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'DA'RIJVG T'RA.IjW
Always Worked Alone, but
Dressed Up “Dummy” Robbers
with Wooden Guns and Planted
Them Along the Track; Oliver
Perry's Express Car Robberies;
Other Remarkable Cases
'RO'B'BE'RS—Charles Boles, Who
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While the train sped along the robber
had managed to cut a hole in the front
door large enough to admit his body.
Then he had wriggled like a snake up
through the heap of merchandise and
crawled along the narrow space which
. separated the top of the pile from the
k>ot of the car.
There he lay flat on his stomach—his
right hand outstretched and pointing a big
revolver at the messenger’s head.
The messenger reached instinctively for
his own revolver, which lay on the top of
• w his desk. But the'robber was too quick
for him.
/Springing like a panther from his lofty
perch, he landed squarely on top of the ex
pressman and bore him to the floor.
Perry’s hand tightened like a vise on the
half stunned messenger's throat, and when
he had choked him into insensibility he
cowardly struck the helpless man several
brutal blows with the butt of his revolver.
Next he tied his hands and feet and
bound a handful of cotton waste over his
mouth for a gag.
Rifling the safes was an easy matter, for
the door of one stood open and the other
was not locked. He took from them $5,000
in cash besides quite a quantity of jew
elry.
How- to get off the train was his next
problem. At forty or fifty miles an hour
jumping would have been surclde. But he
must get off at once—he had no idea when
the train would stop again, and at any
minute he was liable to be discovered by
some of the trainmen.
He stepped out on the platform, first
making sure that the baggageman in the
car behind was not looking.
Gripping the platform rods in his pow
erful hands, he lowered himself at the risk
of his life down between the moving cars.
He drew a long knife and severed the hose
through which the compressed air that
operates the brakes is carried.
1 >ur
messeqger
t him
As Perry knew, the cutting of this hose
would at once set the brakes on every car.
train slowed down with a series of
grinding Jerks. Before it came to a full
stop Perry jumped off unobserved and dis
appeared in the darkness.
This crime caused great excitement be-
Express Car Robbery
omach on the swaying roof of the express car—
e from the engine and in danger of being hurled
of the speeding train. Inch by inch he drew
ntilator shaft which stuck up through the roof,
g rope to this, he tied the other end around his
e tightly with his left hand and began to lower
; side of the car. It was an undertaking which
trhuman strength and nerve would have dared
lir by one arm, he took his revolver in his free
s in the door of the car.
kill you!” he shouted.
s meslenger reached for the bell cord, which
ifore his hand reached it the robber fired twice,
trough the broken pane, he drew the bolt slid
fmself down .into the car.
cause it was so unusual In this section of
the country. The robber had left abso
lutely no clue to his identity, and the ex
press messenger, who hovered between life
and death for several weeks as a result of
the cruel begting Perry had given him,
was unable to supply a very clear descrip
tion. The mystery was made all the
deeper by the surprising way the robber
had stopped the train in order to make his
escape.
Although large rewards were offered for
the robber's capture, Perry coolly con
tinued to live in Rochester, Syracuse and
other cities where he was well known. He
squandered the proceeds of his crime in
riotous living, and within six months was
as penniless as he had been before. Then,
emboldened by his previous success, he
began to look about for an opportunity for
another train robbery.
This time he selected Syracuse instead
of Albany as the starting point for his ven
ture. Just east of the city was a signal
tower where trains often made brief stops.
.For a week Perry haunted the vicinity
of this tower every night, familiarizing
himself with the movements of the trains
and watching for the opportunity to board
one unobserved. Concealed underneath
his coat he carried a long coil of stout
rope which, as you will see, was quite es
sential to the success of the plan he had
in mind.
The chance he had been waiting for
came at last. One evening when an east
bound train halted at the tower for an in
stant he managed to climb unobserved
onto the platform of the firsl car—an ex
press car—just behind the engine.
As soon as the train started he climbed
up on the railing of the platform and, by
bracing one foot against the tender of the
engine, succeeded in raising himself up to
the roof of the car.
Perry's Daring Feat
>4*
How “Black Bart,” the Train Robber, Deceived His Victims With “Dummy” Riflemen
"Black Bart,” the train ronber, never used vio
lence. The shotgun he carried was never loaded,
and he never took a life or injured a human being.
He always worked alone, bbt by an ingenious de
vice he deceived his victims into believing that he
had with him a number of armed men.
With jute bags or pieces of tent canvas he built
a screen about three feet high between two trees or
two piles of rocks. The outside of this ambush he
carefully masked with branches of trees and chunks
of sod. Behind it he stuck in the ground half a
dozen sticks, and on each stick he hung a sombrero
and an old coat.
These hats showed above the ambush just as
they would have if there had been real men under
neath them. Below each hat ‘‘Black Bart” stuck a
piece of broomstick painted black to give the sem
blance of rifle barrels. It all looked very real and
very formidable—for all the world as if six men
were crouching there with rifles in hand, ready to
fire at the first sign of resistance.
Time and again fast express trains on the west
ern roads would be stopped just at dusk in some
lonely spot by the frantic waving of a red flag.
When the engineer jumped down to see what the
trouble was he was confronted by “Black Bart,”
dressed in a long linen duster "and a tall, cone-
shaped hat such as clowns in the circus wear. At
the point of his shotgun the robber forced the en
gineer and fireman to uncouple the engine and run
it a few hundred feet down the track.
By this time the passengers and trainmen were
pouring out of the cars to learn the cause of the
delay. "Black Bart” wasted few words on them.
Nodding his head significantly in the direction of
the "riflemen,” whose hats and "gun barrels” showed
from the ambush at the side of the track, he said
loud enough for all to hear:
“Don’t fire unless I give tne word, boys!”
The hint was quite sufficient. Convinced that
they were at the mercy of a large band of desper
ate men, passengers, trainmen and express messen
gers quickly handed their valuables over to “Black
Bart.”
When he had secured all the plunder he uttered
a threat about not looking back on penalty of being
shot at by his "companions” and allowed the train
to move on.
By the time he reached the roof the
train was going fifty miles an hour. The
speed made his peroh a perilous one, par
ticularly as where he lay on the smooth
roof there was nothing for his hands to
grip or for his feet to brace themselves
against.
The thick smoke from the engine almost
suffocated him—the hot cinders blinded
him—and the car swayed from side to side
so violently that he was in constant, dan
ger of being hurled off.
But, by lying flat on his stomach, with
his arms and legs outstretched, he man
aged to keep from slipping off the rock
ing car. After some little time he was
gradually able to draw himself along inch
by inch until one hand clutched a steel
ventilator shaft which stuck up through
the roof.
His hold on this made his position much
more secure. Soon, as he became more
accustomed to the motion of the train and
the dense cloud of smoke and cinders
which constantly enveloped him, he was
able to do more than merely hold on.
He took from his pocket a black mask
and tied it over the lower part of his
face. From underneath his coat he
pulled out the rope, fastened one end of it
securely through the ventilator and tied
the other end around his waist.
For several minutes he waited patiently
for the engine's headlight to reveal a long
stretch of straight level track ahead. When
at last it did, and the motion of the train
became less violent, he gripped the rope
tightly with his left hand, gave it two or
three turns around his wrist, and began
to lower himself cautiously down the slop
ing roof and over the side of the car.
It was a hazardous undertaking, and
one that only a man of almost superhu
man strength and nerve would have dared
attempt. His hand was bleeding from the
friction of the rope long before his feet
touched the narrow moulding a third of
the way down the side of the car, which
gave his straining muscles their first re
spite.
For a moment he rested in this diffi
cult position. Then he resumed his slow
and painful descent until at last he could
look right into the car through the glass
in the upper half of the sliding door
There stood the safe which he hoped to
rifle. In front of it, with his back <o the
door, Btood the express messenger busily
engaged in checking off his list of valu
able packages.
With his one free hand, Perry reached
into his pocket and took -out a big revol
ver. Smashing a light of glass in the
door with the butt of this he shouted at
the top of his voice:
“Open that door or I’ll kill you.”
The startled messenger looked around,
saw the masked robber and at once reached
up to pull the emergency bell cord which
would ptop the train.
But Perry was ready for that very ’move.
The big revolver barked twice in rapid
succession before the messenger’s hand
could grasp the cord and the expressman,
bleeding from two wounds in the shoul
der, fled to the forward end of the car
As he disappeared from view, Perry
put his hand through the opening where
■he had broken the glass, drew the bolt
and slid the door open. In another sec
ond he had swung himself into the car,
and stood there, revolver in hand, facing
the plucky messenger.
By this time the messenger had seized
his own revolver. He was game enough,
but he was badly wounded and not a good
shot under any conditions. He fired at
Perry—the shot went wjfd and Perry re
plied with one that took effect.
The robber would soon have been in
sole possession of the car and its valu
ables had not the train just then slowed
down for a stop which Perry had evidently
not taken into his calculations. Aroused
by the shots, the conductor, two brakemen
and several passengers came hurrying to
the rescue.
As they entered the car Perry jumped
out of the door by which he had entered
and ran down the track. There was no
time to take anything from the open safe
where $10,000 worth of cash and jewelry
lay in full view.
With two shots from his revolver
Perry drove the engineer and fireman
from an engine which stood on a nearby
Siding. Climbing up into the cab he
pulled the throttle wide opqn and the loco
motive leaped ahead at a 60-mile an hour
clip.
Luckily the steam in the engine Perry
had seized was low and after running
three miles its power gave out complete
ly. It came to a dead stop just in time
to avoid a collision with an oncoming ex
press train.
Perry leaped to the ground and started
off across a field, reloading his revolver as
he ran.
His Attempts to Escape
But his pursuers, who had followed him
on another engine, were close behind him.
Before he could gain the shelter of the
wooded country towa 1 which he was
Heading, they had surrounded him and
succeeded in making him a prisoner—not,
however, until Perry had used his last
cartridge and had desperately wounded
several of the railroad men.
Crime seldom has a speedier or more
appalling sequel than it did in Perry’s
case. Popular indignation against him
ran so high that his trial was hurried and
he received the extreme penalty of forty-
nine years and six months in State prison,
which, although Perry was then only a
young man, amounted practically to a life
sentence.
But Perry’s crimes did not end when
the doors of Auburn prison closed behind
him. He raged like a madman and seized
every opportunity to make murderous at
tacks upon his keepers and fellow prison
ers.
Before he had served six months of his
sentence he contrived to escape by saw
ing the lock off his cell door, half killing
a keeper and risking his life by a leap
of thirty-five feet from the top of the
prison wall to a heap of rocks below.
He was recaptured in less than twenty-
four hours. Becoming convinced that he
was really insane, the prison authorities
had him removed to the asylum at Mattea-
nails destroyed the sight of one eye in
stantly, and Perry completed his total
blindness by rubbing the other eye with
fine bits of glass.
The kindest thing one can think of this
unhappy man is that he was tnsane from
boyhood. But whether he was or not the
miserable existence he is now draggihg
out at Matteawan is another powerful ex
ample of the fact that crime does not pay,
and this is why I could not afford to
neglect telling his sad story.
And now I must tell you about some of
the remarkable exploits of John Brady and
Samuel Browning—as desperate a pair oi
robbers as ever rifled an express car and
shot helpless men in cold blood
Late one stormy night a track walker
named Kelley was speeding along a lonely
stretch of railroad near Davisville, Cal.,
on his track tricycle.
Suddenly two men leaped out of the
underbrush at the side of the track and
stood directly in his path. To avoid run
ning them down he brought his tricycle
to a sudden stop.
At once they sprang upon him, dragged
him to the ground and bound and gagged
him so securely that he could neither
move nor speak. After emptying his
pockets of a little money and taking hie
red lantern and a box of railroad torpe
does, they demolished the tricycle by
pounding it with stones and threw the
broken pieces of the machine down under
neath a culvert. This done they disap
peared in the darkness.
These two men were Browning and
Brady, and their attack on the track walk
er was the first step-in a long series of
daring crimes which finally brought one of
them to a horrible death and sent the other
to prison for life.
wan.
Although kept constantly under the
closest guard he soon succeeded in escap
ing from Matteawan even more easily
■than he had from Auburn.
This time he was at large four weeks.
When finally arrested in the railroad yards
at Weehawken, New Jersey, he was about
to put into execution a plan for an ex
press car robbery as daring as those in
which he had already figured.
Falling in these attempts at liberty he
devised a fiendish way of putting out his
eyes in the hope that blindness might win
the Governor's sympathy and secure his
pardon.
The apparatus he constructed for this
purpose was a weird masterpiece of me
chanical skill.
In two holes in a piece of board Perry
inserted two long sharp nails. These were
so placed that when the board lay across
his forehead they were directly above the
pupils of his eyes.
Above these nails was suspended a
heavy dumbbell, which, when let fall,
would drive their steel points deep into
the eyes. The release of ,the dumbbell
was ingeniously arranged by attaching to
it a spring on which a lighted candle was
placed. When the candle burned beyond
a certain point its weight decreased suf
ficiently to release the spring and let the
dumbbell fall.
Perry put the apparatus in place one
night after his keeper had left him. The
Two Famous “Hold-Up” Men
A few minutes later the whistle of a
fast overland train sounded in the dis
tance. As it drew near the spot where the
helpless track walker lay the engineer
was startled to see a red lantern waving
across the track and to hear at the same
instant the sharp report of two torpedoes—
the customary signal that there was dan
ger ahead.
As the train responded to the air brakes
and slowed down the robbers—wearing
black masks and carrying revolvers—
climbed up on either side of the cab.
They made the astonished engineer and
fireman hold their hands above their heads
and walk back to the third car from the
engine—a Wells-Fargo express car.
"Uncouple that,” said Browning, shov
ing his revolver into the fireman’s face,
and pointing to the coupling between the
express car and the one behind it. The
fireman, with trembling hands, obeyed.
Still covered by the robbers’ guns, the
engineer and fireman were marched back
to the engine and ordered to pull the
three cars several miles down the track.
When they finally came to a stop the
engineer and fireman were again taken
out of the engine and made to accompany
the masked men back to the express car.
But Paige, the express messenger, had
suspected what the trouble was and had
loqked the door and barricaded the win
dows as well as he could with packages
of freight.
When the robbers pounded on the door
and commanded him to open it he refused
and announced that he would shoot the
first man who attempted to enter.
"Tell him that if he doesn’t open that
door we’re going to shoot you full of
holes,” said one of the bandits and he
emphasized his words by firing a bullet
so close to the engineer’s head that it
ploughed through the visor of his cap.
The engineer was in terror of his life.
Shaking in every limb, he added his pleas
to the profane threats of the robbers.
“Think of my wife and babies, Paige,’’
he begged, "and let these men in before
they kill me.”
The express messenger was between two
fires. If he did his duty to his employers
and kept the robbers out he would be
bringing death to his friend, the engineer.
Was it worth sacrificing a man’s life to
protect the company’s property? And, If
he did not open the door, would they really
carry out thetr threat?
Just then the engineer cried out in ter
ror as another bullet whistled by his ears.
Quite evidently‘the robbers were going to
be as good as their word, thought the
messenger, and he reluctantly unbarred
the door and slid it oq>en.
The contents of the safe—$53,000 in
bags of gold—were quickly emptied Into
their sacks, and the robbers made the en
gineer and fireman carry the plunder to
the engine.
The engine was uncoupled, and with a
few parting threats the robbers entered
the cab, pulled the throttle wide open and
sped away Into the night.
Their Last Crime
After going about three miles they re
versed the engine and jumped to the
ground. The wild engine ran backward
until It crashed into the cars It had left,
making such a bad wreck that pursuit of
the robbers-was delayed for hours.
The loot taken from the express car
was so heavy that it could not have been
carried any great distance without attract
ing attention and the detectives were
convinced that It must have been burled
near where the robbers abandoned the
engine. A vigorous search, however,
failed to reveal its hiding place until years
later. But that is another story which I
will give you in these pages some day soon
The inevitable end of the career of this
reckless pair of criminals came when they
undertook the robbery of an express train
near Marysville, Cal.—and all, as I will
tell you, through the presence of mind of
a negro sleeping car porter.
The train was stopped in the usual way.
Several well aimed shots frightened the
messenger into letting them Into his car.
But the safe was locked and the messen
ger protested that he was not in 'posses
sion of the combination. After bullying and
threatening him for several minutes the
robbers became convinced that he was
telling the truth, and, having no dynamite
and not being experts at solving combina
tion locks, they decided there was nothing
of value they could get in the express car.
"Well,” said Browning, with an oath,
”we must pay expenses, and ’ if there’s
nothing here for us we’ll have to see what
the passengers have -to offer.”
Seizing an old pair of overalls, he tore
off the legs, and by fastening the ends
together made two A>ugh bags. One of
them he handed to the fireman, the other
to the engineer. Revolver in hand, he led
the way to the smoking car.
"Hand over your valuables!” he shouted
as he strode down the aisle. “Hand over
everything you’ve got or you’re dead men.”
Behind him came the engineer and fire
man, unwilling -assistants in this crime,
holding out their bags to receive the
watches, pocket books and pieces of jew
elry which the passengers produced.
Brady brought up the rear, threatening
with his revolver any who hesitated and
making sure that no victim escaped.
When one man refused to part with
his wallet, Brady hit him over the head
with the butt of his revolver and snatched
his valuables from his pockets as he fell
over senseless.
After stripping every man in the smok
ing car of his valuables, Browning led the
way into the first of the sleeping cars. At
sight of the masked men and their weapons
several of the passengers started to run
out of the rear door, but quickly returned
when Browning fired a shot over their
heads.
Right here something unexpected hap
pened—one of those chances which even
the cleverest criminals cannot wholly
guard against, and just such a one as I
have often seen spoil the most carefully
planned robberies. It proved the one
thing necessary to bring the careers of
Browning and Brady to an end.
The first person they met as they en
tered the sleeping car was a negro porter,
his teeth chattering with fright. Browning
shoved him down into a serl and took
away h1s gold watch.
That was what proved a fatal mistake.
Hc.j Brady not taken the darkey’s watch,
be and Browning might have gone on loot
ing the train unmolested and made their
escape just as they had so many times
before
But tnat watch was the negro’s dearest
possession—he had been saving money for
a year to get it, and this was the first
time he had worn it. Frightened as he
was, he began to turn over in hia bead
plans for recovering his precious property.
Suddenly ne remembered that J. J. Bo-
gard, the Sheriff dl Tehama County, was
a passenger on the train. He was a fre
quent traveller on this train, and the por
ter had seen him board a rear sleeper at
San Francisco on this trip.
If anybody could recover his watch,
thought the darkey, Sheriff Bogard was
the man. He had a reputation all over the
Pacific Coast for bravery, and the porter
had once seen him single-handed- subdue
a party of cowboys who were "shooting
up” a railroad station.
The Price They Paid
Thoughts of his lost watch made the
negro bold. When the robbers reached
the middle <jf the car he slipped out of
the front door and ran alongside the train
to the very last car, where the Sheriff
lay in his berth ignorant of the trouble
ahead.
“Oh, Mr. Sheriff,” the excited darkey
called, "the train is full of robbers, and
they’ve stolen my new watch!”
The Sheriff hastily dressed and, pistol
in hand, rushed through the train and
boldly faced the robbers. His first shot
pierced Browning’s heart, killing him in
stantly.
The next instant Brady fired—killing the
Sheriff and seriously wounding the fire
man. Without stopping to gather up any
of the booty he backed out of the car, emp
tying his revolver promiscuously as he
went, and injuring several passengers.
Brady escaped on the bicycle on which
he had ridden to the scene of the robbery.
The wheel Browning had used was found
hidden in some underbrush nearby. With
this bicycle as a clue the detectives iden
tified the dead bandit as Browning and
finally succeeded in running Brady to
earth. He is now serving a life sentence
in San Quentin prison.
These are only a few of the thrilling
train robbing incidents I could tell you,
but they are enough for my purpose—to
show you that this variety of robbery is
as profitless as every other crime.
For every train robber the final result
is Inevitably the same—death or impris
onment for a long term of years. And be
cause of the bloody deeds he has to do to
gain his ends the remorse which eventu
ally overtakes him is even keener than
for other criminals.
Most of the train robbers who are liv
ing to day are in prison, and of those who
are at liberty I know of none who has any
offthe money that his crimes brought him.
If they speak the truth they will add their
testimony to the overwhelming weight of
evidence which has proved to me beyond
question that CRIME DOES NOT PAY
SOBHIE LYONS.
Next ’Sunday Sophie Lyons will Reveal the Secret* of the Amazing
Career of Mark Shinburn, the Uncrowned “King of the Burglars,” the
Most -Scientific and Expert Cracksman Who Ever Terrified Bank Official*
and the Police.