Fairhaven herald. [volume] (Fairhaven, Wash.) 1890-????, 1892-06-26


at the station, but / made no report Of
| the robbery. In the first place knew
that would be ridiculed all along the
line for having been held up, and in the
next the man had not taken anything
worth making a fuss about. | decided to
hold my tongue and be warned by the ad-
venture to keep the money anywhere but
in the safe A month later regular p!*sen-
ger and freight trains were beginning to
run over the road, and I was given a man
TO help me about the freighthouse. [ did
! not have the handling of so much outside
money now, but once in awhile what
took in for the road and what was left in
my keeping amounted to a tidy sum.
kept a few dollars in the safe for 40
pearance aud convenience sake. but the
bulk was hidden in the freghthouse. Itook
an empty spike key, partly filed it with
sand, and then deposited the package of
money on the sand and covered it with
loose spikes. 1t had the look of full keg
Of spikes, and my assistant had no reason
to NEEDLE with it, While he went home
at night continued to sleep in the Office.
was no longer afraid Of daylight hold
up, but | worried good deal nights.
The building had been put up hastily, and
any one determined TO effect an entrance
could find half dozen vulnerable points
to operate on
One afternoon my assistant called atten-
ton TO two men who were hanging about
In suspicious manner, but was so busy
at the moment that only got glimpse Of
them As TO suspicious characters, there
were so many of them along the line that
one would have been in a continual state
Of alarm had he set out to spot them off,
When / was through with my rush my
man informed me that the two strangers
had been providing around the freight
house, both inside and out, and he was
firmly convinced they were up to mischief
of some sort. The length of the building
was east and west. The boards on the east
end were badly warped and sprung, and
could be easily pried off. The door between
the freight department and the waiting
room was fiimsy affair and the door to
my room was only half length. II any one
wanted to get at me the best way was to
break into the freight department. Among
the freight we had five big steel bear traps
for man living about twenty miles away
Before going home for the night and en-
tirely unbeknown TO me, my man set one
OF these traps in front Of the door connect
ing with the waiting room.
The passenger train going east was due
at Elkton at 1898 A freight followed at
a. m, and sidetracked for freight from
the east to pass. The west bound trains all
passed by daylight or earlier IN the even
ing. On this night ] was in bed and asleep
by IL o'clock. II was n dark and rainy
night, and though | worried little over
the two suspicious men | went 20 sleep
trusting to luck II was exactly midnight
when | was awakened by yell which
fairly rolled me of my cot The one out
cry was followed by half a dozen others
and clanking of chains, and for couple
Of minutes / was too frightened and upset
to make a guess at what had happened.
As soon as ! struck n light, however,
heard the voices of men in the freight de
partment cursing in the most horrible
manner and directly some one called out:
Say, young fellow, we want you here"
"Who are your" demanded.
Never you mind who we are, but come
along"
Where are your"
I'm the freighthouse"
What are you doing therei"
Come and see, and be quick about IL
toor'
] knew they were at the door opening
into the sitting room, and / knew they
could see my light through the cracks.
Why they didn't burst the door in was a
puzzle to me. They could have but one
object in breaking in, and that was rob-
berry. I was badly ratified, as / am per
fectly willing TO admit, but nevertheless
had some sand left. | blew ont the light
and opened fire in their direction in hopes
TO brighten them off, sent six bullets at
them as fast as could Are, and was re.
loading when | heard groan and fall,
and a minute later they began firing at
me. ] had the advantage OF two parti-
tions, and though two or three bullets
came through they were harmless, Pres.
entity the firing was suspended and voice
called:
Young Teller, are you alive"
Very much sol''
Then listen TO me. My pard and me
broke in to rob you. Here at the door we
stepped into an Internal bear trap. One Of
your shots has finished him, and now |
want you to help me out and let me goi'
/ of course refused, and then he threat
ened me with all sorts of things and final
ly began shooting again. | sat down on
the floor, tipped the table up for breast
work and counted his shots He had four
revolvers and large supply Of cartridges,
and he fred over 100 shots in all Perhaps
he finally concluded he had finished me,
for he stopped shooting aud began cursing
and groaning and trying TO release him
self. 1t was about 2 o'clock when he
became quiet, and hearing no more
OF him ] argued that he had got
free and taken himself of. ! sat
there on the floor behind my table un-
til daylight and the east bound freight
train came along together. was telling
the train crew what had happened when
the west bound train drew up, and we.pro-
ceeded to investigate. We expected some
more shooting, but nothing of the sort oc-
CURED. About the center of the freight
shed were two men lying on the floor. One
was dead and stiff and the other In a semi
unconscious state from the pain he suf
fered.
1t was queer that both men should have
been caught in the trap, but such WAS the
fact Ono uas canplt hv tho rit,ht md Tho