Democratic Northwest. [volume] (Napoleon, Ohio) 1869-1894, 1890-04-17
By the Midnight Train.

/ was returning home after my days
work in the telegraph Office at Deering,
where / was operator.
"Any messages to-day?" my wife
asked.
HOne from D, for John Martin"
/ returned. L..L.
"The biggest rutfian in Deering,n she
exclaimed; "what did he want? What
was the message"
midnight train"
"That all?'
Eyes. Mr.. Hill has Just been here.
There Is a huge rock across the track at
the embankment. So / shall stop the
midnight train at Paris"
NY wife entered the dressing room as
I was raising to send the telegram, when
the door opened and John Martin fol-
lowed by four ruffins entered the room.
A revolver was st my head in moment
and John Martin spoke:
"Mr. Hill was here to tell you 10 stop
the D. train. You will not send that
message. Listen. The rock is there to
stop that train-put there for that pur-
pose. There is half million in gold in
the express car. Do you understand?"
/ trembled for Alice. Not sound
came from the little room, as was tied
hand and foot to my chair, bound so Sc
curelv that l could not move. 1t was
proposed to gag me, but finally con-
cluded that my cries, If l made any,
could not be heard, a handkerchief was
bound over my mouth. i,
The door of the washroom was closed
and locked, Alice still undiscovered;
then the light was blown out and the
ruffians left me, locking the door after
them.
There was long silence. Outside l
could hear the step of one of the men
pacing up and down watching. rubbed
my head against the wall behind me,
succeeded in getting the Handkerchief on
my mouth to fall around my neck.
had scarcely accomplished this when
there was tap on the inner door.
"Robert," Alice said.
Eyes, love! Speak low-there is
man under my window"
"I am going to Paris. There is no
man under my window, and can get
out there. have six long roller towels
here knotted together, and have cut
nv white skirt into wide strips tojoin
them. The rope made so reaches near
ly to the ground. shall fasten it to the
door knob and let myself down. 1t will
not take long to reach Paris in time.
Don't fear for me-"
Nine O'Clock! AS the bell of the
church clock ceased to strike rumble
a flash, told me that thunder storm
was coming rapidly. Oh, the long,
long minutes of the next hour. Ten
o'clock. The rain falling in torrents,
the thunder pealing, lightning flashing.
Alice was so afraid of lightning; eleven
o'clock. The storm over, though still
the night was inky black.
The midnight down train was COM
ing swiftly, surely, to certain destrnc-
ton! Where was my wife? Had the
ruffians intercepted her at the cottage?
Was she lying, dead somewhere upon
the wild road? Her heroism was of no
avail, but was her life saved? In the
agony of that question the approaching
rumble of the train was far more the
bitterness of Alice lost than the horror
of the doomed lives it carried. Why
had I let her start on her mad errand?
The heavy train rumbled past the
telegraph Office. 1t was an express
train, and did not stop at Deering sta
ton; but as I listened, every sense
sharpened my mental torture, itseemed
to me that the speed slackened. Lis
tening intently, / knew that it stopped
at the embankment, as nearly as l
could Judge. Not with the sickening
crash expected, not preceding walls
and groans from the injured passengers,
but carefully. A moment more and /
heard shouts, the crack of fire arms,
sounds of some conflict.
What could it all mean? The min
utes were hours, till | heard a key turn
in the door of my prison, and moment
later two tender arms were round my
neck, and Alice was whispering in my
ear.
"They will come in a few minutes,
love, to set you Free"
"But have you been to Paris?"
"Yes, dear"
"In all that storm?"
"Selim seemed to understand. He
carried me swiftly and surely. was
we'll wrapped in my waterproof cloak
and hood. When I reached Paris the
train had not come from c."
''But IL is here"
"Only the locomotive and one car.
In that car were sheriff, deputy and
twenty men armed to the teeth to cap
ture the gang at the embankment. /
came, too, and they lowered me from
the platform when the speed slackened,
SO that could run here and tell you all
was safe!"
While we spoke my wife's fingers had
first united the handkerchief around
my neck and then. in the dark, found
some of the cord binding me. But 1
was still tied fast and strong when there
was rush of many feet upon the stair
case, and in another moment light and
joyful voices. .
"We,ve captured the whole nine!"
was the good news. "Three, including
Martin, are desperately wounded, but
the surprise was perfect. Now, old fell
low, for you'll"
A dozen clasp knives at once severed
my bonds, and dozen hands were ex-
tended in greeting. As for the praises
showered upon my plucky little wife,
1t would require volume to tell half
Of them.
cH~-A1- nunAxS