lambertville Record

HOW TRAIN ROBBERS WORK.

Fifteen Masked Mexicans Wreck a Train and Rob it of $8,000.

About seven o'clock last night, as the northbound passenger train from Saltillo, on the Mexican National Road, reached a point about three miles north of Laredo, a station on the line dividing the States of New Leon and Tamaulipas, in our sister republic, the engine ran off the track, falling on its side in the ditch. Engineer Madan was seriously injured and Brakeman Charles Festler instantly killed. Investigation proved that the fish-plates had been removed and each rail set in enough so that the flanges of the engine wheels would run out side of them and thus cause a wreck. The passengers by this time had discovered that something serious had happened and had come down to examine. Together with Conductor A. S. Burt in charge, they returned to the rear coach to consult, when fifteen or twenty masked horsemen, differently dressed rushed out of the bushes and with drawn pistols and guns told them to get into the cars quick. Of course little time was lost in complying with the order. In a few minutes the robbers could be heard cutting and hammering in the baggage car. After a while they sent a man who called out "Burt," meaning the conductor. He answered: "Here I am, gentlemen; what will you have?" They told him to get down and go to the baggage-car. Accordingly he started. On his way he was accosted in good English by a man riding a large white horse and who was evidently the leader of the party in the following language:

"Conductor, we want you to get into the baggage car and open that safe and if you don't do it we will kill every American on this train."

The conductor answered very coolly that he would try, and attempted to get into the side door of the car. In this he failed and was assisted in making his entrance by the robbers. After he had gotten in two of the men were helped up and one was stationed at each door with drawn revolvers in hand. Mr. Burt discovered that the hinges and knob of the safe, which is burglar-proof had been knocked off by the robbers in their attempts to open it, and that it was now impossible to get at the contents and so assured them. They told him that they knew better and that they would kill him if he did not get into it. For the purposes of bursting it open he was handed an axe which belonged to the party and told to open that door. He went to work with the axe and cut away some time without any visible effect, which the robbers soon discovered and were willing to have him desist when he told them that no one could open it.

As they were returning through the baggage car Mr. Burt discovered several bars of silver bullion which had escaped their attention when the robbers first ransacked the car. This was thrown out, put on a horse and swelled their booty to the amount of $8,000. It was now about eight o'clock and the robbers had been forty-five minutes on the train, and they began to show evidences of getting uneasy. In a few seconds after receiving the last bar of bullion mentioned they said "Adios" and as they rode off south the conductor counted fifteen, all of whom had been busy in making him work.—Laredo Dispatch in the Globe-Democrat.