The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1893-01-06

/ ever met was a professional CROOK
/ known as 1.-THE Professor" He was
! about forty years OF age, good looking,
aristocratic in face and dress, and so
| gentle in his ways that you would
have deemed it impossible for him to
raise his hand against any man on
| earth. l made his acquaintance in
New York. He claimed to be travelling
for piano house IN which he had a
large financial interest He was not
married, and as we stopped at the
same hotels in New York and Buffalo
we soon got to be pretty thick friends.
! He gave his name as Charles III. Davis,
and he always carried the cards, cir
culars, ETC., of the piano house he
named.
He came and went on my train a
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 como
in to consult the b2ggageman 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 a cigar and chat This per-
Torrance was repeated the next week,
and no one found any fault His tAird
visit was made in the evening. or
rather about ten o'clock at night In
going east we had a run 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 the beggaaeman and
myself took advantage Of this interval
to cat nap"
On n certain October night / had
twenty-eight thousand dollars in
the safe on its way to New York.
l had not seen Davis for a week
when he came into the car that
night Just before ten o'clock de
handed the baGyageman a flask of
whisky that he might take nip and
then sat down for chat with me. The
liquor V Is drugged and in ten minutes
my companion was sound asleep. I had
refused to touch it bat accepted a
cigar. Is was about ten minutes past
ten and we we're chatting away as
pleasantly az two Een ever did, when
Davis suddenly seized me by the throat.
/ admit that had been taken n by his
smooth, sleek ways, and it is only
fair offset that / tell yeu ! was phe-
nomenally strong for one of r.y build
aud was generally credited with plenty
of sand" His sudden assault toppled
me off my stool, and next instant he
was kneeling on my chest and had
both hands on my throat. He didn't
utter a word. He said afterward that
he didn't intend 70 kill me, but to conc
SD near it that I could give him no
trouble If you never had q pair Of
strong hands ct your throat you can't
imagine the feeling I acted en-
tirely through in tinct when l got a
grip on his arms, and exerted all my
strength TO break his clutch and throw
him Of. 1 realized nothing until
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 I clearly saw was
knife in Davis hand I grabbed for
his wrist bat before I could seize
it he cut me on the shoulder.
The pain made me furious, and when
got hold of his wrist l twisted his
arm until broke it Then I got him
By the throat with my left hand and
battered him with my right, and no
doubt l should have killed him had not
the conductor happened in to smoke a
pipe. l broke Davis jaw and his nose,
and two blacl,er eyes were never seen
on Z Bowery tough after a free fight.
1t was q good halfhOur before we could
tell whether he was alive or dead, and
1t was ten days before ne could be ar
r2ig1ed for examination in New York.