The Hickman courier. [volume] (Hickman, Ky.) 1859-current, 1882-09-01

are 'Alarth9s."
Il see,'' said Blair; .'what ingenuity
4" was thunderstorm, | say; and rs
read the telegram my first thought was,
it must be forgery; but secret word,
known to us alone, put its authenticity
beyond doubt And yet, in spite of
my high opinion of Bobbett's cleverness
| hesitated for some minutes. / could see
no possible reason to expect fall in the
stock named. The traffic return was
good. and 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 Il rising market,
and yet, with all these facts before me,
| am proud to say trusted my old part
ner. although it was with heavy heart
/ | followed his instructions. | sold at the
best price l 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 was an awful
smash-up, and nearly swampeI the div
idend ON the deferred shares for that
half-year.
- As soon as the first excitement sub
sided began to think of Bobbett. knew
he was somewhere up that way, and for
the moment felt anxious about him, and
then laughed at my fears as | remem-
bered the telegram had received short
time before. He, at least, must be all
right, or he could not have sent me that
limo. lint what ~, fffIl Oil ,.aSoaI oil
low. Imean Ito manage to forestall ev-
cry one in the intelligence He must
have sped to the nearest station, dis
patched his message and perhaps bribed
the telegraphist 10 keep back the official
news until had time to complete the
transactions However. he had managed.
1t was very clever. and ought to be a lot
of money in our pockets, and thankful |
was / had trusted him.
8. dare say you two in your hearts
think this very wrong, but it is diamond
cut diamond on the London Stock Ex-
change | can tell you.
Frank and | mode polite disclaimers.
and rs we were growing rather inter-
ested in this iniquitous exploit of Bob
bett's pressed Hopkins TO 20 on without
fear of wounding our susceptibilities.
.Of course | was very sorry for the
poor people killed. but | could not help
feeling as | went back to my office that
| had done very good days work.
4 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 | made this resolu-
ton, a clerk put n telegram in my hand
1t came from some railway official. and
informed me that John Bobbett had been
Z l. t.. 81
first message was nothing to what ] felt
now 1t was utterly incomprehensible
lit was impossible. How could Bob
bett be- dead when his telegram lay before
me? Waen he sent 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 one else To
send of the message, and died afterward
from injuries. | was greatly puzzled
and alarmed, 50 decided that the best
thing | could do to elucidate the mys-
terry was to 90 myself TO the scene OF the
accident and ascertain the truth.
started by the night mail. travelled all
night. and early in the morning reached
Crossleigh Road, little station of no
Importance. The accident had happened
some miles further down the line, and
when | reached the place | was con-
/ ducted 10 a large barn which stood near
the side OF the railway; and there. laid
/ out on the dead bolrds, | saw. side BY
side with many CHASTITY object, the
corpse of poor old Bobbett. manglcd and
! battered almost beyond recognition
I After the emotion felt at seeing my old
partner in this state had subsidized. feel
! ing of intense fear replaced it. l saw
/ nj one glance that by no possibility could
/ he have moved Il foot after the accident
and rs | stood wondering, a doctor who
/ was near me said;
He vas more fortunate than many.
/ his death was instantaneous
Il obtained further particulars from
/ the people about aud learned that his
body had been eNtricated from the wreck
/ of the carriages, where it lay with about
/ a ton OF wood and iron on top of it..
And vet had his telegram, sent from
/ Crossleigh Road. a station, rs / told you
! before, at least five miles from the scene
| of the collision. and received that tele-
/ gram nearly an hour before any news
came of the accident"
/ Hopkins knocked the ashes out of his
/ pipe, and was silent. The mans tale
had been told so simply, so circumstan-
/ TALLY, the time and places stated so dis
/ Frank and for the moment were unable
| to suggest any explanation. Hopkins
replenIshed his pipe with the air of one
who has nothing further to say. At last
| asked:
But did you not inquire at the tele-
graph office?'
10, yes. Bet | hardly like to tell you
the result of my inquiries, it seems so
strange. | interviewed the man who
worked the machine. / did not want to
/ get marvellous tale spread about, so
/ was very cautious in my questions, in
! curing what messages he had sent of
| the day before At first | could get
nothing out of him, but | noticed, when
| asked him whether he could remember
any strange occurrence Just before the
accident, he seemed troubled and hest
tated little; so | pressed him further,
and at last got this statement from
| him: Some time, about an hour, he
thinks, before he heard of the accident
down the line, he was standing in the
Office with his back to the fire, engaged
in cracking nuts. eating apples. or some
other device that clerks with plenty of
leisure employ to while away the time,
when he felt breath of cold air as if
some one had entered and left the outer
door aiar. He turned round to remon-
strate with the careless intruder, and, to
his surprise, saw the door was shut. As
he glanced round the room he heard the
familiar click, click, click, and he was
quite prepared to swear he saw the
handle of the instrument working rapidly
on its own account, and evidently send
inc off message somewhere. He was
so taken aback, and, indeed. frightened,
that for some moments he could not
move, and when at last he recovered
himself sufficiently to spring forward.
the movement of the handle had ceased,
and the message, whatever twas. speed
ing to its destination. He was sure,
from the short time it took in sending,
the message was one of very few words,
and | need not say that, as telegraph