F.J. Thrun: A railway heist

Continued from previous week

A Dec. 23, 1892 edition of the Oshkosh Northwestern recounted the tale of a buried treasure and a blue light on a Neenah property, retold by Mrs. Thrun.
The article stated that Mrs. Thrun found $11,000 — a very different amount — in gold bank notes.

The owner of the property where the treasure was found was located and said that he “knew nothing of the discovery of the money by Mrs. Thrun.”

By coincidence, an express robbery that occurred near Abbotsford in May 1891 involved a similar amount.

The money, which was traveling on the Northern Pacific express from Eau Claire to Phillips, was to be transferred at Abbotsford.

“At Abbotsford, the safe was taken out of the car and delivered to an agent for transfer to the agent running north on the Ashland — Phillips being halfway between Abbotsford and Ashland,” an Appleton Crescent article stated.

“When the agent went to check out the receiving messenger (the following morning) a package containing $12,000 currency was missing. The safe had not been tampered with, indicating that it had been opened by someone who had a key…”

An Abbotsford telegraph operator named Eugene McNally — one of just three people with a combination to the safe — was arrested for the robbery.

In a trial supported by circumstantial evidence, McNally was found guilty and charged with five years in the state prison.

“The fact of his being the sole occupant of the room containing the safe and money was established and also that he was out in the woods the morning of the robbery, and that he sought to have several keys made. While the testimony was implicating, it was not convicting and it is barely possible that McNally would have gone free, had he not taken the stand in his own defense, contrary to the advice of his attorney,” a Dec. 24 Marshfield News and Wisconsin Hub story stated.

“His story did not hang well…statements together with the testimony of the state not only convinced the jury, but the court and spectators.”

To make the story even stranger, McNally was the operator of the Neenah depot, previous to his position at the Abbotsford depot.

According to the Oshkosh Northwestern article, McNally had told others that the money was buried somewhere, but refused to identify the exact location.
“And on account of this, detectives think that Mrs. Thrun was fortunate enough to find the buried treasure,” the story stated.

To be continued