Southern standard. (McMinnville, Tenn.) 1879-current, 1888-10-13
ed the door and asked:

east bound train"
at was plain and unmistakable
duty to admit him, and with tremb-
ling fingers drew the bolt.
INSTANTLY the door was pushed
violently open, and 1 sprang back to
the chair in terror, when seven men,
wearing cloth masks on their faces, and
armed to the teeth, entered the Office.
One of them, evidently the leader,
walked up to me, and pointing
large revolver at my head, said in
low, firm voice:
"Gal, we don't want to hurt you,
but if you make a suspicious move,
or scream, or give any alarm, so that
ony one of the men in the section
house kin hear you, I'll Spite the
looks of that pretty face with a bull
let. Be quiet and sensible and be-
have yerself and yer shan't be hurt.
Whar's yer red signal lamp"
"What would you do?" ] gasped.
"None O. your business. We don't
want to hear any unnecessary back
talk or no. impertinent questions.
Whar's the red lamp"
"a chill of horror swept over me
when the truth burst upon me that l
was in the hands of band of desper-
ate train robbers, whose evident in
tention was to signal the train and
rob the express car at my station.
What could / do? 1t was yet three
hours until the train was due, but |
could not elude my captors to rouse
the section men and l knew by the
ugly CLEAN in the leaders, eyes,
through the holes in his mask, that
if made the least cutlery he would
not hesitate to carry out his threat
and murder me. 1 knew they could
not find the lamp easily by searching
for it, and in a trembling voice l
told him it was hanging just inside
the door of the freight room. One of
the men got it, and after examining
it to see that it was in order, the
rough band took their seats to await
the incoming of the train.
The leader lit pipe; and looking
at me steadily for few moments,
said:
"Young gal, when that 'ar train
toots her whistle, we've got some
work for you. An official duty, as
you might call it. You must git out
thar on the platform, and signal the
train to stop an take on some first
class passengers. Savoy? An look
ee here, if you make a suspicious
move, or don't swing that red light
in proper way, We'll just ventllate
that graceful body with bullets, and
jump on our horses an git. Do you
understand?
GA desperate resolve had been
taking shape in my bewildered brain
! replied that l fully understood him
and with the piteous cry, ''Oh viii
you make a murderer of mel"
threw my arm and head down upor
the table and began to cry and sob al
if my heart was breaking. Had HI
seen my face he might have noticed
a total absence of tears. | was cryins
for purpose.
When my arms dropped upon tn
table / allowed my hand to fall upol
the armature of the telegraph instru
, ment, so that 1 could holdIit as to pre-
vent it from clicking, while m.
! right hand rested upon the key. Sob
bling, so that any slight clicking 0
} the key might make would not reacl
r the ears of the robbers. opened j
+ and slowly made,the telegraph char
acters:
=, h e | p
These / repeated several times
+ hoping they might reach the ears c
, some operator on the line. l slowl
, and distinctly wrote these words
!, still sobbing violently:
"Who-hears-this--fo for Heaven
-sake-report-to-train
|, -at-Laramie- quick-that
- -in-the- NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.
! -who-will- compel -me-to- fla
g Observation-Disclosures"
. Then signed my name land offic
call.
then released he.armature,' an
% the instrument at once clicked out:
q "Brace up, little girl, | hear vol
= H." "H" was the train dispatcher
u Office call. With a fierce oath tn
Is leader sprang forward and rudel