Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1892-06-09

the dOwn-pOuriug rain came III undef
the door and was swept Dy Brady into
the little telegraph apartment. A wet
floor will act as an effective ground or
magnet for the wire IN case a person
places lis hand upon any of the instru
meuts while his feet rest on the wet
floor. Brady knew this and also knew
Of "Dexier's' habit Of falling asleep if
left alone for few minutes Thinking
TO give the old darky a shock aud a
fright Brady called him To the Office and
told him to watch ihi1gs while he
attended 10 something else outside
Dexter" flattered by the RESPONSE
biliiy placed upon him, Immediately
pulled the dour shut and took seat IN
the chair. Two minutes hardly passed
when his head was forward on MS arms,
which were spread out on the table,
one Of which covered the telegraph
| kew. and a loud snore announced the
\ fact that be had fallen asleep, as antici-
pated. The storm ragged with undated
fury, and all the storm beaten people in
/ the station, except Brady, forgot
/ Dexter" in discussing the electrical
/ display in the heavens All at ouce a
vivid flash of lightning was seer follow
ed b, tbunderous peal At the same
instant most uDearthlv shrek came
from Dexter followed by the crash
Of breaking boards as the thin partition
came tumbling down. and out rolled
the old darkey into tho midst Of the
terrified spectators
.sDtxIer's' coat was on fire and the
onlookers Immediately sprang to his aid,
beat out the IRE and pulled MIN to his
feet Then j: was found that it was
case OF more frightened than hurt. but
Brady realized that he had almost
fathered a tragedy. L was surmised
that the bolt had come in over the wire,
jumped The lightning arrester fastened
TO TIE switchboard and came out at the
key on which "Dexter's' arm rested,
the we; floor making sort of ground
wire out of the old darkey's body.
Il would be hard to say whether
dexter" or the dozen and more people
in the station was the most frightened.
sthe following sensational tale came
direct from the lips of western teleg-
raphpr, who made one of the group of
story tellers, he playing an important
part in the incident, and as his veracity
has never been questioned. the tale
must be accepted at the proper value of
undiluted truth, aud SO pass mo the
record OF tales undoubted from the W lid
and wooly west.
lin my early experience with the
telegraph business" said he, i was
located at place called Medicine Hat.
a small group of shanties on the North
ern Pacific railroad, as operator, ticket
agent and express agent. Medicine
Hat could be classed among the towns
as being thirty miles from nowhere. |
What little business was done was on
account of mining village some thirty |
miles back in the mountains. The en-
tire population of Medicine Hat could !
have been easily crowded into the little |
village station.
Zone night, after a day of the most |
sultry weather that had experienced |
for months, was detained at my office
on account of DELAYED trains A con- |
tinuous roll of thunder. accompanied |
by sharp flashes of lightning in the |
distance, warned me of the approaching |
storm frotted and stormed, as | !
wanted 10 ut to my boarding shanty, /,
about quarter of mile up the country |
road. before the storm broke, | was /
leaning back in my chair muslng over /
the events that brought me west when |
suddenly voice broke upon my ears:
=. Hold up your hands. quick
"Gaucing 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 IL endeayormg to com
ply with the command, especially the
latter injunction, my chair swung
around, my head struck on the edge of
the table and unconscious | rolled to
the A0Or
~ Aen | regained my wits | found
myself lying on the floor of the oIter
wait-room bound hand and foot, with
tall, ungainly looking fellow standing
guard over me with Winchester The
storm had broken over us aud the wind,
rain, lightning and thunder We're some
thing terrific.
A MASKED MAN AT THE KEY.
IAN at once my trained ear caught
the sound of the telegraph sounder, aud,
turning my head | preceived man at
my desk working away at my KEY He
wore mask. but this did not disguise
the fpct that he was young man As
the characters were licked of and cane
4 to my ears knew he was feeling his
way as 10 the location OF the delayed
/ trains also noticed that he freuueht-
\ N aroSe and made use Of the ground
wire from the switchboard, which cut of
/ the main office in which was located the
4 train luaner of the division. AT fire.
Quentiniervals sharp cracks ofhghtning
would re-ecbo through the room rs they
struck the arrester on the switch But
! TIE man worked on totally obliyious of
his surroundings.
Suddenly caught the drift Of what
he was sending ont over the wire and
vas Mortified To learn that he was irving
to manipulate the train orders SO as 10
cause a wreck. Trims Nos IA and rs
passed each other about five miles up
the road from my station and he was
sending out orders with cool steady
hand to train Il to take siding about
ten miles east of Medicine Hat and for
train As to pass ~ ut the regular place.
Tbpso orders utpla1I have thrI.r,, tI,a