Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1884-12-12

I SA1Ss IL 1OODClS SdLuc lHUO VuC
depot at Ogalalla abou. an hour before
train time, and bound and gagged the
operator. After they got him fixed
they sat around and waited. When the
train drew up they left him, and he i'm
mediately got himself in a position
where he could use the key a little.
The boys who saw him say it is a mys-
terry how he ever did it. His legs were
tied twice, and his arms were pinioned
behind him, SO that it was almost inn
possible to move even the fingers. The
fact that l could not catch two consccu-
tive letters until | had heard the mes
sage ten or twelve times, shows how
faint the stroke was. 1t was the queer
est experience of my life"
A third man said he had seen a good
deal of service on the border. and had
had a good many adventures, only one
OF which ever impressed him much.
Down at Grenada, on the Santa Fc
Road, when it was first opened, he had
had a circus all one night with a party
of robbers. The country was then a
very dangerous one, and the manage
ment was in continual fear of despera-
does.
81 was in the Office in the evening""
he said, getting ready to close up,
when four or five hard men came in.
They didn't say much at first, but
seemed to be looking the ground over.
We were always or the lookout forthat
kind of chaps, and as the machine was
ticking | pretended that somebody was
asking me a question. laughed a lit
tie, and Selling the key, Ibroke in with:
.Everybody-Don't stop the express at
/ Granada tonight, whether signalled or
not. Robbers here They eyed me
sharply, but said nothing. The
click, and | leaned back in D' the
chair. They fooled around for half an
hour, and then one of them asked me
what time the train was due. Eleven
five said. We'll, we want it, one of
them replied. l told him that l would
signal it. About 1920 l got out the red
lantern and lighted it. Just as I got it
fixed two of them jumped up with re-
volvers in their hands and said they
would a v me the trouble. While one
of them covered me with a pistol the
others tied me flat on my back to a
settee. l couldn't move head or foot.
After they got me there l began to
think what sort of a scrape | had got
myself in. The train would come
presently, and go flying by, and then
those ~cut-throats would murder me
just for the fun OF it. I had thought
the thing all over when l heard a sharp
whistle and a roar, The men ran out
on the platform with masks on and re-
volvers in hand. One of them had the
lantern, which he swung vigorously.
In going out on the platform they had
left the door open, so that I could sec
things pretty well. 1 began to hope
that the train would stop, for [ knew
it contained men enough to do up that
crowd if not taken too much by sur
prise. The roar came nearer and
nearer, until at last 1 knew by the
sound that they were not going to stop.
With the whistle blowing at full blast
and the dust flying in clouds she swept
by like a streak of lightning. 1t was all
up with me, l thought. The robbers
dropped the lantern and began to
swear. Then l could hear them talk
ing, and pretty soon [ made up my
mind that the train had stopped down
the road a way, and that they were
Watching it. Before long they took to
their heels, mounted their horses. and
were gone. When the trainmen came
up to the depot, all armed with Win
chesters, | was the only occupant.
They released me, and / told them
what had happened. Acouple of them
stayed there with me, and the train
went on. If any express ever came
any nearer being robbed without going
through the mill than that one did, I'd
like to know It."
All agreed that it was a close call,
but the fourth speaker said he had a
better story than any of them. There
We're no robbers in it. 81 was one OF
the first men who worked a key in Vir-
giinia City, as you may know. One
night a man came in picked up a blank,
wrote on it, and, handing it to me,
asked what the charge was. 1 read
the message as follows: Killed Tom
to-day. VIII kill Jim Tomorrow 1t
was addressed to somebody in Philadel-
phia. | collected toll and looked the
message over, but l did not place much
significance upon the wording of the
message, and after a while forgot all
about it. We used to get some awful
queer messages. About one year later
a nicely-dressed stranger came in, and
handing the Philadelphia copy of that
dispatch, asked me if it had been sent
from there, and if l could tell him
where the sender was. / told him that
l remembered the circumstances, but
that | had not seen the man since. The
next evening this man came in and
handed me for transmission to Phila-
delphia a message reading: found
Charley. Will leave for home with
him Tomorrow AS he was paying me
l made some inquiry, because l was
curious to know something about the
case. The NAL said he would tell me
the next day. never saw him again.
Two or three months later q man
came in and, showing me that dis
patch, asked me if l remembered send
ing it. | told him 1 did. Can you
tell me where the man is who sent it?'
he said. | couldn't. Then he went
out, and l yelled to him: Say, hadn't
you better tie a string to yourself? I'm
losing you fellows pretty fast This
led to IN explanation, and he told me
about it. Ii seems the three were
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