Another great event of this kind occurred in the hills of Wyoming, west of Cheyenne during 1898. The first section of the Overland West Bound carrying the mail and express was flagged and brought to a stop. A culvert behind it blown up with dynamite to prevent the second section interfering, and the express cars were then looted and the robbers rode off. Persistent pursuit lasting for years, however, brought them one by one to justice, one being killed near Kansas City while resisting arrest, another killed at Cripple Creek under similar circumstances. In 1897 (January 1st) the present Company, Union Pacific Railroad Company, was organized under the laws of Utah as successor to the Union Pacific Railway Company. During the construction days, Wells, Fargo and Company operated the Express service over the line. On completion the Company organized its own express "The Union Pacific Railroad Express" which continued to handle the express until re-organized as the Pacific Express Company. Congress was appealed to in 1893 to pass a refunding bill, but failed to act. Numerous unsuccessful attempts were made to reorganize the property, but this was impossible with the debt to the Government in an unsettled condition. Finally in 1899 an agreement (see foot note) as reached between the re-organization Committee and the Attorney General by which the line was to be foreclosed and the debt adjusted. This was accordingly done in 1899. The account standing: Amount due Government. From Union Pacific. From Kansas Pacific. Principal $27,236,512.00 Interest 31,211,691.75 ------------- Total $58,448,203.75 $12,891,900.19 Less Sinking Fund 18,194,618.26 6,303,000.00 ------------- ------------- Balance due $40,253,585.49 $6,588,900.19 and these amounts were accordingly turned over to the United States Government closing the account. [Footnote: The agreement In question was signed by Sidney Dillon, President of the Union Pacific Railroad Company; Robert B. Carr, President of the Kansas Pacific Railway Company; W. A. H. Loveland, President of the Colorado Central Railroad Company, and concurred with by Henry Villard and Carlos S. Greeley, Receivers of the Kansas Pacific Railway. It provided that the three lines should be operated as one property, under the general direction of the Union Pacific Railroad Company. The gross earnings to be pooled and apportioned between them on certain specified agreed per cents, based on the earnings of the respective roads during the preceding year, the arrangement to be binding for fifty years and to be subject to the approval of the Court in whose hands the Kansas Pacific Railway then was.] CHAPTER XII.