The star. (Reynoldsville, Pa.) 1892-1946, 1893-02-15

grim liills and wild forests calculated
to keep a man awake when he should
have been sound asleep in his cot. The
first alarm came one night carly In
July. In tho forenoon of that day
two very rough-looking men had
come up the track from tho west.
They halted at my station, sized me
up, and then demanded something to
eat. | might have gwen them bite
had they requested instead of de-
manded; but when saw that they
meant to pick quarrel aud have an
excuse for assaulting and robbing me,
brought out the shotgun and obliged
them to walk OF. AS soon as they
were out of sight notified tho little
woman at Lone Pine to look out for
thcm. She replied that she would,
and up to 10 o'clock at night heard
from her every hour, but tho tramps
had not put In an appearance. IL was
80 o'clock aud was sound asleep
when heard Lone Pine call mo over
the wire. rolled oil my cot and ran
to the instrument and asked what was
wanted.
"Tho ,ramps arc here" was the re-
ply.
They are knocking on the door
and asking for food aud she ter."
.'But don't let them In. Got down
your shotgun, lay 1t across the table,
with the muzzes pointed at the door,
and if they break in pull both trig-
gers!"
"They are cursing me and declar-
ing they will set the cabin on fire If
don't open the door," telcgraphcd
the little woman moment later.
"lf you open the door they will
murder you'll You have a sliding
window to the right Of your door, If
| remmembcr right2'.
eyes"
"Take your revolver. slide tho sash
back, aud fire upon the fellows"
"But may kill one Of themW
"Thats what you want to do-both,
IL possible! IL you show any fear of
them they will batter the door in, and
then God help you'll"
ats awful to shoot
Then came break. l know that
the fellows were making some demon-
strations which obliged her to act. and
during the next sixty seconds l heard
every beat Of my heart. Then came
the tremulous message:
olive shot one of them, and
what-shall do about i'll"
"Did you fire from the Window"
eyes"
"Don't do anything except wait and
watch. If you've hit one tho other
will likely make of. IL he tries to
get in, however, give him the same
dose. Do you hear him about"
"No; think he's moved of, but
the one shot is groaning aud taking
on awfully."
"Let him groau. You'll have a
train from the cast in 35 minutes.
| Keep me advised"
had two more messages before the
the train reached her. Ono was that
the man had ceased TO groan aud was
probably dead, and the other was that
the other tramp had tried to burst
open the door, but had been driven
off by her firing one barrel Of her
shotgun into it from her side. When
the train rolled in a dead man was
found at the door and a wounded OH,
lying oil tho ground few yard:
away. There wasn't any inquest OH
the dead. The body was carried few
miles west and dropped into a guch,
and the wounded man, who had d
dozen buckshot In his shoulder, wa
turned over to tho first sheriff. The
little woman. adventure mado her q
heroine for many weeks, and wa
not mean enough to let on that l llat
been obliged to brace her up ant
direct operations for a distance OF
thirteen miles.
Everything went we'll at Lone Pin,
until the 18th of September. Tha
fall there was regular army Of
tramps headed for the West, and til,
employees of cvc,y passenger ant
freight train had to be armed to tn,
teeth. In some instances the gang
took possession OF freight trains an,
ran them to suit their own conven