Colonel Harper — Engineer and Train Robbery Witness
In 1888, Harper was the engineer of a train under Conductor McClellan when robbers boarded near Pantano; he had previously experienced a similar robbery in the same area the previous April [1][3]. During the 1888 incident, the bandits forced Harper to cut off the mail and express cars and pull ahead two miles, then told him to inform the messenger that no one would be harmed [3]. After the robbery, Harper backed the train to a station to notify authorities [2]. A special train carrying officers and Papago trailers was sent from Tucson that night to pursue the outlaws [1].
Sources
- dent Noble of what had happened… (1888)dent Noble of what had happened. The train was in charge of Conductor McClellan, and the engineer was Colonel Harper who had a similar experience in the big robbery near Pantano last April. A special train with …
- The engineer backed up to the train, and… (1888)The engineer backed up to the train, and ran back to the station and notified Superinten-
- Silver City Enterprise — 1888-1890 (full OCR, Internet Archive) — 1888-03-02 (1888)dent Noble of what had happened. The train was in charge of Conductor McClellan, and the engineer was Colonel Harper who had a similar experience in the big robbery near Pantano last April. A special train w…