The Sedalia weekly bazoo. [volume] (Sedalia, Mo.) 187?-1904, 1885-01-06
TELEGRAPHERS' TALES.
Exciting Experiences Of Oper-
ators On the Frontier.
Two Thrilling Robbaries Circum-
vented Over Miles and Miles
Of Wire-Queer Messages.

here last night, ana IN the course or 8
long conversation told some Of theil
experiences on the frontier. One o.
them began by recalling the great
bullion robbery at Sidney, Nebraska.
1t was at noon, and most of the depot
and stage hands had gone across The
yards to dinner. AS the operator sal
In the telegraph eff1ce alone, two men
presented themselves at bis door and
demanded admittance. Both bad re.
volvers. He jumped up and let them
in, and they quickly bound and gagged
him. Believing that he was safe,
they disappeared, and he saw no more
of them. AS soon as they were out
of sight be managed TO get to his in
strument, and by lying down on the
table found, that with one of his bands
lie could reach the key. 1t was diff
cult work, but by degrees he improved
his position until finally he raised the
Cheyenne Office and communicated
the fact that a robbery was in pro
gress. The operator at that point
kept him posted as TO the proceedings
there. and in few minutes he was
grati6ed to hear the intelli gence licked
over the wires that the superintendent
and party of detectives were en-
route for Sidney on a special train.
The distance was 102 miles, but the
run was made so rapidly that the
people of the town were hardly aware
Of the robbery before the train DASH
ed in. The operator had by that
time been released, and it was found
that the thieves, who had beea Sc.
creted under the depot, had come up
through hole in the floor made by
removing a board. The bullion
weighed about 500 pounds, and, as it
was thought they could not have car
ried it far, vigorous search was made
near at hand. Before night the
greater part of the geld was found in
hole under the depot, and the re.
mainder was discovered in an adjoin-
ing coal shed, where it had been
dropped. The thieves got away with
only about s13, 200 in currency.
Another operator remarked that he
was the man who discovered the
Ogalalts train robbery. He was In
charge of the little Office at Kearny.
He had had very stupid afternoon,
and as the day was miserable without,
he deed more or less. He tried to
read, but after it became necessary to
light the lamps he found the Occupa-
ton distasteful, and as no one came
in he leaned forward, placing his arms
on his table and his head upon them.
"I must have slept soundly for a
whiIe,' he said, "for lost myself en-
tirely for an hour or two; but present
ly I'D an indistinct impression that
some one was calling for assistance.
In my dream it seemed to me that |
could hear the cry Help helpp and
that / was powerless to render any as
sistance. Finally | sat bolt upright,
with a nervous feeling as if something
terrible had happened which l ought
to have prevented. l rubbed NV
eyes, and looked around sleepily. The
depot was empty. 1t was dark cut
side, end the rain was falling. / STEP
ped to the door and looked out for
minute, but heard nothing. Then l
went hack to my desk, filled and light
ed my pipe and began to read. Ny eyes
had just fallen on the page when the
instrument sounded once or twice very
feebly. / looked at it closely. 1t
licked again, almost inaudiblv.
Something's the NATTER thought |
| got up ana leaned over the sounder
and listened l could just catch the
faintest click, as if child might have
bees playing with KEY somewhere.
While | listened | began to compre.
bend the nature of the message that
was being seat. / could not catch
all the letters, but | got enough, after
listening to if dozen times to make out
this much: O.alalIa, Ogalalla, help,
help. Ii flashed upon me ali at once.
The overland train was beitg robbed,
or had been robbed. | grabbed nv
key, and let everybody have it from
Cheyenne to Omaha. There was
some lively telegraphing there for
time. They sent engines out from two
or three points, and got TO Ogalalla in
time to scare the robbers of. You see
/ was great deal further off than
dozen other operators, but somehow l
was the first one who caught on. The
way it happened was this: The rob-
bers came into the depot at Ogalalla
about 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 Immediately got
himself 10 position where he could
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