San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1889-03-18

he made me present Of q riding pony; and
shortly after, when Charley got it into his
head that it would be a fine thing to have a
private line from the ranch to the station,
the colonel had me order two instruments and
a coil of wire from Chicago.
Under my direction the cowboys put it up,
and though it wasn't stretched very tight,
and the poles were only fence posts spliced
together, it worked as well as the main line.
Tho instrument on my end of the line did
not care to have in the Office, for fear that
ofiicious gentleman, the ineman, would OBJ
ject, and so set it up on one side of the big,
empty freight room.
The autumn was now well advanced, aud
found that my duties, instead of increasing,
grew lighter. There were but two freight
trains every other day, and the daily mail
and express, east and west, went through be-
tween the hours of l and in the morning, so
that had great deal of time on my hands.
/ spent much of it shooting chickens with
Charley-he was an excellent shot from the
saddle though he told me he had time of it
training his pony to stand fire-and the rest
of the time either read or rode out over the
trails in the delicious Indian summer weather.
One night, about the middle of October, we
had terrific thunder and wind storm, with a
binding fall of rain and hail 1t came up after
the west bound train had left, and about an
hour before the eastern train was due. Twas
awakened by the noise. and got up to look out.
The rain was falling in torrents, and the wind
shook the building, while the lightning flashed
necessarily.
was still looking out, watching the furious
storm, when an unusually bright flash re-
vealed for an instant the figures of a group of
horsemen Looping across the prairie toward the
station. | stood still to catch another glimpse
of them, if possible, but without success; they
had probably turned off to the left.
Shortly afterward l heard them at the
other end of the building, where they stopped.
| supposed, to seek shelter from the storm; or
possibly they were going to take the train. 1t
was not unusual for passengers to come
around an hour before train time, so thought
little of it at the time
However, before left TIC window, heard
them tramping around the platform to the
door, and drawing back to one side, waited
to see them pass. Between trains | always
kept lamp burning, but turned down low
and it shone out now through the window;
and as the men stepped into the faint bar of
light, got quite distinct view of them.
They were all heavily built. Each one
wore a yellow ''slicker" coat and had his
SLOUGH hat pulled down close to keep off the
rain, and around cash ones face, Just below
the eyes, was tied a red ''harvssters" hand
kerchief. This struck me as unusual, and |
was puzzled for a moment until it occurred
to me that perhaps they were worn as a pro
lection against the hail
A moment later they were pounding at the
door for admittancA Now, as rule, did
not like to admit any one 50 long before
train time. | sometimes had express money
packages on hand, with no safe to put them
in. once carried package of $1,000 in my
pocket three days before the owner called for
il, and so | was somewhat apprehensive at
times for my safety.
That night, however, had only few dol
lars of my own and an almost empty mail
pouch, but before opening the door, | sang
out, who's there and what do you want"
Passengers for the train" came the an
SwGr Were all wet, an Wanter get in out
o. the rain"
| unlocked the door and they crowded into
the room. In the brighter light indoors the
handkerchefS that concealed their faces
looked so much like an attempt at Disguise
and a pretty good one at that-that for a
I loJ
step toward the ticket Office. Before
could take another, however, one of the men
struck me with his Sst, and though the blow
was not hard one it was so unexpected that
it knocked me completely off my feet Then
two of them seized me while l was down,
turned me on my face and hold me, while
the others bound my hands firmly behind
ne They next bound my sect, and then
rolled me over again on my back.
Now, my chicken, said one, who appeared
to be the leader, ''we amt got aothin' agin
you an won't hurt you as long as you keep
quiet; but sure as you yell or make a noise,
theren be some shootinn"
They seemed to be familiar with the office
and its surroundings and probably had been
there before. Two of them picked me up and
carried me toward the freight room, while
another went ahead with the lamp and opened
the door. Here they looked around for a
moment, then laid me down against the side
Of the building, with an old coat under my
head for a pillow, and, bidding me keep
mum, " returned to the waiting room.
Thus left alone in the dark, began 10
think and pretty fast, too, for was thor