New Ulm Weekly Review

The St. Paul dailies contain an account of the boarding of a freight train at Mankato Junction, last Friday afternoon, by a number of tramps. The conductor was Mr. Chas. Zerath well known to many of our citizens, and E. L. Choate, engineer. As the train pulled out of Mankato Junction it was boarded by about thirty tramps, and conductor Zerath, in trying to drive them off, was attacked and defended himself with good effect by means of a coupling pin until the engineer and train men came to the rescue. The train was again started and run to Eagle Lake, where telegrams were sent to Supt. Sanborn, giving an account of the affair. Sanborn then telegraphed to Waseca for assistance, and the sheriff with a posse of about twenty-five men responded at once to the call and went on the train to Janesville to await the arrival of the tramps from Eagle Lake. The passenger train was left standing on the main track, and the tramp-laden train had to check up before reaching the place where the sheriff and his men were stationed, thus giving the tramps a chance to drop off and scatter in the timber. An attempt was made to surround them and they were also fired at by the sheriff's men, who started in pursuit, but they succeeded in getting only two of them, and those were taken to Waseca and lodged in jail. They are said to have been a desperate, determined crowd, all armed with knives and stones. Conductor Zerath is highly praised for his pluck in attacking them alone and unarmed.