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Show ! BANDITS HOLD UP AND ROB A TRAIN I BETWEEN SAN FRANCISCO AND OGDEN . ' "osscs Are Out in Every Direction Near kf Benicia and a Battle With the Outlaws pj is PossibIeTliree Men Supposed to y Have Taken Part in the Robbery )L I oral passengers approached and opened open-ed Ore on the robbers. The bandits seized Marsh and the fireman and, using them as shields, returned the Are, shooting over their shoulders. Marsh shouted to the crew to put up their revolvers, which was done and the attacking party retreated. There Is little doubt that the bandits ban-dits mistook the China-Japan mall for the Portland express which carried a largo amount of cash, a fact believed to have been known to them. Sacramento reports that the nolo found In the poeketbook of an overcoat, over-coat, which wasdiseovered In the en- i glne of No. 10. where It is supposed to have been left by the bandits; reads as follows: , "Pete, you will find a map; study it carefully. We will stop at first crossing outside of Sulsun; you beat It back to Benl catch No. 14 which leave3 there at 12:23 a in.; keep your eyes rod ears open, Bill, and I have our wheals plauted at Pierce's ranch, we go like blazes to Sacramouto. will meet you at our saloon next day, take automobile and go back to Pierce's, get swag and divcy it up." The detectives are Inclined to think the note was intended as a hoax but are working on clues suggested by It, however. (Conlinned on Page Seven ) Mi j? San Francisco, April lS Up to noon k ! today no clue to the present wherc- f : nbouts of the daring bandits who held l' up I rain No. 1, Southern Pacific, a r few miles cast of Benicia, Saturday j r.lght. securing live sacks of through '! registered mall, had been discovered, - , although the hills of Contra Costa , county, between Martinez and Oak land, in which they are thought to be , hiding, are swarming with armed men. 'I - Reports received from the Associated ;' Press reporters, who are scouring this j, section in an automobile, state that I; the pursuit is converging toward tho c ' base of Mount Diablo, east of the hills . behind Ooakland The country toward ( j the bay has been thoroughly examined 1 by posses heading west from Martinez I i and east from Oakland, but no signs of the bandits nor of the buggy stolen j .it Martinez has been found. " j Constable OUen of Frultvale report- '' "i'd today that the man whom he saw . 1 ear there last Thursday, and whom . h followed because of his likeness to . .;! tie description of tho San Francisco !! vtriol thrower, also tallies with the ' , description of the larger bandit. From ( 'c tUs report, it is figured that the ban- j ! dits may have planned their route of ': y 8cape as carefully as they did the ' :r!mo Itself. :. ' There seems little doubt that the 1 ; V unknown mnu who lived near Mar- !i t Inez for three weeks prior to the hold-' ;" I up, and in whose cabin dynamite fuse . was found, are the bandits. Two suspects sus-pects are under arrest at Benicia .' awaiting Identification by the train i ff icrew, but they tell straight stroles, 1 ' Inland the detectives don t think they ' v. w ere implicated in any way. j ? Nothing definite has been learned as t ' to the exact number of robbers en- jr 1 gaged in the hold-up. The railroad of- , j ficlals think, there woro three, the en- j j tra man taklog charge of the engine , ou Itr. wild flfteeji-mlle run, while his ' companions escaped with the booty. I j Confirmation of this tlieorv la lacking ; however, and only the Martinez pair ; are definitely under suspicion. , ' With the coming of davllght this i.j morning fresh posses set out to sur- ; round the section In which the Mar- J , tincz suspects arc believed to be hld- H j lug. Sheriff Veale of Contra Costa f county is leading several posses west- ,' ' ward toward Oakland, allowing no- l, body to escape observation. ' . ,i From Oakland Sheriff Barnet is ! working eastward to meet his fellow ! sheriff, directing the movements of " seeral posses. It Is believed certain that the net is being drawn about ihe L o bandits in such a way that they can-y can-y not escape. Every outlet to the thlrty- t mile section of coMiitry is carofully ' guarded. Carmen on all the suburban '-r; lines and all trainmen running through V or near the section have been fur- 'J nished with good descriptions and tho I ,t ofucers are on the alert In every il- lage and hamlet. Benicia the two men arrested yesterday In the vicinity of ' the scene of the holdup, Fred Scf.ole- ; ' man and James Scott, ere still held awaiting the arrival of Engineer Marsh to look at them. In size aad ' general appcaranco they answer the '' description of the Martinez suspects. In this city, Oakland and all pl.tr ep al cut tho lay the police are guarding I thr approaches in such a manner tLut ', Hie Landits can hardly hope t enter ' their lines. Provided they did not make thtir 4 eseopo by train in tho early hoiirs tf . yesterday, It rooms certain that tho 1 daring pair are hiding in the wild 0 country around which the posses are 1 steedily drawing the nt. 1 THREE MEN IN THE PARTY.- l' San Francisco, April 18. Sheriff j posses of two counties and a small army of volunteers on horses, In ant- I ' onioblles and in steam launches, are hunting over roads, hills and bayous for the masked bandits .who early yesterday held up the China-Japan :-.h mall near Benicia and robbed it of V nine sacks of registered mail. The ; pursuit Is warm aud a battle with tho : , I trJn robbers is hourly expected, elth- S ' ,i or in the hills or canyons between j Martinez and Oakland, or at some i; ! point on the Sacramento river. Wheth- f ; . or the men escaped with their plun- j.. der to the southwest towards Oak- f '' land or In an easterly direction to- I, wards Sacramento, is not definitely y 't known, but the law's dragnet has ' been spread In all directions and the 1 arrest of the fugitives Is believed to be M merely a matter of time, j,' First reportf! r the holdup from 1 Benicia said only two men were en- gaged In the daring robbery, but PBt- ', , lick Klndelon, chief of the Southern 1 1 i acinc detective bureau, now gives it 'A : his opinion that a third bandit ald- L'. fi', In the work and remained on the I; i engine until after It had passed Sui- I mi, , ' . ' Two suspects have been arrested by . the Vlty marshal at Benicia. They V: r are Vred Schole and James Scott J and when overtaken by the officer, J ' were walking along the marsh near ij " thn scee of the holdup. Both men Y I said tha tbey were from San Fran- f cl9co andhad formerly been railroad ' 1 men. They will be held until they J . can be seen by tho crew of No, 10. V ? the robbed train. i" An Interesting feature of the rob- V bery Is Included in tho account given ij . by George Marh, engineer of the ' train. After the two bandits, who ' ' Hlmlrf'd Into the cab, had escorted hliu . and the fireman back to th mall car,. ' members ol the train crew and se "what would have been a .serious' wreck. In the meantime, the robbers wero making their escape across Son Pablo bay wher( the Sacramento rtver cmp-Her cmp-Her into it. The flash of the robin ry bad gone u;-i and down the line and losses were formlDg Just beiore fleeing with the sacks of mall the robbers fired four shots, with the purpose of frightening off any immediate pursuit. Even this did not awaken the passengers. Tho porter por-ter heard the shots and locked all the rj,,ors to the sleeping cars The China-Japan mall lav englneless for some tlmi while an engine, was being secured iloni Sacramento. It then was hurried into Sacramento, arriving arriv-ing at C o'clock this m rnlng Railroad Men Suspected. , A fairly goo.l description of the bn-oitn bn-oitn was furnished by a man on the Port Costa ferrboat who had observed observ-ed them as they hung about waiting for tho train they Intended to rob. The men had the appearance of belug railway mechanics, and from tho ta-niMJarlty ta-niMJarlty which tbey showed with the engine there is no doubt in the minds of the officials that the men are former for-mer railway employes. The trail of the men has been followed fol-lowed to the rough hill country be tween Martinez and Oakland and it is believed that they are headed toward to-ward San Francisco, and that they have a good chance to escape. Near where the bandits left the engine en-gine a road leads to the east bank of the bay. The men ran down thl road to a rowboat they had concealed In the bushes. The four sacks which they dbl not take with them were found later by other trains along tho edge of the track. Thev evidently had fallen from the engine after It had been uncoupled from tho train. Exciting Chase Begins. From the point where their boat was moored, the bandits rowed directly direct-ly across the bay to Bull's Head Toint. one and a half miles eaBt of BANDITS HOLD UP AND ROB A TRAIN (ConUnued From Page One.) Story of the Robbery. Benicia, Calif., Apnl 17. The Cbina-Japan mail which left San Francisco for Ogden and the east at 9 o'clock Saturday night, was held up by two masked men at Sprig, two mile3 east of here, at 12:30 o'clock this morning, and robbed of nine pouches of registered reg-istered mail. The train carried no express matter. Four of these pouches have been recovered, but the robbers rifled the others and are now hidding with their loot 5n the hills and canyons between Martinez and Oakland. Sheriff's posses from two counties, detectives detec-tives and postoffice inspectors on Martinez Thero they abandoned tho boat. In climbing the bank one of the men slipped and lost a Colt's revolver re-volver and a pair of field glasses. This made three clues for tho ofllcers to work on in the Identification of any suspects. From the point whero tho boat was abandoned all trace of the men was lost until Martinez was reached ISeforo daylight a borso and buggy vero stolen, supposedly by the robbers, rob-bers, from the Btable of a man of the nam of Hoagley. Between 3 and 4 o'clock In tho morning morn-ing George Frazer, a farmer living threo miles out of Martinez toward Oekland, heard a horse and buggy being be-ing driven 'past his house at a wild pace. All this has lent definite direction direc-tion to tho chase, which early iu th" afternoon centered in tho hills and open country leading to Oakland. Sheriff Veale of Contra Costa coun ty, was the first official to start after the bandits. With a posse of men ho left Martinez before 1 o'clock in tho n-.orulng. They Jumped into a launch on tho west shore of the bay and crossed quickly to a point near whero the bandits embarked for the wost ehore. So swift and nccurate was the pursuit that it is thought tho bandits and officers passed each other in the darkness and the hunted men wero kept aware of the whereabouts of their pursuers by tho noise inado by the launch. Tho oars wero dipped quietly and by tho time the ofllcers found that the quarry had escaped, the robbers were crObslDg Lho .open fields on the Martinez shore and hunting for a hurso. Heavy Rewards Offered. Sheriffs' forces shortly after daybreak day-break began closing In on both sldea of tho county where the bandits arc supposed to be biding. Railroad detectives, postoffice inspectors in-spectors and volunteers, made up several posses but at nightfall tho search had been fruitless. There are ninety-four separate packages of registered mail missing. J a each of these packages are seeral letters. The railroad officials have posted a reward of $5,000 for the capture cap-ture of tho robbers. Tho United States government has offered $1,000 horses and in automobiles are en-rrgcd en-rrgcd in the man-hunt. The robbers rob-bers are well armed and a battle Is anticipated. The passengers on the train were not disturbed and several of them did not learn of the hold-up until this morning. After getting the mail sacks, the robbers cut the engine loose from the train and sent it wild, throttle open, clown the main track to the east. In the direct path of the engine vas a section of passenger train No. 6, we9t-bound, heavily loaded with passengers Hut for the presence of mind of. a telegriuph. operator at Sui-Bun, Sui-Bun, a serious collision would have t&keu place. The cuglnc was thrown Into a switch lu tho nick of time. Robbery Spectacular. The train robbery Is the first that has occurred in California for several yearB it was plotted 8Dd executed In a daring, spectacular fashion. Beiore Be-iore the fast mull had arrivod at Bo-nicla, Bo-nicla, two men who had left Oakland Oak-land on another train two hours earlier earl-ier and had left their train on the Port Costa ferryboat, climbed unob-fceived unob-fceived on the rear end of No. 10's locomotive. The China-Japan mril had gone less than five miles from the Benlcla landing when the stowaways oawled over the oil tank In tho tender ten-der and presented revolvers at tho heads of the engineer and fireman ftiid ordered them to stop tho train and get off the engine "We are not going to hurt you," paid one of the robbers. "All we want la the treasure box." Clerk Tries Rute, Tho engineer and fireman complied quickly, having nothing to defend themselves with except Jackknives. Then the robbers, taking the engine crew with them, went back and compelled com-pelled the engineer and fireman to pet Into tho mail car, which was in charge of Herbert J Black and his assistant, Thomas Clancy. "Throw out the registered mall XMJuches," ordered the robbers. Black started to toss out newspaper newspa-per eacks, but the robbers showed their familiarity with the (situation by detecting tho ruse at once. They threatened to kill the clerk unless ho pave them the registered mail at once. Black complied- The engine crew then was forced to carry the Bine packs to the engine, j Dispatcher Save Lives. The engine and mail car then wore uncoupled from the coaches filled vlth sleeping passengers and run down the track two miles. Here tho ms.il pouches were thrown out upon the ground, the engine was uncoupled, He throttle pushed wide open and it hegan its wild Journey toward a papsonger train coming west at To-lenas, To-lenas, sixteen miles east, passing tho first of this train on a siding at C'ygnus At-- tho engine passed the station rit Suisun tbo operator on duty thero noticed that It was running wild, with ro one In tho cab. He immediately j-eportd this fad to the dispatcher's rfflco at Oakland and rocelvo.i Instructions Instruc-tions to call np Tolenas by wins and order thorn to derail tho on-coming vngino. Second section of train No, 6, west-hound, had Just arrived at To-lenas To-lenas under orders to watt thero for Ihe China-Inpan mall. The switch was thrown an 1 tho runaway engine jwhieh by thin time was pretty wHl yelieved of steam, ran on a siding pnd mashed lnt a string of box cars. fiThe operator at Snlsun had averted |