The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1892-06-05

an approaching storm. 1 fretted and
stormed, as l wanted to get to my boarding
| shanty, about quarter Of mile up the
| country road, before the storm broke.
was leaning back in my chair musins over
the events that had brought me west, when
suddenly voice broke upon my ears:
| Hold up your hands, quickp
| "Glancing up l saw a hugo revolver
| pointed through the little window in the
| wall through which sold tickets and be-
| hind 1t a weird mask with terrible shining
eyes. In endeavoring 70 comply 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 floor.
when regained my wits found my
! self lying on the floor Of the outer waiting
room bound hand and foot, with bad, I'M
calmly looking fellow standing guard over
me with Winchester. The storm had
broken over us and the wind. rain, light
ming and thunder were something terrific.
MASKED MAN AT THE KEY.
CAN at once my trained ear caught the
sound of the telegraph sounder, aud turning
my head l perceived O man at my desk
working away at my key. He wore a
mask, but this did not disguise the fact that
he was a young man. As the characters
were licked off and came TO my ears
| knew he was feeling his way as TO the loca-
| zion of the delayed trains. / also noticed
that he frequently arose and made use of
| the ground wire from the switchboard,
| which cut off the main Office IN which was
! located the train runner of the division. At
| frequent intervals sharp cracks OF
| lightning would re-echo through the room
as they struck the arrester on the switch.
| But the man worked on totally oblivious of
| his surroundings.
Suddenly caught the drift Of what he
was sending out over the wire, and was hor-
| ritied to learn that he was trying to mAnip-
] ulate the train orders so as TO cause a wreck.
Trains AZ and 4S passed each other
! about five miles up the road from my sta
| tion, and he was sending out orders with a
cool, steady hand to train AZ to take
siding about ten miles east Of Medicine Hat
and to train 4S to pass AZ at the regular
| place. These orders would have thrown the
two trains, which were heavy laden with
passengers and express matter, together
| very near my station.
~ could easily near the sounder, and
| from his orders knew the would-ne wrecker
| was an expert telegrapher and thoroughly
| familiar with train running. Every now
| and then the wrecker would raise his hand
| from the key as a more severe stroke of
| lightning would come in over the wire, but
| he was too intent on his deadly work TO de-
sist. The tramp of heavy boots on the plat
| form outside told me tnat the contemplated
wreck was an organized scheme for robbing
the express company and passengers. Nut
| tered curses frequently came from the man
at the key as his plans for wrecking the
train would meet with obstacles in the shape
| of pertinent questions from operators up the
| line, who wouldn't follow the new order OF
things without fully understanding their
| import.
FEAR OF A HORRIBLE WRECK.
MY mind was in horrible whirl and /
| frequently strained at my bindings TO get
my hands loose, but a savage curse from my
| guard warned me to be careful or my life
would not be worth much. On account OF
the trains being behind time ! knew they
would be pushed TO their utmost speed by
| the engineers and If they came together the
| wreck would be horrible one.