Thomas County cat. [volume] (Colby, Kan.) 1885-1891, 1889-03-28
TRAPPED.


TRAPPED.
An Incident in the Life Of a Tele-
graph Operator.
While in a small town in Wyoming
Territory learned that lady living
there had been the heroine of a thrill
ing adventure with train robbers. and
curiosity and love for the brave in
duced me to call on her to tell me the
story, says a writer in the Hartford
Times. When l went to her house I
was welcomed by handsome lady of
about thirty, and in response to my
earnest request for this one chapter
of her life she related the following:
I'm 1873, when but girl of eight
cen. left my home in Omaha and
came out here to fill the lonesome
position of night operator at small
station on the Pacific railway in this
Territory. 1t was dreary, desolate
spot in the midst of desert. The
only buildings at the station, apart
from the depot, were a section house,
occupied by a track foreman and a
few Chinese laborers, q water tank
and coal shed. The day operator
and agent, mere boy, slept at the
section house, about two hundred
yards distant, SO that during the long,
dreary night was alone in the depot.
mo. express train, bound East,
was due at 2:15 in the morning, but it
never stopped unless signaled, and as
this was the only train during the
latter portion of the night you can
imagine my lonely situation upon the
desert wild. l had my books and guitar
for companions and passed much of
the time reading, and when the dole
full howlings of the wolves were borne
to my ears from the distant sand hills
! would pick up my guitar and en-
deavOr to drown their cries with
music and song.
1.-The superintendent of the division.
a buoyant, high-spirited young gentle
man, came over the road at frequent
intervals and cheered me up with
promises of better position when
u vacancy should occur. He
often found me on the very brink
of despair, almost on the point
of resigning my position and
to my humble home and
the mother who depended on my
salary for the necessaries of life;
but his promises. his genial con-
versation and words OF encouragement
drove away the gloom. and I came to
look for his visits with sense of the
keenest pleasure. l began to regard
him with a sisterly affection. he was
SO kind and tender, and SO solicitous
for my welfare and comfort
lone night shortly after midnight,
as sat at my table reading a late
novel, thought l heard q shutting
footstep on the depot platform; but as
it was not repeated l concluded it was
but wolf more daring than his cow
ardly fellows, and resumed my book.
A few moments later l heard low
knocking at the door, which I always
kept locked, and a strange feeling
came over me. During my several
weeks stay at the station l had never
had visitor, and the sudden knock,
SO low, yet so startlingly clear in the
stiffness of the night, caused my form
to tremble and my cheek to blanch.
my first thought was of Indians,
and then 1 reasoned that it might be
some tramps desiring shelter. While
l sat there in alright the knock was
repeated louder than before, and mus
tering all my courage approached
the door and asked:
Who's there?'
"A gruff voice replied:
"a traveller who desires to take the
East-bound train
at was nay plain and unmistakable
duty to admit him, and, with trembling
fingers. drew the bolt
''Instantly the door was pushed vio-
lently open. and sprang back to the
table and sank into my chair in terror,
when seven burly men. wearing cloth
masks on their faces and armed to the
teeth, entered tho Office. One of them,
evidently the leader, walked up to me,
and, pointing q large revolver to my
head, said in low. firm voice:
Zeal. we don't want to hurt yon.
but If you make suspicious move, or
scream, or give any alarm, 20 that