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BOLD TRAIN
ROBBERS. |
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THEY ROB WELLS, FARGO & CO'S. EX-
PRESS OF A LARGE SUM.
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Traced to Visalia and Identified, They Escape
in the Mountains--Two Deputy Sheriffs
Shot, One Fatally--Latest News from the
Seat of War.
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Last Wednesday,
about midnight, the night express train, south-bound on the S. P. road, was
held up near Collis and Wells, Fargo & Co's. express robbed of an amount
variously estimated at from $20,000 to $50,000. As the train pulled out of
Collis two men boarded the front step of the baggage car and before the train
had got far from the station the men put on masks and climbed out over the
engine tender, covered the engineer and fireman with pistols and compelled them
to run the train out some five miles and there stop the engine. They then
proceeded to the express car, after firing a volley of shot alongside the train
to intimidate passengers, and blew open the express car with dynamite, eight
bombs in all being exploded. -- The robbers used the fireman as a shield. The
express messenger, was plucky and would have stood the robbers off had they not
used so much dynamite. He came near shooting the fireman. The robbers compelled
him to open one of the safes and from it several sacks of coin, said to have
been mostly silver, were taken. The robbers compelled the messenger to help
them carry the booty to a two-horse buggy which stood near by; then they placed
a bomb until one side of the engine and exploded it, to disable the engine; but
the bomb did not have the desired results and the engine was repaired and the
train pulled into Fresno. A gang of threshers saw the robbery, but they could
not prevent it, and they were afraid of killing the train
men. |
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TRACING THE ROBBERS. |
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Detectives and
robbers were soon on the trail and the robbers were traced to Visalia, where
they had arrived about 8 o'clock the next morning. The team had been hired on
Tuesday from Bequette & Workman's stable in Visalia and was returned there
at noon on Thursday. Chris Evans and George and John Sontag were spotted as the
robbers. The officers and detectives were massed at Visalia and tried to agree
upon a course of action to arrest the robbers. George Sontag, who rode on the
train that was robbed and doubtless did good work in guarding it while his
brother and Evans committed the robbery, and taken to jail by the detectives
and after being interviewed, he was placed in a cell under
suspicion. |
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DEPUTY SHERIFF WITTY SHOT. |
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Then Will Smith, a
railroad detective, determined to interview, if not capture, the other two
robbers, and he asked Deputy Sheriff George Witty to go with him. The drove out
to Evans' house, which is in the north-eastern part of Visalia, with a team
belonging to the Sheriff's office, and had H. N. Denny drive his express wagon
out there also. The two officers entered the house just after seeing Evans and
John Sontag enter. They found Evans in a front room. They asked for Sontag and
Evans said he was not there. Smith pulled aside a portiere and exposed to view
Sontag with a double-barreled shotgun. Sontag and Evans then chased Smith and
Witty out of the house, firing at the fleeing officers as they ran. Witty was
followed by Evans, who fired into his back with shot as he ran and then shot
him in the face with a pistol. He then place his pistol at Witty's head and
said he would blow his brains out. Witty made a pitiful plea for mercy and
Evans then left him. Sontag followed Smith and fired twice at him, but only a
few shot hit him and he was not seriously injured. He jumped into the express
wagon and ordered Mr. Denny to drive him swiftly to town, leaving his companion
at the mercy of the desperate robbers. |
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THE ROBBERS ESCAPE AND THEN RETURN. |
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The robbers, after
taking the officers' team, drove to Stokes Valley, and spent the day on the
side of a hill 20 miles N. E. of Visalia. Here they remained until nightfall.
In the meantime there were many officers and citizens out hunting for them, but
they were not located. That night the robbers drove back to Evan's house in
Visalia, arriving about there midnight. They no doubt came back after the
stolen treasure, which was probably hid under the floor of the
barn. |
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DEPUTY SHERIFF BEAVER SHOT. |
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Several guards had
been placed about the Evans house. About midnight Dan Overall came into Visalia
and said he wanted more guards, as the moon was going down and it would soon be
dark. Oscar Beaver, a deputy Sheriff from Lemoore, and Charles Hall, Constable
and Deputy Sheriff from Hanford, who had gone up to Visalia that evening,
agreed to go. Beaver was stationed 20 yards from the barn. He saw one of the
robbers and asked who it was. Beaver and the robbers then commenced firing.
Beaver fired eight shots from his revolver and the robbers fired four times
with their shotguns. Beaver was riddled with shot from head to foot. He cried
out for help, but it was an hour before assistance reached him, as those near
him were afraid they would meet the same fate as Beaver if they ventured near
him.
Beaver shot both the horses and the robbers
were compelled to leave on foot. They had the tires of the buggy padded with
rags, tied on with strings, and they evidently intended to make a noiseless
drive out of town. |
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ESCAPED TO THE MOUNTAINS. |
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The robbers walked
some 12 miles north of Visalia to Cottonwood, where they took breakfast soon
after daylight at the farm of Harvey Ward. The robbers were very talkative and
told Ward and another man who was there that they had got into trouble in
Visalia and had killed a man. They asked Ward if he had a daily paper, as they
would like to know who it was they had killed. Said he was a gritty little
fellow, as he had fired several shots after they had given him his death
wounds. The robbers took a mule and cart from Ward and the last seen of them
they were making for the mountains. Evans has a mine 10 miles west of Camp
Badger. There he has provisions and that was probably the place the robbers
were making for when last seen. They abandoned the mule and cart at Nigger
creek gulch, in the Sierra foothills, where they were afterwards
found. |
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BEAVER'S DEATH AND FUNERAL. |
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Oscar Beaver died
at 2:30 last Saturday afternoon and his remains taken to Lemoore that night.
The funeral services were held at the Baptist church in Lemoore on Sunday, Rev.
Eli Rees conducting the services. Many people followed the remains to their
last resting place. He leaves a wife and two year old boy.
On Saturday Deputy Coroner Holder impaneled a jury,
who examined the body of Beaver and on Sunday witnesses were examined. The jury
returned a verdict that Oscar A Beaver, a native of California, aged 34 years,
came to his death from gunshot wounds inflicted by Chris Evans and John Sontag.
Warrants have been issued for Evans and Sontag on charges of
murder. |
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DESCRIPTION OF THE CRIMINALS. |
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Chris Evans is a
married man, having a wife and seven children. His wife is a sister of O. P.
and Frank Bird. She was in a dangerous condition on Sunday, as a result of the
shock of the discovery of her husband's actions and anxiety for his safety.
Evans has resided in Visalia for the past 15 years. Following is a description
of the escaped robbers: Chris Evans, age 45, height five feet nine inches,
weight 170 pounds, red mustache, long chin and beard; John Sontag, 33 years
old, height five feet ten inches, weight 180 pounds, brown hair, sandy
mustache, limps slightly from a broken leg. |
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TRAILING THE MURDERERS. |
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Sheriff Kay was not
in Visalia at the times these stirring incidents were transpiring, but over on
the Coast after a Portuguese for whom he had a warrant of arrest. The Sheriff,
after a long chase over the Coast Range mountains after his man, arrested him
at Santa Cruz at 2 o'clock P. M. on Friday, and 1 hour later he received a
telegram announcing the shooting of his deputy, Witty. He returned home last
Saturday night and immediately took charge of the chase after the robbers.
Since the return of the Sheriff the search for the robbers has been much more
thorough and systematic. The officers are now doing their work quietly and none
of them will say what they have been doing for the past two days. Mum is the
word and it is a good one in such instances. |
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THE LATEST NEWS. |
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Constable Hall of
Hanford returned from Visalia this morning. From him and from other sources we
learn that a stock man arrived in Visalia yesterday evening and reported that
the robbers were again coming back to Evans' home; that they were riding in a
buckboard drawn by one horse. Many officers and citizens went to Evans' house
and made a thorough search of the premises, but could find no trace of the
robbers. Several of the roads leading into the city were guarded, but the
robbers did not put in an appearance. There are many men out in the hills and
mountains after the robbers, who are generally believed to be at Evans' mine,
at Sampson Flat.
Deputy Sheriff Witty is doing
well and the doctors attending him think that he will
recover. |
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