This, I think, was one of the most exciting arrests I ever participated in. Boyd was tried in the courts of Pittsburg in due time, and was sentenced to the penitentiary for fourteen years.
The Pennsylvania Railroad Company brought suit against the county of Allegheny and the city of Pittsburg for damages to their property sustained during the riots in Pittsburg. This case was later tried in Beaver County, Pa., and the railroad company was awarded a judgment against the county of Allegheny and the city of Pittsburg for $2,000,000 damages.
The railroad company, needing ready cash at the time, sold this judgment of two million dollars to a syndicate, which consisted of Wm. H. Thaw, of Pittsburg, and nine other representative men of Pittsburg for $1,600,000 ready cash. The city of Pittsburg and county of Allegheny then issued bonds for the two million dollar judgment. These bonds were to mature in twenty years, with legal interest payable annually, so that the purchaser of these bonds made four hundred thousand dollars net on the purchase, as well as the interest on the bonds, all of which has long since been payed by the tax payers of the county of Allegheny and the city of Pittsburg.
MURDER OF CONDUCTOR FRAZIER.
A TERRIER BEATS A PACK OF BLOOD HOUNDS ON A MAN TRAIL—
ARREST AND CONVICTION OF A PAIR OF REALLY BAD
TEXANS FOR THE CRIME.
In 1885 an attempt was made by two masked men to hold up a passenger train on the International & Great Northern Railroad, at a point south of Overton, Texas. It was in the month of February and about midnight, and the weather was quite cold, and the ground covered with about two inches of snow and sleet in the vicinity of Overton. The train, bound south from Longview to Galveston and San Antonio on that night, was in charge of Conductor Frazier.
When this train was about to pull out of the small station of Overton, the colored porter, whose duty it was to see that no tramps or other intruders boarded the train when leaving stations, noticed two men climb upon what is known as the blind end of the baggage car, from the north side, and the opposite side of the train from the station. The porter, upon seeing the men, boarded the baggage car at its rear end, and, as the baggage cars of that period all had doors at each end, he entered the car by the rear door and opened the front door from the inside, he having a key. The train had not got fully under headway as yet. He peered out and ordered the tramps, as he supposed them to be, to get off the train; whereupon the men, who were on the front platform of the car turned upon him, each of them holding two large Colt revolvers. He then noticed that they were wearing masks, and it is needless to say that he was frightened. Slamming the door shut, he fastened it and rushed back into the car where he met Conductor Frazier, and informed him that there were two tramps on the front end of the baggage car, whom he had ordered off, but that they had refused to leave and had pointed guns at him. He did not tell the conductor that the men were wearing masks. The conductor, believing them to be merely tramps who had gotten onto the car for the purpose of stealing a ride, and the night being very cold for that section of the country, he concluded that he would go and bring these men into the smoking car, carry them to the next station and there put them off. They would be more comfortable in the smoking car than out on the front platform. He went to the front end of the car, accompanied by a brakeman by the name of Powers. Frazier opened the front door, and the men on the outside immediately opened fire on him. He fell forward dead, and his body rolled off the train into the ditch. They now caught sight of Powers, the brakeman, who was behind the conductor, but as soon as the firing commenced he (Powers) turned to run back into the coaches. They shot him in the body, wounding him seriously. The affair was promptly reported by telegram to the Vice-President and General Manager, Mr. Hoxie, whose headquarters were in St. Louis, Mo.
On receipt of this report Mr. Hoxie notified me at once, instructing me to proceed upon the first train to Overton, and investigate the case. I left St. Louis early the morning following the hold-up, arriving at Overton eighteen hours later. Here I learned, in addition to the facts before mentioned, that there was a north bound passenger train from Galveston that night. There was a water tank about three miles south of Overton. This north bound train was to meet and pass Conductor Frazier's train at the water tank, and the masked men, who later proved to be John Knight and John Price, intended to steal a ride on the south bound train to the water tank, and there to board the north bound train from Galveston, hold it up and rob it between the water tank and Overton, but owing to the fact that they had been discovered on the south bound train as it was pulling out of Overton, and that they had shot and killed Conductor Frazier and wounded Powers, they left the train, and, taking a circuitous route, made their way back to their homes in the little town of Overton. Owing to the coating of snow on the ground they were easily traced to Overton. Of course, when they reached the main street their tracks were lost among the numerous other tracks there. Having learned all this I concluded that these men were residents of Overton and not tramps. I therefore went on with my investigation, which consumed about two days of my time.
In the meantime, as soon as it became known that Conductor Frazier had been murdered, a special train was sent from Marshall, Texas, to Overton with a pack of bloodhounds, which were owned and kept by the Texas and Pacific Railroad Company, and were in charge of a man by the name of Mundon, who accompanied the dogs everywhere they went. Mundon had a posse of several men with him, and at Overton their numbers were augmented by the citizens of that place.