Warrior Run payroll

[Rubicon]

Looking for info about a robbery that took place near Warrior Run PA. This is not the story about the train car that was dynamited, but a story about a derailment and subsequent robbery of a lumber companies payroll. Never recovered, it is said to reside somewhere in Warrior Gap.

 

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[Rich in Central PA]

Rube........this is all I have for now until I go thru my research material.

A $70,000 payroll was buried by 3 robbers who derailed the train carrying it and killed the engineer is still hidden. They were caught later and hung without divulging the location. As close as can be determined, the treasure lies somewhere in Warrior Gap, located just slightly north of Interstate 81.........Rich

 

[Rubicon]

That's what I found too. I think this story is a mix-up with another story. Let's face it, a $70,000 robbery would have made LOTS of headlines. I am going to concentrate my efforts in Warrior Run.
Thanks.

 

[Rich in Central PA]

WOW I found this..........

"On January 13, 1930, Warrior Run became the scene of one of the most dramatic and deadly robbery attempts in the history of the valley. Four men were killed and several others maimed for life when bandits boldly ambushed a pay car of the Glen Alden Coal Company as it was going to the # 20 tunnel. The killers exploded a cache of dynamite by means of an electric wire connected to a battery. The resulting blast blew the pay car to bits, sending debris, bodies, and cash flying high into the air. The bandits never got the $35,000 carried in the pay car, but the crime cost two of them their lives. Joseph Szachewicz and John Nafus were electrocuted for this deadly deed."

Rube......Was wondering>>>this sounds like the Espy Gap payroll? This coinsides with my other post about paycar being blown up with cash fying everywhere? What do you think? OR is it a Warrior Run payroll?

 

[Rubicon]

I believe the stories are one in the same, time slowly confusing the facts. I know this much: The train car was dynamited just outside Warrior Run on 1/13/1930. There are 2 train tracks running through the area. The track leading to Tunnel 20 (the Truesdale breaker) is the track to search. Most of this area has been developed, but you never know.... 8)

 

[Rich in Central PA]

Re: Warrior Run payroll UPDATE

Just came back from the library and dug up the story on the Warrior Run payroll that was in the newspapers a few days after the incident.

Unfortunately, the bulk of the payroll ($30,000) was left behind in the paycar by the robbers. Two of the robbers only took $3,000. Sometimes these treasure stories really don't show the whole picture. Ya have to do some research to find out what really happened, but I'll leave it up to you guys to read it & draw your own conclusions................Rich

 

[Rubicon]

Awesome detective work Rich. Up to this point I was conviced the crime was committed several hundred yards from where this latest post describes. It sounds as if the bulk of the money was recovered. Still, there may be a few relics from this crime lying about. I will visit the area after the snow melt and post pictures. I believe there should still be evidence of the blast in the ground and surrounding area.

 

[Rich in Central PA]

Awesome detective work Rich. Up to this point I was conviced the crime was committed several hundred yards from where this latest post describes. It sounds as if the bulk of the money was recovered. Still, there may be a few relics from this crime lying about. I will visit the area after the snow melt and post pictures. I believe there should still be evidence of the blast in the ground and surrounding area.

Good luck Rube............I have a picture of the paycar that was blown up but it would not scan so I couldn't post it. Heading under picture states" Wreckage of the paycar in which the paymaster, Arthur Web, and 2 guards were killed when it was blown up by dynamite by a lone bandit who escaped under fire of survivors of the blast. The car contained $30,000 which was left beside the track by the robber."............So I believe it safe to assume that no coin or greenbacks was scattered in the air as previously reported in the original treasure lead......................Rich

 

[Rubicon]

Finally got around to checking out this area, and I even managed to find the old narrow gauge rail road bed...all 100 yards of it. The rest has been either covered with coal ash or ripped up from the strip mining activity. I did some MD'ing over the area, nothing conclusive. Some old iron, lead slag, and hot rocks.

 

[huricanesrul]

had a guy tell me he found 2 coins while walking home from school 1960"s ..both from the late 1800-1905 . searched the area fo 20 min...forgot bug spray... cheap detector......got a great signal.........dug 4 inches ................6 wheat pennies ! ! ! ! ! !! same 3 inch wide whole.....excitment.................all from 1940's :/ but still..........new story...how did they get there.. same hole ! ! !

 

[Chris G]

had a guy tell me he found 2 coins while walking home from school 1960"s ..both from the late 1800-1905 . searched the area fo 20 min...forgot bug spray... cheap detector......got a great signal.........dug 4 inches ................6 wheat pennies ! ! ! ! ! !! same 3 inch wide whole.....excitment.................all from 1940's :/ but still..........new story...how did they get there.. same hole ! ! !

Hey guys my name is Chris and i grew up in Warrior Run as did my father and he has told me many stories of the old train's being blown up and robbed i think the best one is about how the $70.000 that was taken and never found as my father told me one of the men was named Red and everyone knew he was the one that robbed the train and the local law took him before a judge up at the old court house, hold cell, i guess you would call it i was told it was right were the Warrior Run fire department is now and any ways when they took him before the judge the judge gave him a chance and ask him tell me were the money is well good old Red responce was to the judge YOU CAN KISS MY ASS UNTIL IT'S RED,RED,RED, ILL NEVER TELL YOU WERE THE MONEY IS THE JUDGES RESPONCE WAS THAT'S FINE RED BECAUSE IAM GOING TO HANG YOU IN THAT TREE OUTSIDE UNTIL YOUR DEAD,DEAD,DEAD and that's what they did he was hung in a tree that use to be in Warrior Run playground i do recall the tree that was there it was cut down many many year's when i was a kid but thought id share that with you thanks Chris

 

[jeff of pa]

PAYROLL CRIME: IT WAS A BLOODY PAYDAY

By JERRY KELLAR [email protected]

Sunday, March 18, 2001 Page: 1B

In the span of a few moments on Jan. 13, 1930, two ruthless bandits in search of a big score turned a Warrior Run colliery into a bloody tomb.
A little over a year later, John ``Tex'' Nafus and Sigismund ``Big Joe'' Szachewicz would pay the ultimate penalty for their heinous crimes. But not even death by electrocution seemed sufficient retribution for the families of four victims - families whose lives would never again be the same.
The pair's attempted robbery of the $35,000 payroll halfway between Truesdale colliery and No. 20 tunnel of Glen Alden Coal Co. might have succeeded but for the frightful carnage caused by the explosion of a huge charge of dynamite under an electric mine locomotive trailer used as an auxiliary pay car, and the courage of a one-armed guard.
Killed instantly were Arthur E. Webb, 32, paymaster, Scranton; Martin Burns, 31, assistant mine foreman, Sugar Notch; James Shovlin, 33, section foreman, Hanover Township; and Frank Brezinski, 36, miner, Plymouth - their bodies burned, broken and mangled .
All of the deceased left behind children. Sadly, Burns' wife gave birth to the couple's second son just days before the explosion.
According to the Wilkes-Barre Record, a police investigation revealed that Nafus, a Plymouth Township resident, and Szachewicz, a Jersey City, N.J., native who listed the Salvation Army in Wilkes-Barre as home, had placed a heavy charge of dynamite under the locomotive tracks, possibly sometime during the previous night.
The mine motor was allowed to pass over the heavy charge of explosives, but as soon as its cargo of men and money passed the spot, a radio battery was connected to the wire ends, setting off the fatal spark.
The bandits, meantime, barricaded themselves nearby in a clump of small pine trees, waiting for hell to erupt.
Interestingly, section foreman Stewart Hettig saw two strange men in the field near his railroad just minutes before the explosion. Hettig saw the same two men running across the field right after the blast.
The discharge, which made tinder of the heavy mine car, forced the lid from the strong iron box containing the payroll money and flattened into tinlike strips the iron compartments and trays.
As they moved in for the take, the thieves were startled to find 45-year-old John Sookie, a one-armed guard from Plymouth, protecting the scattered loot. Bruised, cut and in shock, Sookie was strong enough to verbally fend off Nafus and Szachewicz while waiting for police to arrive.
Harry Powell, the man in charge of operating the motor drawing the pay car, also made a miraculous escape.
He recounted the horrid experience to the newspaper.
``I was beginning to advance the speed of the motor after just having passed a wavy stretch of track,'' Powell said. ``Just when I had given it the last notch there was a terrific explosion behind me and I went into a daze. I couldn't imagine what had happened. I thought maybe the paycar had jumped the track. I looked back and saw a cloud of dust at the point where the motor broke away from the paycar. I went back to see what happened.''
What he found sickened Powell.
He saw the car in splinters and the bodies of his co-workers in pieces.
``Those who were not maimed were lying unconscious near the wrecked car,'' he said. ``I called for Rocky (Shovlin) and I thought I saw him coming up on the tracks from the left side.''
Told later that Shovlin had both his legs severed in the explosion, Powell realized the man he saw was probably one of the bandits.
Ironically, employees of the Warrior Run colliery often worried about the possibility of violence at the workplace.
``Everybody around the colliery used to talk about the place where the explosion was as an ideal place for a holdup, it's such a lonely spot and hidden from view by pine trees,'' a teary-eyed Powell said. ``Some of them used to say that it was strange some of these wild bandits never thought of holding up the pay car before.''
A graphic coroner's report quoted in the Wilkes-Barre Record detailed the victims' extensive and gruesome injuries.
The townspeople were outraged.
The manhunt was on.
Authorities checked out dozens of leads and tips over the following weeks and brought in several suspects for questioning.
On Feb. 21, police arrested Nafus and Szachewicz and charged them with four counts each of first-degree murder. A grand jury indicted them on March 10.
According to reports, they were ``electrocuted'' for their crimes sometime the following year. Parts One & 2

http://thetimes-tribune.com/news/local-history-bandits-targeted-mine-s-pay-cars-1.1373707

http://thetimes-tribune.com/news/local-history-pay-car-robbery-sends-pair-to-chair-1.1377530

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