The Fremont weekly journal. [volume] (Fremont, Sandusky County, Ohio) 1867-1877, 1875-04-23


quering my agitation 10 some extent
He drew a chat npisily forward, ant
sitting down threw open his coat dis
playing by so doing a heavy navy revol
yer stuck in his belt-Then he freed
his mouth of a quantity of tobacco juice,
and spoke:
'Young feller,p he said, motioning
with his head toward the battery, ''thei
thar macheen is.what yer call q Telegram,
Is'pose'" /
"Well," 1 answered, with faint
smile, intended to be conciliatory,
Chats what we send tolegrams by"
''Wal, ] want you to send message
to friend O. mine in Cohoe. 1 tell yer
aforehand han't got no collateral. But
1 kinder guess you'd better trust me,
young feller. I" Here he laid his hand
Significantly on his belt -''I'll fetch il
in ter morrow eff it's convenient.
1 hastened to say that the charge
could just as well be paid at the other
end by his friend.
'Humphl Plaguey little you'll get
o Jim, 1 reckon. Howsumdever, per-
ceed."
"what is the message, and to whom
is it to go2"
~ want you to go tell Jim Fellers, Of
Cohoe, that the bull quit here las night
and ther sheep'l be close on his heels. :"
As he delivered this sentence he look
ed at me as if he expected me to be mys-
tilted. But thought it best not to ap-
pear so, and 1 said carelessly:
81 suppose you are dealer in stock
and this is your partnerl- All, sir, the
telegram helps you fellows ouj Of many
a sharp bargain" )"
'fYa'as," heanswered, slowly, evident
ly pleased with the way took it. "Ya'as,
that's 'um. I'm sending down a lot O.
stock Bought it dog cheap over in
Genesee, yeasterday. Purity lot as ever
you see.
1 turned to my instrument What
was to be done3 Though ours was a
railroad office, we often sent business
messages; and if did as usual now 1
should probably get rid of my unwel-
come visitor without further trouble.
But in the short conversation with him
[ had somewhat recovered fIom my
first alarm, and I now conceived the
the idea of attempting the capture of
Tim Lynch.
was only poor salaried operator,
trying to save enough money to marry
in the spring. Five hundred dollars
would do me great deal of good just
now-to say nothing of the eclat of the
thing. But how was it to be accom-
plished2 Here was alone in the depot
with man big enough to whip his
weight in such little men as / was sever
Il times over. Any attempt to secure
lim single handed was not to be
thought of. But could I not excuse my
self, and going out fasten him in9 No;
we'll knew from the distrustful look in
his face that any proposal of mine to
cave the room would be pere mptorily
to by him. What then9
Why, simply this, I would telegraph
to the down town station. But alas!
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 that2 1t was only a ques-
ton of a few seconds more time.
All these thoughts went through my
mind with the rapidity of lightning as l
went to the battery. Lynch regarded
me from the corner Of his uncovered eye
with a suspicion that made me shake in
my shoes. AS sat down he arose and
came to my side.
"Look here, young feller," he his
sed in my EN-, and his breath was sick
ening with the fumes Of liquor, ''per-
haps you mean fair enough-I hope you
do, for your own sake. But L don't un-
derstan' nothin' bout them telegrams,
and jist want ter tell ye that yer'd bet
ter be squar'-for by the eternal God!
ef you go back on me, I'll stretch you
on this yere floor as stiff as ever did a
man yitl" and felt the cold muzzle of
his revolver on my cheek. Perhaps my
voice trembled little, but 1 was still
unmoved in my resolution, as replied:
"Never fear, sir, III tell him all about
the stock. - He muttered something
to himself, and still remained standing
over me.
You have heard perhaps how much
character and expression a telegraph op-
orator can put into his touch. Why,
there were dozens of different operators
communicating with our office, and 1
could tell at the instant, without ever
making a mistake, who it was signally.
You could tell if a man was nervous
from his telegraphing just as well as you
could from his hand writing. The call
that l sent hurtying across the State to
Council Bluffs must have rung out up
on the ears of the operator like shrek.