The Portland daily press., 1892-04-09

was all rot. The idea Of there being
any connection, however remote, be-
tween the stately creature who had just
left us and tho little rascal who en-
gineered that holdup!
Hallegan spoke:
''B1ly, me boy, won't make short
story any longer than is necessary. You
remember the little fellow who held us
up two years ago."
t'Of course do"
"Yes, very likely. Well, fancy I'd
better begin at the beginning.
''Three years ago young fellow
named Wilson, who had been employed
as cashier by the L. and A. Stage and
Express company, got into trouble over
his accounts. The manager, Robinson,
charged MIN with d shortage amounting
to several thousand dollars. There was
an investigation, and on the strength of
certain circumstantial evidence which
need not be stated, as it is immaterial,
backed by the testimony of Robinson,
the manager; Tweedy, the superintend
ent, and Frank Robinson, son Of the
manager-who, by the way, had always
been Wilson's bosom friend-the cashier
was convicted on trial and sentenced to
a long term at Canyon City. Strange to
say, he offered no testimony and made
no defense except his plea of mot guilty :.
"Well, it killed him. Inside of q year
the worry and disgrace, along with the
hard work and close conference.-the
had never been very stronghold wasted
him to shadow, and when at last he
knew he couldn't live very long he sent
for his mother and sisters to come to
him
Ellis mother was too i'll herself to
travel, and one of the sisters-a cripple
was obliged to remain with her, but
the elder sister went.
'sShe found him dying-dying in
prison. 1t was the first she had known
of his trouble and, naturally, she was
terribly shocked.
''Re told her the true history of the
affair-that young Robinson, between
whom and himself had existed sort of
Damon and Pythias friendship, was the
guilty one; and how, when some of the
stockholders got wind of the shortage,
the two Robinsons and Tweedy, who
was a hrother-in-law of old Robinson,
had conspired to shield the guilty man by
sacrificing an innocent one, who would
not defend himself. The confession
made by the dying man was not alto
gether voluntary one. His sister, who
had known nothing except that he was
innocent, caught hint Of the truth from
kim when he was raving in delirium-
the rest she made him tell her.
"After young Wilson's death, his sis
ter went quietly to work to see what
could be done to prove her brothers in
nocence and to place the guilt were it
belonged, but soon found that nothing
could be proved. The Robinsons were
too strcng for her. '''
l-ssAbolt this time Mrs. Filson and her.
younger daughter were obliged to go
south on account of i'll health, leaving the
elder daughter, who was studying medi-.
cine, here in Chicago. Not long after this
the holaups on the different lines of the
l.. and A. began. For the first few times
there was only one road agent-a little
chap, but nervy one, who got talked
about by the papers good deal; but
pretty soon there were others, until a
band of about eight or nine had organ
lied under the little fellows leadership,
and they made life burden to the L.
and A. people.
SIT made no difference what precau-
tions the company took or how many
guards it employed; the road agents
were too smart, and the boldest kind of
holdups were successfully made-and,
by Jove! it busted the company's bust
ness. The l.. and A. wasn't heavy
concern, Of course, but had always made
good deal of money. The frequent
holdups on its lines, though, proved a
settler. It wasn't long before nobody
would ship OF travel over any of the l..
and A. company's lines unless actually
obliged to, and the company was kept
pretty busy settling the losses of its
customers. Then came the crash, and
somehow people began to suspect that
| the Robinsons had not run things as
they should have been handled, and the
stockholders investigated. Old Robin
son died in disgrace shortly afSerward.
The young man took all he could lay his
hands on and skipped, but was caught
at Sante Fe. He's where he should be-
at Canyon City. Tweedy got off on a
technicaiity.
"About seven or eight months after
we were held up stageful of fellows,
including myself, were stopped and re-
lieved one afternoon about ten miles
from Milliken, on the old Muleshoe
trail. The young fellow was one Of the
robbers-I knew him in spite Of his
mask. There were only four Of theroad
agents on this occasion.
"They pulled out, leaving us orders
not to touch our arms (Which they had
stacked on the ground) for twenty min
utes, under penalty of getting shot. But
one Of our party was devil-may-care
chap, and no sooner were the bandits
gono than he walked right over to the
pile of guns and picked his out, remark
ing that he didn't believe there were
any road agents around just then And
there weren't
"Well, the result Of this fellows fool
| hordiress was that we concluded it