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The success of the robbery of the Great Northern Flyer,

bound west from St. Paul,

three miles east of Wagner Station, Montana.

At 2.10 o'clock, on the afternoon of July 3rd,

1900, turned upon the boldness and determination of one man. As the train was leaving Malta a few miles from the scene of the robbery, the conductor, whose name was Smith,

saw a man on the platform at the forward end of the mail car and ordered him to step down.

The man presented a revolver at the conductor and said he would kill him if he should not be permitted to ride.

Knowing the sheriff of Valley County, Montana was a passenger,

Smith went to him and told him that there was a tramp on the mail car.

The sheriff said he would put him off at Exeter, the next siding,

if the conductor would stop the train there. Smith gave the signal for the stopping of the

train and the engineer reversed the locomotive. For two minutes the train slackened. Then it

lunged forward again and sped along the track faster than ever, flashing by Exeter. The response to another signal to stop was

an increase in speed. At the first signal, the supposed tramp had jumped onto the engine

cab and pointed a revolver at the engineer's head, ordering him to open the locomotive's

throttle. The engineer obeyed, and that was why the conductor's signal was not heated.

Three miles east of Wagner, the train stopped at the robber's order.

There, two other men joined the daring bandit.

They were armed with rifles, which they discharged constantly down the sides of the train,

preventing anyone from looking out of the car windows.

The other bandit entered the express car and blew open the safe with dynamite,

...