South of Eufaula, a southbound Missouri, Kansas & Texas train came upon a burning trestle near Wirth and was forced to halt before the flames could consume the bridge. Waiting there were three young bandits, each said to be under 25 years old, armed and ready to turn the delay into a robbery.
They moved with startling calm. The engineer, fireman, conductor, and a curious porter were held at gunpoint while the robbers uncoupled the engine, baggage car, and express car from the rest of the train.
Then, with the trestle still burning behind them, they forced the crew back into the cab and ordered the engineer to send the locomotive and two cars across the bridge.
The timing was nearly fatal. Barely a minute after the engine and cars passed over, what remained of the burning structure collapsed into the water below.
Half a mile beyond the bridge, the robbers stopped the train, blasted open the express safe, and disappeared into the woods with sealed packages of currency.
Posses were soon sent from nearby towns, but the boldness of the crime had already made its mark.
Katy Express is Robbed
Three youthful robbers held up a southbound Missouri, Kansas & Texas train south of Eufaula today, compelled the engineer to detach the express and baggage car and run them ahead.
They then blasted and rifled the express safe. Company officials said they believed the robbers got several thousand dollars.
By setting fire to a trestle near Wirth, the bandits had no trouble in flagging the train to a halt.
Although the flames threatened to destroy the trestle before their work was accomplished, the robbers moved deliberately. Covering the engineer and fireman with their revolvers they ordered them from the locomotive cab.
J.A. Dolan, the conductor, leaped from a coach and was lined up beside the engine men. A porter also fell a victim to his curiosity and was made to stand beside the conductor.
While one robber held the line of employees, the other two uncoupled the engine, baggage, and express car from the coaches. They then forced the trainmen into the cab and ordered the engineer to open the throttle. The engine, pulling the two cars, shot across the burning bridge.
What remained of the structure fell into the water a minute after the cars had passed.
Half a mile on the other side of the bridge, the bandits ordered the engineer to stop. The safe in the express car was dynamited and the robbers fled to the woods with their plunder. Express officials fear several thousand dollars was stolen.
The alarm was soon given and posses were sent from Crowder and Eufaula. Other posses left an hour later on special trains from McAlester and Muskogee. According to the descriptions given, each of the bandits was less than 25 years old.
Witnesses claim to have seen one of the robbers twice make trips from the express safe, each time with his arms full of sealed packages of currency. Posses found the outer wrapper of one of these packages, which had contained $3,500 cosigned by the Southern National Bank of Commerce of this city to the National Bank of Greenville, Texas.
Source: Omaha Daily Bee. Omaha, Neb. October 30, 1912.
