Armed Robbers Hit the Kitsap Pacific Train at Shelton
Two men boarded the morning train at Shelton, broke into the express car, and held up the messenger and a passenger, making off with money and jewelry.
A Kitsap Pacific train which started from here at 5:30 this morning was boarded at Shelton by two men who broke into the express car and held up express messenger W. M. Hull and passenger A. Barrett, from whom money and jewelry were taken. He was made to open the safe and a small amount of money was taken from it.
“two men who broke into the express car and held up express messenger W. M. Hull and passenger A. Barrett, from whom money and jewelry were taken.”
In 1893, train robberies were a real threat on frontier rail lines, and small-town depots like Shelton were vulnerable. Today, armed bandits stopping a train seems like a movie plot, but it reflects the lawlessness and lack of centralized policing that characterized the late 19th-century West. The Kitsap Pacific line itself is long gone, yet the story reminds us how transportation hubs have always been targets for crime.
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