The Canton times. (Canton, Miss.) 1893-1906, 1894-10-05

had done. Picking at the lock, guesD
ing at the combination and working
! with the jimmy were all failures, snd,
having heard ABOUT the experiment
that the first gang Of train robbers
had made ON the safe with dynamite,
he didn't think it worth while to try
that sort OF thing for the second time.
For all that we kept tinkering at
the combination for a fortnight or
more afterward. Jim had been quiet
after the end of the first eight days
and we couldn't get any answer from
him. SO, seeing as the time had come
to bid farewell to him, we decided
that we would take the safe down to
the Athensville cemetery and bury 1t
as it stood. Which. accordingly, was
done on the following Sunday, and
seeing as it was known that safe be-
longed to Jim and was empty at the
time SO far as Jim was concerned
there was nobody who had the right
to make any objection. The minister
who conducted the funeral did say
something about the extraordinary
| ndi vi 2 VI btlC Quill bidL VIC lAoA SiOcCh
| for the deceased, but we told him that
the coffin didn't con Germ him and that
all he had to do was to heave ahead
and give 1t Christian burial without
passing any of his remarks.
at must have been year after the
funeral when a passenger got to talk
ing with the conductor Of the express
in the smoking car about Jim and his
safe, and he accidentally mentioned
that the night before Jim shut himself
up for the last time they, too, had
been talking politics, and Jim, who
was democrat, was singing language
about President Hayes and saying
that he had stolen the presidency from |
Tilden, and was no better than train
robber. When the conductor heard
this he swore awhile In thoughtful |
sort of way, and then he says: We've
got that combination at last
elbow SOP says the man.
"'Why,' says the conductor, Jim al
lowed.that the combination was word
of five letters that had some thing to
do either with robbery or politics.
Now Hayes would be exactly that
sort of word, and can't think how it
happened that we didn't try it. ]
haven't the least manner of doubt
that If we was to dig that safe up and
try it with Hayes it would open with
out the least trouble
What's the good of opening it after
Jim has been occupying it for more
than year?' says the man.
"Why, just this, says the conductor.
''That there safe is the only burglar
proof safe ever built and If the com
was known the relatives of
the remains could sell it for two thou
sand dollars easy. I'll see them about
It tomorrow, and we'll have one more
try at opening it.
"Wel, to make long story short,
the relatives dug the safe up and found
sure enough that Hayes was the word
hat unlocked 1t. 1t was little rusty
IN the outside, but otherwise it was
ust as good as ever. There wasn't
,ery much left of Jim by that time, but
What there was received second
uneral, for there wasn't anything
mean about Jim's family, and then the
Express company bought the safe for /,
eighteen hundred dollars and it was !.
Ised on this road for upwards OF two :
ears"
what became of it fnallyp" l :
sked. :
What always becomes of any thing
,r anybody that sticks to railroading t
90 long? The train went off of Three h
Mile bridge about seventy-five miles
orth of Josephusville, and, there be- p
ng quicksand at the bottom of the
reek that no man could ever find the
ottom of the whole train. including a
inns safe, sank out of fight, and mo- g
ody ever found the least trace OF it b
fterward. You ought to have heard
t that accident, for about three hun p
red passengers went down with the Il
rain and the company never paid
ent of damages, because there were Al
o remains found and nobody could b
rove that anybody in particular had
een killed. / say 1t didn't cost the W
ompany anything for damages, al
hough they do say that the jurymen L
ost altogether not far from five thou.
and dollars apiece. However, the e.
ompany got out of it very cheap, and az
be directors were more disguised to
bout losing that safe than they were lie
bout losing the whole train. Come Fl
ito my Office and I'll show you Jim's
Photograph standing by his new safe
nd making believe to pronounce an