The Jasper weekly courier. [volume] (Jasper, Ind.) 1858-1922, 1893-01-13

scious but not dead. lie lived three
or -four days after being taken to "a
hospital but nothing was found ON his
person By which he could b. identified.
After that all express cars were arr
morcd on the inside with sheet iron or
boiler plate, while chain aud pad
lock- secured the safe 70 the floor.
One Of the east est, smoothest takers
lever met was professional crook
known as 1.-THE Professor" lie was
about forty years OF aga. good looking.
aristocratic in face and dress, and SO
gentle in his ways that you would
have deemed il impossible for him To
raise his hand against any man on
earth. ! made his acquaintance in
New York. lie claimed TO be travelling
for piano house In which he had
large financial interest lie was not
married, and as we stopped ut the
same hotels in New York and Buffalo
we soon got to be pretty thick friends.
lie gave his name as Charles NJ. Davis,
and he always carried the cards. cir
culars, otc.. Of the piano house he
named.
lie came and went on my train .
dozen times before he entered the bag
gage car. There was rule against al
lowing outsiders in the car, but it was
never lived up to. People would come
in to consult the baggageman about
trunks that had been damaged or lost.
and men bringing them mail bags
would come in to stow them away, and
under one excuse or another some one
was always breaking over the rule.
Davis entered the car one day to make
inquiries, and after he had finished we
had cigar and a chat. This per-
formance was repeated tho next week,
and no one found any fault His third
visit was made in the evening. or
rather about ten o'clock at night In
going east we had ran from ten to
half past eleven without any important
stop. There was never any express to
take on or put off. and very seldom any
baggage. Both tine baggageman and
myself took advantage of this interval
TO ''cat nap"
On a certain October night had
twenty-eight Thousand dollars in
the safe on its way 10 New York.
had not seen Davis for a week
when he came into the car that
night just before ten o'clock. lie
handed the baggageman . flask Of
whisky that he might take nip and
then sat down for chat with me. The
liquor was drugged and in ten minutes
my companion was sound asleep. had
refused to touch it. but accepted a
cigar. 1t was about ten minutes past
ten and we we're chatting away as
pleasantly as two men ever did, when
Davis suddenly seized me by the throat.
! admit that had been taken in by his
smooth. sleek ways. and it is only .
fair Offset that I tell you was phe-
nomenally strong for one of my build
and was generally credited with plenty
Of sand" His sudden assault toppled
me off my stool, and next instant he
was knecling on my chest and had
both hands on my throat. He didn't
utter word. He said afterward that
he didn't intend to kill me. but to come
so near it that l could give him no
trouble. II you never had a pair Of
strong hands at your throat you cant
imagine the feeling. l acted en-
tirely through instinct when l got
grip on his arms. and exerted all my
strength to break his clutch and throw
him Of l realized nothing until l
found myself on top Of him. The car
appeared to be on fire and my tongue
was out and could not draw it back
The first thing / clearly saw was
knife in Davis hand. l grabbed for
his wrist, but before I could seize
it he cut me on the shoulder
The pain made me furious, and when I
got hold of his wrist l twisted his
arm until broke it Then / got him
by the throat with my left hand and
battered him with my right, and NO
doubt ! should have killed him had not
the conductor happened in to smoke
pipe. broke Davis jaw and his nose,
ana two blacker eyes were never seen
on Bowery tough after free fight.
1t was good half hour before we could
tell whether he was alive or dead, and
it was ten days before he conld be ar
raigned for examination in New York.