Knoxville journal. [volume] (Knoxville, Iowa) 1874-1986, 1875-04-15

! without further trouble. But in the short
conversation with him had somewhat
recovered from my first alarm, and now
conceived the idea of attempting the cap
ture of Tim Lynch.
| was only poor, salaried operator,
| trying to save enough money to marry
In the spring. Five hundred dollars
would do me a great deal of good lust
now-to say nothing of the eclat of the
thing. But how was it to be accom-.
plished? Here was /, alone in the depot
with man big enough to whip his
weight in such little men as was sew
eral times over. Any attempt to secure
| him single-handed was not to be thought
of. But could not excuse myself, and.
going out, fasten him ing No; well /
knew from the distrustful look in his
face that any proposal of mine to leave
the room would be peremptorily objected
to by him. What then?
Why, simply this, l would telegraph
to the downtown station. But alasl
That very day the connection between
the two offices had been cut for repairs.
| 1t was seldom used at any time, of course.
But what of that? II was only a CUES
| ton of a few seconds more time.
All these things went through my
mind with the rapidly of lightning as I
went to the battery. Lynch regarded
| me from the corner of his uncovered eve
| with suspicion that made me shake in
| my shoes. As l sat down he rose and
! came to my side.
Look here, young Teller" he Kissed
in my ear, and his breath was sickening
| with the fumes of liquor, "perhaps We
mean fair enough hope we do for yer
| own sake. But don't understan' nothin'
| bout them tellygrams, end list want ter
tell we that yer'd better be squar'--for, by
the Eternal God! eff we go back on me
I'll stretch we On this yere floor as stiff
as ever | did man yitr' and | felt the
cold muzzle of his revolver on my cheek
Perhaps my voice trembled little; but
was still unmoved in my resolution as /
replied:
"Never fear, sir; I'll tell him all
about the stock" He muttered some
thing to himself and still remained
standing over me.
You have heard, perhaps, how rnuch
character and expression telegraph
operator can put into his touch. Why,
there were dozens of different operators
communicating with our office, and /
could tell at the instant, without ever
making a mistake, who it was signaling
You could tell if man was nervous
from his telegraphing just as well as you
could from his handwriting. The call
that / sent hurrying across the State to
Council Bluffs must have rung out upon
the ears of the operator like Shrek
&C. B. Are you there?" was what
asked, and almost instantly came back
teply in the affirmative. Then with
trembling hand ratified off my message:
" For the love of God, telegraph to our
downtown Office at once. Tell them
that Lynch is within two feet of me, and
they must send help"
A short pause, as though my message
occasioned some surprise, and then came
the response: "All rightp' which assured
me need not repeat.
WAL growled the deep voice of
Lynch, "are you going to send my mes
sageg"
II have sent it, sir"
What Does all that tickin' mean
what / told your"
Eyes, and if you'll wait fifteen or
twenty minutes you'll get an answer"
"Wal, / dunno as | want an answer.
Jim, he'll understan' it all right"
"But I'll tell you soon whether he's
there or not Sit down"
So Lynch reluctantly took his seat,
looking around at the doors and windows
once In while in an uneasy way. Twas
determined to take him now at any cost
and verify believe should have planted
myself in his path had he insisted upon
going now.
"Tick, tick, tick?" the battery called
out, and / listened to the message
Keep cool. Gould has gone for the
police" Strange it was, wasn't it, that
/ should sit there and talk through $50
miles of space with man not half a
mile from me?
Whats that signerfy?" inquired my
companion, as the ticking ceased; and ]
replied that the clerk at Cohoe had just
written off the message and sent il out.
He seemed satisfied and settled back in
his chair where he sat in sullen silence,
his jaws going up and down as he chewed
his weed
Oh, how slowly the minutes crept along!
The suspense vas terrible. / sat and
watched the minute-hand of the clock,
and five minutes seemed as many months.
NV companion seemed nervous, too. He
| moved uneasily in his chair.
Amt ii about time we heard from
Jims" he asked, at length.
1--WE shall get word from him in few
moments now ! answered, and fell to
watching the clock again. Five inmates
| more passed. Lynch got up and began
pacing to and fro across the room. AT
length he paused and said:
a don't believe I'll wait any more.
I've got to see a man down at the Penn
| sylvania House, and he'll be abed eft /
| don't get thar pretty soon"
Hold on moment, and I'll see what
they're up to- cried hastily, and ]
| touched the key again. make haste"
| was my message. 81 shall lose him II
you do not. Not moment to spare. "
Straightway came the reply, short but
encouraging: "a squad of police started
| for the depot five minutes ago" Thank
heaven! They ought to be here now. /
looked at Lynch and thought OF the
$500.
"Wall, what's the word?" he growled
| impatiently.
aYour friend is coming" answered
for want of a better reply.
"Comin'i Comin'l Whar"
"Coming to the Office at Cohoe. He
probably has an answer for you"
IAN answer for mer Jim Fellers?
4 u.