The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1892-06-05
GOOD STORIES OF THE PRESENT DAE
Tho Station Agent Who Came Gut Ahead
In = Little Anair in the Freight House.


When took possession OF the station OF
Elkton. on the Union Pacific road. the track
layers had advanced only Ave miles beyond It.
The hamlet OF Elkton consisted OF a store. a
mill and Ave or six shanties. and was three
quarters OF a mile from the station. Tho depot
was a rough shed sixty feet long and one. story
high. Twenty feet OF the west end was parti-
toned OIL for a waiting room. and In ono cor
ner OF the waiting room l had my private
office. 1t was twelve feet long By six widc en-
closed with implanted boards and lighted By an
outside window. In this room had my tele-
graphic apparatus. n small iron safe. n table. a
ticket rack. &c. As was required to be 'on call"
all night. also used tho office MS bedroom.
and my meals were sent 70 me from n house in
the hamlet Those wero wild. rough times In
the West. and about the first piece Of advice I
received from tho division superintendent
was: BE prepared for trouble at any hour Of
tho day or night and remember that II you
don't get the drop on tho other fellow you'll
be a goner!'
What made tho situation far worse for me
was the fact that two or three of the subcon-
tractors insisted that take charge OF consid-
erablc sums of money for them. The contract
or who supplied provisions to tho force along
tho line placed $1,000 in tho safe on the second
day of my taking possession. and tho division
suffer deposited about $1,000 moro. In tho
cs" had turned in from 500 t. $500 apiece.
and my anxiety increased with every addition
al deposit Tho fac, that l was SAFE de-
orally known. and regarded 1t as only n
question of TIM, when a robbery would be at,
plenty of company both day and night. as some
of tho working trains were always side tracked
at tho station. but as the grading and track
isolated. All tho freight left at my station was
for the CONTRACTORS, and consisted OF flour.
was needed along the line. | had little or moth
ing TO do outside Of the tc!cgraphing.
n One m9rnnGg tsr SonntT up the
remove it to another place. On the day before
the hotel man" on that division. The head
OF ono Of the barrels had been knocked out
and about one-half the contents wasted |
nearly to tho bottom Of the barrel Unless in
anywhere in the freight house than in the
had occurred to alarm me Strangers We,s
crs. trappars. Indian fighters. tcamstcrs. and
tramps out it was to satisfy, curiosity and not
noon when l hid the money and half an hour
later, as sat at the instrument answering
call, looked ont OF tn Winhowand saw u man
nearly all the border men OF that date and had
So many Ike him had CONC that l did not give
him second thought Even when heard
him walking across the. waiting room toward
my open door did not turn my hrnd.
Throw up yer hands young feller!"
1t was the STRANGER spenk,nE to me: and his I,
words were accompanied 10y the click
'cri" which no human ear ever ,misunder
stands. elevated my arms and turned my
mss Gm h not SeRsa oat
II crowd as II Gentlo spirit. lie was blond.
about 30 years Of age. and he had u wond.r-
on on his face as he stood with his rife half raised
and, regarded me- but it was one OF those
SMILES which mean more than the ugliest
mind that it would be extremely dangerous to
trine with my visitor.
Is That ur safe locked!' he asked as he
LOOK ed straight into my eyes
II shall have to drop my hands to do that"
took the keys from my pocket and turned
Now bass out that money = said the man.
There is none to pass OUT
You can look for yourself had several
thousand dollars yesterday. but it was oil
Stand over thar and hold up yer hands !"
over thar was ut the end Of the room OPP
posite the safe. and ! oheycd the command:
for himself. II did not take him over a minuto
to become satisfied that it contained nothing
Of value, He stepped back and looked ut mo
for full minute before speaking Then he
Young, Teller. you've trnnped my ace, I've
made aIido Of over iilty miles to find that safe
You should have como day earlier" I re-
Yes. SEQ. This is your pistol hanging up
here. l suppose! guess III take it along
You can drop your hands now but don't try
a OF s6 sy arond here smi III Ss
some along. Go on int 0 tho freight house"
led the way and he followed. There was lot
with coffee. Had lie donelt for himsel he would
he eat d@1 and Mash"n my
When had the sack about two-thirds full. he
said it would do. While carried it out on the
con. and helped him to make them fast to his
sahd ne Was in n" t t Wnsn some nna ne
60 60 he slipped the eartridgcs out Of my re-.
volyer and handed it back with tho remark:
You seem to want to do the ,suuar thing
hope you'll DO heoled, with cash.
" 2yG may ret the 1 dT1R on yS%u'h n replied
ter has ever held up my hands fur me yot,, and
is ru1rt,yi late in the day to begin. Wall.
He was hardly out of sight before con-
s,ruction train going to tho front drew UP at
the station. but mndo no report Of the roo-
riai!'ulcd ali aong tho line for having been
held ur. ana In the next tho man had not
taken awning worm making u fuSS about.
decided to hold my tongue and DO warned nv
tho adventure to kcep, the money anywhere
but in tn. safe A month later regular IL; sem
Rcr aud freight ira ms were beginning I, run
over tho rond. and l. got man ~ help me about
the freight house; Ibid not have tho hnnd!ing
OF SO much outside money now. bat once in Il
while what | took IN and what was left in
my keeping amounted to IL tidy sum.
kept u few dollars in tho sufo Tor appear
ance and convenience sake but the bulk was
hidden in the freight house. took an empty
spike keg. partly filled it with sand. and then
deposited the package OF money IN tlc sand
AMI covered Il with loose spikes. 1t ha! tho
look OF u full key OF strikes. and my assistant
had no reason to NEEDLE with It,. While lie
went home al night continued to sleep IN tho
ollce. l was n longer ARA id Of q daylight
hold up. but worried good deal night. Tho
building had been put w hastily. and any ono
determined to effect an entrance could find
hall dozen vulnrrab BILE points t., onerat' on.
One afternoon ms assistant called attention
to two men who were hanging about in a sus-
pcous manner. but l was So busy ut tho
moment that only got glimpse of them, As
to suspicious characters. there were so many
Of them along the line tina. one would have
out to SPOT them of. When was through with
my rush my man informed me that the two
freight house, both inside and out, and he was
n L. xyts,al .lr.l> 10