The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1892-11-08
WAITING TO BE ROBBED.
The Passengers Were All Ready for the
OF

The Passengers Were All Ready for the
Bandits. but They Came Not.
a gentleman from Kansas tells
rather interesting story Of a sensation to
which he and his fellow passengers were
treated a short distance from NicksburS.
The train was tagged at Cleveland, a
small station in a comparatively unIn-
habited section, at which passenger
trains are not scheduled TO stop. The
station officials boarded the train with a
badly frightened negro, who informed
Conductor Clark that as he was walking
along the track about two miles below
the station he had seen SIX masked men
working at the track with crowbar,
evidently bent on displacing the rails
and ditching the train. They had their
ponies tied to trees near the track and
every saddle had a Winchester rifle
slung across it. The darby did not care
to disturb them, but as he was trying to
steal away unobserved one of the would
be trainwreckers called out to him, COM
handing him to halt. This was just
| what the negro did not wish to do, and
| plunging into the thicket he scrambled
| through the thick underbrush and over
fallen logs as rapidly as his legs
would carry him. He had just reached
| Cleveland in time to warn the station
agent to flag the down express.
This was startling news, and Con-
ductor Clark at once made preparations
to guard his train against attack. Every
light, even to the headlight of the loco
motive, was extinguished and Winches-
! -. 10, ,.-ora ,,laOo1 in +ba hands 0f
| the train officials, while the negro porter
was armed with revolver and placed
in the baggage car to guard its con-
tents.
Before the lights could be extinguished
in the passenger coaches 1t was neces-
sary to inform the passengers of the
reason why such an extraordinary pre-
caution had been rendered necessary,
and then it was that some curious scenes
were enacted. Some put their money in
their boots; others, pulling off their
coats, slowed away small rolls of bills
in their shirt sleeves. Others appeared
to think that the lining of mans hat
made snug little pocket in which tc
stow away small sums of paper money
But the disposal of their valuables Gid
not appear 10 the passengers matter OF
such vital Importance as the defense Of
the train and the lives of those upon il
Money, jewelry and watches were quick
ly hidden away, but when it came K
fishing their pistols out of valises, grip
sacks" and hip pockets the business O.
hiding away valuables was mot in it. d"
The Kansas man who told the stor,
said that in his day he had seen grea
deal of rough life on the frontier, but h
had never seen anything approachin!
such show of firearms as was sudden
ly displayed on that passenger train il
peaceful and prosperous Mississippi
All the money, he said, on the trail
would not serve to make the first pay
ment on that grim array of firearms
even on the weekly installment plan
One man had no weapon, but he wa
promptly supplied by a Mississippia.
who had three 44-caliber Colts in his va
lise. The stranger accepted the loa
rather timidly and walked to the doc
, of the car with it in his hand. He pu
his head out into the darkness and L:
first object that met his eyes were thro
solemn looking men with Winchester
. 1t was dark and he took them for re.
= bers. Fortunately he did not open FIR,
3 On the contrary, he dropped his pist2
;, and running back to the middle of Il
. car tried to crawl under a seat.
!, In the meantime, all being ready, tx
darkened train ran slowly down tt
track to within 100 yards of the spot i
Dictated by the negro and stopped. \
~ robbers appeared and then lanterns we,
4 lighted and party of armed men we
:, ahead to search for them, but they hs
:, made their escape. The advance gual
; found the hoof prints of their horses
- the thicket where the negro had SEE
W them tied to the sapplings, and t
% track, though left in good order, ga
70 evidence of having been tempered wi.
# Something had evidently disturbed t
wreckers-possibly the escape of t
negro, whom they knew to have Sc
them-but at all events the ira
10 reached Vicksburg in safety.-New {
A leans Times-Democrat.