Chapter 24

New Mexico Territory, August, 1897

Rehabbing around the kids. If you've got to do it, that's the way to go! It took about three weeks for my ribs to heal enough to let me ride comfortably. And I had a new horse I had to get used to. I headed back to Goshen to get my receipts from the marshal and to find out any interesting news.

The marshal told me of a series of train robberies which were beyond the capabilities of the railroad cops to handle. He suggested that I contact the railroad about employment. I thanked him and caught the train for the division headquarters.

I got the usual runaround about how they were able to handle their own problems, but when I asked how much the robberies were costing them, I was met with a shocked silence. I couldn't help laughing to myself! Surely, these robberies were costing them many times more than what it cost to hire me, and I almost guaranteed results. I was told that they would get back to me, but I said, "No! I need an answer now, or I will go on to something else."

I did promise them an hour alone to consider my employment, so I went into the outer office and read through some old newspapers while I waited. The division manager was out in less than the alloted hour with a handshake and a request that I come in his office to sign the contract. This was more like it!

I got all the details I could on the previous robberies and told him that I would be back the next day to discuss strategy.

These robberies followed the usual pattern. The train was boarded while it was stopped for water. One bandit secured the engine and one bandit stood on each side of the train to stop anyone from coming up from other cars, while three bandits hit the express car. The bandits used dynamite on the express car door if they couldn't persuade the man inside to open it.

The terrain where the robberies usually occurred was a bit rougher than I had operated in before. Therefore, I decided to vary my practice. This time I would ride in the express car with the agent. I would hide during the first part of the robbery. I would have the agent open the door and let the robbers into the car. At this point, I would shoot the robbers in the express car and go after the others. The manager agreed to this and he said he would notify me when the next valuable shipment was due to go out. I gave him the name of the hotel and the saloon where I could be found.

A couple of days later, I found a message waiting for me at my hotel to be at the rail yard before 5:30 AM the next day. I was there in plenty of time and boarded the express car when the agent did. We introduced ourselves and sat down with coffee to wait. The agent had some paper work to do, so I pulled out a newspaper to read. The train pulled out at 6:05 AM, exactly on schedule. The train ran through its regular schedule until we reached the rough country that had been the usual haunt of the robbers.

I put up my newspaper and cleaned my coffee cup as we approached the first water stop. We seemed to be there longer than usual, so I commented, "This must be it," and went to my hiding place. I admonished the agent to do exactly as the robbers ordered and leave the heroics to me. He nodded agreement just as there was a loud banging on the door.

He went over to the door and called out, "What is it?"

"This is a robbery. Open the door or we will blow it open!"

"Yes, sir. I'll open the door. Please don't do anything rash." The agent opened the door and jumped back as a gun was pointed at his belly. He raised his hands and stuttered, "Wha... What can I do for you?"

"You can stand back while we climb in the car."

"Yes, sir! Please don't shoot!"

"I won't shoot if you do what I tell you! Now move back!"

Three robbers climbed into the car and faced the agent. Only the first man was holding his gun; the other two had theirs still in their holsters. Talk about brash overconfidence! Their previous robberies must have been so easy that they had gotten sloppy. The first robber didn't even have his gun cocked. I saw that it was an Army Colt, so I knew that the agent was in no immediate danger.

I drew my lower pistol and stepped out from my hiding place. "Put up your hands! I've got you covered!"

The first robber turned out to be smarter than I had given him credit for: the first thing he did when he snapped his head around was to look at my gun to see if it was cocked. It was. They all put up their hand and I told the agent to take their guns, the one from the robber's hand first. I warned him not to get between me and any of the men, or he might be killed when I fired.

I carefully tossed the agent a pair of handcuffs and told him to fasten one of the robber's hands behind his back. When that was done, I had him repeat for the other two men. I then had the two subordinate robbers sit down and had the agent cuff their feet together. That left the original robber whom I ordered to walk to the door and call to the outside guard on that side.

When the outside man came close, I stuck my pistol in his face and ordered him into the car. I had the agent dig some more cuffs out of my pack and bind the most recent robber the same as the others. I then had the agent partially slide open the door on the other side of the car and had the leader call that outside man over to the door. I stuck my pistol in his face and we repeated the capture routine. The only robber left was in the engine.

We bound the first robber like the others; the express car was getting crowded. I told the agent I was going after the last robber. He should lock the car doors and not open for anybody but me. He agreed, so I jumped to the ground.

I figured that the last robber would not yet be alarmed since we had not made much noise. The engine is a very noisy place, so I knew he wouldn't hear much, short of a gunshot. Nevertheless, I stayed as close to the tender as I could as I approached the engine. I peeked around the front of the tender and saw the last robber standing with his back to me, holding his gun on the engineer and fireman. They could see me, and, before they could react, I held my finger to my lips to keep them quiet.

It usually takes two hands to climb into an engine, so I was forced to holster my gun. Just as I reached the top rung of the ladder, the robber turned toward me. The moment the robber turned his head away, the fireman grabbed up his shovel and hit the robber in the head. The robber collapsed from the blow. I thanked the fireman and got him to help me carry the last robber back to the express car.

I banged on the door and got the agent to open it. We boosted the last robber into the car and cuffed him like the others. I told the fireman that the train was now secure and he could return to the engine. They could now do their usual routine and we could continue our trip.

It seemed like hours, but the whole operation took less than 15 minutes. The passengers probably didn't notice that anything had happened. We completed the run without further delays.

I got my pay from the railroad and made sure that the fireman got the bounty for one robber. After all, he had been the one who captured him.

I stopped by Goshen to thank the marshal and buy him a drink. I picked up my horse and started my rounds. It was mid-September before I found anything else worth following up. There had been a bank robbery in this town the day before, so I went by the bank to see what the reward was like. The reward was attractive, but I took an immediate dislike to the banker. I didn't know the exact reason, but I just didn't trust him.

The banker said that the bandits had shown up after the bank had closed and forced their way in the back door. They got in because he was just leaving as they showed up. He usually went out the back door because it was a shorter walk to the saloon where he ate supper. It was well known that he usually left by the back door and the bandits could have been waiting for him to open the door. They bulled their way in and held a gun on him, forcing him to open the vault and let them clean out the money.

He described the bandits a three men who were wearing dusters and masks. He probably could not identify them if he saw them again. They had tied him up and left by the back door. He said that it took him about an hour to get loose and that was when he went to the marshal to report the robbery. I asked how much was stolen and the banker said $7,652.47. I said that I would get back to him and left to see the marshal.

The marshal gave me the same story as the banker. I asked what kind of investigation he had made. He said that he had looked around and could not find any sign of the three men or their horses. He was at a complete loss to know what to do next. I then asked about the banker's reputation. The marshal said that the banker had no friends, as far as he knew, and he was rarely seen anywhere except the bank and the saloon where he took his meals. The banker was not married, so there was nothing to say about that. Since we were already in the saloon, I bought the marshal a beer and thanked him for the information.

This whole setup seemed odd to me. Any person with eyes could find boot tracks of three men who were carrying heavy money bags, so why didn't the marshal find any? Since the banker had made such a bad impression on me, I was ready to believe anything. Could this have been a faked robbery so that the banker had stolen money from his own bank? It would have been difficult for a lone man to carry off over $7,500 in gold without being seen or leaving obvious tracks, so, could the money still be in the bank? I decided to take a look.

I used a skeleton key to open the back door and slip into the bank that night. The moon was shining through the window, so I didn't need additional light. I looked in the obvious places, such as desk drawers, behind the filing cabinet, etc. I checked to see if there were any loose boards in the floor, walls, or ceiling. I did find a few loose boards, but there was nothing behind them. By the time I had looked everywhere else, I came to the conclusion that, if the money was still in the bank, it had to be either in the office safe or in the vault. There was no way I could get into either one that night, so I removed all traces I could see of my visit and left by the same door I came in.