Gang
gets away with a meager sum of money...
that the days of the armed bandit had passed
into history, that just wasn’t the case in the Lone Star State.
While it’s true that civilization had made a lot of progress in
the southeast section of Texas; a train ride could still be a
hazardous venture. The following article tells the story of a
major train hold-up near Flatonia in June of 1887. The robbery
seemed to be a large operation, with up to 12 men involved. This
(un-edited) piece is printed just as it appeared in The
Gonzales Inquirer — way back then. As
the train started from Flatonia two men boarded the engine. The
engineer started to kick them off, thinking they were tramps, but
at the muzzle of two drawn pistols was quickly convinced of his
mistake. They
made him put on extra steam until about a mile and a half east of
Flatonia, when he was made to stop the train over a trestle and by
a big fire that had been built beside the track. The other robbers
who were waiting here boarded the train and went to work. They
beat the express messenger over the head and got, it is thought,
about $600, the bulk of money having been secreted before they
reached him. Then they went through the sleeper and other cars
taking such money as was not hidden and beating passengers over
the head with their pistols when they did not wake up fast enough
and shell out their valuables. During
this performance the train was delayed about an hour, when they
desisted, being told by the conductor that there was great danger
of a collision with another train. From the passengers they got
about $600 in money and $1000 worth of jewelry. The robbers
numbered about 12 men. After
quitting the train they mounted their horses, which were tied near
by, and rode off in different directions. The posses sent out
after them returned without a clue. Three
arrests were made Monday, on the line of the Southern Pacific, and
the parties taken to Flatonia for identification. One of them said
that George Shoaf, a noted San Antonio gambler was one of the
bandits who helped in the robbery, and he was arrested in San
Antonio and jailed. He
[Shoaf] says he can prove by a number of witnesses that he was
playing poker in that city the night of the robbery. It appears
that all the men connected with the recent robbery have been
spotted. Wells,
Fargo & Co. have offered $1000 reward for the capture of each
one of the robbers and his conviction. The governor was
telegraphed to by the express company on the subject of a state
reward. The governor replied that the state would give $500 for
the capture and conviction of each one, and would also use its
power to hunt the robbers down. The
Southern Pacific offers $250 and the United States government
$200, which will make a total of $1950. Reader's
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