The Daily Dispatch: February 25, 1864., [Electronic resource]

Three hundred Federal recruits drugged and robbed.

‘ A Cairo telegram states that the most daring scheme of villainy ever perpetrated on the cars, was committed between this city and Centralia, night before last. The particulars are as follows: A large number of troops were on route from Camp Yates to Vicksburg. They were known to have a considerable amount of money on their persons; and it appears that three men who had enlisted and started with the rest conceived the design of robbing their comrades.

’ To accomplish this they procured a quantity of whiskey, which they drugged and placed in bottles and canteens. After the train had left Centralia these men entered one of the cars, which was filled with soldiers, and distributed liquor. The night being cold, the soldiers drank freely. It was but a short time until every one of them, including the guards, fell into a state of profound stupor. The villains then extinguished the lights, and proceeded to rob their victims of all the money and valuables.

They took $450 in money, and a gold watch and a revolver from one man, who died from the effects of the drug taken in the liquor. About $900 were taken from soldiers, who awoke from unconsciousness to find they had been robbed.

The scoundrels who committed the robbery got off the train immediately after, somewhere between Cairo and Centralia.