Arizona Republican / October 2, 1894
The Quietude of Sunday Night Broken.
Southern Pacific Express No. 19 Held Up.
VERY SWIFT JUSTICE
One of the Robbers Riddled With Buckshot in Just Eight Hours After the Robbery.
SURPRISED IN THEIR CAMP.
The eastbound Southern Pacific train No. 19 was held up one mile east of Maricopa on Sunday night. The robbery was nominally successful, but eight hours later one of the outlaws was riddled with buckshot and is now lying in the county jail in deadly peril of the gallows.
The arms and horses of the band were captured and the two associates of the wounded robber are supposed to be skulking in the dense brush near Fisher’s ranch eight miles west of town. Accurate descriptions of the men have been sent out in every direction and their escape is regarded as an impossibility. They may not be captured today, they may succeed in leaving their hiding place in the thicket, but within two days every man in southern Arizona will be looking for them and they must turn up at some station or water hole.
How It Was Done.
The eastbound Southern Pacific, which arrives at Maricopa at 11:50, pulled in on time, and after the usual short stop sped on toward the east. Engineer Lon Holliday, having the prospect of a long uninterrupted run before him, was eating his midnight lunch, and his fireman was busy about the furnace. The engineer’s appetite was suddenly driven away by the appearance of a man in the door of the cab holding a revolver in each hand. Just before this, the engineer had noticed a white light ahead of him and was already bringing the train to a standstill.
The engineer and firemen were ordered to throw up their hands, and did so without argument or delay. “Can I finish my lunch?” inquired Engineer Holliday. “Certainly,” replied the accommodating robber, “we don’t want to hurt you boys. You just cut loose from the train and pull out.” No time was lost in following instructions, and the engine went on.
Conductor Martin was curious to know why the engineer had stopped. So was Brakeman Paul Maroney, and both stepped to the ground, the former from the front, and the latter from the rear platform of the train. The “ping” of a bullet near him and the sharp crack of a revolver satisfied the conductor’s curiosity and he went inside. The brakeman also knew how the land lay and jumped back on the platform.
There were three robbers, one very tall man, who wore a mask, and two others of smaller stature, who made no effort to conceal their faces. The man with the mask had evidently boarded the blind baggage at Maricopa and had climbed over the tender as the train began to slow up for the signal which had been put out by his confederates.
After the engine left the robbers terrorized the passengers and crew by shooting along the side of the train, and having satisfied themselves that there would likely be no interference, they ordered the express messenger, G. W. Mitchell, to throw open the door. He offered no resistance, and one of the robbers entered. At this
point the robbery was varied from the usual train robbery. The bandits were not provided with dynamite, and they made no attempt on the Wells, Fargo safe. They contented themselves with the contents of the box, $175, and took the messenger’s watch. The man with the mask jumped from the car and the robbers disappeared in the darkness. The whole thing lasted less than 20 minutes.
At length the engine returned and the train backed into Maricopa and messages were sent out in various directions announcing the holdup. The passengers were thoroughly demoralized. Some had hidden behind seats, and whatever other obstruction was liable to afford protection from the fusilade which was momentarily expected. Half a dozen men braver than in the moment of trial bragged about what they could and ought to have done. One man no less brave, but more honest, said: “I could’ve killed one of the robbers if I hadn’t been scared to death.”
The Pursuit.
The swiftness with which justice overtook the robbers is almost without parallel. Telegrams had been sent to Detective Breckenridge at Tucson, and he reached the scene of the robbery by special train in a couple of hours. Another dispatch was sent to the sheriff’s office here but it was not received until three o’clock.
Everything though happened to be in favor of justice that night. The sheriff and his posse had for several days been investigating the movements of a gang which they suspected of having robbed the Wickenberg stage two weeks ago, Hinton’s store at Alhambra a month ago and a street car in the city last Wednesday night.
The officers had learned the names of the five members of the gang, had just captured two of them and had located their places of rendezvous. One was near Mesa, another south of the city and the third about eight miles west of town.
On receipt of the dispatch Sheriff Murphy and Deputies Widmer, Prothero and Deputy United States Marshals Slankard, armed and mounted, set out for the latter camping place. They found it deserted and being already convinced that the train robbers were the men they had been hunting they hastened to the lower rendezvous nearly north of Fisher’s ranch. Before reaching it the pursuing party separated, Sheriff Murphy and Deputy Widmer proceeding straight on. About 8 o’clock they arrived in the neighborhood, and having already discovered a trail followed it in the dense brush until it brought them to a recently established camp. No one was in sight, but there were three horses and three Winchester rifles. The officers unloaded two of the rifles and concealed the third. They waited near the horses about ten minutes and at length through an opening in the bushes there came a man carrying an armful of hay.
“Throw up your hands,” cried Deputy Widmer. Instead of doing so, the robber threw down the hay, drew his revolver and just as he aimed at the sheriff, Deputy Widmer fired. The robber turned and ran, turning again to fire. There was another discharge from the deputy’s shotgun and a reply from the bandit’s revolver. As he turned the second time to run a bullet from the sheriff’s revolver struck him in the back and running a short distance he fell to the ground.
“Hold up your hands,” again commanded the officer. He held up one hand. “Put up the other,” said Widmer, but the robber couldn’t lift his arm and the officers went up to him.
“You ought to have thrown up your hands,” said Sheriff Murphy. “But I didn’t do it,” replied the prostrate bandit. He was put on a horse and with the other horses and arms of the robbers was brought to town, where the party arrived about 10 o’clock.
The Wounded Train Robber.
He was readily recognized by a dozen men, some of whom had known him from childhood as Frank Armer. He is from the Tonto country and comes of a respectable family. He is about twenty-two years of age and has a bad record. Nearly a year ago he was tried at Flagstaff for horse stealing, but was acquitted. He returned to the Tonto country and got into trouble there on account of supposed connection with irregular transactions in stock [livestock] and was ordered out of the community. Since then he has spent much of his time in the valley and on adjacent cattle ranges as a cowboy and is well known in Phoenix. His mother is postmistress at Armer station in Gila county.
His wounds were examined by Drs. Hughes and Dameron. One buck shot had struck him in the breast, several in his right arm and neck and there was a revolver bullet in his back. His wounds though not fatal were painful and he was put under opiates and he slept the greater part of the afternoon in the jail office. Last night he was locked up in the jail proper to guard against accidents. He told Dr. Hughes that the reason of his warlike demonstration when the officers came up was that he thought they were two men from Tonto who had threatened to kill him.
There were found upon him to gold watches and three $20 gold pieces. It was suspected that the watches were the ones taken from the conductor and motorman of the street car last week, but they were unable to identify them and the officers are convinced that though he belongs to the gang he was not present at that hold up.
Other Pursuers.
Soon after word was received of the train robbery, another party composed of Under Sheriff King, Constable Garfias, L. H. Orme and James Bark started in pursuit. They intended to take their horses on a flat car to Maricopa and set out from there, but learning that the robbers had come in this direction, they started out in the direction taken by Sheriff Murphy.
They did not reach the locality of the capture until long after it had been effected. They found the trail of the other two robbers in the bushes and followed it until it was too dark to see and returned to town, about 8 o’clock last night.
They discovered two more bundles of hay near where the shooting took place, one about twenty and the other about fifty steps from where the officers were standing. The two robbers had evidently came up just as the shooting commenced, and instead of coming to the assistance of Armer with their revolvers turned and fled to the bushes. The deputies returned soon after noon without having struck a trail.
At 11 o’clock a street car conductor reported that he had seen a man acting suspiciously in the vicinity of the track in [illegible] addition. He was seen carrying a revolver and seemed weary and anxious. His general description answered that of one of the men known to belong to the gang. Marshal Malloy started after him and, finding his trail, traced it down into the Mexican settlement below the cemetery, where it was lost.
No Doubt As to Their Identity.
Detective Breckenridge telegraphed the sheriff’s office yesterday that the train robbers had two gray horses and one bay, which description answers those captured by the sheriff and his deputy. One of the horses, by the way, is one stolen from the pasture of Charles Conger, near Phoenix, two weeks ago.
The men had been in Maricopa all of Sunday afternoon, and took dinner at Williams’ restaurant. One of them pawned a gold watch there, but later sold it to a brakeman of a passing freight train. Perry Williams recognized one of the men as Armer. After leaving the scene of the robbery they struck off in a northwesterly direction, and by the most direct route possible to the point where the capture was made. The distance is between 30 and 35 miles.
Other Crimes.
The authorities claimed to be in possession of evidence showing not only that the Wickenberg, the Alhambra and the street car robberies were committed by members of the same gang but their information is so definite that they know which particular members figured in each one. It is said that Armer was not present at the street car robbery, nor was he at the Alhambra, but that he was one of the bandits which held up the Wickenberg stage. He is known to have been in the vicinity of Congress for some time before and after the robbery. He was also in Phoenix at the time of the street car robbery, but was in another part of the town while it was going on.
Some of the officers believe that the other two robbers will return to Phoenix if they have not already returned. Though they run a great risk of recognition here it is hardly greater than at any other place they may go, and the town will afford facilities for hiding which they cannot enjoy in more sparsely settled neighborhoods. They are also said to have friends in town,who would assist them in keeping undercover until a convenient opportunity is offered to leave the country.
A horse hitched on First avenue, near Adams street, was stolen last night sometime before midnight and the owner, Ben Anderson, believes that the thief was one of the robbers.
The Crime of Train Robbery.
Arizona has a peculiar law against this crime, enacted by the Sixteenth legislature. In many states train robbery is a capital offense, but of different degrees, so that juries are given a merciful latitude in reaching a verdict. It has, therefore, never happened that a train robber has suffered capital punishment, unless the crime was attended by murder. In this territory, there is only one degree and one punishment, hanging. So Armer stands in the shadow of the gallows, from which you can emerge only by death from his wounds or by acquittal.
