San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1892-06-02
The 1a1lp Eight.
THURSDAY, JUNE 2, 1892.

IlSDUeU our cigars 4 Suf
pose | looked embarrassed. OF course it
was all rot. The idea of there being
any connection, however remote, be-
tween the stately creature who had just
left ms and the little rascal who en-
gineered that holdup!
Hallegan spoke:
BILLY. me boy, | won't make a short
story any longer than j; necessary. You
remember the little fellow who held us
up two years ago?"
s.Of course 1 do"
Eyes, very likely. Well, l fancy I'd
better begin at the beginning.
"Three years ago a young fellow
named Wilson, who had been employed
rs cashier by the l.. and A. Stage and
Express company, got into trouble over
his accounts. The manager, Robinson,
charged him with a shortage amounting
to several thousand dollars. There was
an investigation, and on the strength OF
certain circumstantial evidence which
need not be stated, as ii is immateria].
backed by the testimony Of Robinson,
the manager: Tweedy, the superintend-
cQl, dIu rIdhh lhODiiloOhs SOh Va thS
manager-who, by the way. had always
been Wilson's bosom ~friend-the cashier
was convicted ON trial and sentenced to
a long term at Canyon City. Strange to
saw, he offered no testimony and made
no defense except his plea OF mot guilty.
..Well, it killed him. Inside of a year
the worry and disgrace, along with the
hard work and close conference.-the
had never been very stronghold wasted
him to a shadow, and when at last he
knew he couldn't live very long he sent
for his mother and sisters to come to
him.
His mother was too i'll herself TO
travel, and one of the sisters-a cripple
was obliged to remain with her. but
the elder sister went.
"She found him dying-dying in
prison. 1t was the first she had known
of his trouble and, naturally, she vas
terribly shocked.
He told her the true history Of the
affair-that young Robinson, between
whom and himself had existed a sort of
Damon and Pythias friendship, was the
guilty one: and how, when some of the
stockholders got wind of the shortage,
the two Robinsons and Tweedy, who
was a brother-in-law of old Robinson,
had conspired to shield the guilty man by
sacrificing an innocent one, who would
not defend himself. The confession
made by the dying man was not alto
gether a voluntary one. His sister, who
had known nothing except that he was
innocent, caught a hint of the truth from
him when he was raving in delirium--
the rest she made him tell her.
after young Wilson's death, his sis
ter went quietly to work to see what
could be done to prove her brothers in
belonged, but o found that nothing
could be proved. The Robinsons were
too strong for her.
About this time Mrs. Wilson and her
younger daughter were obliged to go
south ON account of i'll health. leaving the
elder daughter, who was studying medi-
j, cine, here in Chicago. Not long after this
the holdups on the different lines of the
L.. and A. began. For the first few times
there was only one road agent-a little
chap, but a nervy one, who got talked
about by the papers a good deal; but
pretty soon there were others, until a
band of about eight or nine had organ
lied under the little fellows leadership,
and they made life a burden to the l..
and A. people.
1T made no difference what precau,
tions the company took or how many
guards it employed; the road agents
were toe smart, and the boldest kind OF
holdups were successfully made-and,
by Jove! it busted the company's bust,
ness. The l.. and A. wasn't a heavy
concern, of course, but had always made
holdups on its lines, though, proved a
settler. 1t wasn't long before nobody
would ship or travel over any of the L,
and A. company's lines unless actually
obliged to, and the company was kept
pretty busy settling the losses of Its
customers. Then came the crash, and
somehow people began to suspect that
the Robinsons had not run things as
they should have been handled, and the
stockholders investigated. Old Robin
son died in disgrace shortly afterward
The young man took all he could lay hi.
hands on and skipped, but was caugh'
at Sante Fe. He's where he should be-
at Canyon City. Tweedy got off on 1
technicality.
"About seven or eight months aftei
we were held up a stageful of fellows
including myself, were stopped and re
lieved n afternoon about ten mile
from Milliken, on the old Mulesho,
trail. The young fellow was one OF tn