Show ahe roguery stories of the greatest cases in the career of thomas furlong chefa the famous railroad detective told by himself aka co copyright by W 0 chapman in the month of october 1883 u daring train robbery occurred near the station of rohan ind on what was wag then a part of the wabash railroad J one of the cars belonging to tho the pacific express company was attached to td the wabash train which was running between detroit and indianapolis di it left detroit in the evening and was due to arrive at tho the latter city at about two the following morning when the train stopped at rohan it was boarded by two men who entered the front door of the express car and held up bert lumas the express messenger they stuffed bluffed a lar large gogag gag consisting of two handkerchiefs rolled together into hla his mouth and after tying another handkerchief around his bis face and fastening his hands behind his back they lashed him with a rope to the sate safe which they opened wit with h the ibe keys they had taken from him the safe contained about four thousand five hundred dollars besides a quantity of jewelry and other valuables the two men left the car with their plunder at some point between rohan and peru ind when the train halted at peru the rapped on the car door and receiving no reply called tor for assistance si and forced an entrance lumas was found lying on his back unconscious with his arms and shoulders tied to the safe there were found indications that a struggle had occurred and there were three or four bullet holes in the side and root roof of the car the shots having evidently been fired from within medical aid was summoned and the doctor after considerable trouble succeeded in restoring lumas to consciousness he bore no marks of violence other than what he had suffered buffered from the gag but this had nearly cost him his life as it was so large that it had almost stopped his breathing when he was revived lumas stated that as the train was leaving rohan he was busy writing out his bis report and while thus engaged he was pounced upon by two powerful masked men they felled him to the floor gagged and bound him took his bis keys and robbed the safe lumas said that he became unconscious during the course of this latter operation and that he had been surprised so unexpectedly that he be was quite unable to retain any memory of the mens appearance pe arance he added that they had taken his pistol which was lying on the ahe table in front of him and fired several shots at him none of which however had hit him at this time I 1 was chief special agent for the gould system of railroads which included the wabash on the morning after the holdup hold up I 1 received a telegraphic summary of these events and at once went to rohan I 1 was unable to obtain any further information there however since nobody in the town or at the station had seen the robbers or had any knowledge of them it seemed probable that the robbers had been lying ld in biding and had boarded the train unobserved just as it was leaving the station I 1 then made my way to detroit where I 1 had an interview with lumas the express messenger lumas was a young man about twenty six years of age fine in appearance some six feet tall and weighed about one hundred and eighty pounds he was born in vermont he had an elder brother who was a passenger conductor on the mala main line of the wabash railroad and had been in the service of tho the company for many years this brother remained in the service continuously until his death 30 years later they thai had bad a vi widowed dowed mother who resided I 1 in n vermont bert the messen messenger gerhad bad always lived with his mother until lie be took service the pacific express and he had an excellent reputation so much was told me by mr kr brazee su superintendent eident for the pacific company of the wabash division with headquarters at decatur ill whom I 1 met at detroit while making my investigations lumas is in good standing with the company and there Is no possibility of his bis having beeri league with the robbers said mr brazee when I 1 suggested that lumas might have been implicated why he continued you must remember that lumas was almost dead when he w was as found IS in his car at peru the robbers undoubtedly attempted to kill him and would have succeeded too had it not been for the timely assistance rendered by the doctor now if lumas had been implicated in i the affair in any way the robbers would not have attempted his life while still fitall dubious I 1 appreciated the stand which mr brazee had bad taken on behalf of one of his subordinates I 1 knew him personally and he had bad a reputation for kindness which was well deserved I 1 next interviewed mr fuller the general superintendent of the pacific express company and all the other officers who would have been likely to know anything about lumas they all spoke in the highest terms of lumas and of his bis brother also under these circumstances I 1 did not deem it advisable to repeat my statement as to the possibility of lumas having been implicated in the affair but requested that lumas receive instructions to report to me whenever I 1 wished to see the messenger it was also arranged that lumas should come to me whenever r he was wanted for the purpose of identify identifying ini any suspects I 1 next decided to shadow lumas in the most thorough manner at both ends of his route I 1 placed two of my operatives at work tor for this purpose one at indianapolis and the other at detroit the instructions given to the operative at detroit were that he should pick up lumas when he be left his train at that point and not lose sight or of him again until he boarded his bis train for indianapolis the operative at indianapolis was told to pick up lumas when he stepped oft off his train and to keep him in sight eight until he left for detroit thus the express messenger was kept shadowed at both endsor ends of his route and this procedure was kept up tor for tour four months until every act of lumas was known the operative at no if algell YOU everything WILL BE ALL RIGHT THE NEWCOMER KEPT TO LUMAS alced that lumas was a hard drinker he was a habitual frequenter oi 0 low saloons and other places of ill repute in that city on the other hand band the man who was engaged in watching lumas agthe at the indianapolis end reported that as soon as lumas arrived there he would go to his rooming house retire to bed and remain there until it was time to leave for detroit again it was evident that lumas divided his spare time into two parts sleep and pleasure the former part being that of indianapolis and the latter of detroit he needed sleep and rest after his bis carousing in detroit and he seemed to live his bis purposeless life in a highly practical and purposive manner the operative la in indianapolis obeying his bis instructions succeeded in obtaining a room la in the lodging house adjacent to that which lumas occupied the man who was shadowing him in detroit was just as fortunate and in a short time had managed not only to make the acquaintance of lumas but to established himself on terms of intimacy with him he was with him almost constantly while lumas was in detroit and in this manner be became came acquainted with most of lumas friends in that city there were in detroit at this time two men of the same name nama pat oneal and jim oneal their business affairs were closely related pat being a private detective and jim a thief the result being that the two men were well acquainted with each other there was however no relationship tion ship between the two pat oneal the detective was a widower and lived with a widowed stater diio sio kept LL rooming house and it rea to in this house that lumas and the detroit op both lived owal oneal the detective did not know cither of them personally so but he be naturally knew something about them he learned from his sister that lumas was imp employed loYed by some soma express company and that the operative was connected with some advertising concern in the east for this was the impression which the man wished to give one night while my detroit agent and bert lumas were seated at at a table in a detroit beer garden they were approached by a plainly dressed man of medium size about forty years of age light complexioned sandy handy haired and clean shaven he was evidently intimately acquainted with lumas tor for he sat down at the table without preliminaries limin aries and they had several drinks drinka together after which they drew their chairs together and began to converse in an undertone which was evidently not meant to reach the ears of the operative era tive nevertheless the latter managed to hear an important part of the conversation 1 I tell you everything will be all right the newcomer kept insisting to lumas 1 I been treated right lumas answered and that Is why I 1 have been drinking so much of late youre drinking a great deal too much answered the sandy haired man now you keep quiet and later on everything will be all right that was as much of the conversation as the operative could fully catch after separating from lumas he be took measures to locate the sandy haired man he found that his name was denny downer and that he was a saloonkeeper on griswold street detroit while this conversation was taking place jim oneal the thief was seated at a nearby table with some of hla his own friends he knew lumas lemaa to be an express messenger and knew that he lived at the house of pat sister and hearing the same part of the conversation that the operative had overheard he concluded shrewdly that possibly lumas had been concerned in the express car robbery when next he met his namesake pat oneal the private detective he be voiced these suspicions to him telling him of the conversation that he had overheard between lumas and denny downer the latter of whom the detective did not know I 1 was keeping la ia close touch with my assistants in spite of a good deal of other work and received a prompt report of the conversation and on the following day u n second report from the operative informing me who the sandy candy haired man was on receipt ol of this news having known denny downer as a thief tor for many years I 1 at once came to the conclusion that he was waa one of themen the men who hid bad been imell bated in the rohan robbery my acquaintance with downer bad begun in pennsylvania and I 1 had bad been in the criminal court in pittsburgh on a certain occasion when downer was sentenced to a five year term tor for burglary I 1 knew the mans mania criminal record and the description fitted him as perfectly as the name I 1 thereupon oil decided to go to indianapolis taking with me all tho daily reports which I 1 had received during the four months from the two operatives in all some two hundred and forty I 1 notified mr brazee of my intention and requested him to accompany me to that point telling him that I 1 expected important developments to occur there A return telegram was received from mr brazee stating that the latter would join me at decatur in and go to indianapolis di with me we met at decatur and proceeded together to our point of destination where we secured adjoining rooms at the spencer house just across the street from the union station it was evening when we arrived and th the etrain train on which lumas was employed was due to arrive at indianapolis at two the next morning I 1 instructed my operative in indianapolis diana di poPs to be on handak the union station when train arrived and to bring him over to my room at the hotel immediately I 1 had bad had bad one of my operatives meet lumas at ills his train on a number of occasions before and had bad hachim had him taken to see various persons for the purpose of identifying them as aa the express car robbers but lumas had always failed toi to do so adhering to his statement that it was impossible for him to identify any person owing to the sudden ness nesa with which he be had been attacked tacked I 1 had never expected him to identify any one but as aa the man had been instructed by the express company to go with me or any of my assistants si at any time that he was peed ed ad for making an identification there was no likelihood that the operative would have kny any trouble in inducing him to come to the hotel I 1 learned from the dispatcher that lumas train would arrive on time and accordingly as soon as I 1 had en my room at the hotel I 1 set about making preparations for the reception of my expected guest I 1 set out a large table in the middle of the room and spread the dally daily reports of my two operatives over the top of it in ia such a manner that they filled it completely mr brazee was instructed to remain in the adjoining room and to sit alongside the door which was left partly open in such a manner that he could hear bear everything that was said without himself being seen I 1 had told him bm of my plans but mr brazee while consenting to accompany me had decried the whole matter and stated that in his opinion nothing of any value would result reiterating his bis conviction that lumas was innocent the train arrived on time and lumas stepping out of his car was met by the operator mr furlong wants to see you at the hotel at once said eald the litter latter lumas very sleepy indianapolis be it remembered was his sleeping town grumbled a good deal at going to a room at that hour in the morning however he went with the operative unsuspectingly for though they had occupied adjacent rooms in the lodging hou house sefor for several months the operative had contrived not to be known to lumas by sight eight hours of arrival and departure were very regular th there ere had been no difficulty a bout about this I 1 was seated at the table with the reports when the twomey two men entered I 1 asked lumas to be seated and told the operative to retire to the hall ball until he was summoned lumas I 1 said quite bulc quickly kly 1 I want to call your attention to these reports that are spread out upon this table they are the dally daily reports of my operatives who have shadowed you and those associated with you for the past four months these reports set forth everything that you have done in those four months and any one you have associated with I 1 can tell you how many cigars you have smoked how many drinks you have taken whom you have talked with and what you talked about I 1 find that your mother is a fine old lady and stands high in the community where she resides in vermont I 1 find that you have respectable connections and that you were well raised I 1 iknou kno all about your brother and his high standing on the wabash road and that your character heretofore has been good also that the off officers leers of the pacific express company have had the highest regard tor for you and believed implicitly in ia your integrity for these reasons I 1 continued 1 I have taken it upon myself to give you the opportunity of telling the whole truth about this express robbery but I 1 want you to understand distinctly that it if you do not tell the truth it if you may eay one word that la is not the truth I 1 shall stop you and turn you over to the officers of the law but it if you do tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth I 1 will do all that I 1 can to secure the extension of leniency to you for your part in the crime in addition to this I 1 can say that it if you tell the whole truth mr brazee and the other officers will be as lenient with you as the law will allow so bo now I 1 want you to answer my questions truthfully or not at all now sir I 1 want you to ten tell me how much money you received from the proceeds of that robbery at the mention of his mother and brother the tears had started into the messengers eyes long before I 1 had ended my speech luraas lumas was weeping openly now raising his head and looking me in ia the eyes lumas an |