s of the train become at once hunters of the train stealers,
several of whom were captured the same day, and all but two within a
week. Two of those who had failed to connect with the party were also
captured. Being in citizen's dress within the enemy's lines, the whole
party were held as spies. A court-martial was formed and the leader and
seven out of the remaining twenty-two were condemned and executed. The
others were never brought to trial. Of the remaining fourteen, eight
succeeded by a bold effort in making an escape from Atlanta, and
ultimately reaching the North. The other six failed in this effort, and
remained prisoners until March, 1863, when they were exchanged.

All sorts of stories have been heard from time to time concerning the
supernatural side of railroading, and the peculiar and apparently hidden
antics which locomotives occasionally are guilty of. The following story
is well worth reproducing, and may serve as an illustration of hundreds
of others. It was told by an engineer, who worked on the Utah & Northern
Railroad years ago, before that road became part of the Union Pacific
system. The road was very rough, and save for a long stretch of sage
brush along the Snake River north of Pocatello, it ran in canons, over
mountains, and through heavy cuts of clay, which was often washed down
on to the tracks by the spring rains. It was, as it is now, a railroad
rushed with business.

It was the only line into Butte City, which had been struck a short time
before, and was then giving promise of its future distinction as the
greatest mining camp in the world. The shipments of gold and bullion
were very heavy, and all the money for the banks in Butte and Helena was
sent over this road. There were no towns along the line. The only stops
were made at water-tanks, and such eating-houses as the railroad company
had built at long intervals. It was a rough, hard run, and was made
especially lonely by the uninhabited stretches of sand and sage brush,
and the echoes from the high granite walls of the narrow canon. It was a
dangerous run besides. The James gang of train robbers and the Younger
brothers had been operating so successfully in Missouri, Kansas and
Minnesota that other bandits had moved West to attempt similar
operations.

Finally, word came from the general offices of Wells, Fargo & Co. that
several train robbers had been seen in Denver, and might work their way
north in the hope of either securing gold