The Eaton Democrat. (Eaton, Ohio) 1875-1903, 1882-08-31

1--WE call stocks by nicknames CAL
| edonian deferred are 'Claras,' Brighton
deferred are 'Berthas,' Northern as
sNoras,' so that Manchester and Dundees
are 'Marthas."
81 see," said Blair; ''what ingenuityr'
81 was thunderstruck, L say; and as l
read the telegram my first thought was,
it must be a forgery; but a secret word,
known to Us alone, put its authenticity
beyond a doubt. And yet, in spite of
nv high opinion of Bobbett's cleverness
| | hesitated for some minutes. l couldsee
no possible reason to expect a fall in the
stock named. The traffic return was
good, and a large dividend was natur-
ally expected. All rails were high, and
all the knowing people said must go
higher. There was lots of public money
for investment, and the outside public
dearly loves to buy on a rising market,
and vet, with all these facts before me,
[ am proud to say l trusted my old part
ner, although it was with a heavy heart
| followed his instructions. | sold at the
best price | could get, and, just as l had
placed the last five thousand, became
aware of great excitement in the market.
You will scarcely credit it. but kilograms
came in running so: Terrible accident
on Manchester & Dundee Line. Two
trains completely wrecked. Fifty per-
sons killed and wounded" You must
remember the collision. 1t vas an awful
smash-up, and nearly swamped the div
idend on the deferred shares for that
half-year.
las soon as the first excitement sub
sided 1 began to think of Bobbett. knew
he was somewhere up that way, and for
the moment felt anxious about him, and
then I laughed at my fears as [ remem-
bered the telegram l had received a short
time before. He, at least, must be all
right, or he could not have sent me that
line; but what an artful old rascal-fel-
low, Imean-to manage to forestan ev-
cry one in the intelligence! He must
have sped to the nearest station, dis
patched his message and perhaps bribed
the telegraphist to keep back the official
news until | had time to complete the
transaction. However, he had managed,
it was very clever, and ought to be a lot
of money in our pockets, and thankful L
was I had trusted him.
"Idare say you two in your hearts
think this very wrong, but it is diamond
cut diamond on the London Stock Ex-
change 1 a tell YOU"
Frank and l made polite disclaimers,
and as we were growing rather inter
ested in this Ubiquitous exploit of Bob
belts pressed Hopkins to go on without
fear of wounding our susceptibilities.
s'Of course 1 was very sorry for the
poor people killed, but [ could o help
feeling as l went back to my office that
L had done a very good days work.
i won't close / said, until Bobbett re-
turns. | should think, with this trans
action open, he is sure to get back to-
morrow. Even as L made this resolu-
ton, n clerk put a telegram in my hand.
1t came from some railway official, and
informed me that John Bobbett had been
killed in the smash. My surprise at the
first message was nothing to what | felt
now. 1t was utterly incomprehensible
it was impossible. How could Bob
bett be dead when his telegram lay before
meP When he sen that he must have
been alive, and what was more, had all
his wits about him. 1t was barely. pos
sible he could have got any n else to
send off the message, and died afterward
from injuries. | was greatly puzzled
and alarmed, so decided that the best
thing | could do to eluciGate the mys-
terry wa to go myself to the scene of the
accident and ascertain the truth. i
started by the night mail, travelled all
night, and early in the morning reached
CrosSleigh Road, Il little station of nc
importance. The accident had happened
some miles further down the line, and
when | reached the place | was con-
Quoted to a large barn which stood neal
the side of the railway; and there, laid
out on the deal boards, | saw, side by
side with-many a CHASTITY object. The
corpse of poor old Bobbett, mangled and
battered almost beyond recognition.
After the emotion [ felt at seeing my old
partner in this state had subsidized, u feel.
iGig of intense fear replaced it. | saw
ut n glance that by no possibility could
he have moved a foot after the accident,
and as | stood wondering, a doctor who
was near me said:
".He vas more fortunate than many,
his death was instantaneous
Il obtained further particulars from
J the people about, and learned that his
body had been extricated from the wreck
of the carriages, where it lay with about
a ton of wood and iron on top of it.
"And yet [ had his telegram, sent from
SlOoolCiR VIII Il oUttUiOu, ~ L tOIu yOt
before, at least five miles from the scene
of the collision, and [ received that tele.
gram nearly au hour before any news
came of the accident"
Hopkins knocked the ashes out of hi:
pipe, and was silent. The mans tale
had been told so simply, so circumstan
italy, the time and places stated SO dis
tinctly, and apparently truthfully, tina
| E,.a l. md fo,. tt,a ,nn,nn t QUO ,,,,11.
to suggest any explanation. Hopkins
replenished his pipe with the air of ont
who has nothing further to say. AT las
l asked:
But did you not inquire at the tele
graph Officer"
80, yes. But L hardlylike to tell you
the result of my inquiries, it seems $,
!, strange. | interviewed the man win
worked the machine. | did not want t.
get a marvellous tale spread about, 81
: was very cautious in my questions, in
, quiring what messages he had sent OF
the day before. At first 1 could gre
nothing out of him, but l noticed, whel
l asked him whether he could remembe
any strange occurrence just before tn
5 accident, he seemed troubled and hest
tated a little; so 1 pressed him further
and at last got this statement from
him: Some time, about an hour, h
thinks, before he heard of the acciden
: down the line, he was Standing in tn
Office with his back to the fire, engages
3 in cracking nuts, eating apples, or som
| other device that clerks with plenty O
. leisure employ to while away the time
when he felt 4 breath of cold air as i
some one had entered and left the QUITE
door ajar. He turned round to remon
t strate with the careless INTRUDER, and, t
t his surprise, saw the door was shut. A
J; he glanced round the room he heard tn
familiar click, click, click, and he wa
e quite prepared to swear he saw tn
handle of the instrument working rapid
e on its w account, and evidently send
e ing off u message somewhere. He wa
so taken aback, and, indeed, frightened
that for some moments he could nc
!. move, anil when at last he cover
himself sufficiently to spring forward
the movement of the handle had ceased