Sharp County record., 1880-02-12

been told, L dlQnG Hhe lllO o"0o
which the messenger had made
The train moved off quickly, ana l
swung my lantern, as was my habit 6ty
way Of bidding goodnight to OLD Luxe
Granger. Then l went into the llttle
station-house with the package clutched
tightly under my rubber-coat, expecting
to find the man there who had come on
with the body. But he had gone, beng
anxious, no doubt, to get to the hotel as
quick as possible. No. 80 was the last
train which stopped at Red Ravine until
6 10 the next morning. So my work
for the night was done, and | had only
to lock up the doors, see that things
were all right about the place, and sit
down to my newspaper in the little
room which served as my sleeping
quarters.
Twenty years had passed since l first
found myself installed at Red Ravine as
telegraph operator in the railway station,
Being content with the humdrum sort
of life, and faithful to my duties, | had
come by degrees to attend to all the
work which the place required. That
is, was the ticket agent, the baggage
master and the keeper of the station,
besides acting for the express company
and continuing my charge OF the tele-
graph key. These combined labors
made it pretty close work for me, but
they all Welded very comfortable in
come; and, as I was troubled with no
unsatisfied ambitions, | counted myself
well fixed. As l have intimated, |
slept in the station, partlyto keep guard
on the Company's property, and partly
from choice; for, being bachelor and
without kin, l had nothing to attract
me elsewhere. My duties had grown a
sort of second nature, and l had lived
in the little town so long that the
Younger generation had come to speak
of me as "Old Billy" That was, l
suppose, because my hair was getting
gray and my joints trife stiff
The Red Ravine Station was a wooden
building, about 40 feet long by 20 wide.
1t was divided into two compartments,
the larger one being for freight and bag
gage, and the smaller one for passengers.
MY own little room was only piece
partitioned off from the freight quarter,
about 10 feet square, and connected by
a door with the box of an office in the
passengers room, which served both
for selling tickets and holding the tele-
graph key. In this latter apartment,
also, was placed the old-fashioned iron
safe, in which | locked up valuable
express packages when any happened
to come to Red Ravine. The village,
ought to explain, had grown up
entirely through the influence of
the great irOn-works of Eldridge
e. Ricketson. There were rich beds of
ore few miles to the north, and these,
as we'll as the big foundry, which en-
ployed four or five hundred hands, were
controlled by the firm l have mentioned.
There has been some trouble at the
works recently-a strike or something
growing out of delay in paying the men
their wages. That is how it happened
that the $4,000 money package came
into my keeping for a night.
Well, when l had made all snug about
the station, and got off my wet clothing,
sat down comfortably with pipe and
newspaper, to enjoy my customary read
ING. The storm outside continued to
rage more and more fiercely, but within
things were as cozy as could be. l had
a blazing fire in the stove, a cheerful
light, an easy chair, plenty of good to-
bacco-the one luxury in which [ was
really extravaganza fresh newspaper,
and bottle of good Holland gin,
wherewith to make my regular noe
turnal toddy. Certainly, these were
pleasant surroundings for an old fellow
like me, and, as rule, they yielded as
much solid comfort as man has right
to expect in this world. But that night
things all seemed out of gear, as have
said. My pipe didn't soothe me as was
its wont; try as | might, | 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 mixed up toddy con-
siderably stronger than usual it failed to
bring the relief had hoped for.
cit all comes of that pesky money
package" Imuttered to myself. "Why
couldn't it have got here on the II 80,
and saved me the job of keeping it over
nightp"
Just at that moment came terrific
clap of thunder, and a flash of light
ming vivid enough to make the lamp
seem dim. l had locked up the pack
age in the safe, and put the key-there
was no combination lock-in my pocket.
But had not the largest faith in the
security of the old safe. 1t had oc-
Cured to me often that person could
open it, even if he wasn't skillful
cracksman. Itwas my custom to leave
my door open between my little room
and the Ticket office, so that if Red Ra-
Al Il L, l., II