Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1892-05-28

| thinking the building had been struck by light
ming and was falling In upon them.
Dexter" immediately pulled out for othel
parts and although seen in the vicinity nc
| amount of coaxing could get him to come nea,
the office for months afterward. He evidently
told Julius Of his experience, for he, too, dis
appeared and for many nights thereafter
| operator Brady kept mp his nightly vigil alone.
AN EXPERIENCE AT MEDICINE HAT.
As the following sensational tale came direc,
| nom the lips Of a western telegrapher. who
made one of the group Of story tellers, he play.
| ing an important part in the incident. and az
his veracity has never been questioned, the tale
must be accepted at the proper value Of undi-
luted truth, and pass into the record Of tales
undoubted from the wild and woolly west
I'm my early experience with the telegraph
business" said he, II was located at a place
called Medicine Hat small group of shanties
on the Northern Pacific railroad. as operator,
ticket agent and express agent Medicine Hat
could be classed among the towns being
thirty miles from nowhere. What little bust
ness was done was on account of a mining vii
lage some thirty miles back in the mountains
The entire population of Medicine Hat could
have been easily crowded into the little village
station.
lone night, after a day Of the most sultry
weather that had experienced for months, I
was detained at my Office on account Of de-
layed trains. A continuous roll of thunder,
accompanied by sharp flashes Of lightning in
the distance. warned me of an approaching
storm. fretted and stormed, as wanted TO
get to my boarding shanty. about quarter of a
mile up the country road. before the storm
broke: was leaning back In my chair musing
over the events that had brought me west. when
suddenly voice broke upon my ears:
Hold up your hands, quick
"Gianclng up saw huge revolver pointed
through the little window in the wall through
which sold tickets and behind it a weird mask
with terrible shining eyes In endeavoring to
comply with the command. especially the latter
injunction, my chair swung around, my head
struck on the edge Of the table and unconscious
1 rolled to the floor
when 1 regained my wits I found myself
lying on the floor of the outer waiting room
bound hand and foot, with tall. ungainly look
ing fellow standing guard over me with a Win
chester. The storm had broken over us and
the wind, rain. lightning and thunder were
something terrific.
MASKED MAN AT THE KEY.
"All at once my trained ear caught the sound
OF the telegraph sounder, and turning my head
perceived a man at my desk working away at
my key. He wore a mask. but this did not dis
gulse the fact that he was young man. As the
characters were licked off and came to my ears
knew he was feeling his way as to the location
OF the delayed trains. / also noticed that he
frequently arose and made use of the ground
wire from the switchboard, which cut off the
main office in which was located the train run
ner of the division. At frequent intervals sharp
cracks of lightning would re-echo through the
room as they struck the arrester on the switch
But the man worked on totally oblivious of his
surroundings.
Suddenly caught the drift Of what he was
sending out over the wire and was Mortified 10
learn that he was trying to manipulate the
train orders so as to cause q wreck. Trains No.
Al and As passed each other about five miles
up the road from my station and he was send
ing out orders with cool steady hand to train
AZ to take siding about ten miles east of Medi-
cine Hat and to train AZ to pass AZ at the regu-
lar place. These orders would have thrown the
two trains, which were heavy laden with pass
engers and express matter, together very near
my station.
II could easily hear the sounder. and from
his orders knew the would-be wrecker was
an expert telegrapher and thoroughly familiar
with train running. Every now and then the
wrecker would raise his hand from the KEY as q
more severe stroke Of lightning would come in
over the wire, but he was too intent upon his
deadly work to desist. The tramp Of heavy
boots on the platform outside told me that the
contemplated wreck was an organized scheme
for robbing the express company and passen-
gers. Muttered curses frequently came from
tuc untu AT tuc hcs as us pans 1Or WrecklnR the
train would meet with obstacles in the shape Of
pertinent questions from operators up the line
who wouldn't follow the new order of things
without fully understanding their import.
FEAR OF A HORRIBLE WRECK
"My mind was in a horrible whirl any fire.
quently strained at my bindings to get my
hands loose, but a savage curse from my guard
warned me to be careful or my life would not
he, n. Al. 4
behind time knew they would be pushed to
their utmost speed by the engineers and if they
came together the wreck would be a horrible
one.
The storm continued to increase in force
and peal after peal Of thunder re-echoed over
and above the little station. Still the wrecker
ut the key kept steadily at work weaving his web
of destruction. Suddenly he called out in a
voice of mingled satisfaction and devilish glee:
"'Ah. that fixes the matter all right Forty
seven has signed the orders at the water tank
and in ten minutes they'll 60 together. Tell
the men to spread out up
He never finished the sentence. binding
fash at the switchboard, shrek from the
wrecker and the Office appeared to be one mass
of flame. My guard rushed from the building
and with mighty effort l wrenched my hands
free and pulled Myself through the door. The
little station was as dry as finder. the oil from
the trainmen's lamps added to the combus tible
were breaking out in every part
with loud cries several of the wrecker's con-
federates dashed toward the little room to pull
their leader out, but the heat drove them back
and as voices were heard up the country road
coming toward the station they all disappeared
in the darkness.
THE TRAGEDY AvERTEp.
"a man named 'Humpy' Logan united my
legs. as my hands were useless on account of
the great numbness occasioned by the tightncss
of the throngs, and I quickly explained the
situation to him He hunted up a lamp and
dashed down the track and around the curve in
one direction. while swung the lantern upon
the train coming down the straight piece of
track to the station in the other direction. NY
lantern was not seen by the engineer but the
burning station acted as danger signal and
the train drew up at the station. the engineer
totally Ignorant of the danger they were escap-
ing and only intent upon helping to subdue the
flames. Twenty-Five words explained the situ-
alton to the engineer and a group Of passengers
that gathered around. and as train AZ slowly
rounded the curve from the east, substantiating
my story, the organization of a prayer meet
ing there and then would have been an easy
matter.
The engineers of both trains with their con-
ductors held consultation and As finally
backed to the next siding. followed by Al, and
the tangle was Strengthened out.
1.-The next day the remains o. the would be
wrecker were found in the ruins of the station,
and the railroad companys physician, after
Ill 4 Al n