The Sedalia weekly bazoo. [volume] (Sedalia, Mo.) 187?-1904, 1885-01-06

4
stroke was. 1t was the queerest ex.
perience of my life"
A third man said he had seen a GOOD
deal of service on the border, and bad
had a good many adventures, only one
of which ever impressed him much
Down at Granada. on the Santa Fe
road, when it was first opened, he had
a circu: all one night with a party OF
robbers. The country was the very
dangerous one, and then management
was in continual fear of desperadoes.
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 on the lookout for
that kind of chaps and as the machine
was ticking / pretended that some.
body was asking me a question. l
laughed little, and, seizlng the key.
| broke in with 'Everybcdy-Don't
stop the express at Granada tonight,
whether signalled or not. Robbers
here They eyed me sharply, but
said nothing. The sOunder kept up
a merry click and [ leaned back in
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, | told him
that / would signal it. About 1899
l got out the red Intern and lighted
it. Just as | got it fixed two of them
jumped up with revolvers in their
hands and said they would save me
the trouble. While one of them cover
ed me with a pistol others tied me
fat to my back TO a settee. /
couldn't move hand Eor foot. After
they had got me there / began to
think what sort of a scrape / had got
myself in. The train would come
presently, and 60 flying by, and then
those cuttbroats would murder me
just for the fun of it. | had thought
the thing all over when ! heard a
sharp whistle and a roar. The men
ran out to the platform with masks
ON and revolvers in hand. One of
them had the lantern, which be
swung vigorously. In going out on
the platform they had left the door
open, so that could see things pref
ty well. l began to hope that the
train would stop, for / knew it con-
tanned men enough to do up that
crowd if not taken too much by sur
prise. The roar came nearer and
nearer until at last / knew by
the sound that they were not
going to stop. With the whistle blow
ing at full blast and the dust flying in
clouds, she swept by like stream of
lightning. 1t was all up with me. L
thought. The robbers dropped the
lantern and began to swear. Then /
could hear them talking, and pretty
soon made up my mind that the
train had stopped down the road away, |
and that they were watching it. Be
fore long they took to their heels,
their horses and were gone.
When the train men came up to the
depot, all armed with Winchesters,
was the only occupant. They released
me and / told them what had happen
ed. A couple of them stayed there
with me, and the train went on. If |
any express ever came nearer being
robbed without going through the mill |
than that one did, I'd like to know
it."
All agreed that il was close call,
but the fourth speaker said be bad a
better story than any of them. There
were no robbers in it. 81 was one of
the first men who worked key in
Virginia City, as you may know. One
night man came in picked up a
blank, wrote on it, and, handing it to
me, asked me what the charges was.
| read the message as follows: Kill |
ed Tom to-day Will kill Jim to-mor-
row. 1t was addressed to some one in
Philadelphia. | collected toll and |
looked the fellow over, but did not
place much significance on the word
ing of the message, and after a while !
forgot all about it. We used to get
some a awful queer messages. About
one year later nicely-dressed stran-
ger came in, and handing me the Phil
adelphia copy of the dispatch, asked me
if it had been sent from there, and if
| could tell him where the sender was.
| told him that | had remembered the
but | had not seen the
man since. The'next evening the
man came In and handed me for trans
mission to Philadelphia a mes
sage reading Found Charley.
Will leave for home with
him to morrow As he was paying
me- | made some innuirv haoouao II /