The Milan exchange. (Milan, Gibson County, Tenn.) 1874-1978, 1880-07-22

T
iron works of Eldridge & Ricketson.
There were rich beds of ore a few miles
TO the north. and these as well as the
foundry. which employed 400 or 800
hands, were controlled by the firm
have mentioned. There had been some
trouble at the works recently strike
or something growing out of delay in
paying the men their wages. This is
how it happened that the Sl3, 900 money
package came into my keeping for a
night.
Well, when had made all snug about
the station and got off my wet clothing,
l sat down comfortably with pipe and
newspaper to enjoy my customary read
Ing. The storm outside continued to
rage more and more fiercely, but with
in things were coy as could be. l had
a blazing 1re in the stove, a cheerful
light, an easy chair, plenty of good
/ tobaccO-the only luxury in which l
was really extravaganza fresh news
paper and bottle of good Holland gin,
/ wherewIth to make my regular nOctur-
nal toddy. Certainly these were pleasant
/ surroundings for an old fellow like me,
and as rule they yielded as much
solid comfort as a man has right to
expect in this world. But that night
things seemed all out of geer, as l have
said. My pipe didn't soOthe me as was
its wont; try as l might l couldn't get
/ interested in the newspaper; an uncom-
Portable feeling of dread-a feeling that
some shadowy but horrible thing was
about to happen-possessed my mind
and even when had mixed up toddy
! considerable stronger than usual it
failed to bring the relief l had hoped
! for.
at all comes of that pesky money
package" muttered to myself. why
couldn't it have got here on the 11:3O
and saved me the job of keeping it here
over night?n
just at this moment came a terrific
clap of thunder and flash of lightning
vivid enough to make the lamp dim. |
had locked up the package in the safe
and put the key-there was no combi-
nation lock-in my pocket. But | haG
not the largest faith in the security of
the old safe. 1t had occurred to me
often that person could open it even
if he wasn't a Skillful cracksman. 1t
was my custom to leave my door open
between my little room and the ticket
office, so that if Red Ravine was called
on the telegraph key l could hear it.
The instrument had been clicking away
at great rate for the past hour; but as
it was none of my business | had paid
no attention to what was going on over
the wires. | judged now from the
nearness of the lightning and the jerky
sounds of the instrument that the storm
was playing the mischief with the mes
sages. l passed into the ticket office,
where a light was left burning, and
stood for some time thinking whether
the money package would be less ex-
posed i'll the safe than it would be under
the mattress of my bed, and finally
concluded that the latter place would
be hardest for any possible thief to
reach. So l took out the heavy brown
envelope and slowed it away under the
mattress. Then | took a second glass
of toddy, which was usually against my
rule, but which l thought the circum-
stances warranted.
Once more l sat down to my news
paper and pipe, but with no better sue
cess than before. The storm seemed
now to have centered right over the little
station. Peal after peal of thunder rent
the air and the lightning played about
the sky like phosphorus on an inky
background. If you have ever CHANGED
to be in telegraph Office during thun-
der storm, you may have seen the cleo
tricity dash down the wires in way to
make timid people nervous. Even vet
eran operators, like myself, wouldn't
want to undertake to receive that sort of
message. Twas tempted to close the key,
but the meaningless ticking had sort
of fascination for me in the mood then
was. 1t was like the incOherent NUT
terings of a maniac where now and
then, at long intervals only, could one
distinguish a word or sentence. Maybe
the extra allowance of toddy had made
me more imaginative than usual, and
given a weird cOloring to my thoughts;
for listening to the rapid click-click, l
remember of faucying that some spirit
hand had got hold of the key and was
pouring out a wall of woe over the
wires.
was too restless to sit still and too
nervous to 90 to bed. Besides. even if
| hadn't been so upset in my mind, it is
doubtful whether l could have slept
thr ough such a storm as that.
To occupy myself about something l
relghted my lantern, went into the
freight room, examined again the bolts
of the doors and the fastenings of the
windows and returned to the room
ifI bat Inc
as | was entering my own nest the light
of the lantern fell squarely on the wood
en- box. Oddly enough, until that mo-
ment | had forgotten all about the dead
young woman. Thinking so steadily of
the Sl3, 600 had, l suppose, driven the
box out of mind. But | can't say it was
any comfort to have it brought back
now; for a corpse is never the most
cheerful of company, and, feeling as l
did then, | would a great deal rather
have had no company at all.
1t must have been the imp of the per-
verse, | suppose, that impelled me,
after the box had been brought back to
my mind, to leave the door open so
that | could sit and stare at it with
morbid curiosity! As | have already
said, my sleeping apartment was par
titioned off from the freight room and
was connected with the latter by door
The BODY had been placed in such
position that when this door was open
the head of the box was in sight. Two
or three times gotup to shut the door,
but some strange fatality drove me back
to my chair and caused me to keep in
view the box with its sad freight. All
this time the storm ragged, the thunder
discharged its mighty batteries, the
liUhtninu flashed and the mad rayinUs