The Press., 1884-07-17
HOW THE MONEY WAS SAVED.

Ig 4 I was about sixteen years old when I got my first job telegraphing, and happy boy was I, though the position was only l that of night operator at the little station of Kenelsville, on the New York and Erie railroad. But it was stepping stone to something better, and the pay, though small, was sure, and helped very material
 ly in the support of my widowed mother and sister. But of all lonesome, isolated offices I ever worked in, think kenels-
 vile was little the worst It was at least
 half mile from any human habitation and almost entirely surrounded by woods.
 The only companions I had from seven lo'clock in the evening until the same hour
 in the morning were my instruments and
 my books, except when some long frelght 1 train would stop for orders and could
 have short chat with some of the dusty train men before they hurried along on
 their way and disappeared in the darkness, l leaving me ten times more lonely than be- fore. The day operator at Kenelsvllle al
 so performed the functions of ticket and
 freight agent, and had charge of what little
 express was handled at that small station. One night when I came on duty at seven
 o'clock he called me to one side and said "Carl I have an express package here for
 MT. Churchill, with $3,00O currency in
 it, that came up on No. II. He has been expecting the money for some time, and
 will probably call fer it on his way home,
 before nine o'clock. Do you suppose you
 can take care of it until then ?" felt ht-
 tie uneasy about keeping such valuable
 package in sucA a lonely place but as he
 seemed so anxious that MT. Churchill
 sh ou.d not be disappointed when he call
 ed, and as I knew he had an engagement
 with c-rtain young lady that evening, ill which any delay might be detrimental to his hopes, told him I could take care of if, and so, after placing the package in the
 old safe and instructing me regarding the
 receipts, etc., he took his departure for
 the village a mile away, and then began
 one of the toughest nights experience l ever had, and-my story. The first part
 of the night l was kept so busy repeating
 messages, train orders, and other telegraph
 business, thut had hardly time to think of the money. But, as time wore on aud nine o'clock was reached and passsd l be- gan to be little, uneasy for fear Mr, Churchill had given up expecting the package or gone home another way, and 1 should have to worry about 1t all night, | though I laughed at myself for my fears. MT. Churchill was an extensive live stock buyer, and often received considerable
 
 1 business, and as he usually knew when the l remittances were forwarded, he was gen. erally at the station to meet them ;. but, for some reason, this package had been delayed and he had called for it number of times without success, and seemed con- siderably worried ill consequence Ten and eleven came and went, and still no MT. Churchill appeared (being detained, as I afterward learned, by the laming Of his horsh in a distant part of the country, while on one of his stock buying ,trips.) It was a nasty night outside. A drizzling rain fell with ceaseless batter on the roof, and the wind rising, i'll violence, dashed the water against the window in great sheets and shook the little depot to it's very foundation. My imagination became very active; every sound was magmfied hundred-fold and transformed into some thing terrible. When the great gusts of wind would make the little building groan and tremble, my heart almost jumped into my mouth, and I could feel my hair fairly rise on end in very excess of terror. But as the hours wore on and nothing horrible happened, I at last became more calm, and turned my attention to my nightly prac. tice of copying the through messages as they flashed over the wire; for l was anxious to become 8 good operator, and never lost an opportunity of improving my telegraphy.. It is pretty, hard work for a young operator to 'scatch on" to the flying messages when two "fiip" "brass-pound- ers'' are at work trying their best to break each other up, and the best could do I would often get hopelessly behind and have to leave off and commence anew But stuck to it and scribbled up sheet after sheet of the. railroad company's pa- l ,ao7 oY1 sa1,c cn1hoI that forgot all about the money, my fears and everything else, until Q noise behind me caused me to look around, and there, not six feet awry from my chair, stood three of the most villainous looking men l ever laid my eyes upon. Each of them wore half mask, and the one who ap- peared to be the leader held brace of re- volvers in such manner that could look directly into the muzzles, and as the weap- ons were at full cock, this vista was not at all pleasing. They had easily picked the old door lock under cover of the noisy ele- ments, and entered so quietly that I was in their power before I became aware of their presence. rsF a was almost frightened. out of my wits, but managed to ask them in a tremulous voice what they wanted.
 .'What do We want ?" cried the leader. "You know we'll enough what we want that $3 900 that came, tonight for old Churchill, and the less fuss you make about it the better it will be for you. Tie mp this kid, you fellows, and let's go in for the sWag.' s...s .a -s -a,-a e5 -. #9e. 9=s Two of the men seized me, and despite my resistance (which was not enormous) was quickly bound hand and foot and thrown OH the floor beside my instrument table, The leader made a critical exami- l nation of the safe and tried number Of times to pick the lock with some small in- strument, but seemingly without success. It has always been 8 mystery to me that he didn't ask me for the key, which was hanging all the time on a secret nail un- der the desk but I suppose he thought l was so young the agent would not intrllst it with me Gas indeed he had never done before.) At last the villain at the safe became disguted, and throwing down his tools, exclaimed with an oath:
 ''Its no use, boys; we'll have to salt her and let her blow"
 A drill was procured from black bag which one of them carried, and the entire gang, working alternately, set about drill ing hole in the safe door, near the lock. But meanwhile had not been idle. As soon as the robbers had overpowered me