Alpena weekly argus. [volume] (Alpena, Mich.) 1871-1893, 1875-09-15

to'be mystifed. But thought it
best not to appear so, and l said
carelessly:
~ suppose you are dealer in
stock and this Is your partner
All, sir, the telegraph helps you
fellows out of many a sharp bar
gain"
"Ya'as,' he answered slowly,
evidently 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 Gen
esee, yesterday. Purity lot as ever
you see."
l turned to my instrument
What was to be done. Though
ours was railroad Office, we often
sent business messages, and if l
did as usual now, / should proba-
bly, get rid Of my unwelcome Wis
itor without further trouble. But
in the short conversation with him
l had somewhat recovered from
my first alarm, and now conceiv-
ed the idea of attempting the cap
ture of Tim Lynch.
was only poor salaried oper-
ator, trying to save enough to
marry in the spring. Five hun
bred dollars would do me a great
deal of good just now-to say
nothing of the "eclat" of the thing.
But how was it to be accomplish
ed? Here was / alone in the de-
pot with a man big enough to whip
his weight in such little men as l
was several times over. Any at
tempt to secure him single-handed
was not to be thought of. But
could l not excuse myself, and go
ing out fasten him in? No; well
| knew from the distrustful look
in his face that any proposal OF
mine to leave the room would be
preemtorily objected to by him.
What then9
Why, simply this, I would tel
egraph to the downtown station.
But alas That very day the con-
nection between the two offices
had been cut for the purpose OF
repairs. 1t was seldom used at
any time of course. But what OF
that! 1t was only question of q
few seconds more time.
All these thoughts went through
my mind with the rapidity of light
ening, as l went to the battery.
Lynch regarded me from the cor
ner of his uncovered eye with a
suspicion that made me shake in
my shoes. AS l sat down he arose
and came to my side.
"Look a here, young Teller, he
Kissed in my ear, and his breath
was sickening from the fumes Of
liquor, perhaps you mean fair
i hope we do, for yer own sake.
But l don't understan' nothin'
bout them tellygrams, and l jist
want to tell We that yer'd be squar
for by the Eternal God eff you
go back on me I'll stretch you on
this yere floor as stiff as ever l did
man yitP and l felt the cold
muzzle of his revolver on my
cheek. Perhaps my voice trem-
bled a little, but was still unmove-
ed in my resolution, as replied:
"Never fear sir, I'll tell him all
about the stock" He muttered
something to himself and still re-
NAMED standing over me.
You have heard perhaps how
much character and expression a
telegraph operator can put into his
touch. Why, there are dozens of
different operators communicating
with our Office, and l could tell at
the instant, without ever making a
mistake, who it was signalling
You could tell If a man was ner-
vous from his telegraphing just as
well as you could from his hand
writing. The call that / sent hur-
rying across the State to Council
Bluffs must have rung out upon
the ear of the operator like shrek.
&C. B. Are you there 2" i ask
ed, and almost instantly came back
a reply in the affirmative. Then,
with trembling hand, / ratified off
my message:
"For the love of God, telegraph
to our down town Office at once.
Tell them that Tim Lynch is with
in two feet of me, and they must
send help"