(Editor's Note: Below is the verbatim Page 8 report from the April 11, 1889 "Salt Lake HERALD" regarding the arrival of Sheriff O'Neill, his posse and the four Canyon Diablo train robbers. The narrative below was created using Google Drive's OCR function. We found the original article via Newspaper Dot Com. After clipping the image of the text we then produced screen clips of each paragraph. The text images were colored corrected to make the text visible to the OCR function. We did not correct any misspellings in the original text.)
Many THANKS to Lyman Forsythe for his original kind "find" and share of this article many weeks ago.
"As a result of the brief announcement in THE HERALD of yesterday, that some of the men who were engaged in the recent hold-up and robbery of a train on the Atlantic & Pacific railway would arrive from Milford in charge of Arizona officials, there was a curious crowd at the Utah Central depot, when the train from the south steamed in. The train was considerably longer than usual, and the robbers and their captors were in the rear car, towards which there was a rush, as one of the officers alighted with a Winchester on one arm, and a blanket on the other. He was followed by four men, all in irons, two of the smallest of the gang being chained together, and then came the other officers.
The victims in chains looked neither to the right nor the left, and were apparently oblivious of the fact that they were the authors of the little sensation. In a few seconds, the quartette were assisted into a passenger vehicle, and headed for the city jail, where they were given a bath, a change of clothing, and a good dinner.
Later on, Sheriff O'Neil, of Yavapai county, Arizona, and Carl F. Holton, special agent of the Atlantic & Pacific, were seen by a HERALD representative, and in the lobby of the Cullen, the following facts concerning the robbery and the subsequent capture were elicited: The names of the men captured are Bill Steiner, Charles Clark, James Quince and John Smith. The robbery occurred on the 21st of March last, at Cañon Diablo, a station on the Atlantic & Pacific railway, where the train had stopped for orders.
"The place selected for the robbery," said Sheriff O'Neil, "could scarcely have been bettered. It is a wild section of country and the construction of the cañon at that point is such as to make it difficult
to follow the robbers. The fellows first went to the fireman, and, under cover of their guns, demanded that he alight from his engine. He obeyed the commands, and they then demanded that he go with them to the express car and have the messenger open the door. He went and called the messenger, and the latter recognizing the fireman's voice, opened the door, when the quartette piled in and rifled the treasure box.
"I notice the dispatch from Albuquerque, pretending to give an account of the affair, says something about a safe,” suggested the reporter.
"Well," was the answer, “there was no safe. It was merely the ordinary Wells, Fargo & Co. treasure box that you have seen in use on all the railways, with a chain attached to it."
"How much boodle did they get away with?"
“That I cannot say, as the Wells, Fargo people are always reticent about such matters. We have, however, got trace of or recovered somewhere near one thousand dollars. As I was going to say, just before you interrupted, the fellows made good their escape, going south into Tonto Basin country.
Soon afterwards a posse, consisting of Mr. Holton, Deputy Sheriff J. L. Black, Deputy Sheriff Ed St. Clair and myself, started in pursuit of the robbers, and we had a pretty chase, I can assure you. They were evidently as well mounted as we were. It was not long before we discovered that the fellows had turned northward into Utah, as is the custom among people of their stripe, whenever any crime has been committed. For ten or eleven days we followed their trail through one of the most god-forsaken countries you ever laid eyes on. Upon reaching Cannonville, in Utah, we found that they had been amusing themselves at the expense of the settlers, who had, by some means or other, got news of the robbery, and suspected the fellows of being the guilty parties. About thirty men organized for the purpose of effecting their capture, but with no good result. The fellows so terrorized the settlers that the latter finally gave up, and they rode slowly away, bidding their would-be captors an affectionate good-by. It was at Cannonville we learned that they had headed for the Wahweep cañon, about forty miles east of that point.
We first got sight of the beauties on the morning of April 1st, and both parties opened fire. One of their horses was killed, and they then dismounted and took to the brush, which is wild and thick and in many places quite impassable. That day we captured Bill Steiner, the big fellow you saw at the depot. Two days afterwards we scooped in Clark and Quince, and the next day John Smith fell into our clutches. We then discovered that all of them were heavily armed, but with pistols only. Had they
displayed sense enough to have carried Winchesters, I am not prepared to say that we would have been so successful, or that all of us would have been here at the present time. As it was, the bullets whistled quite lively about us on more than one occasion. There is one thing I am thankful for, however, the capture was made without loss of life on either side. Wahweep cañon, the scene of the capture, is about 140 miles from Milford. We came via Milford simply because it would have been next to impossible to reach home any other way, and then this route has its advantages in the fact that we can reach our destination, Prescott, Arizona, by rail.
"Besides," said the sheriff, with a smile, "we are not quite certain but we would have met some of our friends' confederates on the way back. The section of country that we would necessarily have been compelled to travel through is full of desperate toughs, who would stop at nothing to free a fellow desperado from the clutches of an officer. Yes, we are rather weary; many a night we could get but little sleep, following the trail, as we did, from early daybreak until it was too dark to see tracks any longer. For two hundred miles we did not even see an Indian, and until we reached Cannonville, the only white persons we saw were at Lee's Ferry."
"And there were only two of them," interrupted Mr. Holton.
“Yes, and there were only two of them," repeated the sheriff. "It has been a hard trip, but we are not a little elated over our success, because this is the first capture ever made of Arizona train robbers, notwithstanding the fact that there have been over a dozen hold-ups. There was no station on our route where we could get any supplies. The robbers traded horses several times.
There is one thing, however, that I do wish you would not forget, and that is to allow us to express our heartfelt appreciation of the treatment received at the hands of the Utah people from the day we first met them. They did all to assist us that mortal men could do, furnishing us with supplies, horses-everything that we needed. In all my experience, and Mr. Holton's views are the same, I have never met with such hospitable treatment. The people at Cannonville, Panguitch, Pahreah and Beaver we are especially indebted to. When we were worn out with fatigue they furnished us guards and guides, making our task considerably lighter than it would otherwise, Sheriff Pace, of Panguitch, and
Sheriff Baldwin, of Beaver, were among those who aided us so materially."
"And when do you expect to reach Prescott?"
“In about five days. From here we go to Denver, via the Union Pacific, then by the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe, the Southern Pacific and the Pacific & Arizona to Prescott.”
"Train robbery is a capital offense in Arizona, is it not?"
“Yes."
"And there is no doubt but that you have the right parties?"
"Not in the least. One of them has already made a full and complete confession, and the others are liable to before we reach home. There is no doubt but they will receive the full penalty of the law. The territorial officers have determined to put a quietus on train robbery, if it can possibly be done, and to this end will spare no trouble or expense."
O'Neil and Holton are both typical frontiersmen, and they have, in this instance, displayed courage, and skill and daring that will make their names a terror to the law-defying toughs of our sister territory.
The Captives.
John Smith is evidently the most intelligent of the quartette, and when seen in his cell by a HERALD representative yesterday, after his irons had been removed and he had indulged in a bath and clean clothes, was anything but forbidding either in appearance or action. He is of dark complexion, five feet eight inches in height, black piercing eyes, and suffers from a slight lameness. He appears to be very intelligent and in his conversation uses very good language. His general appearance, however, leads one to believe that he would prove a hard man when cornered.
To the queries of a HERALD reporter yesterday he stated that he had never been in Arizona but once, and that was a year ago when he was engaged in mining at Clifton, in the southern part of the territory.
"That means, then, that you know absolutely nothing of the crime for which you are now under arrest?”
"Exactly. That is what it means."
"Were you ever in Salt Lake before?”
"Yes. I passed through your city on my way to White Pine county, Nevada, where I was engaged in mining for some time. I am a native of Georgia, but have been west for some time, having mined in various parts of the country."
"How long had you been in Utah when you were arrested?"
"Only a short time."
He is quite indignant over his arrest, and says he does not fear the outcome. "But when they get their irons on a man, he has to submit," was his concluding sentence. He claims to be the son of a Baptist minister.
CHARLES CLARK has a milk-and-water expression, and is of slender build.
BILL STEIXEN is nearly six feet in height, and of muscular build; prominent nose and small eyes.
CHARLES QUINCE is sometimes called Tobe. He is also above the medium height, and weighs probably one hundred and sixty pounds.
The officers and their prey will leave this morning for home."
