Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1892-07-02

OF a mile from the
station. The depot ives . rough shed
sixty feet long and one,story high.
Twenty feet of the west end was parti-
toned of for a waiting room, and in
one corner of the waiting room had
my private Office. 1t was twelve feet
long by six wide, enclosed with uu-
planned boards, and lighted by an out
side window. In this room | had nv
Geographic apparatus, a small iron safe,
a table, a ticket rack, etc. As | was
required to be ION call all night, [
also used the office as bedroom, and nv
meals were sent to me from a house in
the hamlet. Those were wild, rough
times in tie West, and about the first
piece Of advice | received from the di-
vision superb: endent was: "Be prepared
Tor trouble at any hour of the day nr
night, and remember that If you don't
set the drop on the other fellow you'll
be a goner!"
What made the situation far worse for
me was the fact that two or three of the
subcontractor insisted that | take charge
OF considerable sums Of money for them.
The contractors who supplied provisions
to the force along the line placed $1,000
in the safe on the second day of my tax
ing possession, aud the division sutIer
deposited about $4,000 more. In the
course of a fortnight at least a score of
chooses" had turned in from 800 to
$500 apiece, and my anxiety increased
with every additional deposit. The fact
that was a safe deposit company could
not fail to be generally known, and | re
garded 1t as only a question of time when
a robbery would be attempted. For the
first three weeks | had plenty of com
pany both day and night, as some of the
working trains we're always side tracked
at the station, but as the grading and
track laying progressed my position be-
came more isolated. All the freight left
at my station was for the contractors.
and consisted of -four. meat, coffee.
clothing, tools, and whatever else was
needed along the line. | had little or
nothing to do outside of the telegram.
ing.
One morning, after counting up the
money in the safe and finding that / had
over $1,000 belonging to other people, it
occurred to me to remove it to another
place. On the day before / had received
five barrels of ground coffee for the
''hotel man" on that division. The head
of one of the barrels had been knocked
out and about one-half the contents
wasted. | took the various envelopes
containging the money, made a bundle
of them, and sunk 1t nearly to the bot
tom OF the barrel. Unless, In case of
fire, | felt 1t would be safer almost any
where in the freight house than in the
safe, though up to that moment nothing
had occurred to alarm me. Strangers
were always hanging about the station
hunters, tIappcrs, Indian fighters,
Transfers and tramps-but it was to sat
isfy curiosity and not to NEEDLE. 1t was
about 8 o'clock in the forenoon when |
hid the money, and half an hour later, as
sat at the instrument answering a call,
| looked out of the widow and saw a
man coming down the north trail on a
mule. He was dressed in bucksin, as
was the case with nearly all the border
men OF that date, and had a Winchester
across the pommel of his saddle. So
many like him had come that | did not
give him a SEQ ID thought. Even when
l heard him va king across the waiting
room toward my open door l did not
turn my head.
Throw up yer hands, young Teller"
1t was the stranger speaking to me,
and his words were accompanied by the
''clickV' ''clicki' which no human ear
ever misunderstood. | elevated nv arms
and turned my face toward him. He was
not an ~ugIy-looking man. Indeed [
should have picked him out of IA crowd
as Il gentle spirit. He was a blond,
about thirty years of age, and he had a
wonderfully handsome blue eye. There
was a smile on his face as he stood with
his rifle half raised and regarded me, but
1t was one of those smiles which mean
more than the ugliest frown. | wasn't
ten seconds making up my mind that it
would be extremely dangerous to trlfe
with my visitor.
as that ar safe lockei1' he asked as
he looked straight into my eyes.
at is"
"Then you unlock it,
81 shall have to drop my hands to do
that"
"Of course
81 took the keys from my pocket and
turned around to the safe and opened
the door.
"Now pass out the money! said the
man.
'There is none to pass out"
"What! Don't try no nonsense with
mel"
"You can look for yourself. l had
several thousand dollars Yesterday, but
it was all taken out"
"Stand over thar and hold up yer
handst'
"Ovcr thar was at the end Of the
room opposite the safe, and / oSeyed the
command. lie tden stepped to the SAFE
and Investigated for himself. 1t did not
take him over a minute to become salts
fed that it conta ned nothing of value.