Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1894-05-04
SMITH WAS A BAD MAN.
And He Had Leaned One Game of Which
He Could Boast.

And He Had Leaned One Game of Which
He Could Boast.
"But speaking Of train robberies," put
in the colonel, reminds me of man L
met when was in command Of Fort D.
A. Russell at Cheyenne. He was an ex-
press messenger named Smith. and his
run was on what they called out there
the high line of the B. and M. railroad.
Smith amt much Of a man to look at,
but he was great in action, asyou'll agree.
'sPd heard of Smith before met him.
He'd killed two men down in western
Kansas, and they were saying around
Cheyenne that he was bad; So l was
curious to get him to tell me the story,
and after awhile he did.
ssHe used to have run on the Santa
Fe down where it crossed into Colorado.
All the messengers, you know, carried
guns in those days-they do yet, for that
matter-but Smith understood the use OF
a six shooter better than some of his
mates. Things had been so smooth on
his run for so long that he got a bit care
less at last and used to leave the door of
his car unlocked so that the brakemen
could come in and talk with him when
ever they liked without his having to
go to the end of the car to unlock the
door.
''Smith had one game, though, which
was all his own. He told me that he had
practiced it good deal so that he could
shoot within fraction Of second after
hearing any one say, Put up your hands,
All the train men on his run knew that.
You know those fellows are great in
skylarking, and Smith had warned them
never to try to play that joke on him,
because, he said, the first man who came
into his car and took him unawares with
that remark would be likely to die.
Gone day he was sitting behind his
little square iron safe checking off his
money packages. He had the safe in
corner of the car facing one end. He al
ways sat with his back against the front
end of the car. The front door was al
ways barred. When he raised the lid of
the little trunklike safe the messengers
used then, he always put his two big six
shooters on the corners of the safe in
front of the lid. Any one approaching
him from the rear end Of the car couldn't
see the guns, but they were ready for in
slant use.
swell, on this day I'm telling you
about, as he was checking off the pack
ages, he heard the car door open and
some one come in. He took it for grant
ed that the visitor was the brakeman
whom he was expecting, and without
looking up went on with his work. He
checked two or three more packages and
was almost finished when he heard the
sharp command, Put up your handsp
"He looked up on the instant and saw
two men, not in the least disguised, COW
ering him with six shooters. His own
hands were behind the lid of his safe.
All right, boys he said.- Don't shoot
They're up
s.They went up, that was true, but as
they came over the lid of the safe there
was six shooter in each one. Both
six shooters cracked the instant their
muzzles came above the safe lid, and
both bullets killed. The robbers fired,
but they didn't pull until after they had
been hit, and their bullets went wild.
''It was all done SO quickly that there
was no cutlery Or noise, and when the
brakeman went into the car a few min
utes afterward he found Smith washing
up the blood from the floor. The dead
men were on blanket in a corner That
was how Smith got his reputation for be-
ing bad. '"--New York Sun.