Chapter 10: "More train robberies"

Essentially, my new job consisted of being on call to ride the train whenever there was need to guard an express car with a load of gold. I did not ride in the express car—that would have limited my options too much. Instead, I rode in the baggage car with the conductor or in one of the first-class passenger coaches. Frankly, I preferred the padded seats in the passenger coaches.

Rarely were there less than six bandits who attacked the train. The economic conditions in Texas were so bad for the average man that a gang leader had little trouble recruiting a gang to follow him. A gang member could easily take in enough money for one or two years of comfortable living with only one successful robbery.

I had managed to locate two more Starr DAs in .44 caliber, so I was wearing four guns: two in shoulder holsters and two in thigh holsters. They got kind of heavy, but the cushions on the coach seats helped with that. I also kept my Henry rifle with me, so I was prepared for almost anything that showed up. I had so many weapons because I did not want to waste time reloading when I was facing six or more bandits. Oh, I kept my pouch of spare ammunition full and my extra cylinders handy, but it was better not to have to reload as long as I had the option of switching to another gun.

I knew that I looked ridiculous with that many guns hanging off me, but I did not care. I usually got a reminder of how funny I looked when I was seen by a child passenger. There was always finger pointing and laughter to go along with the embarrassed parent. I defused the situation by laughing, too, so no feelings were hurt.

The first batch of robbers I faced did make the heavy load of weapons look ludicrous, but I did not let that influence my future actions. In this particular case, nobody tried to rob the passengers. One man ran to the engine cab while we were stopped for water, and two others went for the express car.

It was my fault that I was slow to react to the robbery because I had been dozing in my seat after spending too much time in a whorehouse the night before. The blasting powder explosion that opened the express car door was what got my attention. I resolved that would be the last time I slept on the job.

I made a quick check of the passenger car I was in to make sure that there were no robbers working here. When I saw none, I jumped up and ran to the exit door leading to the car platform nearer to the engine. I had drawn the gun at my left thigh as I used my right hand to open the door. Not seeing anyone on the platform, I hurried out of the car and looked toward the baggage car.

The smoke was still rising from the explosive charge and the bandits had ducked under the car to protect themselves when the bomb when off. I jumped to the ground and looked under the cars to try to spot how many bandits I would be facing. I counted only two, but that did not prove a hell of a lot! I saw nobody else in the tall grass near the train, so I figured that those two were all that I would have to argue with at the moment.

I ran toward the express car and had just come to the end of the car when the first bandit emerged from under the car. He was holding a shotgun, so I took no chances and shot him before he had a chance to use his weapon. The other man was bent into an awkward position as he scrambled from under the car, and I was able to shoot him before he could get his revolver pointed at me.

Both men were wounded badly enough by my two shots that I did not need to worry about them at the moment. I could not see the bandit in the engine cab, but I knew there had to be at least one because the engine was idling and no one was topping off the water in the tender. Either the engineer and/or fireman were dead or the bandit was covering them with his weapon.

I did not expect it because a person usually needed two hands to climb the steps to the engine cab, but he might have been able to take a shotgun into the cab. I was not concerned that the bandit would have a rifle because only a fool would try to use one of those in the cramped quarters of the cab, especially with both of the crew members still there.

I ran to the tender and climbed the ladder at its rear. I was careful to stay low as I made my way over the stacked fuel toward the cab. At least this was a dry trip as compared to my previous trip foiling a robbery. There was a lot of noise in the cab, mostly from the various steam leaks around the engine. These stray noises may well have been loud enough to hide the sound of the two gunshots.

I slithered forward far enough to see over the edge of the wood pile. Yep, I had guessed correctly. There was only one bandit in the cab and he was trying to cover both the fireman and the engineer with his Colt. The hammer was cocked on the Colt, so I had to do something to distract the bandit before I shot him. I did not want him to shoot one of the crewman by accident.

The last time I was here, a piece of wood tossed against the firebox bulkhead had served to distract the other bandit, so I hoped that the same ploy would work this time. I used my right hand to toss a piece of wood behind the bandit and waited for him to react.

His reaction was exactly what I was looking for. He turned his head to see what had made the unexpected noise and had moved his gun at the same time. That was the opening I was looking for. I fired a bullet into the bandit's head, and I was so close that the bullet made quite a mess. It took most of the bandit's head and scattered little pieces artistically around the cab. It was impossible to move without stepping on or brushing against bits of skull, scalp, brains, or blood.

Neither the fireman nor the engineer had seen me, so they were frightened enough to empty their bladders when my shot went off. I did not blame either one of them because they figured only to hear a gun report coming from the bandit's gun with a bullet aimed at one of them. Neither one of them was mad at me for causing them to piss in their pants, but both were somewhat embarrassed. I told them to resume servicing the engine while I checked for more bandits.

I returned to the ground and ran to the baggage car to rouse the conductor. I banged on a side door and announced my presence. The conductor was reluctant to open the door, but finally did so after we both promised not to shoot each other. I invited the conductor to join me on the ground, and I promised to explain what happened.

After that, we dragged the three bodies to the baggage car and tossed them in. Since this was my first "kill" as a railroad employee, I wanted proof of what I had done. Also, I wanted to check if any of these bandits were on wanted posters. Later I found that none of them were, and that was what I expected from the amateurish way the attempted robbery had been conducted.

None of the train crew or passengers had been hurt, but the express car was going to need some repair before it went out again. Nevertheless, the gold was safe, so we continued on our way. That was it for the rest of the trip.

My next encounter did not come up for two weeks. The way the deal worked was that I spent my time in Ft. Worth until I had to make a trip to El Paso to pick up the gold. The trip took two days, and I spent the night in El Paso. During the night, the gold was loaded aboard the express car so that we were ready to leave at 6:40 AM. I usually spent my time in El Paso in my favorite whorehouse, but I learned from that first mistake never to miss getting enough sleep. That seemed to disappoint some of the whores, but I classified it as a necessary factor in staying alive.

The gold was being brought in by wagon from a smelter near Las Vegas, NMT (New Mexico Territory). It was cast into small bars worth $100 each. It was not a very big package, though it was damned heavy. The package easily fit into the safe in the express car. Usually, the robbery happened in the hills near to El Paso. I am not sure of the significance of that, but that was the history of the thievery.

On this occasion, there were eight men in the bandit gang. As usual, they hit us when we made a routine stop for water. This time, the fireman was directing the water into the tender tank while the engineer was squirting oil on a squeaking bearing on left front driver. He was concerned because we would be stuck in the middle of nowhere if the bearing seized up.