the thieves are taken after a four months chase, and all
plead guilty—the messenger duped.
the rohan pacific express robbery occurred near rohan, indiana, on what was then a part of the wabash railroad. the pacific express company had one of their cars attached[pg 181] to the wabash train, which was running between detroit, michigan, and indianapolis, indiana. it left detroit in the evening and should have arrived at indianapolis at about two o'clock the following morning.
one night in october, 1883, the train stopped at rohan, a small, local station, and the train was boarded by two men. they entered by the front door of the express car, and overpowered bert lumas, the express messenger, stuffing a large roll, consisting of two handkerchiefs, into his mouth. after tying another handkerchief around his face, and then tying his hands behind his back, he was leashed with a rope to the express company's safe. they took the keys to the safe from the messenger, after overpowering him, and looted the safe of its contents. there were, besides much jewelry and other valuables, about $4,100.00 in the safe. they left the car at a point between rohan and peru, indiana.
when the train halted at peru station the expressman rapped on the car door, and receiving no reply, he and others forced entrance into the car door, where they found lumas lying on his back with his arms and shoulders tied to the safe, and unconscious. they found indications of a struggle. there were three or four bullet holes in the side and roof of the car, the shots evidently having been fired from within. they discovered the safe open and the contents gone. 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 from the gag that had been forced into his mouth. this gag had almost cost him his life, as the ball was so large that it had prevented him from breathing hardly at all. when restored to consciousness he stated that as the train was leaving rohan he was busy writing out his report, and while thus engaged he was pounced upon by two powerful men who were wearing masks. they[pg 182] felled him to the floor, gagged him and bound him as he had been found, and took his keys and robbed the safe. while they were doing this he became unconscious from the effect of the gag. he said that they had taken his pistol, which was lying on a table in front of him, and fired two or more shots at him, but none of the shots took effect. i was chief special agent for the wabash railroad, which was a part of the gould system. the case was reported to me by wire the following morning. i went to rohan at once, and was unable to obtain any information. it seemed that the robbers had not been seen by any one in or near rohan. they had probably been in hiding and boarded the train unobserved, just as it was leaving the station. i then went to detroit, where i saw and interviewed lumas, the express messenger. lumas was a young man about twenty-six years of age, fine looking, about six feet tall, and weighed about one hundred and eighty pounds. he was born and raised in vermont. he had an older brother, who was a passenger conductor on the main line of the wabash railroad, who had been in the service of the company for many years, and afterwards remained in the service about thirty years, or until his death. they had a widowed mother, who resided in vermont. bert, the messenger, had always lived with his mother until he took service with the pacific express. his standing with that company was first-class.
while i was making my investigation at detroit, i met mr. brazee, superintendent for the pacific express company of the wabash division, with headquarters at decatur, illinois. mr. brazee told me of lumas' good standing with the company, and spoke of him in the highest terms. i told mr. brazee that i was inclined to believe that lumas might have been connected with the robbery. he vigorously discredited the idea. "why," he said, "lumas, you should remember, was[pg 183] almost dead when he was found in his car at peru. the robbers, doubtless, tried to kill him, and would have succeeded had it not been for the timely assistance rendered by the doctors, and, of course, if he had been connected with the robbery in any way the robbers would not have tried to kill him."
i knew mr. brazee personally, and i knew him to be a kind-hearted man and a thorough gentleman, and i appreciated very much the stand he had taken for one of his subordinates. i 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 of him in the highest terms, and of his brother they spoke equally as well. i did not know that lumas was connected with the robbery in any way, and they speaking of him in such high terms, i did not deem it advisable for me to inform the express authorities that i believed the express messenger was implicated, so i decided to put a shadow on lumas' movements on each end of his route. i placed two of my operatives on the work; one at indianapolis, and one at detroit. the operative at detroit was told to take up lumas when he left his train at detroit, and not to lose sight of him until he left on his train for indianapolis. the operative at indianapolis was likewise instructed; thus lumas was kept under observation at each end of the road. this was kept up continually for about four months. the operative at detroit had discovered that lumas was drinking heavily while in that city, and that he was a habitual frequenter of saloons and places of ill repute. our operative at indianapolis reported that lumas, while there, would leave his train and go direct to his rooming house, retire almost immediately and remain there until time to leave for detroit. i explained this to myself in this way: he needed the sleep and rest after his[pg 184] carousing in detroit. my operative secured a room adjoining the room occupied by lumas at indianapolis, and the other one in detroit was just as fortunate, and in a short time my detroit man made the acquaintance of lumas, became his chum, and was with him almost continually in detroit, and in that way became acquainted with most of lumas' friends.
at this time there was a private detective in detroit, whose name was pat o'neal. o'neal was a widower and lived with a widow sister who kept a rooming house, and lumas and my operative both roomed with this widow. o'neal did not know either of them personally, but doubtless learned from his sister that lumas was employed by some express company, and that my operative was, as he represented himself, connected with some advertising concern of the east. there was also a noted thief known as jim o'neal, who was no relation to pat o'neal, but one being a thief and the other a detective, they knew each other.
one night, while my man in company with lumas was sitting at a table in a beer garden in detroit, they were approached by a man about medium size and plainly dressed. he appeared to be about forty years of age, five foot eight inches tall, and weighed about 145 or 150 pounds. he was light complexioned, sandy haired and smooth shaven. he evidently knew lumas well, for he sat down at their table, and after they had had several drinks they engaged in a conversation in an undertone, evidently not intended for the operative's ears. however, the operative managed to hear a good deal of what was said. the stranger was evidently trying to convince lumas that everything would be all right. lumas was heard to say, "i have not been treated right, and this is why i have been drinking so much of late." the other man was heard to caution him about drinking so much, and to keep quiet, telling him that "everything would be all right[pg 185] later on." after hearing this conversation, my operative located the intruder and found that his name was denny downer, a barkeeper at a prominent saloon on griswold street, detroit.
while the above conversation was going on between lumas and downer, jim o'neal, the thief, was seated at a table very close to our party, with some of his friends. o'neal knew lumas to be an express messenger, and knew that he lived at the house of pat o'neal's sister, and hearing a part of the conversation he concluded that possibly lumas was implicated in the robbery of his car, and when he met his namesake, pat, the private detective, he told the conversation he had overheard between lumas and downer, whom jim o'neal did not know.
on the evening of the following day i received a report telling me of the happening, and on the next day i received a report from the operative, telling me that he had located the intruder and learned what his name was. on receipt of this report i at once decided that denny downer, whom i had known for years as a thief, was undoubtedly one of the parties who had participated in the rohan robbery. i had known downer in pittsburg, pennsylvania. in fact, i was in criminal court in pittsburg on one occasion when downer was convicted of burglary, and received a sentence of five years. i knew his criminal record. the description i had received tallied perfectly with that of denny downer, of pittsburg memory, therefore i felt sure of my man.
i decided to go to indianapolis and take with me all of the daily reports received from my two operatives. i notified mr. brazee of my intention, and requested him to accompany me to indianapolis, telling him that i expected important developments there. he wired that he would join me at decatur, illinois, and go with me to indianapolis. on arrival there we secured adjoining rooms at the spencer house, which[pg 186] is just across the street from the union station, indianapolis. we arrived there in the evening, and lumas' train was to arrive at two o'clock the next morning. i instructed my operative at indianapolis to be at the union station when lumas' train arrived and to bring him from his car over to my room just as soon as he arrived. i had had one of my operatives meet him at his train several times before and take him to see different parties for the purpose of identifying them as one of the express robbers, but lumas, on each of these occasions, failed to identify them, and he had always declared that he could not identify any person, nor give any accurate description of the men who had attacked him in his car at rohan. i never expected him to identify any one, but he had been told by the express company to go with me or any of my men any time that we might need him for the purpose of identification, so i knew the operative would have no trouble in getting him to come to the hotel.
on this particular morning i learned from the dispatcher that lumas' train would arrive on time, and i prepared my room for his reception. i set a table in the middle of the room and spread the daily reports of my two operatives over the top of this table. they filled it completely. i told the operative to tell lumas that he had a party that he wanted him to see, in my room.
mr. brazee was occupying a room next to and opening into mine, and i arranged to leave the door partly open, and he was to sit alongside of the door in such a manner that he could hear everything that was said. he considered the whole thing would be a failure, as he firmly believed in lumas' innocence, as did all the other officers of the express company.
the train arrived, and the operative got lumas, who grumbled a little about going to a room at that hour of the morning, but nevertheless he came over. the operative rapped[pg 187] at my door, and i bade him enter. i was sitting at the table containing the reports when he opened the door and came in accompanied by lumas. i asked lumas to be seated, and told the operative to retire to the hall until i might need him.
i began by saying, "lumas, i want to call your attention to these reports that are spread out on this table. they are the daily reports of my operatives who have shadowed you and those associated with you, for the past four months. these reports set forth everything you have done in those four months, and every one you have associated with. i 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 find that your mother is a fine old lady and stands high in the community where she resides, in vermont. i find that you have respectable connections, and that you were well raised. i know all about your brother and his high standing on the wabash road, and that your character heretofore has been good. also that the officers of the pacific express company have had the highest regard for you and your integrity, and for these reasons i have taken it upon myself to give you the opportunity of telling the whole truth about this express robbery, but i want you to understand distinctly that if you do not tell the truth, if you say one word that is not the truth, i shall stop you and turn you over to the officers of the law. but, if you do tell the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, i will do all that i can to secure the extension of leniency to you for your part in the crime. i can also say that if you tell the whole truth, that mr. brazee and the other officers will be as lenient with you as the law will allow. so now i want you to answer my questions truthfully or not at all. now, sir, i want you to tell me how much money you received from the proceeds of that robbery."
[pg 188]
he said, unhesitatingly, "mr. furlong, i only received ten dollars."
long before i asked this question i could see moisture in lumas' eyes, and he finally began to cry. when he stated that he had received but ten dollars, i said to him, "now, lumas, wait a moment until i call in mr. brazee, who is your friend."
mr. brazee had heard every word, and i went to the door and asked him to come into my room. as he entered i also noticed moisture in his eyes. i asked mr. brazee to write down what lumas said, and he complied.
"lumas," i said, "who were the two men who robbed your car?"
he replied, "denny downer and a friend of his whom he called little al. i never did know his real name." lumas went on and stated that he had met denny downer in a saloon in detroit and that downer had evidently known that he was an express messenger; that as he had gotten well acquainted with him and had got to drinking considerable, downer had induced him to let him know when he would be carrying a large sum of money, or what they called a "big run," and that downer had explained that he would have a party with him and would board his car at an out-of-the-way station and bind him, without injuring him, and shoot a few bullets through the side of the car so as to make it appear that he had made a fight, and that they would divide the spoils and nobody would even suspect him (lumas) by reason of his good standing with the company. he finally agreed to enter the plot, and learned that there was to be a safe containing a sum of money, nearly four thousand one hundred dollars, and some other valuables, on the day of the robbery, shipped over on his train. this might not be considered a big prize, but it was above the average. he notified downer, and he[pg 189] and little al took a train from detroit and reached rohan a little ahead of his train. after the robbery, and he had returned to detroit, downer sent him a letter containing ten dollars, with the understanding that he would give him more later on, but that he had never received any more. he had become sorry that he had gone into the plot, and had begun drinking. he further stated that he was now positive they had tried to kill him by strangling him with the gag.
mr. brazee and the express company officials were all surprised at lumas' confession. i turned lumas over to my operative, and took the first train for detroit, where i arrested denny downer. on being arrested downer acknowledged his connection with the robbery, and told me that little al was al perry of boston, mass., a noted porch climber and thief.
i lodged downer and perry in the county jail at wabash, indiana, where in the course of time both were put on trial, pleaded guilty, and were sentenced to six years in the penitentiary at michigan city, indiana.
their sentences were made lighter by reason of their having pleaded guilty. lumas also pleaded guilty and was used as a witness before the grand jury against downer and perry, and it having developed that lumas, who was much younger than the other two, being inexperienced in crime, was persuaded by them to do this thing, sentence on him was suspended.
after the robbery the express company offered a reward for the arrest and conviction of each of the robbers, and after they had been arrested and convicted pat o'neal, the private detective, filed a claim against the express company to recover the reward. he had nothing whatever to do with the obtaining of the information which led to the arrest and conviction of[pg 190] these two men, and, therefore, his claim for the reward was nothing more than an attempt to obtain money under false pretense.
