The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1879-11-21
PRACTICAL PHILANTHROPY.

PRACTICAL PHILANTHROPY.
An Incident on a Western Railway Train
The train was on its way from Par
kersville, Ind, to Corinth, Ill. At the
Western Junction StatiOn-a few miles
beyond Parkersville-there came or
board the train very beautiful young
lady, accompanied by hard-faced and
gloomy looking man, who, from his per.
sOnal appearance, had probably been q
pirate in his early youth, and had sunk
in maturer years to deeper depths OF
crime. The pair occupied q seat to.
gether, the man being careful to give the
girl the seat next to the window. The
passengers, of course, were interested in
the beautiful young woman, and were
grieved TO notice that she was in tears.
As the train started, she exclaimed,
"Oh! / can not go! Don't take me
away!'' to which the dark and forbid
ding man audibly said, s'Hush," and
then, bending down, whispered what
was doubtless diabolical threat in her
ear. She made no further cutlery, but,
pulling down her veil, wept in silence,
while her companion watched her close
ly, with the evident determination OF
Selling her should she attempt to escape
by leaping from the train.
There was confirmed philanthropist
in the car; middle-aged man who had
passed lifetime meddling in the affairs
of others. His blood boiled rs he saw
youth and beauty in the power of a de-
termined villain. 1t was plain to his
mind that the dark-faced man had kid
mapped the girl, and was taking her
away from her home. Perhaps he in
tended to cOniine her in lunatic asy-
lum from motives of revenge, or per-
haps he intended to marry her forcibly
in order to seize her property. In any
event, he was clearly an atrOciOus male
factor, and it was Il philanthropic duty
to thwart his wicked designs.
In the smOking-car were a dozen or
more miners returning from Deadwood,
and to these the veteran philanthrOpist
betOOk himself. He told them the story
of the dark-faced kidnapper and his
beautiful victim, and asked him if they
would help him to rescue the girl and in
tlict summary punishmentO on the villain.
They all unhesitatinglv consented, and
the philanthropist had much diff
Guilty in inducing them to refrain from
blowing the Villains brains out, and to
content themselves with milder form
of punishment.
The twelve miners, with drawn pis-
tolls, followed the philanthropist into the
car where the kidnapped girl was weep
ing, and suddenly presented their weap-
ons at the head of the abductOr. The
girl gave a wild shrek and tainted,
which still further eXasperated the res
cuers. They seized the wicked man and
bound him hand and ENTHUSIASTICALLY
hitting him over the head-nOt because
he made any resistance, but Us mere
tribute to virtue, and an expression of
their adherence of his crime. The train
having by this time reached u lonely
swamp of many miles in extent, they
pulled the bell-rope and stopped the car.
The baflled villain was then thrown off
into a particularly large mud-hole, and
the engineer, who had learned the cause
of the stoppage, and had caught the
philanthropic fever, put on steam and
drove the train rapidly on its way.
Still escorted by his noble miners, the
philanthropist returned TO the car in
which the young lady was slowly re-
covering from her fainting fit,
and waited until she fully reviv-
ed. Her first inquiry was, Where is
he? What have you done with him?"
To which the philanthropist replied:
Z" Don't be afraid, my dear; he can't get
you again. He's Il lynn at this identical
moment in five foot of mud about three
mile back of this, and he can't get to no
railroad station before tomorrow morn
ing. You're free now, my dear, and
we'll all stand by YOU" Various en-
thusiastic miners added that they had all
had mothers to u greater or less extent
at some time of their lives, and that they
wouldn't allow no man to kidnap her,"
except over their dead bodies. The |
Conductor, rs the chief legitimate au-
thority, promised her that he would put
her in charge of nice old lady who
lived at the next station, and would tel !
egraph, free of cost, to her parents to
come and get her.
The young lady was not in the least
degree grateful. She shrieked again,
and exclaimed that the venerable phi
lanthropist was numbering vii |
lain, and his followers were !
worse than wild Indians. "You've ,
gone and throwed away my own dear
husband and killed him. she cried.
He wasn't n pirate, and you know it.
He was just our Sunday-school Superin- |
tendent, and we were married this
morning. Oh! if there's any law in In
danny, you wretches shall swing for
this" She further followed this gener-
al denunciation with a specific attack on
the venerable philanthrOpist, whom she
openly called a bald-headed brute, and
had she not been restrained by force,
would have scattered his remaining hair .
to the winds of heaven.
The philanthropist and his mining
friends SUNK into the smoking-car, and
the Conductor, stopping the train once
more, abandoned it and took to the
woods. The missing husband has not
yet been heard of, and was probably |
drowned in the swamp. Such are the !,