4A COTTAGE GROVE SENTINEL JANUARY 4, 2017
O PINION
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
A holiday thank you
We would like to compliment all the people on Dublin Lane for the fi ne efforts with the Christmas
decorations. We think the street looks beautiful!
Thank you and a very Merry Christmas and a happy and prosperous New Year to the neighbors on
Dublin. And a very Merry Christmas and a happy and prosperous New Year to all the people in Cottage
Grove!!
Barb and Dick Gilkison
Cottage Grove
OFFBEAT OREGON
Last “great” train robbery was a brutal, incompetent fi asco
PART 1 OF 2
By Finn J.D. John
For the Sentinel
Few people realize it, but mod-
ern forensic detective work — the
kind showcased on the “CSI”
series on television — was born in
southern Oregon, back in October
1923.
Before that fateful day, there
had been a few crimes solved with
the help of science, including some
big ones. In Portland, the evidence
given by Dr. Victoria Hampton in
the 1904 trial of Norman Wil-
liams for murdering his wife and
mother-in-law — proving that the
long silver hairs found at the crime
scene were human and had been
violently ripped out of the scalp
before death — sent Williams to
the gallows.
But stories like that were outli-
ers. At the dawn of the 20th cen-
tury, most crimes were still solved
with shoe leather and intuition, the
old-fashioned way.
But after 1923, it would be very
clear to everyone that a new day
had dawned in crime investiga-
tion. And the breakthroughs made
in southern Oregon that autumn
would inspire, several years later,
the founding of the FBI’s legend-
ary forensics division.
Of course, for forensic detective
work to be pioneered, a suitably
horrifi c crime had to be perpetrat-
ed. And on Oct. 11, 1923, one was
— a crime so cold and gratuitously
nasty that it shocked the whole
nation.
It was a train robbery — the last
big train robbery in American his-
tory, in fact. It was perpetrated by
three bumbling brothers: Roy, Ray
and Hugh DeAutremont, the sons
of a barber in Albany.
Roy and Ray were the older
brothers, and they were twins. Of
the two, Roy was particularly cra-
zy, and probably led the others in
the criminal enterprise; later in his
life, he was diagnosed with schizo-
phrenia and given a lobotomy.
The brothers had been sort
of trying to get into the crime
business since just after the First
World War, when they had been
caught up in the popular backlash
that had followed the “Centralia
Massacre” on Armistice Day 1919.
The “massacre” was a gun battle
that broke out between members
of the International Workers of the
World — the “Wobblies” — after
a gunman hiding in the IWW hall
opened fi re on Legion members
during a parade. The ensuing gun
fi ght killed six people and utterly
destroyed any respectability and
effectiveness the “Wobblies” might
have had, and was followed by
a big law-enforcement dragnet
operation. One of the “usual
suspects” rounded up and thrown
in jail was Ray DeAutremont
— the less-crazy brother — and
the experience in jail seems to have
convinced him that the system was
not worth saving, and that he might
as well become an outlaw and grab
what he could.
After his release from prison,
Ray rejoined his brother and the
two of them journeyed to Chicago
to try to join a gang. This did not
work out for them, so they returned
to the Pacifi c Northwest, where
they were joined by their younger
brother, Hugh, for their second
attempt to enter the world of crime:
A bank robbery.
This robbery attempt was foiled
by one of history’s most surprising
coincidences. Just as the brothers
were approaching the bank they’d
picked out, a car full of gangsters
pulled up in front of it, and they
watched in astonishment as “their”
bank was robbed by someone else,
right before their eyes.
So the brothers took jobs on
logging crews in the woods and
started biding their time, looking
for other opportunities to score.
They thought they had found
one in the “Number 13 Gold
Special” train. Years before, when
the Gold Rush was still on, the
Gold Special had carried plenty of
“color” over the Siskiyous and into
Oregon. The California gold fi elds
had long since petered out for
commercial purposes, but the train
still had the cachet; and the broth-
ers had some reason to believe
it would be carrying something
particularly valuable in its mail car
on Oct. 23. So they started making
their plans. And on the big day,
they were ready to do the job.
The heist started at the sum-
mit of the Siskiyous, as the train
crossed the border into Oregon.
It had to slow at the summit for a
brake check just before going into
a long tunnel — Tunnel 13, coin-
cidentally enough — and when it
did, Roy and Hugh jumped aboard
the engine. Wasting no time, they
leveled their weapons — a sawed-
off shotgun for Roy and a .45
automatic for Hugh — and ordered
the engineer, Sydney Bates, to stop
the train right at the end of the tun-
nel. This was, it seems, to prevent
passengers from seeing what was
going on. (Ironically and tragically,
it was to be Bates’ last day on the
job; he was scheduled to start his
retirement the very next day.)
Once the train was stopped, the
brothers were joined by Ray, who
had been waiting at the end of the
tunnel with a box of dynamite sto-
len from a mining operation, just in
case it might be needed to open the
mail car.
As it turned out, it was needed
for that. The mail clerk, when he
saw what was happening, bar-
ricaded himself inside the car and
refused to open the door; so the
brothers packed dynamite around
the door and touched it off.
Unfortunately they had no idea
what they were doing. The amount
of dynamite they used wrecked the
end of the car, fi lled it with smoke,
and instantly killed the mail clerk,
Elvyn Daugherty. And although
they were now able to get in, it
didn’t do them much good; there
was mail scattered everywhere,
they couldn’t see through the
smoke, and the fi re was spreading
quickly.
Back in the train, of course, the
passengers were starting to panic.
The train had stopped suddenly
while they were still in the tunnel;
then a huge explosion had rocked
the car and probably broken out
some windows, and the tunnel
had started to fi ll with smoke and
fumes. They were trapped in the
tunnel like rats.
One of the train’s brakemen, C.
Coyle Johnson, started fi ghting his
way through the smoke and fl ames
to the front, trying to fi nd out what
was wrong. Unfortunately for him,
he made it. Emerging from the
fi ery tunnel mouth, he startled the
robbers, who wheeled and opened
fi re on him. Down he went, dead.
At this point, the brothers appar-
ently switched their plan from “sal-
vage something from this mess” to
“escape at all costs.” They ordered
engineer Bates and fi reman Marvin
Seng to uncouple the engine from
the mail car, apparently planning
to have the engine take them down
the mountain away from the scene
of the crime; but the explosion had
damaged the couplers, so it could
not be done.
So the brothers simply gunned
the two survivors down in cold
blood. Sydney Bates and Marvin
Seng were simply shot in the head
as they stood there with their arms
in the air, because the brothers
wanted no witnesses left on the
scene. And then they ran, dragging
creosote-soaked sacks behind them
to fool the bloodhounds.
The brothers hid out in a cabin
in the woods for about a week and
a half, waiting for things to settle
down a bit. While they were hiding
out there, they noticed an unusual
amount of activity in the air; in
1923, very few airplanes were
actually in operation, but it sud-
denly seemed like every plane on
the West Coast was fl ying low over
the Siskiyous.
But they didn’t fi gure out what
those planes were doing until Roy
hopped a freight train to Ashland
to pick up some supplies. Sitting
in a diner with a cup of coffee and
a newspaper, he looked down and
saw a photograph of himself and
his brothers there, on the front
page.
The manhunt was on. It had
been on since a few days after
the robbery, when authorities had
turned to a university professor
for help in fi guring out who the
robbers had been. And it was in
the course of that manhunt that
the modern science of forensic
detective work was born. We’ll talk
about all that in Part 2 of this story,
next week.
(Sources: Trail, Pepper & al. “Tunnel
13: How Forensic Science Helped
Solve America’s Last Great Train
Robbery,” Jefferson Public Radio,
http://ijpr.org; Joers, Lawrence E.C.
“The Siskiyou Train Robbery,” Great
Moments in Oregon History. Portland:
New Oregon Publishers, 1987; http://
tunnel13.com)
Finn J.D. John teaches at Oregon
State University and writes about odd
tidbits of Oregon history. For details,
see http://fi nnjohn.com. To contact him
or suggest a topic: fi nn2@offbeatore-
gon.com or 541-357-2222.
Protect yourself from cold and fl u season by eating right
BY JOEL FUHRMAN, MD
For the Sentinel
Between treatments, illness-
compromised productivity, and
lost workdays, it is estimated
that the common cold alone
costs the U.S. $40 billion each
year.1
We all know the basics for
reducing exposure to cold and
fl u viruses—wash your hands,
avoid touching your face, and
avoid being exposed to people
who are already ill. As for the
infl uenza vaccine it is important
to know that it is not very effec-
tive.
An independent analysis of
fl u vaccine studies by Cochrane
-- a non-profi t, non-government
organization that organizes
medical research information--
found that under typical condi-
tions, for every 100 people vac-
cinated only one person would
avoid fl u symptoms. The study
showed that the fl u vaccine did
not signifi cantly affect the num-
ber of people hospitalized or
working days lost, and did not
prevent fl u–associated compli-
cations.2,3
Excellent nutrition can reduce
our vulnerability to infection
and reduce the length and sever-
ity of illness if we do become
infected. Many micronutrients
are required to support proper
$ PUUBHF ( SPWF 4 FOUJOFM
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function of the immune system,
and phytochemicals from color-
ful produce have additional anti-
microbial and immune-boosting
effects.
Make sure your diet includes
these immune boosting super-
foods:
Mushrooms:
Mushrooms
have a unique ability to acti-
vate the body’s natural immune
defenses. Reishi and shiitake
mushrooms enhance activity of
natural killer (NK) cells, which
attack cancerous and virus-in-
fected cells.4,5 Shiitake mush-
rooms protect against infl uenza
infection in animal studies.6-8
It’s not only exotic mush-
rooms; white button mushrooms
enhance the activity of immune
cells called dendritic cells, and
were found to enhance immune
defenses in mucosal linings
such as those in the mouth and
respiratory tract.9,10
Note that mushrooms should
only be eaten cooked, because
some raw mushrooms contain
the mild toxin agaritine, which
is reduced by heat.11,12
Cruciferous vegetables: The
cruciferous family of veg-
etables includes kale, collards,
mustard greens, arugula, water-
cress, broccoli, broccoli rabe,
cabbage, caulifl ower, kohlrabi,
and more. The bitter, spicy or
pungent fl avors of these vegeta-
bles are provided by glucosino-
lates, which are converted into
potent anti-cancer compounds,
called isothiocyanates (ITCs),
upon chopping or chewing.
In addition to their anti-can-
cer effects, ITCs also support
the immune system and have
antimicrobial properties.
To maximize ITCs, chop cru-
ciferous vegetables fi nely, eat
them raw and chew them well;
the enzyme that converts gluco-
sinolates to ITCs (called myros-
inase) is activated by disrupting
the plant cells and deactivated
by heat. However, you can still
get ITCs from your cooked cru-
ciferous vegetables: chop them
fi nely before you begin to cook
and add some raw cruciferous
to the meal. For instance, if you
are eating cooked broccoli, add
some shredded cabbage to your
salad.
Cruciferous vegetable phyto-
chemicals may enhance inter-
feron activity, which is an im-
portant component of the body’s
antiviral response.13,14
Berries: Berries are power-
ful anti-cancer foods that also
offer protection against viruses.
Antioxidants called fl avonoids,
which are abundant in berries,
have antiviral activity.15 In fact,
if you do get the fl u, taking an-
thocyanin-rich elderberry juice
may even shorten the duration
of your symptoms.16-18
Berries and grapes are also
rich in resveratrol, another an-
tioxidant phytochemical with
strong antiviral effects—resve-
ratrol has been shown to block
the replication of infl uenza and
other respiratory viruses.19-21
Plus, strawberries are high in
vitamin C, which protects im-
mune cells from oxidative dam-
age.22
Onions & Garlic: There is no
convincing evidence for using
garlic supplements for symp-
toms of the common cold.27
However, eating garlic and on-
ions daily has clear benefi ts
when it comes to cancer preven-
tion, and may help to increase
functionality of the cells in our
immune system.28,29
Plus,
several phytochemicals in gar-
lic have virus-killing activity
against common respiratory vi-
ruses.30
Like cruciferous vegetables,
the active compounds in onions
and garlic are produced when
the plant cells are disrupted, so
It’s best to chop them before
eating raw and before they are
heated when cooking.
Helpful supplements: Vita-
min D and zinc are important
players in immune function, so
maintaining adequate stores of
these micronutrients will also
help to protect against colds
and fl us. Children given vitamin
D supplements throughout the
winter reduced the occurrence
of fl u compared to a placebo
group, and taking supplemen-
tal zinc regularly was found to
slightly reduce the number of
colds caught by children.17,31
Get your vitamin D levels
checked, and if you since zinc is
not highly absorbed from plant
foods, supplemental zinc makes
sense if you are on a vegan or
near-vegan diet.
Treating treat cold and fl u
symptoms: Common cold rem-
edies are ineffective, and some
may even prolong the illness. For
example, mega doses of vitamin
C do not prevent colds or reduce
symptoms, and fever-reducing
medications actually hinder the
body’s attack on the infection.
(In my book Super Immunity, I
evaluate a number of common
cold and fl u remedies.)
Don’t be alarmed if your cold
symptoms last longer than you
expect. On average, patients
report that their common cold
symptoms last one and a half to
two weeks.32
In time, the body will clear
the virus on its own. Remem-
ber, over-the-counter medica-
tions merely mask symptoms,
and may even impair healing.
However, if you experience a
sudden worsening of symptoms,
especially including labored
breathing, or a fever above 103
degrees for three days, then it is
time to call the doctor.
This year, to protect yourself
against cold and fl u, get enough
sleep, avoid putting your hands
near your nose or mouth, and
eat healthfully. As your diet im-
proves, you will be less likely to
become ill, and if you do, you
will recover more quickly.
Dr. Fuhrman is a #1 New York
Times best-selling author and a
board certifi ed family physician
specializing in lifestyle and nu-
tritional medicine. The Eat To
Live Cookbook offers over 200
unique disease-fi ghting deli-
cious recipes and his newest
book, The End of Heart Disease,
offers a detailed plan to prevent
and reverse heart disease using a
nutrient-dense, plant-rich eating
style. Visit his informative web-
site at DrFuhrman.com. Submit
your questions and comments
about this column directly to
newsquestions@drfuhrman.
com. The full reference list
for this article can be found at
DrFuhrman.com.
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